A Beastly Sin from Within

We've all heard tales of legendary beasts and monsters that lurk in the shadows of the cultural fringe, folklore, and mythology. However, there is a beastly sin that lurks within all of us. Some believe that this sin is the root from which all other sins grow out of and bloom. What is this sin? What does God desire to form in its place and how does He go about this transforming work in our lives? Do we have a part in this metamorphic? All these questions are answered in this sermon from Daniel 4!

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

right good morning as the kids are heading out we're going to jump right on in uh Daniel chapter 4 this morning is where we're going to be as we continue our study through the Book of Daniel and as you're finding your place there on your device or in the pages of your Bible um I just want to make a a quick announcement uh we were able one thank you for those who were able to uh provide items this week uh it was a short notice and short collection of Tuesday through Thursday this week for uh relief items for um the Western North Carolina Mountains uh we were able to deliver those uh to Pleasant Garden Baptist on Friday uh Pleasant Garden is one of the uh three drop off hubs in the Pont Baptist Association uh the group of churches that work together and uh also um if you didn't have an opportunity to give and you want to give here are some ways that you can continue to give one you can give directly to baptist on missions um uh at their website it Baptist on mission.org you can give directly to the calls there if that's not what you want to do and you want to give to the church and we can send that off to them directly that's fine too if you're writing a check just put uh boom Baptist on Mission in the memo or if you're doing cash when you put it in the envelope do the same thing uh just Mark that for us so we know where to go secondly uh it's going to be an ongoing collection the response and Ministry in light of This Disaster is both a Sprint and a marathon and so we're going to continue to take up items uh this week and we'll have the trailer here next Sunday as well we'll park it out front next Sunday morning and uh the list of items are in the back on the blue table as you go out uh a couple of changes uh from the list uh from the one previously sent out this week that we collected there are some additions to that uh they're looking for rubber boots uh for donation uh any kind of safety equipment uh PPE kind of material that kind of thing but rubber boots baaby baby clothing uh they're not taking clothing as of yet we're trying to focus on like the physical needs as far as food and uh and water and different things but if you've got baby clothes they're in desperate need of baby items uh if you can imagine and then adult diapers as well uh is a is a need so uh that's an addition to the list that we sent out last week thirdly uh we're going to put boots on the ground um uh both here in the near future and in the distant future this is going to be a long time of recovery uh for the churches and the people in the area and so we're going to uh partner along with Baptist on missions uh with that and uh with that being said if you would be interested in going and taking a trip to the mountains uh to serve um for a week a few days um in a range of capacities everything from working one of the temporary food kitchens they've got set up uh they're they're supplying 40,000 meals a day out of the six Supply kitchens I believe that we've got set up right now um in the mountains uh to clear and debris fre mudding out uh you name it there there's a need for it and so if you'd be interested in taking the trip eventually it don't have to be like one coming up uh but eventually if you'll just kind of meet me down here up front um after we uh finish worship uh this morning and uh just so I can get some faces and and in list and that way I can keep you up to date on possible opportunities coming up and uh so with that being said uh let's uh let's dive into um the word this morning but before we do let's pray daddy again we uh that last song uh is so fitting for us this morning um Lord that um our prayer might be that of John the Baptist that you must increase and we must decrease that there must be less of us and more of you uh Lord so that we could uh draw nearer to you so that we become more like Christ and uh Lord so that we may experience your uh just your presence in in real ways in our day-to-day lives father I pray that you would um anoint the teaching and preaching of your word both in here and upstairs and in the prek room as well uh we pray that your spirit would do his work in our lives through your word Lord help me to be I'm obedient um this morning and uh clear and uh may you receive glory for it and it's in Christ's name we pray amen as we dive into Daniel chapter 4 and it just so happened to be October but as I studied uh Daniel chapter 4 the first thing that come to my mind was werewolves I know my brain works a little bit differently but I was thinking about werewolves as I as I was going through D Daniel chapter 4 because here in just a little bit we're going to see a transformation of a king and we're going to see his transformation take place in many different ways but one of them will be is that he loses his mind and that he has given the mind of a beast and it really reminds you of something out of a Halloween movie that he's that he's out in the woods and and that he looks kind of ravaging and beastly and in fact that's what the text describes but when we talk about where was and we kind of know it from pop culture and different things like that it's this idea that that normal human beings can transform or morph into a wolflike beast and and cause a lot of damage and murders all right and it's been around for a long time this is not nothing new in our modern day culture in fact uh when we look at the Babylonians uh they believe that the goddess ishar turned a Shepherd into a wolf uh way back when about 2100 BC this is not something new within our culture the Greeks and their mythology and and even in um in the Nordic mythology there's these these Legends and ideas as well as we drive through history more modern history we come to many of them in England and in Europe and there was a lot of of Hysteria concerning around concerning werewolves around this time especially in Germany there's one such case in Germany we've probably got the most infamous person this Infamous man uh who CLA to be a werewolf all right so probably the the biggest well-known werewolf legend story of the time and it was by a wealthy farmer his name was Peter St stubs or probably Stu right probably going French or German that kind of area but but this was the most infamous werewolf story that we've got in history it was believed that he would go and transform he had a special belt and this belt would cause him to morph into a werewolf creature that would murder animals and men and women and children alike and it was rumored around for a long time but then some some Hunters claim to have seen him shape shift into this werewolf he was arrested and he was put on well first he was arrested then he was tortured and from the torture he admitted that he could turn into a werewolf have these beastly Powers when he wanted to and he confessed to probably a lot of crimes that he did not commit the result of this confession was he was burnt alive this was the way that they got rid of werewolves in the day this was one of the ways that was efficient to them all right and so they burn him alive the belt that he claimed to have was never found we fast forward to today uh we're probably not too worried about werewolves we're probably not worried about getting bit or scratched by a dog or a wolf and therefore changing the rest of our lives we're probably not worried about that kind of thing however there is a a creature a beastly sin that lives within each one of us and it doesn't take contact with a rabbit animal or a full moon to cause this beastly sin to raise this ugly head and transform us from the inside out it looks in the shadows of our hearts just like a Transformed Beast would wait in the woods for its prey and this sin is pride and truth be told we all struggle with it what is pride if Pride had a bumper sticker I can't help it this is how my mind thought this week we've all seen those bumper stickers that has the letters he and all capital with the greater sign with the lowercase ey he is greater than I these are I am second bum bumper stickers but if Pride had a bumper sticker it wouldn't look like this it would look like this he would be an all lowerer case representing God and I would be greater than he my goals more important than his goals my desires more fulfilling than his desires my ways higher than his ways in other words pride is an overemphasis of ourselves when we look at this bumper sticker we understand the two greatest Commandments love the Lord Our God supremely with all of our heart soul mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves but when we're acting pridefully and arrogantly is this that my love for your self is greater than my love for God and my love for myself is greater than my love for others it's arrogance it believes that we're self-sufficient that we are self-made people that we have what we have because we have worked for it and we have earned it forgetting that the only reason that we have the capability or the talents or the know how to do what we do to to make a living and to have the things that we have come from the Creator himself and that he sustains our very life and our very breath so Pride believes that we are self-sufficient when we are not it leads us to believe that we do not need God in certain areas of Our Lives that'd be hard for us to say out loud wouldn't it one of the telltale signs that we can know what areas that we have pride in are the ones that we are prayerless in the areas of Our Lives that we are prayerless in shows the areas in which we are prideful in because we think we can do it on our own and in our own strength pride is the root from which all other sins take root and grow from we see it in the book of Isaiah where Lucifer decides that he is going to ascend that he is going to be like the most high and it is in this pride in which the Lord humbles him by casting him out of Heaven it is pride in the Garden of Eden it's not the temptation to eat a certain fruit there's plenty of fruit to go around in the Garden of Eden but the line that Satan feeds Eve is that you will have your eyes open and you will be like God there was something attractive of being God of life or being like him so we see that pride is the root of all of our sin so what does this Beast of Pride the sin of Pride look like in our lives because we can talk about it and we can e very easily may I add pridefully say I don't struggle with pride but yet this is how it demonstrates in our lives and these characteristics may be true with somebody you know and if we're honest maybe true of ourselves as well one is prayerlessness again because that shows our independence our belief that we don't need God we're always talking about ourselves we feel like that we are entitled that we deserve to be number one in all areas of life we might be dealing with pride if we feel like we've got to be the center of attention and that we need everybody's approval we're prideful if we love important people in places places of prominence if we're not willing to serve others in the most minute task when it's hard to celebrate with others when good things happen to them or through their successes we may be struggling with pride if we've got broken relationships with others if we're unforgiving of others if we have a hard time admitting when we make a mistake or when we mess up or asking for forgiveness from others this is what the pride looks like in our lives as it manifests itself from the inside out and it's say start contrast to God's purpose and his plans and his goals for us as his people the enemy wants us to be proudful he wants us to be arrogant and yet God calls us to be humble and we see that most clearly explained in Philippians chapter 2 where we look at the example of Christ that though being equal with God he didn't he didn't see that as something to cling to to worry about losing and not something to grasp after not something to achieve but instead he humbled himself to the point of a lowly servant as as a slave even to the point of death on the cross and because he humbled himself God has exalted him and it's before him and at his name that every knee will bow and every tunen will confess that he alone is Lord and so we see here that these are things that we're pursuing this this humbleness is what we pursue and yet Pride stands in the way he desires this for his people why because God opposes the proud we think there's enough challenges in life as it is and and there are a lot of challenges things that we don't have any control over things that we don't ask for and yet a lot of times if we are acting in Pride we invite our heavenly father or the god of the world to be directly opposed against us to fight us he opposes the proud in fact Proverbs Chapter 6 tells us that this is a an Abomination to the lord it's one of the things that he hates it nauseates him but why does it make him sick to his stomach because he knows for us as his children what it leads to it leads to broken in our relationships that leads to divisions within his bodies of Believers it comes before a fall it causes us to reject wise wisdom and wise counsel and therefore make foolish decisions in living and then suffer the consequences of those decisions it brings us down low and it dishonors us and not only that it hinders God from being able to work in our lives both in his his Blessing and in his spirit so God will humble Us in fact if you want to summarize the main truth here in Daniel chapter 4 it's found in the very last verse of this chapter is that God will humble anyone he wants to he is able to Humble the proudest of Hearts so how do we go about this this should be our desire and because it's so harmful for us God will go about the the process of transforming us and breaking us and causing us to be humble in chapter four of Daniel we see how God humbles a person let's begin in verses 1 through3 we have a decree from the King King Nebuchadnezzar himself King Nebuchadnezzar sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world peace and prosperity to you I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the most high God has performed for me how great are his signs how powerful his wonders his kingdom will last forever and his rule through all generations verse three is a hym of Praise now this is in Star contrast of anything that we've seen behavior-wise of King Nebuchadnezzar so far in the Book of Daniel he has been the one who God has put over the nation of Babylon but he doesn't see it that way he is a self-made man we see that nations rise and fall just simply whether or not he puts his sights on them to conquer them or to let them continue to be we see that by his very command he is given the power to execute people when they can't live up to meet his needs we see that he is hungry for worship we see that he is hungry to be respected and honored as the leader of the nation and despite what God has shown him in chapter two that his kingdom is temporary and that his life is temporary we see him in in Daniel chapter 3 build a statue completely made of gold we didn't touch on this last week but I think there's a lesson in that in Daniel chapter 2 we see that the head of gold was the only the only part of the body of of gold in in in the dream in chapter two and then after that it was the arms and chest of silver the belly and thighs of bronze and then the legs of iron and the toes of iron and clay and yet in Daniel chapter 3 we see Nebuchadnezzar almost throw his fist up the middle finger up at Yahweh and chapter 3 and say I'm making a gold statue because the kingdom that I have built will not fade away regardless of who the Hebrews God thinks he is and so we've seen this prideful and arrogant King in the first three chapters but here we see a transformation has taken place this king is humbled and he has given praise to the Eternal God the one whose kingdom will go forever and ever the most high what has brought about this transformation how has God humbled this King it's the same way that he humbles us today let's di in the first thing that we begin to see here in verses four going all the way through Verse 18 is simply this that God begins the process of humbling Nebuchadnezzar by rocking his Peace of Mind by rocking his Peace of Mind in verse four he says I Nebuchadnezzar was living in my Palace in comfort and in prosperity but one night I I had a dream that frightened me I saw visions that terrified me as I lay in my bed so I issued an order calling in all the wise men of Babylon so they could tell me what my dream meant when all the magicians enchanters astrologers and fortune tellers came in I told them the dream but they could not tell me what it meant at last Daniel came in before me and I told him the dream his name was Bel shazar after my God and the spirit of the Holy Gods is in him now I want us to notice something real quick here is that Nebuchadnezzar is still working things out in his theology we see him praising the most high God in chapter in verses 1 through three of chapter 4 and yet he is still working out things in his current worldview remember Babylon is is as as a polytheist culture and religion uh there's a spirit of the most high gods in him as how he was viewing Daniel and so he was still working out his theology maybe even after writing this or it described his worldview you uh at the time of these circumstances playing out but in verse 9 I said to him belshazzar chief of the musicians I know that the spirit of the Holy Gods is in you and that no mystery is too great for you to solve now tell me what my dream means and then he goes on to explain the dream we won't take the time here but this dream has robbed him it has rocked his peace of mind and God does this when he begins to Humble us when we're prideful in an area of life when we refuse to acknowledge and repent from a sin if we refuse to to Humble ourselves and admit to our wives or our husbands that we were wrong in this area and ask for forgiveness if we are prideful in an area of life and we know about it God will begin to rock us of our peace of mind and he'll do so through the conviction of his holy spirit in 2 uh Corinthians chapter 7 we begin to see this t Place Paul upon writing his first letter to the Corinthians was was heavy-handed out of love he was calling out sin in their lives and the corrections that need to be made in 2 Corinthians chapter 7: 8-10 we see these words of Paul concerning that letter to the Corinthians he said I'm not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you though I was sorry at first for I know it was painful to you for a little while but now I'm glad that I sin it not because it hurts you but because the pain caused you to repent and to change your ways it was the kind of Sorrow that God wants his people to have so that you are not harmed by us in any way for the kind of Sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in Salvation there's no regret for that kind of sorrow but worldly sorrow which lacks repentance results in spiritual death we see that God begins the process of humbling us through the convicting work of his Spirit but also by rocking us of our peace of mind even through our circumstances in which we see here is through this dream once again as we continue on we're going to jump down to verse 19 and here secondly we see that after God has rocked the Peace of Mind of Nebuchadnezzar he reveals to Nebuchadnezzar the reason for this conviction he reveals to King Nebuchadnezzar his pride but he also reveals the remedy for his pride through his Revelation look at this as we go through verses 19- 27 upon hearing this the dream and in case you're wondering what the dream is we're going to unpack it here in Daniel's interpretation but upon hearing this Daniel also known as belshazzar was overcome for a Time frightened by the meaning of the dream then the king said to him belshazzar don't be alarmed by The Dream and what it means one of the ways that God will reveal our sin whether it be Pride or something else is going to be through his own people and we see him using Daniel in this way here in these verses Bel shazar replied I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies my Lord and not to you the tree you saw was growing very tall and very strong reaching High into the heavens for all the world to see it had fresh green leaves and was loaded with fruit for all to eat wild animals lived in its shade and birds nested in its branches that tree your majesty is you for you have grown strong and great your greatness reaches up to the heaven and your rule to the ends of the Earth then you saw a messenger an angel a holy one coming down from heaven and saying cut the tree down and destroy it but leave the stump in the roots in the ground bound with a band of iron and bronze and surrounded by tender grass let him be drenched with the Dew of Heaven Let Him Live with the animals of the field seven periods of time this is what the dream means not only will God reveal our sin whether it be Pride or something else through his people but he will also reveal it through our circumstances here in these verses the dream is mentioned twice and it has robbed Nebuchadnezzar once again of sleep now in verse 24 we see God revealing his pride Nebuchadnezzar's pride and the remedy for it through his word the word of the Lord as now revealed through Daniel this is what the dream means your majesty and what the most high has declared this will happen to my Lord the king you will be driven from Human Society and you will live in the fields with wild animals you will eat grass like a cow and you will be drenched with the D of Heaven seven periods of time will pass while you live this way until you learn here's the remedy until you learn that the most high rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses if political Seasons tend to encourage anxiety and stress in your life you might just want to highlight this verse and tuck it away in your heart as we're talking about Pride this morning one of the things that I find here is also peace that there is a God Our God who is in charge of those in charge and in verse 26 but the stump and the roots of the tree in the of the tree were left in the ground and this means that you will receive your kingdom back again when you have learned that heaven rules King Nebuchadnezzar please accept my advice stop sinning do what is right love God break from your wicked past love God and be merciful to the poor love others then perhaps you'll continue to prosper perhaps you'll be as healthy and stable as the tree you saw in your dream for us God does the same thing for us he reveals our pride through his word he reveals it through uh Brothers and Sisters in Christ and he will reveal it through our circumstances he will begin to rock our peace of mind and he will reveal the area in which he need needs to refine in our lives the area which we need to repent in our lives moving on we begin to see God move on his revealed will his warning and we see it throughout the scripture for us as well in the verses that speak about pride pride before the fall Pride brings dishonor God opposes the prow the word is revealed to us but here beginning in verse 28 we see God's next step in humbling a person and humbling this King we see that God graciously and I say graciously because he don't have to do this but this is for Nebuchadnezzar's benefit and when he does this painful work in our lives it is for our benefit too but God removes Nebuchadnezzar from his position and his kingdom allowing him to hit rock bottom this is an act of Grace it's an act of Mercy as we'll see in a little bit but it's an act of Grace because God knows what's best for his creatures for his people both those who know him and who will come to know him he will remove those things that we have pride in whether it's the Reliance on self whether it's our possessions whether it's our career whether it's an ability whatever the case is he will remove those things from us to Humble us and cause us to hit rock bottom it's a gracious act today that God will remove the very things that our pride is in that our pride is built upon for our benefit there's this thing called attention in attention and blindness and it comes from it's crazy that we got to make up new words in the English from twalking okay and that's when somebody is walking and on their phone at the same time all right and this caus inattentive blindness because whether we're texting whether we're on social media whether we're trying to find music to listen to or watching a video or whatever the case is we we're paying attention to that screen in front of us and we are blind to everything else around us and that's why you can get on YouTube and spend hours of watching people run into things right that's why you almost H the person you know on Main Street because they're trying to walk across the street with their phone not paying any attention to you or the car comes across into your lane and and they pass and you see them throw down their phone and you're like you idiot you know glad Christ can't lose US during those times but we have the same thing spiritually we have this inattentive block when we begin to look at ourselves and we begin to elevate ourselves and we Elevate ourselves to such a position that we're looking down on things and people CS Lewis said it like this as long as you are proud you cannot know God a proud man is always looking down on things and on people and of course as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you we can be so self-c consumed and Elevate ourselves to the throne of our hearts that we are totally oblivious to God that we miss out on his workings that we miss out on his blessings and we miss out on the intimacy of the relationship in which he has his which in which he has and desires with us this was Nebuchadnezzar's problem this can be our problem and if rocking our peace of mind doesn't get our attention and draw us to repentance if plainly showing us our sin whether be Pride or something else through his word through a brother or sister in Christ or through our circumstances does not get our attention and CS us to repent and turn and to Humble ourselves then he'll take that next step and he will remove those very very things that we have built our pride upon for his glory but for our good in verse 28 but all these things did happen to King Nebuchadnezzar 12 months later well there's some Grace there's some patience 12 months after the dream and the interpretation of the dream and the warning and the remedy for it nothing happens he continues on as is 12 months later he was taking a walk on the flat roof of the Royal Palace in Babylon looking out maybe at the Hanging Gardens in which he had made looking at the Gate of ishar looking at the massive idols and the buildings and and the surrogate and the in in or the zigurat in the middle of the city looking at the works of his hands and he said look at this great city of Babylon by my own power I have built this beautiful city as my Royal residence to display my Majestic Splendor while these things were still in his mouth The Voice called down from heaven oh King Nebuchadnezzar this message is for you you are no longer ruler of this Kingdom you will be driven from Human Society you will live in fields with the wild animals and you will eat grass like a cow seven periods of time will pass that you will live this way until you learn that the most high rules over all the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone that he chooses that same hour the Judgment was fulfilled and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from Human Society he at grass like a cow and he was drenched with the Dew of heaven and he lived this way until his hair was as long as eagle feathers and his nails were like Bird's claws we believe about seven years the periods of seven this is humbling you've got the most powerful man in the world at the time stripped of his position his kingdom and his mind he has given the mind of a lowly beast at probably at the age of his early 70s He reigns for about 40 years he passes at age 80 it's a seven-year time period we're looking at maybe the 34th year of his Reign putting him in a seven I don't know about you but as I get older I want to be more comfortable this is no way to spend those golden years but here is what takes place Nebuchadnezzar hits rock bottom and he has nowhere to look but up in verse 34 after this time had passed I Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven I think it's more than just like a direction in which he looked I believe it's also something implied about his heart and his humbleness and his spirit because the Lord restores him to his position and to his kingdom that takes repentance my sanity returned and I praised and worshiped the most high and honored the one who lives forever here in these final verses we see that God merci y restored Nebuchadnezzar to his position and his kingdom I say mercifully because what he really deserved is the same thing that we deserve when we arrogantly Shake our fist when we neglect or don't even think about give God the time of day and making decisions we deserve his heavy hand of discipline right there and he would be right in doing so by just taking our last breath then and there and yet we see that God in his patience and his kindness which Paul says in Romans chap 2:4 his patience and his kindness are meant to draw us to himself s to draw us closer to himself we see him mercifully restore him to his kingdom and as a result the king rejoiced he delighted in the Lord look at the following verses his rule is Everlasting and his kingdom is eternal all the people of the Earth are nothing compared to him he does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth no one can stop him or say to him what what do you mean by doing these things when my sanity returned to me so did my honor and my glory and my kingdom my advisers and Noble sought me out and I Resto I was restored as the head of my kingdom even when with even greater honor than before now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and glorify and honor the king of Heaven all of his acts are just and true and he is able to Humble the proud God humbling of us leads to the restoration of us which leads to us rejoicing in him and praising him and pointing others to him if you go to my office you won't see it now because it's right here but back in 2017 as I begin to serve as interim I was doing some studying in the book of Hagi in the book of Hagi and the book of Zechariah are closely related and it's after this Exile that we we're talking about here in the Book of Daniel the Jews will later have the freedom to go home after 70 years of their captivity is fulfilled and a Remnant goes back and they begin to rebuild the Temple they start off strong then they lack and are disobedient for many years and then Hagi and Zechariah come on the scene along with zerubabel or Zur depending on how you want to say his name and they set out to rebuilding the temple and the Zechariah Chapter 4 Verse 6 this is the word that God gives to zerubabel this is the word of the Lord to zeru not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts this is the message that the lord gave to Zechariah for zable he said he's laid the foundation and I will surely finish my rebuilding work through him but it's not going to be because of his ability it's not going to be because of his skill set it's not going to be because of any of these things except for by my power and by my spirit this sits at my desk on my wall to remind me that anything good that comes out of this body of Believers is not because of me but it's because of him and several years ago and as I've I've studied this this chapter this week I feel like the Lord has just kind of taught me something about um several years ago there there's a lot of things that played into it but one of the things that that I learned through my season of depression a few years ago was sitting in my doctor's office and I'd come in and he said what brings you in I said I said listen I I'm either depressed and I feel like I'm burnt out or I'm burnt out and I'm depressed and he said what do you do for a living I said I pastor of Church to my relief he said there's a lot of calls for Burnout in that area as he shared his testimony he was also an elder at a at a church that he attended not on staff but but serving as um a lay pastor and he had also experienced burnout within the ministry as we talked he began to be used by the Lord to share some some medicine for the soul if you will he says you know your biggest go goal is to get people into heaven right it's to to share the gospel it's to to help people experience New Life In Christ to to see them conform More To His Image and he said that's the supreme goal but here's the thing that is bigger than you or I he said you cannot control how people are going to act he said you cannot control the the decisions people are going to make both personally within their families within their marriages now they raise their children and ultimately whether they stay or leave your church or even come he says you can control none of that that was a relief but that was also um kind of a stab it's kind of the Holy Spirit kind of going in and reminding me that that hey you're not God so stop carrying some of these things you're carrying and instead of trying to do more instead of trying to plan more pray more surrender this to him church we have seen God do more in the past year and a half going on two years than we've seen him do in those years previously he will bring us low through a Doctor Who's a brother in Christ through his word his spirit and our circumstances even if it's a circumstance of Health to get our attention to bring us to Rock Bottom and realize our need for him so that we would look up there is healing in this humbleness there is restoration and relationships in this humbleness there is blessing to be experien in this humbleness but if we remain proud we can be sure that we will feel the Lord's hand against us until he breaks us of those very things we have built Our Lives falsely and foolishly upon so what do we do one recognize pride in our life and then confess that specifically to the Lord and because we in our hearts are deceitful and because sometimes we think better of ourselves than than we probably should sometimes we need to come humbly before God and say God show me the areas of my life which I am proud in and then confess those specifically to him read the Bible but also let the Bible read you so when you come across and the Holy Spirit begins to point out maybe an area whether it's sin or one that you've got pride in as we're talking about Pride this morning allow those words to take root and allow to draw you to repentance before God humbly thirdly recruit others to speak truth into your life because sometimes we can see maybe not always a good thing but a lot of times other people outside of us can see things that we miss about ourselves so recruit trusted people to speak truth into your life even in this area of Pride and then rely humbly on God's spirit As you move forward trying to live a life of humbleness as you would like Christ.