All right, please open your Bible to the book of Proverbs, chapter 29. Proverbs 29 and verse 25. Proverbs 29, 25. Solomon said in verse 25, The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. All right, so over the past few weeks, we've been doing an autopsy on pride. The problem is that our victim is still alive. We have to, we have pride within us and we have to deal with it. There's no other way that pride is going to go away except that we kill it. It has to be destroyed. You can't coddle pride. You can't be nice with pride. You have to treat it rather roughly. You have to learn to hate it. And you know, pride is just, it is so natural to us that We're comfortable with ourselves and our pride, and it's hard to recognize it and to treat it roughly. But we've got to realize, God hates pride. He does. And the more mature, the more we mature into the likeness of Christ, the more like God we become, and the more we despise our pride. God created us in His own image, but He did so that we would be dependent upon Him. Pride is that sense of independence. I can do this. I can handle this, you know. I can take care of this myself. That is the ultimate problem with pride. It makes us independent of God. which is the totally opposite reason that He created us. Yes, we are in His image, but we are in an image that is absolutely and totally dependent upon God. Why? Because it is our dependency that most glorifies God. That's hard for us to realize. But it's kind of just the opposite of the way that we tend to think. We tend to think that the more we can do in our own power, the greater things will be, but it's not true. The more we depend upon God, the more glory it gives to Him. Well, to us as sinners, it seems a rather odd thing that God would want for himself all glory, honor, and praise. You know, to us as humans, we think, oh, you know, pride, you know, to us is offensive. But there's a sense in which that whole value system is turned upside down when we apply it to God. Because God is the one who deserves awe, glory, honor, and praise. Not us. You see, it's just the opposite with God. God deserves it because of His perfections. God is absolutely right. He's absolutely perfect in every way. That is what makes Him worthy of praise. And, I might add this as well, because of God's perfection, because He is worthy of glory, honor, and praise, that is the source of our humility, the perfections of God and all that He is and all of His sovereignty and all the features that make Him supreme and make Him worthy of worship, that when we really get a hold of God and who He is and His glory, that is what is probably going to bring the most humility and humbleness into your life. And I think we miss that. Now I realize it takes the help of the Holy Spirit for us to get there and to believe it and to accept it, but that's His job. It's the Holy Spirit's job to show us the Father basically through Jesus Christ. So if you have the Holy Spirit, then you have within you the power of the Spirit that is testifying to the holiness and the presence of God. It takes the Holy Spirit for us to wrap our minds around that. Well, like I said in previous messages, pride is something you're going to have with you the rest of your life. I wish I could tell you that you're going to get over it and you're going to grow beyond it and you're going to mature so much into the likeness of Jesus Christ that pride is never going to be a problem. That is not true. That's not going to happen. I wish I could tell you that. It's going to be a continual battle. You're going to have to fight it. It's gonna have to be continually defeated. Well, last week we looked at this little idea, the principle, and I expressed it in many ways last week in many forms, this idea that I am better than you. That's pride. We have this little theme going on within us, in our hearts, that I am better than you. And given the right circumstances and given the right opportunity, we give into that attitude and we do display it in some ugly, Domineering way, you know, we all dominate we all want to control what we think we can We're going to continue doing our autopsy tonight on pride, but we're going to do it more from For a lack of a better way of saying it we're going to do it more from the aspect of being an introvert and Last week I described to you many aspects of pride, but a lot of the aspects of pride that I described to you last week had to do more with an extrovert type personality. Now, God in his wisdom made two basic extremes, the introvert and the extrovert. And then in between all that are all kinds of degrees of the mixture of the two. We're all a mixture of your two, introvert and extrovert. It's a some degree or another. So I want to, basically, I want to deal with the other end of the spectrum, I guess, and that's the introvert kind of spectrum here. So what are some problems of pride with introverts? Because, you know, they're the ones more likely not to demonstrate in such a big manner as an extrovert does, but they're still guilty, okay? Even if you say, I'm an introvert, you still deal with pride, okay? It may not be as evident or manifest as the extrovert, but it's still there. Okay, and you're still going to have to deal with it, you know. So number one problem is there's an extra sensitivity that introverts seem to have, you know. And there, you know, we tend to be a little super sensitive when it comes to insults or perceived insults, okay? Not necessarily an insult, but our way of thinking and our feelings and our emotions are all involved here, and sometimes we take things the wrong way. And we have that tendency to do that. The reality is some people are more feeling, some people are more sensitive, and that's the way God made us. God put that in his plan for people. That's not a bad thing, but the downside is that we're a little more sensitive. you know, to what people say. And it also means that you're more caring. It also means that you're more giving. It also means that you're more able to identify with the needs of others. It also means you're able to hurt with other people. And you're able to be more comforting toward other people that Extroverts may not be able to do that. They're not the feely, touchy type of people. But the reality is, the bottom line of that, even of the introvert, is that we have this ego that we want to protect. We want to take care of it. The more introvertish you are, the more socially awkward You know, you are as well. You know, introverts don't really like crowds. They're uncomfortable around a lot of people. And they would rather deal one-on-one. But that's the way God made them. That's the way God designed them to be like. And God has a place for them in their plans. And the good news is that any Christian who allows the Holy Spirit to control them can manage all of those feelings of sensitivity and strengthen you even in social settings where you feel most awkward. Which brings up my next point, which is defensive pride. A defensive pride. An extrovert, more goals launched as an offense. An introvert tends to be more defensive. It tends to be more defensive when it comes to a perceived insult or a slight or whatever the case may be. We all have these elaborate defense systems that we make and so the extrovert more likely is going to just blow something up or the introvert is going to be a little more affected by something that is said. So how do we become defensive then? Well, generally we try to be a little more careful about the people that we hang around with because there are certain people that seem to always say the wrong thing. So we don't want to hang around those people because the tendency is that they're going to say something that's going to hurt our feelings. And so we tend to withdraw, you know, because we think if we withdraw that we can kind of protect ourselves. And if we remain a little aloof here, then maybe we won't be hurt by something that said, well, that's still your pride working on you. You know, our pride causes us to be a little bit cautious, maybe, around others, and we don't display our inner feelings. That's a little defensiveness that goes on within us. And sometimes, even as introverts, we use that sarcasm, just like the extroverts. We use that sarcasm to keep people at arm's length. We don't want you to get too close here, so we say something that might be a little sharp and prickly. And the downside is we begin to think more about ourselves and more about our feelings, and it interferes with us being able to help other people, or even to love other people, and that's a problem. But the good news is, once again, once you become a child of God and the Holy Spirit enters into you, it can help you with those real or perceived hurtful words or thoughts or criticisms and respond to people in love. Number three. We can raise what I would call the unfriendly shield. What's the unfriendly shield? Well, that's the stone face. That's where you just don't look friendly. You don't want people to get next to you. You don't want people to get close to you. And so you put on this persona. You put on this face. And it's of the nature that somebody looks at you and says, you know what? I don't think I want to mess with that person. I don't want to go there with that person. And I think we've all been surprised. We've met people that maybe have looked a little stone-faced, or maybe they had a persona that seemed very friendly. But once you open up a conversation with them, it's like, whoa, man, no, you're old friend. I didn't know that you could talk to them so easily. But it's a persona that sometimes we put on. And introverts can kind of look that way sometimes because they don't want to be approached, and they don't want to be heard, or they don't want to face any criticism that might be thrown their way. And when you want to go to correct somebody, they can get a little prickly when you start correcting them, and they appear to be unfriendly. And so they try to hedge you off. by the look on their face, so to speak. So it's their way of controlling the situation and making sure that no one corrects them or even challenges them, so to speak. And we're all in that spectrum somewhere. Everybody in here, we're all, and I'm picking on each of us, but the reality is that we're all in that spectrum where we're approached and somebody might want to say something to correct us or to help us out, and we take it the wrong way and we get mean-spirited and we bite back You know and we get really offended you know and all that kind of stuff. You know what I mean So the Bible says this He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, or reprove a wise man, or he says, reprove a wise man, and he will love you. The scoffers, you know, when you correct them, they kind of dishonor you for even thinking that you could correct them. They get defensive. They pull down their curtain. And they don't want to receive any correction. But the truth is we all need help, folks. We all need correction. And it's hard. I know it's hard. But we need to be corrected. Either, you know, we need to be honest enough with ourselves to be corrected or we need somebody to come along who can be honest with us and correct us. We should all hate sin. And we've all, you know, we're all guilty of it and we all need help with it. You know, we can't grow in our Christian life. We can't mature in our Christian life until we come to terms with sins that we are guilty of that need to be confessed and that need to be forgiven in order for us to maintain a growing Christian life. We just have to have that. That's the process. And I know that kind of goes against every inch of our flesh, every fiber in our being, but there's no other way to deal with sin. You just can't coddle it. Like I said, you cannot coddle sin. You cannot be nice to sin. It has to be crucified and it's bloody and it's painful, but it has to be done. And at the same time, I want you to understand this. I'm not giving you a right to take a 2x4 to somebody and plumble them because of their sins. You know, sometimes we think this, well, I'll straighten him out, you know, and we whoop out our verbal two before and we start whooping on him. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Bible says this, brethren, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to himself, to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted, Galatians 6.1. Then again, In 2 Timothy, it says, The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 and 25. So, even though we may, you know, meet someone with a little defensive attitude, we still have to be loving and kind toward them. Okay? Number four, fear people. Fear of people. Let's talk about how pride works into this aspect of the fear of people. It can be a pride issue. It can be a real pride issue. And I realize, to some degree, it's part and parcel to being an introvert. You just have that within you. But there's a point at which that becomes a subject of pride, okay? So when is that point reached? When it becomes debilitating. When your fear of people becomes debilitating, you got a problem. You got a problem. Fear, that fear is being motivated by your own selfish pride. We hear a lot today about people having fear attacks. I think they call them panic attacks, fear attacks. Same thing, really no difference. The fear becomes so great that it makes people incapable of functioning. And the root of that, you're not going to believe this maybe, or even agree with me, but the root of that is going to be pride. You know, the symptoms they feel are real. I've read about people having sweaty palms and increased heart rate and feeling of stress and anxiety that just like goes through the roof. Makes them where they can't hardly function. And any time, any fear, doesn't matter what it is, Anytime there's any fear that is controlling our lives, it's going to be the result of selfish pride. In some way or another, we're trying to protect our egos, or we're trying to protect ourselves. And all the demons want to do is get their foot in the door with a little bit of fear, and then you can exaggerate it. They know what your problem is, and all they want to do is get you started down the path, and they're very good at doing that, and then you can take care of the rest. So how are you going to defeat it? Well, you're going to defeat it with the truth because fear is the result of a lie. Fear is the result of a lie. That's what fear is. And so you've got to defeat it with the truth. Fear can make you incapable of functioning, but the truth can set you free because that's what the Bible says, that the truth does to the lie. It sets you free. So how are you going to do that? You're going to get into the Word of God. You're gonna get into the Word of God. The only way you can defeat fear of any kind, I don't care what the name of it is, is to apply the truths of God, the truths of God, to your life. You know, a lot of people today think that the problem is the way they fear or feel. Have you ever talked to somebody and they're talking about your feelings? A lot of people think that the problem is that the way they feel And they think fear is a problem because that's what they're feeling with. And so how do they deal with their feelings? Well, they go to the doctor and they tell them they have these feelings and then the doctor gives them drugs. to take care of the feelings. When the root problem is not the feelings, the root problem is the lies that affect people's lives and hold them into bondage. And the only way you can break the bondage of fear is to defeat it with the truth. You can kill it with the truth. The Word of God is called the Sword of God because the Sword of God kills lies. The Sword of God slays lies. Well, let's go on. You ever have this feeling that you have to protect yourself? I have to protect myself. In other words, you're not going to come out of your shell because you know if you come out of your shell, you might get injured. So what you're going to do is you're going to stay in your shell because it's protective. It's a safe place to be. So you feel like you have to protect yourself from some hurt. That feeling can be overwhelming. We allow it to dominate our lives. You know what happens when we allow it to dominate our lives? We cannot love people. When you allow that feeling that you've got to protect yourself, you've got to insulate yourself to dominate your life, it makes you incapable of being able to genuinely love other people and you're defeating the second commandment because the Bible says that you're to love others just like you love yourself. And so you're defeating the commandment of God. You know, I know that sometimes we feel like, you know, I'm not going to love anybody because if I love somebody, I'm going to get hurt. Some people think that if I love somebody, I'm going to get hurt. Well, you know what? Here's the deal about love. Love makes you vulnerable. It is part of love and there is no escaping it. You're going to get hurt. Loving anybody or really, I'll tell you the truth, whether it's anybody or whether it's loving anything, you're going to expose yourself to pain. I don't care if you love your dog. You're going to expose yourself to pain. or anything. Life is filled with loss. Life is filled with disease. Life is filled with death. You say, well, I'm just going to love my hobby. I'm just going to love things. I'm just going to love comforts. I'm just going to love luxuries, and I'm going to protect myself. I'm going to take care of myself. Well, you know what? Life changes, and you're going to get old. If the Lord tarries, you're going to get old. and you're going to get decrepit, and you're going to lose things, and you're going to lose interest in things, and you're going to wind up, you're going to get the end of life, and you're going to have nothing there. It's going to be vain, and it's going to be empty, and you're going to realize you died long before you died. You've been dead for years because you were loveless. Don't live loveless. God knows that loving others hurts, so he makes things like repentance and forgiveness, because he knows, he knows there's danger in loving others. You know, the love that you have for others, even though it exposes you to hurt, is also what insulates you from hurt. When you love others genuinely, you will be, have to be humble. You cannot love other people without humility. And it's that humility that protects you when you're hurt. And you will be hurt. I'm not saying that your humility is going to do away with all pain or hurt from other people. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying that that humility is going to allow you to respond in a gentle, kind, loving, restorative way. It will keep your fellowship intact. It will keep your relationship intact. One of the most humbling things you can do if you need to start on this process is humble yourself before the Lord, obviously. Ask Him to help you to overcome your fears. You know, one of the biggest characteristics of fear is thinking that you're alone, that you're alone. that you're doing it alone. And if you really need a place to start, then you need to start with this, that God is with you. You are not alone. You are not in the battle alone. You are not fighting the battle alone. The Lord is with you. That's the starting place. That's the starting place. That will give you the courage to love people. That will give you the strength when you're feeling awkward in a social situation and you're not sure what you need to do. The Lord is with you. Now, we live in a fleshly body, you know, until the day that we die. And we're probably never going to be completely free from all fear, Probably never going to get there. But the Bible says this, the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 8. When the Lord is with you, folks, you can face anything. You say, how do you know that? Ask the three Hebrew children who were thrown into the fiery furnace. How do you know that? Ask Daniel when they threw him into the lion's den. That's how I know it. That's how I know it works. Every time. You can do anything when you know the Lord's with you. Well, I appreciate you being here tonight. Appreciate you being in God's house. We do have some business we need to take care of this evening. Yes, sir. Questions allowed? Yeah, questions are allowed. Answers may not be, I'm not able to answer it, but the questions are allowed. I think all of us have pride in our children and grandchildren. Oh, yeah. How does that get to be a negative or get to be a sin? Hmm. Does it? Can it get there? No, I mean, yeah, there's validity to your children. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that when we're afraid to tell them the truth, it's a problem. It's overstepped the boundaries, to be honest with them. When we're afraid to direct them in the right way, because we're afraid they're gonna not love us or not like us, or whatever the case may be. When we're afraid of how they're gonna respond to us when we tell them the truth, you got too much pride in them. What about when we go out and brag about our grandkids to everybody? Well now, there's a legitimate bragging rights that grandparents have. We're allowed to show them pictures and everything you know. I wasn't supposed to record all that.