What Pride Is Really Doing to You… ⚠️ | Screwtape letters Week 3

Simply wonderful work, nephew, wonderful. A senior demon celebrating, celebrating a junior demon that he's mentored and coaching on how to pull one man away from the enemy. And in the letters back and forth, the enemy is obviously God. As I prayed for you this week and as I read the screw tape letters, I processed and thought about it. Maybe a question you ever thought about. As your life is watched from heaven and hell, which does your life cause to celebrate more? Does heaven celebrate more because of your life or does hell celebrate more because of your life? And maybe you think, well, I can't know that. Well, actually God's word is so good. It tells us exactly what makes heaven celebrate. Jesus tells us this in Luke 15, seven. Jesus says, I tell you that in the same way there is rejoicing, partying, a rager in heaven over one sinner that repents, than over 99 righteous persons who need not repent. See, what heaven does is heaven celebrates when a heart is soft and a heart is in God's hand and a heart wants to listen to what God has to say. And even in the hard times, the heart is there and it's ready, but hell celebrates whenever a heart is hardened, turned to its own ways, turned to its own ambitions, turned to how it is seen

instead of how God has seen. I wanna ask you, what do you see more of in your life? You see more soft humility or do you see more hard, maybe even breaking? Can I tell you, no matter where you are, no matter how you feel, can I just speak something over you from God's word that you were made to live a life, you right there in your seat, not just me, not just the person around you that you may feel is godlier than you, you right there in your seat, you were made to live a life that has heaven celebrating and hell crumbling. You were made to live a life that has heaven celebrating and hell crumbling. Is anybody at Faith Promise ready to live a life that has heaven celebrating, amen? Come on, I know that I am, let's do it. Let's do it. So hey, I wanna welcome you to church today. I'm so excited to be with you. I wanna welcome, if you're live at a campus, if you're watching live or later online, God behind bars, we're so proud of you. When community gatherings, I'm telling you, God is moving in a radical, radical way. I know we've already celebrated it once. I wanna take a moment and celebrate it one more time. When the city was absolutely amazing,

we had over a thousand people serving. That's over 3,000 hours that we served a lot of schools and ministries. It's hard to pick a favorite, but one of my favorites is that small groups would find homes in their neighborhoods that needed to be served. I know at our Rhone County community gathering, there was an elderly woman that didn't have the handicapped entrance into her home, and they went out there, a bunch of men of God went out there, put their hands to work, and built her a ramp into her house. That's so good. That's so good. And hey, she doesn't come to Faith Promise. We wanna introduce people to Jesus than to Faith Promise. And that's what we're doing with When the City. So right now, we're just in a special time. We're in a really fun series where we're looking at one of the most classic Christian books called The Screwtape Letters to learn more about spiritual warfare. This is a book that my parents used to disciple me and equip me as a spiritual warrior. It's a letter of a senior demon writing to a junior demon. And the letters themselves, they are fictional,

but the contents of those letters are as real as it gets. And listen, I need to challenge you. Lock in on me right here. Listen, some of you guys have stopped reading. Some of you guys haven't finished a book since high school, and The Screwtape Letters, you've stacked on that stack of books that you started. Hey, I love you. I need you to lock in. I need you to pick it back up. Listen, you can do it. I know maybe vacation got your schedule off or maybe it felt hard to understand because it was written in the 1940s. You can do it. I need you to show yourself, to show God, to show the devil, to show your family, to show everybody that's watching your life. And yes, there are people watching your life. I need you to show them that you are a spiritual fighter. I'm not asking you to be perfect. I'm not asking you, hey, I hit every day at this time. I'm asking you not to quit. You are not a quitter. You are not a victim. You are a victor. I need you to, listen, if you have the book, fine. I'm using the app, on the Faith Promise app, you can go to The Screwtape Deal

and you can click that YouTube link. It'll read it to you. There's more. in the app for you, so hey, jump in and do it. I'm telling you, it'll read it to you. It's a great opportunity. Now, let me get a little more specific. Raise your hand at all of our campuses, online, everywhere, if you have a kid or a student in your house, a kid or a student. All right, most hands are up. So hey, they're gonna go back to school. It's gonna feel like tomorrow. They're gonna go back to school. And do you think they're gonna be attacked by the enemy at school? Look, look, look, one more time, a little more confidently. Do you feel like they're gonna be attacked by the enemy at school? Have you prepared them for it? There's less yeses, less. We prepared them by getting to go to the beach like everybody else. We prepared them with their sports, with their practices, with signing them up. But we all know 10 out of 10, 100%, they're gonna get attacked by the enemy whether they go to Christian school, whether they're homeschooled, whether they go to public school,

they're gonna get attacked by the enemy. Are we sending them like sheep among wolves or are we sending them like shepherds, like King David, who's gonna be there to protect people spiritually? That's why we're doing this book, to prepare your family, your kids, your students. Listen, you can do it, I promise. Let me go just one layer more specific. Students, we have something up. We have movement conference coming up. Parents and students, you cannot miss. You cannot miss movement conference. If I could just speak from my life, my life was shaped at events like this. I was called to ministry at events like this. My wife was set apart for me before I even knew her name at events like this. My understanding of Jesus and my identity and my calling and the aggression with which I seek the Lord's presence was shaped at events like this. They're gonna go into rooms. They're gonna feel the tangible presence of the Lord. You students, you cannot, there's nothing like it. You're not gonna get it at school. You're not gonna get it even at a singular student event. I'm telling you, it's gonna shape you. Parents, there are excuses not to go. Well, I don't know anybody. Well, hey, if your student, they're going to a new school and they say, I don't know anybody,

you say, oh, that's okay, sweet baby. Just stay home with me. No, you say, you're getting your rear end of school. Oh, dad, I don't want to go to practice today. What do you say? Andy, what do we say if you don't want to go to practice? Get your bat or I'm gonna hit you with your bat. Those are the choices, right? I don't want to go to movement. I'm gonna stay Christian. Get them to movement conference. I'm telling you, faith promise, even if you're not there yet, can we just be faithful right now? Give God some praise and we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it, we're gonna do it, okay. Okay, so, okay, I'm just, I'll calm down. I've been gone for two weeks. I've missed you so much. I pray for you every day. I just have such these dreams and desires in my heart for your personal life, for your family and for our church. Now, in the screw tape letters this week, so much was covered. The demons in their letters back and forth, they discussed pride, anxiety, gluttony, church, love, and so much more. I genuinely wish I could sit down with you for an hour and talk about every chapter. It's so, so powerful.

But today we have to choose what we're gonna talk about. And so I mainly want to talk about the foundational temptation that they discussed, which was pride. But before we get to pride, I want to talk about something else really to help us understand that there's pride in really all of our lives. And there's a stronghold of pride in our church, if you would be humble enough to hear it today. In chapter 16, the demons talked about church. The head demon wrote to the one he was mentoring, and he said, you need to make your human a church hopper, a church shopper, somebody that just goes around. This is actually how it was said in the book in chapter 16. It says, if a man can't be cured of church going, the devil cares if you go to church. Do you wonder why you're sleepier on Sunday, do you wonder why you have arguments on Sunday, on Wednesday, students? The devil doesn't want you here. He said the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for churches that suit him until he becomes a taster or a connoisseur of churches. That's in chapter 16. Listen, this is one of the truest things in the whole book. It was written in the 1940s, but I believe it's more true today than it ever has been. I'm gonna put this on the screen. It's gonna stay up there for a while

because we need to receive it. When it comes to church, most people, I wonder where you're at, are more spectator than participator, more consumer than contributor. and more critical than committal. And I wonder where you would find yourself. And listen, this right here, it is the work of the devil. And I wanna beg you, do not fall into this, not because faith promises great, even though I think it is. In the Bible, Jesus said that the church is his bride and the gates of hell will not overcome it. The church was Jesus' idea, not Zach's idea. And you may wonder, well, where am I? How do I know if I'm a spectator or a participator or a consumer or a contributor? How do I know? I just ask two simple diagnostic questions. Do you serve and do you give? If you were to put these side by side, that van, there's a line drawn down it and that line is drawn by serving and by giving. This is what separates contributors from consumers, from participators to spectators. Listen, and here, it's simple, we gotta know. Listen, we think it's easier not to do those things. First of all, can I just tell you something? Jesus never promised you easy. He didn't say, pick up your pillow and follow me. He said, pick up your cross and follow me.

I wanna know where you got this thought that Jesus has watchers or Jesus has lookers, Jesus has followers, okay? And it's not gonna be easy to follow Jesus, but it's gonna be worth it to follow Jesus. I wanna make sure that we know it's not easier not to serve. It's not easier not to give. There's gonna be challenges in this life. We get to choose our challenge. Listen, it is not easier living outside of your purpose, which is serving. It's not easier living outside of giving. Listen, it is so worth it in what God has for you. Whenever you live outside of your purpose, outside of serving, outside of your identity, you feel like you're wandering. You feel purposeless, you feel directionless, you feel identity-less. You're not sure if you make an impact or a difference. If you feel that way, it's because God's designed you at your foundation to make an eternal impact. And if you're not, then you're gonna continue to feel that way. You're made to serve, not just serve. You're made to tithe, you're made to give. Listen, and we all need money. We all have bills to pay. We all have all that stuff. But I wanna tell you something about the Bible. Maybe you don't know.

From cover to cover in this book, God wants to bless you. I'm not saying things won't be hard, but God wants to bless you, I promise. Why would God bless something you're locking him out of? Listen, I'm a dad. I've got three kids I love so much. If my kids had something that was driving them away from me, do you think I'd bless it? A lot of us, our finances are driving us away from God, and we wonder why he doesn't bless it. He's a dad first. He wants your heart first. If we don't invite him into that, then we will continue to be driven away from his presence by that. And listen, and I know, I know serving and giving are massive topics. I wanna give you one step, one step. I want you to go to next steps. I know we talked about it at hosting today. I'm believing for 200 people to go to next steps. 200 people to go, discover their purpose, walk in their identity, have a relationship with Jesus. I'm telling you, your life will never be the same. Go to next steps today, and if you don't want to, we're gonna talk here in a moment about what's making you not want to, but I beg you, please, your life will be better. The people around you, their lives will be better. Listen, God is orchestrating some things

around faith promise. We are about to see, I'm telling you, revival, things that we've been praying for for a long time. And listen, this isn't something that just I want. You should want a move of God. It's like, well, why do I wanna move of God? Well, let me cue you in. Raise your hand if you have somebody you love that doesn't know Jesus or is far from Jesus. Raise your hand. Participate, raise your hand, and be about all of us. If you raise your hand, then you wanna move of God. If you raise your hand and you want church services to have kids' rooms open that are loving on those babies, you want more student groups so that when students come, they can hear at least once a week you have an identity in Christ, you have a purpose. We want groups to be able to love on these young marriages. I'm telling you, we need more winning team. We need more tithers. We need more campuses. We need a move of God. The darkness thinks it's taking ground, but you've been called, in Matthew 5, a city set up on a hill that cannot be hidden. And I think that you know and I know when you flip the lights on, the darkness doesn't try to fight back. The darkness runs. Go to next steps and be the light to win your world

that God has called you to be. One more time, give God some praise. Come on, this is good stuff. All right. All right. Some of us are a little uncomfortable. Some of us may be a little frustrated talking about tithing. Dad's always told me people get funny when you talk about money. It's just one of those things. If you feel any sort of bother, maybe you're like, I don't wanna go, can I just be super transparent with you? That's pride. Pride is throughout church history, biblically, it's one of the ultimate weapons of the enemy. Can I read you just three of the over 50 verses in the Bible about pride? Just let me tell you about them. And just, you just tell me, because what I'm asking, as you hear this, I'm asking for you to lean in at the level that these verses portray the intensity of what pride can do to your life. It says, when pride comes in, when pride comes in, so comes disgrace. But when humility comes in, there comes wisdom. It said, when pride, it brings a person low, but a person who is lowly, a person who is humble, they gain honor.

It said, hey, help me finish this. Pride goes before the? No, it doesn't say fall. I don't know where we got along putting little kid gloves on that. It doesn't say pride goes before the fall. It said pride, what, on the table? It said, pride goes before destruction. It's not fall like you might get hurt. It's destruction like it'll ruin your life. But if we're humble, because hey, bad stuff happens, right? People say stuff. And you know, we make mistakes and we blow it. And we're not sure what to do about some stuff and we mess up. But whenever there's a humble heart that God can pick back up and say, I got you. A humble heart that looks to God overlooking to ourselves and say, it's gonna be okay. You have an identity. You have a purpose. You're more than a conqueror. I know the plans I have for you, I declare the Lord's plans are prior for you and not to harm you. You're a masterpiece made on purpose, with a purpose. Since the foundation of the earth, I knew you and I've numbered your days. It's a different life.

You don't find yourself on the floor in pieces. You find yourself in the hands of the Lord Almighty God. See, when it comes to pride, give me that next slide. When it comes to pride, pride brings disgrace. It brings low. It makes you an enemy of God. I don't know if I've ever said anything that makes you lean in. Like if you're in the center of pride, it makes you an enemy of God. Lean in. Humility, wisdom, honor, and God's support. I want those. Those two lists, that's not even close as to which one you're gonna walk in. Maybe you wonder, how can I live a life of humility? How can I, if the devil is so good with pride, how can I live in victory? We're gonna go where we always go to find that answer, to God's word in Luke chapter 18. If you go to Luke chapter 18 in your Bible, I hope you have your Bible, whether in your hand and paper or on your phone. If you go to Luke 18, go ahead and go there with me. I'm gonna read you verses nine through 14 and make sure you have it so you can use it this week because the enemy's gonna come after you. Luke 18, verse nine. It says, to some who are confident, and this is Jesus talking,

some who are confident in their own righteousness and look down to everyone else. This is proud people. Jesus told this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. I'm not a robber, evildoer, and adulteress, or even like that tax collector over there. I fast twice a week. I give a 10th of all that I get. Verse 13, see this right here? You can tithe and you can serve, but if you miss the foundation of what Jesus is about to teach, it's still for nothing. Verse 13, but the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you, listen to what Jesus said. I tell you, this man, the tax collector, rather than the other, the Pharisee, went home justified before God for all those who exalt themselves to be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Now, in our culture, if you grew up in church, you know that the Pharisees are chumps, right? Like we know that, Pharisee, boo, right? We know that.

But listen, let's put ourselves in their context. Let me help you, okay? Some of y'all's stomachs are about to wad up. Whenever Jesus says Pharisee and when he says tax collector, tax collectors would fund, they were essentially fundraisers for the enemy. They were Jewish people. They were collecting taxes for Rome. It would be like comparing a pastor to somebody that's your work that was a fundraiser for Al-Qaeda. On their Facebook, on their Instagram, on TikTok, they were like, hey, we need money for Al-Qaeda. I'm gonna come. by your house and ask for it, how's that make you feel? You pumped about that? You excited about their visit? And guess what, they have police officers there that are gonna take that money whether you wanna give it or not. That's the comparison, you feel that wad in your stomach? That's what we're talking about. The people who heard it, they would have been aghast. It'd be like if you turned on Fox, they're comparing Republican to the scum of the earth, Democrats. Or if you turn on CNN, the Democrats to the scum of the earth, Republicans, right? Or if you wanna get real biblical,

it'd be like comparing like the Tennessee Vols to like the Gators or Alabama or something like that. You know what I'm saying? They'd have been visceral responses. They would have been, they'd have lost their minds. This comment by Jesus had been treated on X right there. People have been doing reaction videos to it. People have been sending each other, can you believe what he said, can you believe what he said? This guy just elevated a tax collector, a terrorist group fundraiser over a past, over our pastor. Why? One reason, one was prideful, one was humble. And the one, despite their position, had a heart posture to receive grace from God. What about you? Are you more worried about your position in the eyes of others and yourself? What about your heart posture before God? God wants us to know that real life is found in a high view of God, not a high view of ourself. Not a low view of yourself, I'm gonna talk about that here in a second. Some of you guys are gonna leave with a higher view of God and a higher view of yourself that's not prideful and it's gonna set you free, I'm telling you. But something that's very unique about the sin of pride is that as you grow, you are in more danger of pride. It's very unique in that way as sin goes. Lust, greed, gossip, profanity, all those things

as you mature and you know more of God's word, all that stuff, you usually, like you grow in those things, you have more victory, but as you grow, the enemy uses pride to pull you off of that growth. Can I ask you, as we look back at Luke 18, which one sounds more like the life that you live? Is it the Pharisee? Compare yourself to others? Do you compare yourself to others? Are you super proud of the works that you do? Do you think more of yourself that have gotten... Now, listen, this is very important. I'm not saying you think that you're better than God. I'm not saying you think more highly of yourself than God. I'm saying you think more about yourself than you think about God. It's not about a height thing. It's not about a quality thing, it's about a quantity thing. Do you think more about yourself than you think about God? Do you think more about your wants than about God's wants? More about your desires and plans than God's desires and plans. That's what the Pharisee was doing. Or we're more like the task collector, compared himself to God's grace. Humble to God hears him. Think about your prayer life. When's the last time you got so grateful that the God of the universe heard your prayers, that it put you on your knees,

that it put you on your face? I'm so grateful that you hear me. I'm so grateful that you love me. I'm so grateful you have a plan for me. We get so busy complaining. If you complain more than you're grateful, Pharisee. It's really hard to look at the face of the almighty God, my creator, my savior, and my sustainer, and look at him and know that he loves me, and he wants me, he has a plan for me, he cares about me. Today, he has stuff to say to me and whine. You are more winner than sinner. You are more winner than whiner, unless you wanna be proud. Listen, this is a game changer. He thought more about God than about himself. Can I remind you, just drive it home. Who did Jesus surround himself with? He surrounded himself with tax collectors and sinners, because they were willing to think more about him than about themselves. He didn't go find people that could fold over the pages of their Torah and their Bible. He found people with calluses on their hands that were willing to know him most and work for him. It's not about your position, it's about your heart posture. And listen, pride is near and dear to the devil's heart. It's what got Lucifer, the devil, thrown out of heaven. He knows it well, and he wields it well. Listen, the only way we can have victory over pride

is to have a humble heart that sees God and ourselves rightly. I do not want you to have a low view of yourself. Our whole vision at Faith Promise is for you to see yourself as a world winner, as a son or daughter of God. I don't want you to have a low view of yourself, but if you see God rightly, you will be given. given the highest view of yourself earthly possible. I know it might sound a little confusing, so let's go back to God's word to understand it. At the end of that parable, when Jesus is talking in Luke 18, he says, I tell you, this man, the tax collector, rather than the other, the Pharisee, went home justified before God. A significant source of our pride comes from us trying to justify ourselves, trying to do good, trying to be better than somebody else, trying to do good enough to not feel bad about it. Listen, I want you to receive this so badly, not just for eternity, but for each day you need this. A right view of Jesus is essential to a right view of yourself. Because we've so lost our view of Jesus, that's why we have the identity crisis of transgenderism, of sexual confusion, because we've lost sight of Jesus. You cannot see you without seeing Jesus first. He is the creator. Without seeing the creator, you will be confused,

you'll become your own God. Look what that's doing to us. A right view of Jesus is gonna set you free. Let me help you see this. Listen, I'm about to, just in about three minutes, right here, I'm gonna teach you a massive theological truth that if you will understand it, receive it, pursue it, it will change your life. Because I wanna show you, there's a guy named Paul in the Bible, and he did so much, he was way more righteous than me or you. But I want you to see what happens after he sees Jesus, what he thinks about his work versus knowing Jesus. This is in Philippians 3, verses eight and nine. This is what he says, what is more? I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage. Garbage. This guy had the first five books of the Bible memorized. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Some of y'all kept making it to the first three chapters of Leviticus without passing out. He said it's garbage. Everybody looked to him. Garbage. Everybody wanted to know what he had to say.

Garbage. Everybody was sharing his post. Garbage. Because he saw Jesus. We need to see Jesus. I wanna see Jesus. I consider them garbage. That I may gain Christ and be found in him, having not a righteousness of my own from my works that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. See, here's what happened. Paul had, whenever he saw Jesus, and he got discipled by Jesus, he had this revelation in something we call the imputed righteousness of Jesus. Now, what is it? I know that may seem like a fancy word. It really isn't, but it's about to change your life. Imputed righteousness is God seeing you through what Jesus has done. Guys, guys, this is, come on, listen. Whenever God sees you, what do you think that he sees? You think he sees the thing you said yesterday, the porn that you watched, the lie that you told when you lost your temper? When he looks at you, he sees the imputed righteousness of Jesus.

I remember Rach and I were leading a small group and there was a young lady in there and we had wondered Jesus recently and she felt bad about some stuff like we all do. And I started talking about the imputed righteousness of Jesus. And she's like, what do you mean? And I said, well, when God on his throne looks down at you, he doesn't see what you've done wrong. He sees you through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus right now is at the right hand of the Father interceding for you and me. Whenever he looks at Zach, when he looks at you, amen, you give God some praise, he sees us. He sees us through what Jesus has done. I don't have anything to be grateful for today. What? What? When God looks at you, if you've received Jesus as your savior, when he looks at you, he sees the righteousness, the imputed righteousness of God. That's why when I wake up in the morning and I put on the armor of God, the breastplate of salvation. Have you ever seen a breastplate in a movie like the arm that had a big fat gut and bamboo's? That's not how they make those things. But when you get up in the morning, you're like, I'll put on the armor of Budweiser, I guess.

And you wonder, why am I a spiritual weenie? I put on the righteousness of Christ. Whenever I walk out to my wife and to my kids, I'm not walking out on the. or my self-control, I'm walking out on the power that was bought for me on the cross. When Jesus said, to tell us thine, it is finished. That's what we're walking in. You have the imputed righteousness of Christ, unless you want to live in pride. Unless you want to step out from the covering of our Savior and say, I got it. One of the worst mistakes that you can make for yourself, for your family, I don't want that for you. Before we take a moment and respond to humility, there's some people here you've never, this is brand spanking new. Maybe you've been at church your whole life, but today you realize you want the imputed righteousness of God. You want what, you don't want a hard life where you're trying to do it on your own. You already feel like these crumbles on the floor. You want to be in the hand of the almighty God. You know, in the Old Testament, there's a prophet named Jeremiah, and he speaks for God, and he says, can I not do with you Israel, God's people, as the potter does, declares the Lord, like clay in the hands of a potter?

Are you in my hand, Israel, God's people? Can I ask you today, where's your heart at? You want to keep counting on your works? Are you ready to put your hands or your heart in the hands of a father that so loves you? All you have to do is tell him that you want to receive his gift of salvation. It'll be yours. I know you still have questions, and we're gonna answer those together, but the question that matters most is, is Jesus your savior? And if he's not, right here, right now, he'll pick you up off the floor. He'll soften that hard clay into a heart he wants to love and serve every day. If you're ready to start a relation with Jesus, all together as a family, please close your eyes. Let's pray this prayer together. I know you have questions, it's okay. We'll answer them together. But right now, do you know Jesus as your savior? If not, you are heading towards the destruction that comes with pride. Let's pray this prayer all together. Say, Jesus, I know you love me. I know you want me. I know I've sinned, but you came to pay for my sin. I believe in my heart, and I confess with my mouth that you are my savior.

Be Lord of my life. With heads still bowed, don't look around. Listen to the sound of my voice. Don't zone out, don't tune out. Some of you guys just gave your life to Christ. On the count of three, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand. Today's the day. I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand. I'm gonna ask you to be bold, and I'm telling you, your life will never be the same. Do not let pride keep your hand at your side. I want you to shoot it up on the count of three. If you start a relationship with God today, we want nothing more than to walk with you. On the count of three, I want you to shoot that hand up, because God loves you and wants you. Shoot that hand up. One, two, three. Go ahead and raise them up. Come on, raise them up high. Awesome. We got people, their hands up. Just give us a minute to get these out. Praise the Lord. Got something back here. Just one second. Let's get these out. Thank you, Jesus. Oh my goodness. What a day.

What a victory from the Lord. Just give us a minute to get these out. Praise God. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Okay, we'll get those out. Faith promised. Can we celebrate with the people that gave their life to Christ today? Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Hey, we're gonna respond in humility. We're gonna sing a song, one of my favorite songs. And hey, we got a prayer team up here. And some of you guys know, every weekend you come up for prayer, and pride keeps you in your seat. Can I just be honest with you? Because I've grown up here. Since I was a little bitty kid, I've been here. You know, sometimes I would come to the altar with nothing to pray for.

I would come to the altar just because I thought he had something to say to me. Because I was a humble man. Man, are you humble? This is the time. I want you to pray, and just pray what the task collector prayed. God, have mercy on me, a sinner. As you pray, one more time, I want to challenge your pride. Next steps. I know you're experiencing God's presence right now. He wants to walk with you like this every day. Today, be a man or a woman of humility, and walk in all he has. Will you stand as we prepare? Prayer team, come forward, God, right now. We give this time to you. We are humble. We are clay in the potter's hands. We will lay our pride down and pick up the power of your love and grace. Whatever you have to say today, we will obey because you hear me pray. Amen.