Pride

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. So, how many of you would say you've got a problem with pride? Maybe you're not sure you have a problem with pride. Go ahead and raise your hands. You've got a problem with pride? You're not sure you've got a problem with pride? Well, let me tell you, if you're not sure you have a problem with pride, you have a problem with pride, and you're in danger, and you don't even know it. And then I saw a bunch of people didn't have their hands up. You already know you're too prideful to put your hands up. You already know you've got a problem with pride. And pride is unique. It's international. It's in every country in the world, and there's a word in every language in every country for pride. And pride doesn't discriminate. It doesn't know any social or economic boundaries. It's at every level of society you will find pride. At some level or another, we all seem to struggle with pride. Just pride at its basic level. Let's reduce it down. Forget the Webster Dictionary and all that. We're going to reduce it down, bring it down to really simple terms. Pride is just simply putting ourselves over and above others and denying our need for Jesus. That's all it is. We're going to just bring it to a basic level. It's putting ourselves above others. It's about me, myself, and I. It's about puffing myself up, making me look better than everybody else and more important. Because, you know, when you're perfect in every way, it is hard to be humble. It really is, you know. And I can tell you, pride is incredibly hard to detect. It's incredibly destructive. But what does God have to say? What does Yahweh, the Lord, the Messiah, what does he say about pride? What is it? From Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 2. Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. In Proverbs 16, 18, pride precedes a disaster and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall. Well, if you're one of the people that just seems to struggle with pride, I want to tell you you're in great company. Because there's a lot of folks in the Bible that struggled with pride. Take, for instance, King Amaziah, King of Judah, one of the good kings, from 2 Chronicles, chapter 25. I'm going to read the entire 27 or so verses of that, just to kind of give you a little bit of information. And then we're going to start pulling this apart. It says, Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign and reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoadam of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart. And as soon as the royal power was firmly his, he killed his servants who had struck down the king, his father. But he did not put to death their children. According to what was written in the law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commands, fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin. Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by father's houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds. For all Judah and Benjamin, he mustered those 20 years old and upward and found that there were 300,000 choice men fit for war, able to handle a spear and a shield. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. But a man of God came to him and said, O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you. For the Lord is not with Israel with all these Ephraimites, but go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down. And Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel? The man of God answered, the Lord is able to give you much more than this. Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger. But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the valley of salt and struck down 10,000 men of seer. The men of Judah captured another 10,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock and they were dashed to pieces. But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with him to battle, raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Haran and struck down 3,000 people in them and took much spoil. After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he sought the gods of the men of seer and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offering to them. Therefore, the Lord was angry with Amaziah and sent him a prophet who said to him, why should you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand? But as he was speaking, the king said to him, have we made you a royal counselor? Stop. Why should you be struck ...