(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so we're here in 1 Samuel chapter 10. We see the anointing of the first king of Israel, King Saul. So this evening we're going to be concluding our Sins of the Heart series. We've talked about bitterness, we've talked about envy, and tonight we're going to talk about the last topic in that sermon series. But first of all, just let me recap, you know, Sins of the Heart, the reason that this sermon series is important is because even though you have issues with your heart, even though you have these sins that are in your heart, we saw in the previous two sermons that those will come out in your actions, they will damage people around you, they will damage yourself. Tonight we're going to talk about the most serious, I think, sin of the heart, especially to yourself personally, and that is the sin of pride, the sin of pride. In 1 Samuel chapter 10, what we're going to do tonight is we're going to look at the life of Saul briefly, and then we're going to apply how that, you know, apply that to our lives and see what we can learn from some of the things and some of the missteps that Saul had in his life. If you look down at 1 Samuel chapter 10, we see Saul, this is the chapter where Saul is anointed by Samuel. He's anointed, and you can see that Saul is a very different person at the beginning of his reign than he was at the end of his reign, and we'll take a look at that tonight, but if you look down at 1 Samuel chapter 10, let's just recap verse number 21 through 27 just real quickly, and the Bible says this, it says, When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come nearby their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken, and when they sought him he could not be found. So this is, Saul has already been anointed, and he's already listened to the direction of Samuel, and at this point, Saul is being presented to the people, all the people were gathered together to see their new king, and in verse 22 it says, Therefore, and they couldn't find him, it says, therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet should come yet hither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he had hid himself amongst the stuff. So Saul was hiding. He didn't want to come out, and the Bible says in verse 23, And they ran and fetched him thence, and when he stood amongst the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See him, ye whom the Lord had chosen, that there is none like him among all the people, and all the people shouted and said, God save the king. Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. And Samuel went home to Gibeah, and there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched. But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought no presents, but he held his peace. So the Bible says here that there were certain, number one, Saul at the beginning, he was very shy, he didn't want to come out and be this great leader, he didn't want to come out and just lord over the people. He was so shy that he actually hid from this moment, alright, and he came out, and he was head and shoulders above the people, and all the people, you know, gave him praise, and they're like, that looks like a king, they said. And even with the people that, you know, were, Saul was not even against the people that were not for him at the beginning of his reign, alright. So look, turn to 1 Samuel 15, and we see that Saul had humble beginnings, is the point I'm trying to make here. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15, and let's look at, you know, when Saul's, you know, his pride is starting to take over in his life. So in 1 Samuel 15, this is of course the story where, you know, God tells Saul to go and just destroy the Amicalites. He is supposed to utterly destroy them, kill everything, man, woman, child, all the animals, everything. And of course, Saul doesn't do it, he keeps the best of the livestock for himself, and the people, you know, keep the best of the livestock, and then Saul also keeps King Agag alive. Samuel then rebukes Saul in verse number 17, and he does it in a very interesting way, he actually references the beginnings of Saul when he rebukes him for this sin, and he says in verse number 17, and Samuel said, when thou wast little in thine own sight, what's thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel. So of course, Samuel goes and he rebukes Saul, and Saul then blames the people, and he doesn't take responsibility for what he did. Remember he said, I did obey, I did obey the commandment of the Lord, and it was the people that wanted to keep all the livestock, and he diverts blame, that's very important here, alright? Saul got prideful later in his reign. Now, you would have thought that he would have been more obedient because Saul was actually on thin ice already. Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 13. He had already once been rebuked by Samuel for doing something seriously wrong, and in 1 Samuel chapter 13, the story is that the Philistines had invaded, and Saul, all the people were afraid, okay? And Saul wanted to, you know, he was waiting for Samuel to get there, and Samuel was supposed to come there and sacrifice, and you know, put God's blessing on the battle, but Samuel was late. He didn't show up when he was supposed to show up. Look down at 1 Samuel chapter 13 and verse number 8. So the point I'm trying to make here is by the time that Saul had already gotten rebuked for the Amicalites and not utterly destroying them, when Samuel just basically takes the kingdom away from him, he was already on thin ice already, alright? He had a couple strikes against him already. Look at verse number 8 in 1 Samuel chapter 13, and the Bible says, oh by the way, look at, if you're in 1 Samuel 13, this has nothing to do with the sermon, but I just find this funny. 1 Samuel 13 chapter 1, this is one of the most controversial verses in the entire Bible. Did you know that? Because all these other Bible versions, let's read it together. Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, then verse 2, Saul chose him 3,000 men, so the Bible says he reigned one year, and then when he had reigned two years, he went and did these things, okay? Now, not that hard to understand, but there's all kinds of different Bible versions that say Saul was one year old, Saul was a child of one, and all this kind of stuff where they just completely messed this up, Saul was 30, and then it says he reigned, you know, it's, you know, but if you have a King James Bible, there's no issue, is the point, okay? So you know, they're all, it's a translation error in the Bible, but you have a King James Bible, there's no error, there's no contradiction, nothing. Saul reigned one year, and when two years, when he had reigned two years, these things happened. Okay, look at verse number 8. And he tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, so Saul's waiting for Samuel before this battle, Samuel's supposed to be there to do the sacrifice, give the blessing of God on the battle, and Saul said, bring, so he's not there, and Saul says, bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings, and he offered the burnt offering. So Saul just went ahead and decided, he's not there, I'm just going to go ahead and do it myself. Alright? And it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of the offering of the burnt offering, behold Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him that he might salute him. And Samuel said, what hast thou done? And Saul says, because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou came is not within the days appointed. He blames Samuel, right? He says, look, the people were scattered, again, he blames the people, and then he blames, you know, the man of God. And thou came not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord, I force myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said unto Saul, thou hast done foolishly, thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. Keep your place there in verse 13. Look at verse 14. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept the commandment which the Lord had commanded thee. So really, this is where, you know, Saul really gets fired right here, all right? But look at verse number 13. This is interesting. Look at the last part of verse number 13. For now, so Samuel is rebuking Saul for this, and he says, for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. So let me ask you something. What did God do for David? This was the promise that God gave to David, that his kingdom would be established forever. So look, when Saul was king, this job was open. The job of having, God was looking for a king to establish his kingdom up to the Messiah, you know, that's how he would establish his kingdom forever, by basically he was looking for the king that would be of the line of the Messiah, of Jesus. That's what he was looking for. Saul got fired from the job because of his pride, because he would not follow the way, he thought his way was better, he never took responsibility, and he just, he lost the job. So the Lord, look, turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7. You'll see that David, you know, let's look at the part of the Bible where David gets the job. David gets this job. 2 Samuel chapter 7, here David was going to build the temple. David wanted to build the temple for the Lord, and of course you remember Nathan the prophet said, yeah, go ahead and do it. Then Nathan, you know, was given a vision by God, and God said, no, I don't want David to do it, I want his son to do it. Look at verse 13. Nathan is telling David that his son will build the temple and not him, and it says, he shall build a house for my name, this is talking about Solomon, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. God actually killed Saul, well he killed himself, but God sent the army that caused Saul's life to end, and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. So here we see David getting this role. David gets the role. Now think about this now. This is a little side note. Think of the differences between Saul and David. Did you ever think about, you know, why did God love David so much? I mean, look, it wasn't their sins. I mean, it wasn't that Saul just had so many more sins and so many more serious sins than David. Look, David committed some terrible sins. David had some terrible sins in his life. And even, look, the difference is, is that David was humble. David had a humble heart towards the Lord. Look, even after David's child was killed in, you know, in punishment, in chastisement for what he did to Uriah the Hittite and with Uriah's wife, David never charged God for that. David just, he repented, he said he was sorry, he confessed his sins, and he just moves on. He gets right right away. Saul never thought he deserved the punishment that came to him. He never thought. Even when Saul rebuked him for the sacrifice, when Samuel rebuked him for the sacrifice, when Samuel rebuked him for, you know, not following the command that God gave him with Agag the king and the Amicalites, he never took responsibility. He never acknowledged that he deserved what was coming his way. That is the difference. And that is why God ended the reign of Saul and his family. He cut off Saul's family too. You remember who, I mean, his sons died with him. His sons died with him. All right, so look, the second, the third point is this, the, what are the end results of pride? Turn to Proverbs chapter 26. I mean, with Saul's life, it's clear. The end results of pride is disaster. Look at Proverbs 26 and verse number 12. The Bible says this, it says, see as now a man wise in his own conceit, there is more hope of a fool than of him. So the Bible says, look, it says once you have become prideful, that the Bible says that there is fading hope for you once you have become prideful. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 20. The Bible says that you will become blind. You will not know it. You will not know what's happening to you. Let's look at Saul. You will even refuse counsel, the Bible says. Even when people try to tell you, if this pride takes too big of a hold on you or gets too big of a hold on you, look, you won't even listen to counsel. And let's look at Saul. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse number 25. Saul goes on this rampage and he knows that he's lost the kingdom and he's going and he's trying to kill David and he's trying to, he's tried to kill David a couple times, he threw a javelin at him and all this kind of stuff. But look at what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 20 when somebody tries to give him wise counsel. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 25. And the king sat upon his seat, this is Saul, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and Abner sat by Saul's side. And David's place was empty, David ran away. Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day, for he thought something hath befallen him, he is not clean, surely he is not clean. And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. He still wasn't back. And Saul said unto Jonathan his son, so remember, Jonathan and David were very close friends. And Saul said unto Jonathan his son, wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet, neither yesterday nor today? He's saying, where's David? Verse 28. And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother he hath committed me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. So Jonathan is covering for David. But look at verse number 30. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse and rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. And listen to this. Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? He's saying to his dad, he's saying to the king, his own father, he's saying, look, he's not done anything. What are you doing? He's saying, why are you doing this? And this is how Saul reacts. And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan tries to snap some sense into his dad here, and give him some counsel saying, hey, you know, David hasn't done anything wrong. What are you doing? Maybe this is not the direction you should be going, and his dad, the king, tries to kill him. He tries to kill his own son. Now let me ask you this. How many more people do you think would try to counsel Saul with godly advice after this incident? When somebody comes in and tries to give you godly counsel, and stop you from doing something wicked, and you try to murder them, and they are, you know, the closest person in the world to you. I mean, think of it this way. Say I had, you know, like a best friend, and I was really messing up something in my life, and this best friend came to me, and this best friend, you know, he worked for me. He worked at my company or something, and this best friend came and said, hey, I don't think that you should be taking these steps in your life. I think it's going to be a disaster for you or whatever, and I literally, I just fire him, and then I ruin his life, and I take away his retirement, and I just ruin him, and I just crush this person that tried to give me that advice. How many more people do you think in my life are going to step forward and try to get me to do the right thing? Probably not that many, because look, that guy was the closest person to me. He was the person that I supposedly cared the most about. That was Jonathan. This was his own son. So Saul at this point was not going to get much wise counsel at this point, and this ultimately, this downward spiral cost Saul his life in the end. Look at Proverbs chapter 16, or just pull your bulletin out. It's the verse of the week. The verse of the week on your bulletin says, pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before a fall, and that's what happened to Saul. He got prideful, and it led to his literal destruction, and the destruction of not only him, but the destruction of his family, and it led to Jonathan's life being lost too, which is sad. Now, look, turn to James chapter 4. How can we apply this to our lives? So we know that Saul got prideful. We know that he wouldn't listen to counsel. We know that people tried to counsel him. Samuel tried to counsel him. Samuel tried to show his sin to him. His own son tried to counsel him, and he just wouldn't take any of it, and his pride eventually destroyed him. But let's just look at some lessons in our life that we can use so this doesn't happen to us. All right? Look at James chapter 4 in verse number 6, and the Bible says this, it says, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. The first point is this, turn to Isaiah 23. The first point is this, pride will cause God to oppose you. Your pride will literally cause God to oppose you. Go to Isaiah 23, and while you're there, I'm going to read for you Isaiah chapter 2, where the Bible says in verse 12, for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. In Isaiah 23 in verse 9, the Bible says, the Lord of hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. Look, God is going to bring down the prideful, the Bible says. And look, in James chapter 4 it says God resisteth the proud. And I don't know about you, but you know, I need the Lord on my side. I want the Lord on my side. I mean, have you ever, I mean, haven't you had those times in your life where it seems like you're doing all the right motions, but things just aren't happening? Things just aren't happening. You know, maybe, you know, we need to check our pride in those types of situations. You know, because God will resist, look, if God is resisting you, you will go nowhere if God is opposed to you. The second thing is this, turn to Proverbs 13, and this is the scariest part, is this. Pride will blind you. Pride will blind you. Saul, think of Saul, he would heed no advice. He was at a position in his life where he would heed no counsel. Look at Proverbs 13, look at verse number 10. The Bible says only by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised is wisdom. So here we're seeing in Proverbs, we're seeing one side of the coin, but with the other side of the coin, we see the other statement, and he says by pride cometh contention, but the other side of that is the well advised is wisdom. So the Bible says that if you're well advised, you're wise. But the opposite side of that coin is being proud. Why? Because you won't listen to advice if you're proud. That's why. That's what Proverbs 13, 10 means. It means you will be blinded to all wise advice when you're proud. Sounds like you shouldn't be proud. Who in the world would want to be blinded to all wise advice? And if you are, you know, in the midst of wise advice and you won't, I mean, how's it going to go for you if you won't listen to any of that? So you should take, look, you should take good advice, especially, you know, if you're in charge. They say a leader who refuses to listen will soon be surrounded by those who have nothing to say. Think of it. I doubt anyone was trying to give Saul wise counsel after he threw a javelin at his own son. And trust me, there will be plenty of flatterers still around after you're not taking wise counsel and there will be plenty of people around to just tell you what you want to hear. And that's, I'm sure, who Saul was surrounded by. These are the yes men. There will always be the yes men. They will always be there. Whenever you have a person in a position of power, there will always be the yes men. There will always be the men. They're just, you know, they will not warn you of your destruction. They will push you into it. These are the yes men. A prideful man doesn't need to be told, you know, what he, you know, he just, he just wants to be told what he wants to hear. That's what he wants to be told. That's who surrounded Saul after he threw the javelin at his son. It's these yes men. Look, pride, pride is like playing with a loaded gun. And these yes men that are around after you've refused all wise counsel, they're showing you how to load the gun and point it at your own head. I mean, these are the type of people. And they're always going to be there. The more powerful of a person you have, you will have these people just sidle up to that person constantly. They're never going to say anything to that person that would offend them or cause them to go against the course that their prideful heart is telling them to go in. So look, if you get yourself to that point, you're in serious trouble. So we need to guard against pride. Turn to Proverbs chapter 24, because it will blind you. It will blind you. Turn to Proverbs chapter 24. Pride is extra dangerous for young people. Pride is extra dangerous for young people. Second Timothy chapter 2 says, flee also youthful lusts. Here's the problem with being young, and especially, you know, being young and being Christian and you know, doing the right things, because guess what? You're going to go and you're going to do the right things in your life. And you know, things are going to go well for you. But here's what young people will do. Young people will go and they'll march forward in their Christian life, and they'll do the things that they're supposed to do. They'll figure some things out. They'll have some blessings put on their life, and then they'll peg the needle. They'll be like, I know everything. That's what young people will do. Seen it a million times. But Proverbs 24, 6 is your protection, young people. Proverbs 24, 6 is your protection. So you don't peg the needle, so you don't figure some things out. Look, it's great. If you're a young person and you're going through the motions in your Christian life and you're doing what the Bible says you should do, look, I mean, your life is going to be like, you're going to see those results. You're going to see those things happen. And I mean, maybe I shouldn't word it this way, but I've told some of you that, hey, I'm proud of you. But I mean, I should say more like, I'm happy with the direction that you're heading, is probably a better way to say it. But young people tend to peg the needle. They're like, oh, I figured this out. I know everything. And they get a big head, and then guess what? They stop listening to counsel. And they start getting blinded. But look at Proverbs 24, 6. So young people, this is your protection. This is your protection. Proverbs 24, 6 says, for by wise counsel, thou shalt make thy war. You say, I'm not going to war, but just listen to this part. And in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. So as you are in a church of godly, older, especially wiser people that maybe have figured out a few other things, just remember that in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. So if you ever get to the point where you're 18, 19 years old, and you're like, I've got everything figured out, and there's a 45-year-old man who's in the church. I'm not talking about me or 50-year-old man or whatever who's a godly man who has raised a family, and he's telling you, hey, you know, brother, I don't think that's such a good idea. And you're just like, bah, what does he know? You might have a problem. You might have a problem. Because look, God has given you these counselors for your safety, for your safety. So take that. Use that. It's a tool for you. Remember this in your youth. Safety and wise counsel around you. And the third thing is this. Pride. We saw pride goeth before destruction. Pride as we saw with Saul will, if not kept under control and not gotten rid of, pride will destroy you. Pride will destroy you. You know, I was thinking about it, and I was like, you know, it's like when you think about the way it worked for Saul, and you think about what the Proverbs say about it, it's kind of a perfect storm. Pride. You think about it. It's kind of a perfect storm. You know, there was a book called The Perfect Storm many, many years ago, I think in the mid-90s or something. I think it turned into a movie. But look, let me just read you a snippet of what this perfect storm was actually. Oh, it was 1991. On October 30, 1991, Hurricane Grace formed near Bermuda and made its way north on the southeastern coast of the United States. So here you had this hurricane heading up the eastern seaboard, this big hurricane. And a low pressure system at the same time intersected it from the north, coming from Canada. So here you had this huge hurricane making its way up the eastern seaboard, and it ran into this big low pressure system, and they collided. They say there was 100-foot waves, that it was the perfect storm. And it killed a bunch of fishermen, and it kind of became a story. But basically, there's a reason that if you see a lot of ships or boats, they have a barometer on it. It's because a low pressure system is typically a warning. If you see the barometer drop and the pressure drop, it means that there's a storm coming or there's rain coming. Because the low pressure, it causes winds and rains and storms. So when this low pressure system hit this hurricane, it increased the power of the hurricane. There was this massive storm, and it caused flooding and all kinds of damage everywhere. Think of 100-foot waves. That's pretty crazy. But look, pride kind of reminds me of that story. And you say, why? It's because certain things happen in your life, and when these things collide together, it turns into this major storm, basically. You start out, and you have some success. Think of that. It starts out, you have some success in your life, and you get lifted up. You get a little lifted up because you're having some success in your life, and maybe you don't notice that you got lifted up. You become blinded. There's your hurricane right there. You've had some success. You're blinded, you're lifted up, you think you're great, and that's your hurricane. And then, here's your low pressure system right here. God gives you counsel to fix that problem. God has given you counsel in your life. He's given you parents. He's given you brothers and sisters in Christ to edify you, to lift you up, to give you wise counsel, to provide that safety for you. So here you had the hurricane in your life. You started marching this Christian life and doing things right and getting things going, and all of a sudden, God opens some doors for you, and things start going your way because God's making things happen for you, and all of a sudden, you get puffed, you get your head started. And then somebody comes, and they tell you that, hey, brother, I think that you need to do this, and you're not going in the right direction here. And they kind of try to deflate you a little bit, and you push away that counsel. There's your low pressure system right there. And now, once you've forsaken that counsel, you get more prideful. You will do things that you will not see as wrong. It's scary. I've seen it happen. You see people do things, and you're like, how do they not know that that's wrong? It's pride. That's why. They get puffed up, and they have either shunned counsel, or they've already gotten to the point where they've thrown the javelin at their son, you know, proverbially, and no one would even dare to give them counsel. That's a bad place to be. And eventually, your perfect storm is God turning against you. When those two things combine, God will resist you. And look, if God is against you, you're done. I mean, you are done. I don't care what kind of moves you make. I don't care how hard you work. You are done. Things just won't work out, because God's going to bring you low. It's God's turn to take over. You know, think of that wise counsel as kind of a safety net for you before God takes things into his own hands, basically. What did God do with Saul? God finally, with Saul, said, you know what, my safety net, Saul, or Samuel, can't fix it. It's like, I just got to do it myself. And he's just done. You have no chance. So you say, all right, you convinced me. I don't want to be prideful. So how can you stay humble? Turn to James chapter 4. Two simple steps. I'll give you two simple steps to stay humble. You say, you've convinced me. I don't want to be prideful. I believe that if I'm prideful, that God will bring me low. God will resist me. It'll cause my destruction and the destruction of those around me. How do I stay humble? James chapter 4, look at verse number 10. I mean, because look, God's going to bring you down. I mean, who would want that? Who would want God to bring them down? But it's funny, because in James chapter 4 and verse number 10, the Bible says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall what? He shall lift you up. That's the difference between David and Saul, right there. One was lifted up. One was brought down. It had nothing to do with their sin. They both committed terrible sins. They both did terrible things. So flip back at James chapter 1. I'm going to give you two simple steps. I mean, look, you say, I'm great, Brother Jared. You say, I'm just great at everything that I do. I mean, okay, so I'm going to help you, all right? Look, we're at the…I mean, is there anything wrong with being great at everything that I do? I'm going to help you. We're at the gun range the other day, and the guy at the gun range, he always says this one thing. Whenever you leave, he's like, stay safe and stay awesome, bro. That's what the guy always says. And I just turned to Brother George, and I'm like, well, you know, I got the awesome thing, I mean, for years, you know? I'm just joking. But I mean, the guy's like, he's like, stay awesome, bro. But you say, I'm awesome. I'm good. Is it bad that I'm good at my job? Is it bad that I'm good at the things that I do? Is it bad that I work hard? Is it bad that I do things well? Look at James chapter 1 and verse 17. No, it's not bad. This is all you have to remember right here. The Bible says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Look, everything comes from the Lord. That's all you have to remember. Every idea that you've ever had comes from the Lord. Every door that has ever been opened for you comes from the Lord. Your ability to get up and go to work every day. Your ability to get up and go teach your children every day comes from the Lord. That's what you have to remember. Look, if it's good, it came from God. I mean, isn't that what it says? Every good gift and every perfect gift. So go out and be awesome. But whatever comes from that comes from God. And you know what? The fact that you are awesome came from God, too. The fact that you can have a work ethic, that came from God, too. God probably gave you a dad or gave you somebody that taught you that. Every good gift came from God. That's all you have to remember. Hey, be awesome, but just remember that. Just remember that. Turn to Matthew chapter 6, and look, if it's good, it came from God, and guess what? He can take it just as easily as He gave it. Look at Job, just in one day. God can take it all away from you just like that. He can bring you down just like that. Look at Matthew chapter 6. The second point is this. Just remember. So the first point is that everything comes from God. That's all you have to remember. Be good at your job. Be a good parent. Be a good mother. Be a good teacher. Be good. Do what the Bible says, and be good at it. But everything that comes from that, and your ability to even do that, comes from God. That's point number one. Matthew chapter 6, the second point is this. Look at Matthew 6 and verse number 31. The Bible says, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Here's the second thing. The only thing that you are guaranteed from the Lord is food and clothing. That's it. That's it. You say, What? Yes. All you are guaranteed is something that you won't starve to death, and that you basically won't freeze to death. And you know, you're not going to freeze to death in California. So realize and constantly remind yourself that you deserve nothing. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. Look at verse number 8. The Bible says, Having food and raiment, let us be there with content. The reason that Paul says that is because, look, he says food and raiment. Do you think that's an accident? The reason that he said be content with food and clothing is because that's the only thing you're guaranteed. That's the only thing God says that I will provide for you no matter what. That's the only thing. So Paul says, which is smart advice, he's saying, Hey, since God only promises you those two things, learn to be content with only those two things, and you're going to be fine in your life. You are not guaranteed anything else. Anything else is extra. Anything else is a blessing. Don't go around thinking that because you're so great, you deserve all these different things. Anything else is a blessing from God, period. It's from the Lord, and by the way, it's from the Lord, not you. You're like, wow, you know, I got a promotion. Well, thank God. It's a blessing. If you do what you're supposed to do, you know, God will bless your efforts. That's what you should think. You get something good that happens to you and you're like, hey, God's blessed my efforts. Thank God that he did that. That's it. That's it. Look, folks, it's really all about perspective. I mean, staying humble is all about how good you are at keeping your heart with the proper perspective. Say you have, for the guys, say you have a situation at work and there's people always leaving early and they're always calling in sick. By the way, if you're a Christian person, you should never call in sick when you're not sick, by the way. Too many people do that as becoming normal, too. But look, you say, you know, there's just everyone leaves early and writes down eight on their time card no matter what. It's just a culture here. You know, I'm just the best employee here and everybody else is a loser. That's one perspective. Or how about this perspective? Just thank God for your job. Thank the Lord for your job. And you know what? Thank the Lord for canaries in the coal mine at your job. That's how I look at that. I thank God for a job, especially in times like this. I thank God that He's protected jobs and He's protected my job and He's protected other people's jobs. I thank God for that. And you know, as far as the other people, I just kind of look at that like, you know, they're canaries in the coal mine. When tough times come, they're the first ones that go. It doesn't affect me. But just thank God for what God's given you. It shouldn't affect you what other people do. Same thing for the ladies, right? You say, the kids, you say, I'm raising my kids, and I'm going to church, and I'm listening to what the Bible says, and I'm reading my Bible, and I'm learning, and then I'm doing these things with my kids. My kids are awesome. And I mean, I mean, look at these kids. I mean, like everybody else, losers. No, you'll meet these people. Like, you know, they got great kids. Because guess what? They follow God's word. And they're like, you know what, if you'd follow God's word, you'd have awesome kids too, loser. You know, look at these kids. There's one perspective. There's one perspective. Or how about this? Or how about this? Praise God that I was able to do what the Bible said, that, you know, God opened my eyes to what I was supposed to do with my kids, and praise God that He kept the promise that He gave me that said, if I do these things, that they will not turn astray. And that if I train them in the way that they should go, that they'll not depart from it. Praise God for His promises. You know, praise God. You know, I mean, look, men and women in general, you know, how about this one? Praise God that God, because guess what? No matter how awesome of a parent you are, I bet you you've made mistakes. I bet you you're not a perfect parent. Thank God that He's merciful. Thank God. And guess what? Guess what the Bible says other places. If you're merciful to other people, God will be merciful to you. And look, in parenting, I need God to be merciful to me. And if you're just this ultra just prideful, stomping others, and constantly pushing people down for not doing it exactly the way you did it, or even even just having a hard heart towards, you know, just beating people over the head with, you know, Bible verses on raising kids or whatever it is, and you just have no mercy to people, guess what? God's not going to have mercy for you either. So have some proper perspective. You know, stay humble. Listen to wise counsel. Keep that humble perspective. You know, when you start getting lifted up, right away, just fix your perspective. It's that simple. But you're not guaranteed anything except food and clothing. And before it turns into this, this pride snowball rolling down a hill that just that no one can stop. You know how snowballs end up, you know, they roll down a hill, they hit a tree, and they explode. They hit a wall, and they get destroyed. So look, you just got to guard yourself against this pride because if you let it go, it'll ruin you. And you'll take, look, Saul didn't just ruin himself. He ruined his family. God didn't just take the kingdom away from him. He took the kingdom away from his entire family, and he gave it to another. Pride, very dangerous. Guard yourself for it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. I thank you that you would allow us to come again to church on Sunday, Lord. I just really appreciate these Sundays that we have, Lord, and I thank you that we're just able to get together, to fellowship, to soul win, to have church. I ask that you just continue to keep your hand on this church and that you just take care of and just bless everybody that's been faithful to you through all of this, Lord, and that just continues to serve you no matter what comes our way. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.