I find in scripture that I'm going to give you a definition of what pride is As far as my definition and then show you kind of like a little rope here as I consistently go through scripture I believe pride is us is any attempt to take glory or honor that belongs to god and bestow it upon myself Let me say it again Pride is any attempt to take glory or honor that belongs to god and bestow it upon myself now So here's what I'm going to do for this message here this evening is I want to find who I see in the Bible is the most arrogant person in scripture. I find it outside of the devil, okay? Because the devil, obviously, he wins, alright? He's gonna be like God, and he obviously has issues, right? But as far as human beings, who was the most prideful individual? Some people might think that I'm going to talk about Nebuchadnezzar. Obviously, God punished him for his pride, made him look like an animal, remember that, during those days. But see, the thing about pride, and the reason I consider this guy to have the most pride in his life, is because once I tell you who it is, we're going to go in our mind and go, really? And that's the point. Because many times, pride has already overtaken us. I don't even know. I don't even think about it. I would like for us to take our Bibles, and we're gonna go to who I find to be the most arrogant person in Scripture, in the book of Luke, chapter number 15. The book of Luke, chapter number 15. The individual that I would like to speak on tonight is actually the prodigal son's brother. He had a brother, you know that, right? See when we told a story of what we have deemed to be the prodigal son Here is how we tell it which is fine a man had two sons One of the sons says dad I want my inheritance early kind of an insulting thing to do, you know His dad was working and working and going to give him he takes it and cuts out early. I The pot the son goes out and then he spends his money on riotous living wasteful is what he is He wastes as famine comes into the land as a famine then happens in the land He has nothing the Bible says he then goes and takes a job where he never thought he would and he's feeding the pigs and As he's feeding the pigs, he's coming to his senses, and he says, if I just go back to my dad, I could work as a servant. At least I wouldn't have to have pig food. And so he comes to his senses, has his speech ready, what he's going to say to his dad. His dad is already ready for him, standing at the door, waiting for him, comes and greets him, hugs him, takes off that robe that he was wearing, puts on him new clothing, and welcomes him home with a party. And sometimes we wipe the tears from our eyes and say to ourselves What a touching story of this guy being reunited with his father And even though it is the story does not end there In luke chapter number 15, we shall read the rest of the story luke 15 verse 25 where the bible says this Now his elder son was in the field And as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and he said unto him Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound And he was angry and would not go in therefore came his father out and Entreated him and he answering said to his father. Whoa these many years do I serve thee neither transgress I at any time by Commandments and yet thou never gave us me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. I But as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots thou hast killed for him the fatted calf And he said unto him son Thou art ever with me all that and all that I have is thine It was me that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead And is alive again and was lost and is found So let's understand this quickly So the father, let's put him on this side of the auditorium, welcomes the younger brother home. They throw a party. Go kill a fatted calf. It's the indicative for us. Go in the freezer and get the burgers that we're already ready for whenever it's time to grill, right? Get it ready. Fire up the grill. Get the friends. Invite the neighbors. Our son is home. Rejoicing echoes all throughout this home. As this is happening over here, Distance wise it had to be some distance the brother the older brother is out and he's working in the field He's working in the field. He hears this music and apparently you can see the dancing going on so a servant runs out to where the brother is so the servant come and And he looks at the brother and says, hey, your brother's back. That's why all the celebration. Come on. Don't worry about that. Your dad is throwing a party. Let's go. He begins to run away and turns around. I said your brother's back your dad. We're all going over. Oh, you're not coming awkward Okay, i'm gonna go right and he goes over to the brother to the dad. He tells the dad I told him the dad now from this passage goes out. He's now up probably a little upset Hey intrigue your brother's back You can at least go say hi. You can at least go speak to your brother during this time. And then we are introduced to who I feel is the most arrogant man in Scripture, with a message that I've entitled this, the pride I hide inside. Let's have a word of prayer as we begin. Father in heaven, we come humbly to you, Lord, knowing that I, knowing that I am poor of myself, Lord, knowing that I daily must come to you and ask you to empty me of me that I can share with you to be your way. Lord, I pray that you would help us to avoid and see inside of our lives and areas to where fraud really could have taken root. And I pray if we look at this, brother, that we would, Lord, just take note of your word and may it speak very clearly and directly to If so, thank you, Lord, for everything you've done. We thank you for all that you will do. In Christ's name, we pray it all. Amen. Here's how we're going to approach this as we look at this text, is what does pride destroy? Because the preacher mentioned on pride, I mean, you could do a series of countries, right? So we have a view in upon one specifically. And I want to see what it destroys here in this text. Verse 28. I feel the first thing that we see it destroys is this it destroys Relationships the Bible says when the dad comes out and he was angry and would not go in Therefore came his father out and it treated him. So here comes the servant. Remember the servant comes. Hey, your brother is home You know, his first response was anger You know who knows how long it's been since you see his brother here here I And so what do you think that maybe, just maybe, in a world with no Facebook, a world with not knowing how on earth his brother is doing, that one question might be, is he okay? Does he have a family? Does he have kids? He was so hung up of how he was hurt by him, that even though he was his own flesh and blood, he could not even find an emotion of care inside of him. The only thing that could be found inside of him was anger. And he said, I might not have much I can do to him for what he's done to me, but I sure enough can hold this over him. You see, rooted in all bitterness is pride. Many times, individuals can go years upon years upon years, and honestly, the thing that they have been heard about, in many ways, God has healed them up. but for some principled reason, inside of their heart of pride, they then shall refuse to ever welcome certain people into a space of somehow decent and respectful treatments. The example that we see in this story is, the father had accepted the son. Period. The father accepted the son and it's time for this other son to get on the same page as the father and show the love to that son as well. Look, many times, and again, I appreciate teenagers a lot, and I see it. Okay, my dad, he walked out on me, so guess what I'm gonna do, Adrian? I'm not gonna answer his phone calls, ain't gonna answer his texts. What's the goal? It's probably because I'm gonna make him feel what he made me feel. I'm gonna make him know it. You know what? I might not be able to hurt him physically, I can do something. Here's what happened. Let me give you a bit of an example about Joseph. Joseph was hurt legitimately by his brothers. When he was hurt legitimately, I am not proposing here that Joseph is like, you know what, when I forgave, it was no big deal. Oh, y'all guys just picked on me. I mean, you try to kill me and stuff, but who cares? It's not a big deal. Sometimes we talk about forgiveness. One of the things we do is we like to minimize what the offense was. You never find Joseph minimizing the offense. He looked at them and said, hey guys, what you did to me was messed up. It shouldn't have been done. But he made this statement, I'm not done. You see what happens is I become the one to take the business I become God's little operator to be able to make sure that vengeance is taken care of what Joseph did was this Hey look What you did hurt me deeply, but look I'm not God I'm not gonna be the one that's gonna lay down the punishment It's not gonna be for me to make you just sweet and pain God got God's got that As you see here the pride makes this older brother in his heart say he must make the younger brother Pay in some regard, you know It's interesting. When I began in ministry around, you know, preaching different things, I started preaching only to little kids, then started preaching to teenagers and on up. And I remember the little kids as they would get done during recess time or during break time or whatever during a vacation Bible school. And one kid would push one kid and push him and say, won't you ever talk to me again? You'll never be my friend. You know, and I remember things to myself as I'm watching a little drama unfold. Oh my. I can't wait till I preach to teenagers one day and leave all this kind of drama behind me, you know? And I was like, this is just ridiculous. Then I started to preach to teenagers. I hate you! Don't you ever speak to me again! Slap, slap, and oh! All the drama. And I said to myself, I thought I can't wait till I preach to the adults. and put all this drama behind me. Pastor Boyd, see what I noticed? Adults are the same kind of people. I know grown people, grown people who can't even go to the same grocery store. They one person go down the aisle, they got to go the other aisle. I'm talking grown folks. So the servant has gone back obviously to tell the father because that had to happen at some point The father now comes out. Hey son, what's going on? You're not coming out and treating He's begging him to come and say something brother and verse when I says in the answering said to his father Lo these many years who I serve thee neither transgress. I at any time by commandment now This is interesting. First, pride destroys relationships. But also, now, pride destroys our perspective. Now, let me show you what I mean by a perspective. See, now, he looks at his dad, as him and his dad are talking, and he was like, so finally, he's been doing the whole silent treatment. I ain't saying nothing. I ain't doing nothing. And so now, so you can imagine, take a shovel or whatever, kind of stick it in the ground, look at his dad, and say, Dad, all these years I've served you. All these years I've done right. I have never transgressed your commandment. I've never done anything wrong. I've always been the one to stand here and do this. I was here all those years. He went out and did his own thing. It's been me. And as you are not going to give me a fatty cap, you're going to throw a party for him. So he unloads. He's never done anything wrong. He's never He has always been there. He has always followed through see what pride does it destroys our Perspective and it kind of gives us what we like many times and our movies of like a good bad binary It takes a good bad binary and it applies it to us. You say what's a good bad? Okay, so like You have Superman, alright? Superman comes. Superman is the good guy. And if Superman is hitting somebody, what do you automatically assume? He's a bad guy! Because good guy just would never do anything but good. So if he hits somebody, why, of course, the person must be bad. Fine. Works great inside of a movie. However, what we then do, what this brother does, is a good-bad binary. He is bad, so what does that make me? Awesome. It makes me amazing. See, if I can go long enough and far enough and find somebody that will eventually make me look good. See, many times it's almost therapeutic to complain about how bad things are in your city and in your country because inadvertently what it does, it makes you inevitably look good. Because I'm not like that. My family doesn't do that. We're not like them over there. See, he's always using the terminology of the us versus the them. And so he's like, Kim, Kim, over here, using even terminology of separating himself. He doesn't even say it's his brother in the entire exchange. He keeps on using him as, this is your son. This is your kid. See, I don't want nothing to do with him. No bearing of responsibility in this regard. See, that finally, sometimes what papaya does, it destroys our perspective. So here we go. Illustration you're going to hate, but I want you to follow me for a minute. On this side of the auditorium, you guys have a moment. I want you to visualize one scenario, and then on the other side, another scenario. Here's a scenario. Let's just say that you're at the store, Maybe God can speak to your heart, maybe about this. When you get an opportunity to kind of speak up for God, you know, maybe you're sitting down, waiting for your prescription or something, or somebody's sitting there for just to give a word to the Lord, or maybe give an invite. But here you are sitting on a bench, somebody sits down beside you, looks to be like a middle-aged person or so, kind of sit down and kind of clap, clap, hey, how you doing? Good, good, good. And God speaks to your heart to kind of just give them an indication of purpose, Just a person waiting for the prescription, just like you all, right? So that's scenario A. OK? Let's move over here to scenario B. Scenario B is this. Before I'm doing what I'm doing now, I used to work in the prison system, right? I used to work in the prison ministry. There was one prison, specifically, that everybody inside of a certain mod was not guilty of murder, but actually multiple murders. In fact, the officer, before he walked in, he said, just so you know, when you're getting ready to work with the kids here, one of these men took his son, took him upstairs, and dropped him. He's here at the process of ascending. So these are the animals you're getting ready to work with. Now, let's just say, in this scenario, that God asks you to then take your Bible, share the gospel with somebody, and let's get to it now. So, here's the question. Which scenario is harder? Scenario A or Scenario B? Well, of course, everybody inside the room is honest with ourselves, obviously. You got a gal over here that's doing her thing, man. She's getting a conscription. And you got a guy over here That's unforgivable. Adrian, that's a horrible question because if you're asking me which one is harder for me, there's no way, Adrian, that you're going to tell me that this man does not deserve the punishment for his sin in a place called hell. The Bible says that, and that is very true. The Bible says so does you, too, as well. However, listen very closely. Many times the reason why we sometimes walk around with a monopoly on the gospel is because many times our prejudice has been violated and therefore we pick and choose who we feel like deserve to hear the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm gonna make a bold statement. that the bold statement is many times the reason why this entirely great divide and discoloring of a situation concerning a soul sometimes is fruited in Christ. Because now it's us. This infusion is deserving or undeserving of the love and grace of God. If I take glory or honor that belongs to God and bestow it upon myself God's glory is seen through not just the understandably kind of crooked situations, but the mind-blowing man-can't-comprehend situations. Now God's to get glory from these situations here. It's not from me. It's not my judgment. Remember, many times people ask me this question, Adrian, Why is it that you are in Central America and doing a lot of different things and ministering there? You know what the bottom line, sad answer to that was? Inspired by some fellowships, I suppose. And here's the reason why. It's unfortunate, but one of so many fellowships where sitting around the table and we're all eating and things like that. And one of the guys, I think years and years ago, sitting down and this is election season which is always an exciting time right and so i'm sitting here and hey hey brother hey brother how are you doing over there great great great hey you got them in your church got some in your church and i'm just you know i'm just a dude i i keep low profile and no settings whatever Yeah, yeah, they're in my church too, buddy. Yes, sir. You know what? What's crazy about this whole situation? It was so bizarre. I tell you what, if you're going to come to our country, you better even learn our language, pal. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know what we'd be thinking. You know, come take our stuff, take our things. You can't even. And I then, as we're sitting around the table, I then put it together that we're talking about human beings. We are talking here, then, as if the nuisance of our life is the very ones that Christ died for. And then, as I began to see and began to look at this situation, some people have become, in some ways, capital P Patriots and little c Christians and aren't good with it. Because what am I first? I am a child of God, man! A child of God that is to see people, regardless whatever my opinions are, I don't give a rip about whatever type of thing you believe about whatever this election this election this election We are children of God to give the gospel to others and any obstacle of that is brought You know, no one ain't waiting in line going to Honduras no waiting in line for these different things. I said, God, if you grant me the opportunity with your health and your strength, anoint my tongue, Lord, to be able to go to some places that many times you have brought to our very feet that we have refused, which we will be held accountable for. Let me finish this up. Not only do you see this was our relationship, verse 28, This was a perspective of 29. I'm going to quickly go through this, but it was our interpretation of life itself with the birth to 30. It says that as soon as this advice on what's come, I kind of implied about this because it's a detaching view. Like it's what he's saying is this is your son. This is not my problem. See, many times, what happens is it's your fault. It's always somebody else's fault. You see, if I would be a better son of God, if my wife were more this, See, I would be a better servant of God if my church were more like this. I could do what's right if... It's always somebody else. Some of the greatest litigators or whatever people that are can somehow squeeze themselves out of any personal responsibility. That's not just being good with words, it's being good with pride! You see, finally, a detaching view, but also a degrading view. Look at verse 10, he says, "...which hath devoured thy living with harlots." Look, some of us have even been guilty of those who tell a story of the prodigal son. We don't know what the kid was doing The Bible says prodigal means wasteful He went out and wasted his money. I Yes, riotous. Yes loud living. Yes. We never read he was over there doing this wickedness over here and moral We never read that the only reason we say that is because the brother said so The brother didn't know The brother didn't talk to him, but do you know what pride does? I know what he did. I know I've seen the worst I know what he did I know what they're doing when they're in that room. So many times, kids are sitting out in the parking lot. I know what they're doing out there. You don't know what they're doing! I know their motives. I know there's people over there. I know those such and such people over there. I know what they're doing. You don't! And when you see this, me filling in the blanks with the worst possible adjectives, it's funny. I'm saying this, not only degrading you, but I'm demeaning you. He says in verse 2.9, earlier that, he says, yet God never gave it to me as a kid that I might make merit my promise. He only looks to his dad, looks to his dad and points at him. He's never done anything for me. He's never done anything for me. I've been here. I've served. I've helped. I'll do anything. You see some of them fight? They're always complaining about something. Something's not good enough. The car's not good enough. The house isn't good enough. Church's not good enough. Stop, not good enough. People around you, not good enough. This isn't because I deserve better. Because I know who I am. Because I know who I am, that everybody should come up to this level where I deserve to be. Do not be. Oh, in some way, shape, or form. Everything. I find the reason this story is so significant, because in our American mindset and culture, we see the prodigal son continue to come back to God because many times, if I had a choice to preach to one or to either one of these situations, the prodigal or the brother, older brother, I would choose the prodigal. Both sons were messed up. Both sons were lost. But at least with the prodigal, he knows he's broken. He knows that the path has led him down of emptiness, of there's nothing down. I've walked down this path. At least the prodigal can acknowledge, but the older brother is still steeped in what they're doing. You can't tell them that they need Christ because they're so busy defending how good they are, how long they've been in church, how nice they have been to their neighbor, and thinking these things are gonna merit God, and then one day enter into his presence instead of trusting in Christ for salvation. It's a sad, sad thing to watch an older brother because they feed on all of what they have to get in a meat stomach. The irony of pride is that the very thing that prevents us from handling pride in our lives is pride. The very thing that stops us from being able to show forth the light of the word in our heart in this area. You know, verse 31, 32, in your diary, it says, and he said unto him, Thou son that art with me, all that I have is thine. We wish to meet the prophet, and we shall make merry, and be glad. For this thy brother, he corrects his wording, by the way, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is come. The father corrects the relationship. As he does, we then see it is appropriate for us to be merry and rejoice that your brother then has now come back. What the father is doing is he attacking the older brother's trust. You know, I don't want to leave us hanging in this area, because in some ways it's kind of like, man, it sounds so rough. Like, you preach on pride. Man, so bad. Man, it's different pride. So brother Adrian, then what is the solution? I believe as we continue to go on and just see, I just want to read one verse. I don't want to be like, you know, decimate this this point and call us all just like man, we're being prejudiced and prideful in different areas, but I would tell you a prayer that pretty much I think even every day unknowingly, you probably even heard me pray this prayer. But in James chapter four, verse number seven, the Bible says this. It says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Donate God and he will deny to you. But in verse number six, I'm sorry, he says, but he gives more grace. Wherefore, he said, God resisted the proud, but give grace unto the humble. You know what? The reason that pride is such a horrible thing is because God says he resisted the plow. So let's just put on this side of the auditorium the world, the flesh, and the devil, and they're battling this direction like an RPG. You can see the battle happening this direction. And here I am, I'm trying to battle all the principalities and wickedness of this world. And here I have God on my side, man, praise God. And here I am, I'm talking, I'm under him, you know, as greater as he that is in me than he that's in the world as we're fighting this battle. But you know what, God said, God resisted the proud. You know what that means? That word resist is an interesting word because it means I put myself in array against. The one time when I step out of my boundary and then begin to take glory that belongs to God and put it upon myself What happens is as I'm fighting against the world the flesh and the devil when I become prideful God says I resist the proud so that means here's God right here fighting my battles, but when I become prideful God turns his back and now he's fighting me and I put myself in a race. I'm now in sporting golf. That is a devastating way to live, isn't it, man? Not only do you got to worry about the pressures and everything else in the center of this world, you're fighting death. Look at my face. So I'm submitting yourself unto death, meaning death. Sometimes we put even all the pain down. sometimes oh lord you know what lord you speak to my heart about my marriage you know i really oh a lot of pride in my marriage a lot of relationships not going well oh lord you gotta well you gotta do something lord you gotta you gotta you gotta intervene here lord i need you to step in lord this is really i'm in a bad situation lord i need you to kind of pick things up all right that's fine that's fine so pray we pray we pray now look here here keep this in mind keep this in mind quick illustration but keep in mind I don't have anything, but let's just say I had a cup, right? And let's just say this cup is right here, and it was full of water. And let's just say it's full of water. Here it is. I can't even move so much water inside of it. And then I'm looking over here, and Mrs. Boyce is right here. She has a pitcher of sweet tea in her hand. And I look at Mrs. Boyce, and I look at my water. I say, oh, man, that would be so good. And I tumble over here, and I say, can I get some of your tea? And here she comes, and she's already got her hand in her mouth. She's ready to go, and she's ready to give me some tea. And as I'm holding the cup out to her, every logical person in the building is telling me, dummy, if you want the tea, you gotta pour the water out first. Right? I mean, you can't fill something that's already filled up. Empty it out first. Oh, well, you got to do something up there. You got to fix everything. Well, do you know how to fix it? Listen to me. God can't kill something that's already dead. If I was full of my breath, I'm fighting it. Have you noticed? Every time I face you, I say this to you. I don't do it. I don't even know why it just comes out now. But God emptied me of myself. You ever hear me say that? That's why I say that. I'm full of myself. I know it. It's true. It's what aging is. Every day, I'm aging. Why is there conflict in this? Because I want what I want. Why is there conflict many times as others? I'm right. I've got to ask everybody a question. God, what do you do? God, what do you do? God, how do you do it? Do you do it yourself? How do you do it? We pray together, Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you for your word. I pray that you take your word at this time, Lord, as we've kind of gone through, Lord, in very great detail about this prodigal son's brother. I pray, Lord, that pride will not find its way hidden in the crevices of our hearts, in the crevices of our decisions. I am not saying that you have not worked hard to raise your kids, that you have not worked hard to be a good person. But my question to you this evening here is this. Jesus Christ, you are here in this terrible situation. Lord, I need you, you and I need you. Maybe tonight, you want to let go of whatever it is you think is going to tear you to pieces and trust in Jesus.