Dr Charles Stanley - The Obstacle - Part 2

0:00Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time. Now let me talk about how you do not become humble. That doesn't mean read the Bible and get humble. It doesn't mean pray and get humble. He says humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, recognizing His sovereignty, begin to see yourself as the lonely person you are in the presence of a sovereign Almighty God who has power to do and knows all things. Humble yourself before it. It can be difficult to spot pride. That's because the root of this destructive attitude is buried deep within the motivations behind our actions. Today on In Touch the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we continue our series on humility in the life of the believer by hearing and applying some practical advice for overcoming our inclination toward pridefulness. Now as we've

1:03said before as we think about what humility is it is a very healthy, godly sense of oneself and that is one the Bible talks about being lonely of mine that is as far as our merits and our life is concerned not seeing ourselves above other people or critical of them. While on the other hand pride is something entirely different. The very word pride means to lift oneself up above others. It includes arrogance and a sense of superiority that a person can have of other people and oftentimes people can be prideful and never even realize it and we can be prideful about lots of things. A person can be prideful about their possessions, about their appearance, about their particular position in life, whatever it might be, about their relationships. A person can be prideful, arrogant, haughty, lifting themselves above others, seeing themselves as

2:03superior to other people and oftentimes making themselves very obnoxious. But the deceitfulness of it is this that a person can be prideful and lots of other people recognize it but they don't. And even more deceitful is this that a person can be prideful on the inside, cover it rather well before everybody but God. And yet when you begin to understand what God says about pride, what an absolute 180 degrees it is from humility, absolute told it is from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I do not want pride in our lives because all it can be is a henman's to us. And so what I'd like to do is I would like to take a number of areas of pride that a person can be prideful about and I want to talk about how to respond to those to get from those. Now, the best way for me to do that is to start with myself. So I want to tell you something that happened to

3:04me. So when I get in this list, don't sit there like it's never happened to me in my life because I know it has. So are we all agreed amen? All right. Several years ago, I walked out on a platform and this had been walking on the platforms in these situations a lot of times and it never fazed me. One night I walked out of platform with a lot of people, thousands of people out there and I walked out which state normally have done. They stood up and clapped and clapped and all and all and all and all and they gone nothing had happened. It's walked out there and love you, Dr. Stan and all kind of things. But on this night, when I walked out there and they started that, all of a sudden I found myself enjoying that. Instantly, I felt this overwhelming sense of fear. I thought,

4:04God, I have allowed this to reach to on my heart. I went back to my room, the hotel room, I got on my face before God and I said, God, before the sun rises to my morning, I have to know that you deal with this in my life because the last thing in my life I want is that kind of horrible, deceptive pride. When every message comes from you, breath comes from you, whatever gives in to all from you, the privilege, the opportunity of there's not one single thing, not one single thing can I boast of. It was one of the most frightening moments in my life. Now, having said that about myself, are you listening? Say, Amen. Let's start, for example, with this whole issue of possessions. Let's say that you're a person and in the Lord's bless you good and you know He has and you're very grateful for that.

5:05But you don't mind telling people about it. In fact, the truth is, you like why you live, what you drive, how you dress and you don't mind talking about your stocks and bonds or your wealth. In fact, you strut a little bit about that. Well, so how do you deal with that kind of pride is what you do. First of all, you ask yourself, Lord, if this is a part of my life, how do I deal with this? Well, first of all, you've got to start giving it away. Where do you start? You start with honoring the living God with your tide. Because if you'll think about this, the sovereign God of the universe says, bring you all the ties in the storehouse and prove me, thus, say, the Lord, if I'll not open you, the wonders of heaven and bless you. A person who hears the Word of God and refuses to give God what belongs to him, it is an act of rebellion, it is an act of pride that says, I know that's what you say, but I really don't believe that what you say because I don't believe that non-tents will go

6:08as far as 10-tents. I don't believe what you say that you can give me the wisdom to make nine, go further than 10 and therefore I'm not going to do it. And you may rationalize it in lots of different words, that's what you're saying. Now, if you're going to deal with this issue of possessions, you need to find somebody who can't give you anything back. Give to somebody who's in need of somebody that you want to bless. And if it's possible, do it secretly. That is, you're not expecting anything back. I don't mean that you can't tell that person, that's up to you about that. But at least you don't parade around. Well, you know, the other day I gave so and so, it's doesn't so. No. You want to deal with this, then you humble yourself and begin to give away something of what you have. Now, how much you give that's between you and God, whether you start over a little bit or a whole lot. But if you want to deal with the pride and arrogance about your possessions and what you have and you realize the day that God has spoken to you about that, you need to start giving it away. Give it to somebody who is in need. First of all,

7:13you give it to the Lord, what belongs to him. Then you give to people who are in need. Expecting nothing in return. You don't even have to have a thank you. You know what that'll do? They'll start your pride down till it brings you to a place of humility. The second thing that might have been an obstacle to some people is this. And that is host whole idea about your position. And that is, let's say that you're the president or you're the supervisor or you the boss or whatever, whatever it might be. And you have a good position or you have had and you still have that rank and so forth. And you'd like to remind people of that, who you are. And all of us have met people like that who'd like to remind you of who they are and where they've been and what they've done in life and what it might be. That's what it is. But there's a little strength of pride in your heart about it. How do you deal with that? Here's what you do. First of all, you acknowledge that God is the one who gave you the privilege to achieve whatever you achieved, gave you that rank and that position in light. And then here's what you do. You say,

8:16God, show me some area of service. Now knowing that God recognizes the value of every area of service, show me an area of service, Lord, that is lower than what I'm used to. An area of service in some way I can help other people and be of service to other people that has no rank. That's not something that I'm going to get me credit for. I'm not looking for any credit, not looking for many applause in acclimation or any rewards. Just an area of service that I can serve you. And you know what? God will begin to move you in the right direction when it comes to humility. A third thing that we have to deal with is this idea of appearance. Everybody wants to look their best. I understand that. We all represent Jesus. And so those of us who believe us and so we want to look our best. But let's say, for example, that you happen to be a person who can dress very, very well. Nothing wrong with that. That's fine. A person who is very beautiful, very handsome or whatever you feel like, very personal, outgoing, you know, you're just happy, go lucky. You just want those persons,

9:20folks just love being around. And you like all the approval you get. In the words, you like that. So how do I deal with that? Do I start dressing shabbyly? No, I will make it a difference. You just get more attention, in other words, that won't work. So what do you do? Is what you do? You thank God for whatever appearance He's given you. And remember that because you're one of His children, everything you have came from Him. So what do you do? How do you deal with it? You start looking around and you start looking at other people. And you start, you ask God to show me how to look at the good things, the good features of other people. You begin to see how the people dress. You begin to see how they look. You begin to see how they smile. You begin to shake their hand. You begin to acknowledge. You begin to take time. You sit down beside people. Never sat with them before.

10:22You get into conversation with them and you find a reason to compliment them. What happens? You get your eyes off yourself and get into another people. You know what? They'll look better to you. You'll feel better around them. And all of a sudden you'll think, what a wonderful group of people this is. You see, all that you have belongs to you because of God. And who we just say that one person's been looking at people go through the magazine rack and they see all these people who dress the certain way or dress undress the certain way or whatever it might be. And you have to weigh a certain amount and your waistline's got to be a certain amount. You've got to have so many muscles. What do you think God sees about all that? Hogwash. The Bible says it's not the outer person, it's the inner person. And this is why you find people who are very, very elderly in age have this wonderful sweet smile. And you know what? You just draw into the why? It isn't what they have own. It's what they have in. When you start looking at people from who they are on the inside, you're going to begin to appreciate other people and your sense

11:26of self-importance. And your sense of being worried about your appearance is going to change. And you are going to thank God for other people. Then there's this whole issue, for example, of knowledge. Here's somebody who's very skilled. They've very knowledgeable in their business and their particular area. They seem to have all the answers. They've studied hard and all the rest. And you know, they can talk about most anything. I mean, they're absolutely, you name it and they got it. In fact, they have the attitude that no matter what you say, they're going to have the last word no matter what. I just make notes whether it's a subject or a joke. If it's a joke, they're going to be upsmanship one on you. Well, that was fantastic. Let me tell you. And so what happens is very difficult deal with people like that. So if that's one of the problems, how do you handle that? You get in a conversation with somebody and you let them talk. You give them freedom to talk. Now you may know a whole lot more about the subject than they do, but don't tell them. Let them talk. If they say something is wrong, you can say, mm-hmm, or whatever you want to say. And don't say,

12:28now why'd you get that foolish idea? Because what you listen, the issue is you recognize and you've been prideful about your position, how much you know and so forth. And so what you want to do, give somebody else an opportunity to talk. Let them express their opinion, compliment them on what they know. Ask them, well, how did you learn all that? You know what you're doing? And every single thing I've mentioned so far, you're getting your mind and your attention off yourself on someone else and beginning to appreciate other people. And so if you want to deal this whole issue of being prideful over your knowledge and what you can do, why don't you encourage somebody else, compliment them. Now interrupt them, just let them talk. Give them the privilege. And when they've said what do they need to say, compliment them, so I appreciate you telling me that. That was a fantastic idea you had. Well, I never thought about that. What you're doing is you're building up theirself as they, but you're putting yourself, the Bible says, lowliness of mind, not a sense of

13:29superiority over someone else, but you're getting it down there where God wants it to be. This whole issue of knowledge, then there's the issue, for example, of achievements and awards. And some people, when they get awards and achievements, they love to say, in fact, they put them all over the wall. So let me show you this. I've been in a few offices that the first 15 minutes as I did this. I got that. I did this. I've been there. We had this. I had that. I had this. I had that. And I'm thinking, when are we God wasn't all that? You having a award or some good thing come your way? How do you deal with the issue of pride? Here's what you do. The first thing you do when you receive that award or that recognition is you begin to point out one or more of some people who helped you, who enabled you, and you magnify them, and you lift them up, and you include them, and you talk about the fact that if they were not for them, you would not have been able to achieve

14:30that. Nobody achieves awards and achievements in life by themselves as loan ranges. All of us have help. If you want to deal with pride when it comes to achievements in life, then you make sure that right up front, first of all, you include all those people who helped you, no matter who they were, and how hard or how little they were. You include them. Now don't just encourage their heart, but it'll lose something in your own life. It's going to remind you of who helped you, and you wouldn't be there. We're not in his grace. Then for example, there's this whole issue that of the will of God. Now God has asked all of us to do things in life we didn't like. He certainly asked me to do some things in life I didn't want to do. I wish I could say he's not going to ever do that again, but I'm sure you will. He asked us to do things we don't want to do. Sometimes we're afraid, sometimes just not what we want to do. It's just not our desire. You want to humble yourself before God. You say to Him, God, I don't like the idea. I don't want it. I can't handle the loss, or

15:33that wasn't in my plan when you were willing to say to Him, but God, because you're my father, I humble myself before you. I'm going to do exactly what you say. I'm going to do what you say, whether I like it or not, I may not like it even after I do it, but I'm going to do exactly what you say. What you've done is you have acknowledged his sovereignty. You've humbled yourself to the will of God. Now I want to say one last thing. Suppose you do all of that and it doesn't work. I've got one more solution. Turn to the second Corinthians, if you will. Second Corinthians. Look if you will in chapter 12. Listen to what he says. There are times when God will allow or send into our life difficulty, hardship, pain, suffering, things we don't understand, things we can't fix, things we can't change, in order to protect us from becoming prideful. Now listen,

16:40Kep, you listen, say, amen. The more gifted and the more talented and the more skilled and the more successful you are, the more you have to watch out about pride. And so because God knows our hearts and He knows we want to do the right thing, He is in the protecting business. Look at second Corinthians, chapter 12. And listen, Paul said in verse 7, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations that God had given him about himself, to keep me from exalting myself, becoming prideful, to keep me from exalting myself, becoming arrogant. There was given to me a phone in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that He might take it away, O, O, it will leave me. He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, but power is perfected in weakness. Most

17:43gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may do well in me. Either we have to deal with it, which we can, or there are times, when if God has something for you to do, or whatever it might be, that He absolutely is not going to tolerate it. Then He knows exactly how much pain, how much suffering, how much hurt, what matter and what form in which to send it in order to protect us, in order that He can accomplish His perfect plan, His will for our life. And so I just want to encourage you to recognize that pride is not only destructive, it is dangerous. It doesn't fit who we are as believers. God doesn't want it in our life. It's a hindrance to everything He has prepared for us. And if you are not willing to deal with it, He'll give us a spirit of humility as we respond to our absolute total submission to His will and His purpose for our life. And Father, we're thanking You and praising You today that

18:48You love us enough to point out to us those things in light that do not fit. Those things that either hinge on pride or are in evidence pride. I pray the Holy Spirit would speak to every single person to recognize their failure to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior is an act of pride. And that they would deal with that in these very moments that follow. And all that you would search all of our hearts, that we would continually be watchful, lest it creep into our lives, and run us for Jesus' sake. Amen.

19:56To listen again, click on the link to Today on Radio. If you open the bookstore page, you can order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, the obstacle, or order His teaching set, humility in the life of the believer. Our web address again is intouch.org, or call or text 1-800-INTouch. You can also write to us at Intouch, post office box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. Few people would say, I know better than God, but actions speak louder than words. Today's moment with Charles Stanley is coming up. Do you take sermon notes on the back of your bulletin, jot scripture references on the offering envelope? Start keeping things in one place, one organized place, with the Intouch No-Takers Journal. This leather soft journal contains 150 pages for taking notes and includes Dr. Stanley's 30 life principles. Find everything in one

20:57convenient place with the Intouch No-Takers Journal. Call toll free 1-800-INTouch or visit intouch.org. You don't need to be perfect for your children. Kick it over this way. That's it. But with just a little encouragement. We are a pro at this, aren't you? A lot of laughter. Some time and attention and a bit of patience, you'll pass along confidence and affirm connection with God that lasts a lifetime. In his book, Man of God, Dr. Charles Stanley helps us understand what it takes to grow into a man after God's own heart. Order your copy today at intouch.org slash store. From the pastor's heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley to receive in-touches from the pastor's heart letter. Call 1-800-INTouch or visit intouch.org slash pastor's heart. You're listening to Intouch. Social media can become a platform for boasting.

22:02Believers need to guard against that attitude. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley. Pride always results in rebellion. And this is why when you look at the script and find out what God thinks about pride, it's very evident what he says about it because he knows how destructive it is in a person's life. For example, a person is really saying by being prodful, I know better than God. And you recall if you move over to 1 John and look if you were in that second chapter and the 16th verse, the scripture says beginning in verse 15, do not love the world, the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father's not in him. When he talks about the world, he's talking about the world system. He's not talking about not loving and appreciating God's creation and loving other people, but the world system. That is that philosophy behind the world which says indulge yourself, satisfy yourself at all cause. Don't think about the future. Live today. Eat, drink and be married for tomorrow. You may die. He says, that's not of God. Look at this. For all that is in the world, the lust of the

23:05flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. So we ask ourselves the question, what is God's opinion about it? Because it's very evident here that it doesn't fit who we are. See, pride doesn't fit the life of the believer. It is natural and normal for a person without Christ to be very prideful in their life. Boasting about what they can do, boasting about what they have been, boasting about who they are, boasting about what they have, boasting about their relationships. That's the way the world thinks. Why not? Because they're not trusting God, they're not relying upon him, believing in him, putting their faith in him. All they have is themselves. You can learn more about being conformed to the character of Jesus Christ at intouch.org. And if the gospel has changed your life and if this program has been part of your story, please let us know. Next week on Intouch, we'll turn our attention to pursuing the Godly quality

24:05of humility. I hope you'll join us for our continuing series next week and on Intouch, the Teaching Ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of Intouch Ministries at Lanna, Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.