In this sermon, the preacher addresses the issue of pride and how it can sneak into our lives. He emphasizes the need to continually deal with our old sinful nature and bring it to the cross. The preacher also highlights the importance of heeding the messengers of God who point out our transgressions and dishonor. He reminds the audience of the teachings of Jesus, particularly about hell and the love of God for the world. The sermon concludes with a song about the friendship and fellowship we can have with Jesus.

Isaiah said, Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There's no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. You know, I read this mostly every week, and verse 1 of the same chapter of Isaiah 40 says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. One of the things that we want to do in this ministry is to be a support, to be an encouragement. We're not a substitute for the church. Christ is the head of the church, and the local church, under the direction of the elders, will be the place for fellowship. But we want to be a support. I especially have a burden for pastors, and in the last few weeks, God's been privileging me to spend some time with my pastor friends in this area, in the surrounding towns, and be with them, and in their churches, and and visiting and ministering to them personally. And I just like to say this, that those of you that are in the ministry, missionaries, pastors, that that God has accomplished for us, on the cross, all our needs. And there's a tremendous, intense desire of Satan to destroy us. And one of the things that I've noticed is that pride is one of the devastating weapons of Satan to destroy us. And I'd like to just share some things with you today on pride. And I'm doing this in answer to a friend in Stark City, who had wrote me back last April, and asked for a tape, and we sent him the tape. But he said, thanks for the message. And then he said this, What do you do with pride? It sneaks in also. Well brother, it sure does. And it continually has to be dealt with. The old man has continually to be reckoned with, and dealt with. At the cross, he was crucified. Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. I'd like to just share some things with you today on pride. And there's a book, and I'm I'm not a pusher of books. There's so many books, and I have so many books. But there's one book, the book, that needs to be read, and memorized, and studied. Be careful that you don't spend a lot of time in books. If I get a book, it just takes me weeks to read it. I'd rather spend my time in the Word. But there's an old book that I'd picked up years ago, when I was in school, by Ralph G Turnbull, on a minister's obstacles. And in this book, there's a chapter on the perilous of pride. And I just thought that, as we minister today, maybe we could have some time just to visit. I'm not in a pulpit. I'm in the studio, and I'm not preaching. I'm trust, led by the Spirit of God, just to share some things with you, that will minister to you, and help you, and encourage you And I have, as I said, a real burden for pastors, and I've worked with pastors here in the situation I'm in, as God has put us together, five pastors, now that there's only two left. God has freed up three of us to move on, and we have an intense desire to minister. Matter of fact, I have a long time desire in my heart to have a place where pastors could come to. I was talking with my wife about this, how this goes back many, many years ago. Maybe a campground, some place where pastors could come with their families and be ministered to, and if necessary, could bring in different men that I know of, that have a real gift from God to minister to the pastors. So today, let's just let God minister to us in this area of pride. It's a devastating thing, and it's also a very subtle and sneaky thing, and I've shared back in the past with you my testimony on how God dealt with me in this area of pride. But I'd like to start off with a quote from Alexander White, when he said that self-love is that master passion in every human heart. Let us give self-love the first place in the inventory and catalog of our passions, because it has the largest place in all our hearts and lives. It is out of self-love that all our other evil passions spring. The whole fall and ruin and misery of our present human nature lies in this, that in every human being self-love has taken, in addition to its own place, the place of the love of God and of the love of man also. We naturally now love nothing and no one but ourselves, and as long as self-love is in the ascendant in our hearts, all the passions that are awakened in us by our self-love will be selfish with its selfishness, inhuman with its inhumanity, and ungodly with its ungodliness. And it is to kill and extirpate our so passionate self-love that is the end and aim of all God's dealings with us in this world. You know, the Bible says that pride is a devastating thing. There's the pride of life, and all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And I am seeing now as Satan moves in, and what all is going on, we really don't know, but we do know that stuff is going on, but as he moves in on the churches, I'm seeing more and more devastation taking place in the churches, because we've given ground to Satan in the past, and this area of pride has been cultivated very carefully by him in our hearts, through our schools, through our teaching, throughout the philosophy of men. And I am convinced that one of the main keys that will protect a church today is to operate under the scriptural guidelines of an elderly rule function. By that I mean that as you have your men in the church, and they are qualified under the qualifications of 1st Timothy 3, and they are elders. No one is in a superior authority above other elders. All the elders are equal in authority, as the scripture teaches, that they will function as a team, as a unity, and as the shepherd, the pastor, the one that would have the shepherding function. He is not a superior man in relation to the elders, but a part of the team. But whenever we move out of the function to where we have one man in a superior function over other men, then Christ is in danger of being preempted from the position of being pre- imminent in the church. And we have to be careful, because this is one of Satan's most deadly weapons in destroying the churches, and he's using it today. We talk about revival. I guess my wife heard that, I guess Pastor Kroll, Brother Kroll on Back to the Bible, was talking about revival the other day. My friend, we're in desperate need of revival, but we won't have revival until we deal with the areas of pride that Satan has instilled into our lives, into our churches, into the pastors and our schools. Someone said no man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time. You can't be the first church or the best church with that spirit. We're to walk with Christ in humility. No man can give the impression that he himself, or no church, can get the impression that it is above somebody else. This is not the position of humility. We have to be careful. The Bible just teaches us to esteem others better than ourselves. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. It's this pride that we'll think that we're better than others. Now our doctrine may be more correct, but that doesn't do you any good, just like the Pharisees. The Lord told those that followed him as disciples in the crowds to do what they said, but don't do what they do. They had correct doctrine all right, but their lives were corrupt, and they were hypocrites, and we can be that way when we think that we are better than others. So these words that I'm sharing today with you, they're just words, and I'd love to just take the scriptures and teach you a passage, but this is where your pastors do this. They shepherd you with the word, and sometimes in revival ministry, we want to move over into other areas, but we can't receive. You can't receive the ministry of your own church if you have pride in your heart. We can't receive from others rebuke, and exhortation, and encouragement. If we have pride, we'll think that they don't know what they're talking about. We have to have a receptive spirit. The sin of Lucifer, someone said, is not necessarily associated with those who are near to God, and yet it is in the traffic of holy things where it is unveiled. Did you catch that? For instance, the Old Testament mirrors for us many characters struggling with this temptation, with pride. I was just reading one today, and if you want to turn in your Bible to a passage, it would be 2nd Chronicles 26 about Uzziah. You know the story about Uzziah, how he lived a long life. He was king for many years. He started off at 16 years of age, and it said, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. In verse 5, you go down through here, verse 7, and God helped him against the Philistines. And in verse 8, his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt. And you come on down through here, all the things about Uzziah. When he got to be older, because he had had such success, I believe it went to his head. For the scripture says that in verse 15, and he made in Jerusalem engines invented by cunning men to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad, for he was marvelously helped. God was really working on his behalf till he was strong. And what happened? It says, but when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Uzziah, the priest, went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense upon the Lord, unto the Lord, but to the priests, to the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth. I want you to notice how many times anger is associated with pride. Then he was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth with the priest, he's angry at the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priest in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and behold he was leprous in his forehead. And they thrust him out from thence. Yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. I noticed going on down, it was I think the third or fourth generation, his great-grandson also had this problem with pride later on. So this can be a generational sin that carries on in our lives. Well, a servant of God may have the impulse to offer himself to minister, but if he's unable to become a channel of grace, this may be one of the explanations valid to experience. We see it illustrated in the life of Uzziah here. He ceased to be a channel, and then began to absorb to himself all of that that had happened, began to look at himself, and thought that he was above the law. We that work in the Word of God, and minister the Word of God, and work with people, are not above the Word. We are not above the law. Just like a officer of the law, he himself is not above the law. He is subject to it. We also are subject to the Word of God. Uzziah had been blessed by God, and many times God blesses us in our ministries. We don't deserve it, but he blesses us, and then it goes to our head. And that's when Satan moves in, when he sees this area that we began to get proud out of the several different pastors that I've been ministering with in the last few months. All but one have serious problems in their church, either with themselves, or with others in the church. And the one that that seemingly has things going good, he knows to watch out. He's a close friend of mine, about 50 miles away from here. Planned on, in a few weeks, traveling out to Tennessee with him. Or he's going to go with us, and we just pray and watch diligently, lest like Uzziah, we'll get the fat head. By the way, the leprosy started on his head. The tragedy of the story is that a lifetime of service was spoiled by one act. And the most powerful King of Judah died a leper. And that can happen to us. Paul had the fear of the castaway. He knew that he had the capacity to fall any day. He had arrived at the point of humility, of walking with God, living by the grace of God. He learned to fly on eagle's wings, live by the grace of God, not trust himself, no confidence in the flesh. A lifetime of service destroyed, spoiled by one act, by this King. And he was the most powerful King of Judah. He died as a leper. It was God who made him to prosper, and he was marvelously helped by God. But this man failed in the hour of success. The hour of success is the most dangerous hour for us. And prosperity then was dangerous, and it is dangerous today. Is it true that more men fail in prosperity than in adversity? Self-sufficiency means a static state of mind, and a man's boasted strength is his weakness. The poor man failed to realize that his power was imparted, not generated, Trumbull said. Given, not achieved. So long as he sought God, he was strong. But when he sought to disregard the will of God, by intervening in the priest's office, he lost his power and position. And this is what I'm saying to you, my friend, today in our churches. We do not have the right to play God, to play Holy Spirit, over anybody's life. Position of leadership is a sacred function, and it should be like you're walking on holy ground. When you, as the elders of the church, as a godly team, seek the Spirit of God, you seek the mind of Christ, to know what the will of God is for the leadership of the church, the direction of the church. You move in unity. You move with one accord and one mind. And if you don't have that, then you better fall before God until you have it. You can't move ahead without unity. If you do, you move ahead into deeper strife. You open up avenues of strife and tragedy for your church. The true strength of the godly life lies in humility before God and man. And this is the position of leadership. Once we move out of that, we're prone to pride. Pride comes, and then grief follows. When the mind is turned in upon itself to imagine great things of itself, as Uzziah, it is an easy target for swift destruction. We have a Sunday school teacher, or a deacon, or a song leader. Somewhere you get to the point where you think you're indispensable, then you are dangerously set up for Satan to use you, and to destroy you. It was in his anger, I want you to notice, Uzziah, he was easily provoked in verse 19. He refused to bear correction by those who were God-appointed, and in his anger, he refused to heed the messengers of God, who pointed out his transgression. They pointed out that his transgression was in the priest's office, and the dishonor of it, they pointed it out to him. I guess Proverbs is true, where it says, the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride. Proverbs 14, 3. A man's speech betrayeth him. See, out of his mouth, out of our mouth, will come what's in our life. We need to be careful. We need to judge ourself. We judge the fruit of others. We don't judge people, otherwise you take the position of God. But we can judge the fruit. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so, sooner or later, if there's something there, you will expose yourself. Well, Satan knows what's there, and he will use that as a weapon. Nothing is more deceptive than the pride of heart. Spiritual pride is most noxious. It is more noxious than a haughty spirit of aloofness, which refuses wise correction in love, and it's doomed to destruction. Turnbull. When a man's spirit is thus rule, the sharp punishment of God is near. The leprosy even rose up in his forehead, and Uzziah hasted to go out of the temple. Pride is often associated with a certain swelling of the head, Turnbull said. Significantly, the diseased patch was localized here. Uzziah, who kept company with an Isaiah and a Zechariah, was brought low in judgment through the pride of life. You know, one of the things that I've noticed here lately, I never really paid much attention to it, until one day I was reading in the requirements for the elders. This is the pastors, the leaders in the church. There were two things here that I really never paid much attention to, but he's not to be a novice. Elder is the term that talks about an older man, even. Not to be a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. The pride of the devil, the condemnation of the devil. A deadly, devastating thing. You know, my friend, you may be listening today, and you may think you're saved, or you may know you're not saved, but the point is this, who are you trusting to get you to heaven? Who are you trusting to be your savior? If you have any other answer than the blood of Jesus Christ, then you may be trusting yourself. You may be deceived, thinking, well, because you walked the aisle, because you prayed a prayer, you were saved, because you was baptized, you were saved. No, you have been set up by Satan. I was talking with a young man this morning about this area, how most of the people that are not saved think they're saved because of something that they have done. That God looks with favor upon them. And actually what we've done is we've received thoughts, probably from Satan, telling us that you're pretty good, your good deeds are going to outweigh your bad deeds, and God's gonna let you into heaven. That's not even the issue, your good deeds and your bad deeds. The issue is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He was buried, and he rose again the third day. He died on the cross in your place, in my place, and who are you going to trust to get you to heaven? What he did on the cross, or what you're trying to do for yourself? When you come to the point to see yourself that you are vile, like Job, he came to the point, he said, I am vile, and you see that you can't save yourself. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. If we get what we are working for, it's going to be death. Eternal separation from God and hell. That's what our payday is. That's what we deserve. The wages of sin is death, but God has another plan. It's either your plan or God's plan. Your plan is going to get you to hell. My plan would have got me to hell. That's where I was going. Do you want God's plan? God's plan is this. He says, listen, you deserve hell. You do not deserve to be in my presence one second. You deserve hell. That's what God basically has given to us. This is the message from from the scriptures. Jesus Christ taught about hell, but he says, listen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Believeth in him. Who do you believe in? Yourself or Jesus? Well, I'd like to share with you a little song about my Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry. Everything to God in prayer. Everything to God in prayer. A friend like Jesus, oh what bliss that one so weak as I should ever have. A friend like this to lead me to the sky Friendship with Jesus Fellowship divine Oh, what blessed sweet communion Jesus is a friend of mine A friend when other friendships cease A friend when others fail A friend who gives me joy and peace A friend who will prevail Friendship with Jesus Fellowship divine Oh, what blessed sweet communion Jesus is a friend of mine Friendship with Jesus Fellowship divine Oh, what blessed sweet communion Jesus is a friend of mine What a friend we have in Jesus