Pride's Explosion is Far Reaching

Chapter four, pride. Pride's explosive power is far-reaching. Obadiah 1.3, the pride of your heart has deceived you.

Such an important verse. Let that sink in for a minute. The pride of your heart has deceived you.

And that's the deception with pride is sometimes we don't see it until it's too late or until God wakes us up. Let me state up front that I'm quite aware of my own shortcomings as a pastor. We all struggle with something, but do we humble ourselves and repent or do we continue to quench and grieve the spirit because of pride? The difference is life changing.

So one of the major landmines a pastor must avoid at all costs is the deceptive nature of pride. To talk about pride, we first must define it. Basically, pride is a pleasurable emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction in one's identity, their appearance, their performance, their accomplishments.

And one of the greatest quotes I've heard on this was from Puritan Thomas Tuke. He said this in the 1600s and it helps to put pride into perspective. If a humble man becomes proud of his humility, he loses the very humility he claims to possess and becomes puffed up with pride.

If a man takes pride in his beauty, he forfeits true beauty and becomes a vain fool. If a man is proud of his wisdom, he turns into a fool. If he boasts of his wit, his intellect, he becomes a senseless, he becomes as senseless as a donkey.

If he is proud of his poverty, he becomes rich only in pride. If he is proud of his riches, he becomes poor in piety. What a terrible and hateful sin pride is.

Not only is it evil in itself, but it also corrupts good things, turning them into evil things. Just as venomous creatures transform whatever they consume into poison, so pride turns all the thoughts, words, and deeds of a proud man into instruments of vanity and self-glorification. So after listening to this quote on pride, what stood out to you? That's probably the very thing that God wants to deal with in your life, whether it's looks, vanity, accomplishments, wisdom, what you've achieved, success, size of your ministry.

All those things can be points of pride if we're not careful. Pride manifests itself in pastoral ministry in many ways, such as in preaching or teaching, education, again, church size, the church budget. How many times have I heard that? Well, our budget is such and such.

And they take pride in that, not realizing that it is God who builds the ministry. As John Stott once declared, the chief occupational hazard of leadership is pride. And Samuel Rutherford adds, be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.

Deal with pride before it deals with you. A mistake that makes you humble is much better than an achievement that makes you arrogant. Pride is not only painful for us, but also for those around us.

It causes a husband to demean, a father to abuse, and a leader to fall. Pride crushes joy, leads to continual conflicts, and fuels bitterness. Think about that right now in your church or in your home.

Is there an absence of joy? Is there continual conflicts? Is there bitterness that's building? A lot of times that can be directly related to the pride in our heart. And pride cannot be cuddled and coddled. It must be crushed and given a swift blow with brokenness and humility.

My heart is broken by what we are currently witnessing from many pulpits. Without humility, which leads to the fullness of the spirit, we can easily become weak and carnal, or abusive and spiritually dead. Pride acts as a barrier to genuine repentance because it clouds our vision, and we don't see our need for humility.

In every case, we need to embrace the cry of Psalm 85.6. Will you not revive us again? Oh Lord, please revive us that your people may rejoice in you. That must be our plea as well as our passion. One thing is certain, you can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough.

Quote by William Law. The day God broke me, embrace the pain. In 2005, I was reading three different books on systematic theology.

In many of Spurgeon's works, I could quote Calvin, Luther, and Knox, but God was about ready to knock my block off because of pride. My mom finally came to me and said, son, you have lots of head knowledge, but no one wants to be around you. I shot back, just like any good Pharisee would.

They're just convicted. But deep down in my heart, I knew that she was right. Knowledge had puffed me up, 1 Corinthians 8.1. Then through a series of events, including a journal entry from my wife saying the same things, God began to break me.

I was very angry at first because the truth hurts, and pride hates to be lovingly challenged. You can take that to the bank. But I began to realize that they were absolutely correct.

I was prideful and controlling and unteachable and very eager to argue, very eager to dispute, very eager to show all the knowledge I was learning. In my world, I was always right because I was well-read and my studies focused on holiness. Josiah Shute said, the sin of pride is so ingrained in us that even when other sins decrease, pride grows.

Boy, did I live that. I was becoming holy and not watching certain things. I don't even think we owned a TV, and I was holy.

Other sins were decreasing, but pride was increasing. Be very careful in this area, guys, I'm telling you. This encounter, along with a few other experiences, truly humbled me.

Although pride is still a struggle, I finally understood A.W. Tozer's words. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. Said another way, it's doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has humbled him greatly.

Embrace the pain. Let God break you in order to remake you. If you're going through the broken process, don't flex up, don't just go into defense mode and argue and debate.

Learn from it. Maybe some things need to be fleshed out, of course, and the other people aren't always right, but you have to take a posture of humility. It's very healthy to say, you know what, those are definitely a few areas I can work on.

And of course, you can share things from your perspective, but it's good to own pride. That's the best way to get rid of it. The root cause of most problems.

Large churches can easily develop pride in what they've accomplished, and smaller churches run the risk of romanticizing their low attendance as a sign of spiritual exclusivity. And of course, that's why attendance is low. We are the remnant church.

So be careful on pride on both sides. I've seen it. It's deadly and damning.

The truth is God builds a ministry, not us. And sometimes he'll put you in a small location, an isolated area with difficult people just to keep you humble. Thank God for that.

Don't try to run from it. Run to him. Since many churches are not located in densely populated metropolitan areas, simple math naturally limits our growth from time to time.

We need to be faithful where God has called us to be. And I'm convinced that God humbles many pastors by not building their ministry just yet until their character is built. I know many large church pastors who are humble, and God is using them in powerful ways.

And I also know many churches that are small, and their pastors are bivocational. But their character and their steadfastness is an example to all of us. So the size of the church isn't the problem, it's the size of the heart.

I'm sorry, the size of the pride in the heart. That's the real problem. The root cause of most of our problems is pride.

And the only way to chip away at pride is with the hammer of humility. And be forewarned up front, that hammer hurts. But the refining process is definitely worth it.

I recently saw online a survey that 77% of Christians want a church with fewer than 300 members, and 54% want one with fewer than 200 members. The post concluded, the desire for a big church is not the desire of the people. It's often the desire of the pastor, because it fuels pride.

So again, be very, very careful in this area. Regardless of whether you agree or not, the results are very telling. People love that intimate, smaller church setting, because fellowship is often genuine, there's not lots of bells and whistles, it's not so crowded you can't connect.

And that can be a very healthy thing as well. So the lesson learned is, whatever size ministry God places you in, find contentment and stay humble. That's really the secret to success.

This may be why God allows problems and struggles. Do we humble ourselves and become teachable while seasoning our words with grace? Or do we love to argue and debate? We know all the debate topics, from Calvinism, Arminianism, free will, God's sovereignty, women in leadership, gifts of the Holy Spirit, church governance. There's a lot of things out there we can debate.

End times, let's get into eschatology, neumatology, and all the different ologies, and people love to debate those things, and really just to show their wisdom. And that's something we have to repent of. You can learn a lot about a person when they are challenged or when they go through adversity.

Do they respond with love or do they react with anger? The enemy of our soul doesn't care what denomination we belong to. He is set on destroying us if pride is left unchecked. We should never be excited about accusing our brothers or arguing over non-essentials.

Confrontation, and it does need to happen, must flow from a broken, humble heart that is focused on unity. I've been in ministry, oh, if you've been in ministry, actually, for any length of time, you've heard all about the landmines of gold, glory, and girls. Although there is a lot of practical application that can be applied to each one of those, the root problem in all three is the landmine of pride.

Pride says, I will never commit adultery. Humility says, by the grace of God, I haven't, but I can. Pride says, when it comes to gold, money, I'm God's man.

I can manage this. But humility says, Lord, I need accountability. And glory says, God's expanding my ministry.

Look at what God is doing as we get puffed up. But humility says, God, I'm thankful just to have breath in my lungs. Wherever you wanna place me, I will be content.

Money and popularity are twin engines of pride, while humility remains the key to God's favor. But sadly, it's the exception rather than the rule. Again, pride is ready to rise up in all of our hearts on a daily basis.

We've gotta repent of it and do things that keep us broken and humble. Maybe visit shut-ins. Maybe go to hospital homes.

Visit those who cannot repay you. Encourage those who cannot encourage you. And that's how we really stay humble.

We don't rise up above the congregation and others. We go among them and we focus on ministry alongside of them. Just look at all the well-known pastors who have fallen just in our generation.

Nine times out of 10, they don't fully repent, but instead, they tend to minimize what they did and sadly, they try to hop right back into the ministry as quickly as possible. That reveals pride and vain glory. Pride makes us backslide.

In an article I wrote probably years ago now, titled Seven Reasons Why Christian Leaders Fall, I noted that leaders often fail to shore up blind spots because of pride. Each of us is drawn away by our own evil desires and enticed. When these desires are continually acted upon, this leads to death.

James chapter one, read the whole chapter. Sin has a life cycle. It either grows or withers depending on whether we feed or starve it.

The prolific Puritan author, John Owen, once said, be killing sin or sin be killing you. If you haven't figured it out yet, pride is the root of most problems, including our sin nature. Number one, pride tells us that a certain sin will never happen to us.

However, first Corinthians 10, 12 reminds us that when we think that we are standing firm, that's exactly when we need to be very careful and watch out for the slip. Proverbs 16, 18, pride goes before a destruction and a haughty spirit goes before a fall. Strength, therefore, is found in admitting our weaknesses and then shoring up those weaknesses.

For when I am weak, I am strong, second Corinthians 12, 10. In other words, weakness means I know I'm weak in this area, so Lord, I need your help. Please shore these areas up and then because of that humility, you become very strong in your faith.

Pride ignores conviction and opens the door to compromise as well as unwise decisions. Conviction is not always a hammer to the head, but often a still small voice to the heart. C.H. Spurgeon rightly noted, we are never, never so much in danger of being proud as when we think we are humble.

Sadly, many people confuse God's patience with his approval. Something that has always amazed me is how many pastors can continue preaching and leading even when caught in unrepentant sin. Again, unrepentant sin that just continues.

They can still use their gift to preach. Sometimes with power and wrongly assume that everything is okay. When challenged about their heretical beliefs or their worldly practices or the hidden sin, they often shoot back, but look at the fruit.

Look at the fruit. Now, granted, from time to time, that can be a good response, but more often than not, these people are confusing God's patience with his approval and the success will eventually come to a screeching halt. If this is you, repent and pursue God again via daily brokenness, daily repentance.

You might argue, but that may cost me my ministry or a portion of my ministry. It may, but it will cost a great deal when exposed later, a great deal more when exposed later. You'd be amazed at what God will do with a humble, gracious heart.

Pride says, I'm too busy. This is number two. I'm too busy.

We are all susceptible to putting God second and making ministry our top priority, but if we're too busy to cultivate a prayer life that places God first, then we are too busy, period. Ian Bounds said that men would live better if they prayed better, and we're often too busy because we're doing too much. He went on to say, when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.

Guys, you've gotta get that heartbeat of prayer back into your life. That's the only way to really stay humble and powerfully used by God. Moral failure cannot easily gain a stronghold in a broken, praying heart that spends time in God's word and obedience to it.

It's hard to fall when you're always on your knees. Check out James 1, 22. Nine times out of 10, when a ministry leader falls, they have no meaningful prayer life or a devotional practice.

In their eyes, they have arrived, and they're so busy because they're God's man. Be careful, you will fall if that is your way of thinking. It's been well stated that pride is a barrier to all spiritual progress.

Harry Ironside said that, and Spurgeon mentioned in his writings that none are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. And be careful on some of these heresy hunter or critical, contentious YouTube channels that just love to pick people apart. They have such a high view of themselves, and they are arrogant, and we must pray for them.

While on this topic, let's not overlook the minor details such as not returning texts or emails or other correspondences as well as an attitude that is somewhat above people, I'm too busy for them. You cannot be too busy for others. I truly believe that God will show himself merciful when we are merciful to others.

Although not always the case, of course, ignoring people can be a form of pride. Being too busy is a standard protocol for CEOs, but not for pastors. And that's another concern that many have with very large churches is the pastor is a superstar and not among his people.

And that needs to be looked at from time to time. Number three, pride downplays or misapplies holiness. Throughout all of biblical history, Satan has always attempted to draw God's people away from his holy standard, and the enemy's tactics have not changed.

I vividly remember a story of a young boy who kept falling out of his bed. He finally asked his mom, why do I keep falling out? She answered, it's because you don't get far enough in. In the same way, many of us fall back into sin because we don't get far enough into God's framework of safety and protection via holiness with the right heart that is humble and broken and faithful and grateful and thankful.

That's the key, guys. In the words of Isaac Watts, true Christianity, true Christianity, where it reigns in the heart will make itself appear in the purity of life. Of all the attributes of God described in the Bible, holiness is seen most often.

Holiness is a vital weapon of defense against the enemy's attack. Check out Ephesians 6. But holiness must come from brokenness and humility, not legalism. Legalism says, I'm gonna do these things because I'm spiritual.

I'm gonna do these things and I'm gonna get God's favor. And the heart behind them can be off. A low or wrong view of holiness always damages morality.

We rationalize instead of repent. Holiness born from legalism feeds pride and starves humility. And I'm convinced that today's media plays a significant role in the decline of holiness in our churches as well as in our own personal lives.

Sadly, Hollywood, not the Holy Spirit, influences many, including many pastors. We cannot fill our mind with darkness all week or worldliness and expect the light of Christ to shine in our lives. And more importantly, expect the boldness of the spirit in our preaching.

That will not happen if our minds are filled with pride and worldly pursuits throughout the week. Number four, pride plays with sexual immorality rather than flees from it. We must be on high alert in this area and have strict accountability measures in place.

Again, as I often said, accountability alone doesn't fix anything. But it is a good guardrail to have throughout the canyons of life. The devil doesn't show those involved in counseling appointments, inner office meetings, and private fellowship the pain and anguish and the years of regret that moral failure brings.

He deceives them with a false sense of freedom in ministry. So they simply think they're helping the other person. If you are married but attracted to another person or if the potential exists, take steps now to remove yourself from that environment.

Trust me, you cannot play in the enemy's playground and expect not to get hurt. Adultery begins with small compromises and we're often too smart to take deliberate plunges. We won't walk right into the situation.

But because of pride, we can easily become enticed to take one step at a time, one compromise at a time, one bad choice at a time until we're at the bottom wondering how we got here. Humility quickly repents and returns to God. Don't entertain sexual immorality.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.18 to flee from it. And that includes pornography and building a relationship with the opposite sex. Number five, we fail to strengthen weak areas.

We fail to strengthen weak areas. The demands of life often tempt us to seek gratification in things that are very destructive. We must be on high alert.

The enemy uses opportune times to draw us away from God. Check out Luke 4.13. The line is so thin sometimes that it's often hard to determine when we cross the line. Weak areas, and here's where people have different weak areas.

Some people, their weak area is drugs, possibly pain meds, medication, medicinal things, and that's gonna be their weak area. Other pastors, a lot of pastors, especially nowadays, turn to alcohol to relieve that pain and maybe something now and then in moderation might be okay for some. For others, it's a huge stumbling block and you're gonna have to shore up that area.

Sex and pornography and anger. Anger, some of you are walking a fine line with anger. That must be dealt with.

Marriage issues, and on and on it goes. These opportune times, the enemy is looking for opportune times when the crack in the armor is exposed and he can strike that final blow to our heart. So we must expose these areas through repentance and install safeguards and accountability.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. For example, if I go to our elder team, our elder board, I did this when we first planted the church and then again later on to saying, hey guys, these will be the areas where I've struggled all of my life. Maybe as a teenager, I don't struggle with these things.

Of course, you use wisdom, but hey, here's some cracks in the armor, just want you to be aware. You can ask my wife anytime how we're doing so that accountability opens up transparency. And trust me, there's a lot of freedom in that.

Enjoy, it's not gonna stifle you. It's going to embolden you to fulfill your calling to even a greater degree. Number six, accountability is often breached or minimized.

Accountability is a safeguard, but it's not bulletproof. Accountability by itself doesn't work. It's not realistic to ask others to hold you accountable.

For example, you can have accountability software on your phone like I do, but some apps that you might download don't work with that accountability software. So you open the door and you use an ulterior mode or ulterior method to still fulfill those desires. And so you're thinking you have accountability, but really you don't because accountability in itself never works.

It's just a tool along with a heart focused on God and honoring God's word and keeping repentant and broken and humble. Accountability, again, simply adds another level of security in the battle against sin. It's healthy to say to those we trust, hey, I'm struggling in this area, can you pray with me? And ask the hard questions from time to time.

For example, I encourage pastors, hey, if you're feeling, you want to go back to those pain meds because of your back injury or shoulder injury, let people know, let your spouse know to pray with you. If you're feeling it's a difficult season and you're wanting to go grab some wine, let people know, be transparent. If you're feeling that urge to go online and look at things you shouldn't, you say, hey, I'm struggling today, and that transparency really helps us fight this battle against sin.

And the primary reason, this is the primary reason I believe the plurality of godly elders is the best way to lead a church with the pastor being the lead pastor among equals. And because this helps with that accountability. Granted, I've heard of horse stories, as many of you have when you have a renegade elder or two, but that's not, I don't hear that as often as hearing about a renegade pastor or leader in a parachurch ministry with basically no accountability.

They're the final say, they're the final voice, and they can continue in ministry because their bylaws don't allow a plurality of elders to keep them in check. Again, the greatest number of fallen pastors often come from a church hierarchy where they are at the top with the board beneath them. And this is also a huge pitfall for ministries led by one man who no one really keeps him accountable.

Or if he has a board, it's a board consisting of his friends, many of them don't even live there, it's a lot of yes men, you hear that term, yes men. And so guys, we've got to make sure we shore up these areas where the enemy can come in in stealth mode and really take us out. As I'm actually writing this in the book, but recording this, I remember this is a few months ago, I just heard a leaked audio from a megachurch pastor, I think in Ohio, harshly berating his staff.

I couldn't believe my ears, I'm like, that would never fly in our church. He sounded more like a CEO than a shepherd and a plurality of elders would have no doubt helped keep him accountable and deflated his ego. But I don't think his church government is set up that way.

Additionally, consider adding accountability software that sends a weekly report of all questionable websites you visit to your wife's email. Also, leave your phone out each day for transparency. You shouldn't have hidden passwords.

This is a major deterrent and it makes you very conscious of even seemingly innocent sites or texts. Now, there have been times from time to time where a marriage is strained and maybe it's wise for a season to send this information to someone else. But the majority of the time, have our spouse come alongside of us.

To the pride-filled heart, this may seem extreme, but humility says otherwise. We need to be armed against the enemy who steals, kills, and destroys. The greater our influence, actually, in Christendom, the greater the need for accountability, spiritually, financially, and relationally.

The enemy loves to work in darkness and he loves deceit, exposing your cracks in the armor will help others keep an eye on them as well. Number seven, pride excuses wrong behavior and fosters a sense of entitlement. Ministry is hard and can easily take its toll.

Filling a sense of entitlement fueled by pride is often the beginning of justifying wrong choices. Remember this, being a leader is not about entitlement. Entitlement, being a leader means you're the lead person in regard to humility.

You lead in humility, you lead in brokenness, you lead to the altar, you lead in worship. You're the lead, humble person, if I can put that another way. And always remember the quote from Oswald Chambers, that God buries his men in the midst of paltry things.

No monuments are erected to them. They are ignored, not because they are unworthy, but because they are in a place where they cannot be seen. Guys, be careful.

We cannot become jealous and judgmental of those who seem to have it all. If I could just have that campus and that ministry, be careful, pride cometh before a fall. Luke 16.10 should be a great encouragement as it promotes a humble heart.

So you also, when you have done everything you were able to do, you should say we are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty. What a great outlook.

Sin can be silenced in a thankful, broken heart that is set on worshiping God, but pride flourishes in a bitter, resentful heart. God has given us the privilege to serve him, proclaim his truth and help others. Don't allow frustration and negativity to fuel pride and lead you down the wrong path.

Pride also fuels the spirit of accusation. So this is an interesting topic because on one hand, we have pride fueling the hearts of many Christian leaders, superstars, rock stars, they consider themselves above the law. And people have some great, some good constructive criticism about their ministry, financial integrity, different things, and they're not open to it.

They just say it's spiritual attack, it's spiritual attack, and it's spiritual warfare. No, it's not spiritual warfare if God is trying to get you to repent of some character flaws. So you have that side of it, but the other side of it is we have a lot of heresy hunters and clickbait promoters.

They're trying to promote their channel. They're going after everybody and everything. It seems like their whole ministry is about pulling down others, and that's what I'm talking about here.

Due to the internet's ability to spread a huge amount of information quickly, it's easier than ever to expose sin publicly. Exposure is sorely needed and long overdue, but on the other hand, it can become very destructive when arrogant and judgmental people use it as a weapon to truly change lives. Truth must be seasoned with grace and watered with hope.

That's a key that many of these heresy hunter ministries are missing. Instead of pointing people to hope and restoration, we often rush to premature judgment, guilty until proven innocent. Many outlets of profit from clickbait are eager to drag someone through the mud again and again and again, and because of pride, many of us can become cold and callous and overly critical in our zeal for justice.

We may be right in our reasoning, yet wrong in our hearts. I'm assuming that the reader understands that I'm not lumping everything into the same category and everyone into the same category. A leader who abuses kids should be handled much differently than a leader who steps down due to anger and controlling issues.

When victims are involved, we must listen carefully and prioritize their issues. Pride focuses on self-preservation while humility focuses on other people. We must provide a safe, non-threatening environment for victims to come forward, but also avoid the spirit of accusation behind some of these so-called ministries who love pulling down others.

Because of pride, I've personally seen false accusations hurt good godly people. Once more, I'm not minimizing spiritual abuse. It must be dealt with swiftly, but we must be careful that arrogance and the spirit of accusation don't kill our discernment.

One particular ministry comes to mind. Years ago, a pastor had stepped down due to his aggressive leadership style. I believe it was in Chicago.

But some Christian outlets still criticize him to this day without considering the possibility that maybe he was humbled and broken by all of this. My goodness. True repentance is when a man grieves for his sin to the extent that he abandons it.

Puritan Josiah Shute. And see, that's the problem. Some of these ministries want to keep that person down until the day they die.

But I don't know if that's the heart of God. Sometimes God does want to restore, maybe not to the capacity they were at, but wants to give them hope, offer them encouragement. And we should champion this rather than disdain it.

Where's the compassion? Where's the erring on the side of grace? And unless we have evidence proving otherwise, why are we rejoicing that God has done a great work in this man's heart? Humility hears both sides. As the spirit of accusation and the lack of humility and brokenness crept into your heart, I've been guilty of this myself. When we recognize this, we must repent.

Proverbs 18, 17 reminds us that the first person to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. We also must acknowledge Proverbs 28, 11, which says we should not form opinions without hearing both sides. Pride often prevents us from pursuing the truth.

To adequately assess situations, the critic contending for the truth must be filled with the spirit to display the fruit of the spirit. You see, that's the main problem in many of these ministries. They're not filled with the spirit.

They're filled with pride. Many of these so-called discernment ministries are fueled by pride and motivated by revenue. And it's very hard to speak with clarity and precision and grace when we only have a snapshot of a story and we're hell-bent on pulling people down.

Sadly, many of these outlets do a lot of dirty work behind the scenes, baiting people for evidence that might not even be valid, looking for exposure rather than the truth. Take heed, not only will fallen leaders be held accountable, but so will heresy hunters who are operating from a prideful, arrogant spirit. Leaders need to be more forthright and admit their sin.

People would respect them a lot more and it would set a good example. Leaders not only lead by example with integrity, but also with repentance. Okay, quick recap here.

Pride deceives, harden, destroys, and hurts. But humility enlightens the situation, softens our heart, builds back relationship, and heals old wounds. The choice is yours.

We are watchmen, not rock stars. We must be part of the solution rather than the problem. It all begins with humility.

It all begins with humility. I wish I could say that 10 times over, but I think you got the picture when where we're going with this. Humility hears both sides.

Humility hears both sides. Has the spirit of accusation and the lack of humility and brokenness crept into your heart? Yes, I'm rereading that because it's so important. I want you to take a minute here and think.

Has the spirit of accusation crept into my heart? Am I lacking humility? Again, we're not rock stars. We've got to be very careful in this area. Are you contentiously contending? Are you contentiously contending? Sadly, another area of pride for pastors is head knowledge.

Many are contentiously contending for the truth instead of continually humbling themselves before God. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are liberal progressive pastors who are doing a great deal of damage because they are failing to lead people to God and his word. They often make decisions based on not offending people, never stopping to consider that they are offending God by their silence on sin or their silence on important doctrinal issues.

As a result of this tension between conservatives and less conservative churches, the church today finds herself in a very interesting spot. We are commanded to love all people who struggle with sin, yet we cannot affirm sin, nor can we turn a blind eye to unrepentant practices of those who claim to be Christ followers. The excuse of, well, I was born this way does not fly in the light of scripture.

Sadly, liberals are considered mainstream while those who support sound doctrine are called mean-spirited. Up is down and down is up. Right is wrong and wrong is right.

And that is not right. Pastors, if you are digressing from the truth, please don't call it progress. Liberals, you need to repent of apathy and your low view of scripture.

Do you even know the Lord? And conservatives, we need to repent of pride if it's also a stronghold in our lives, because pride is on both sides here of this debate. So here are a few questions to consider. Do you always have to be right on either side? Prove your point or get the last word in.

Are you often defensive and moody? Because if you're caught in sin, and especially if you're a pastor and you're not proclaiming the truth of God's word, you will be a very defensive, moody person as well. Are you quick to talk and slow to listen? Are your words seasoned with rebuke more than grace? Are you unteachable and eager to dispute? Do you often make non-essential issues essential issues? Issues to argue over and debate and lose friendships over? Are you too busy, too important to return texts and emails? Do you take issues with some of God's word? Are you doubting some of it or taking issues with what you refer to as outdated morality and wanting to unhitch yourself from the Old Testament? Be very careful. Do you want to gloss over or avoid this chapter altogether? If you answered yes to some of these questions, like I have in the past, then pride may be a problem.

Grow in the soil of humility. Pride blinds us spiritually as illustrated in the life of a famous celebrity. As the story goes, a flight attendant asked the celebrity to buckle his seatbelt before the plane took off.

He shot back, Superman don't need no seatbelt, to which she replied, Superman don't need no airplane. Obadiah 1.3 reminds us that pride can and will deceive us. And with some exceptions, the younger you are, the more careful you need to be.

1 Timothy 3.6 says that a leader should not be a novice. This doesn't necessarily have to do with age, but it often does. Normally, the older we are, the more we've been through in regard to brokenness and pain.

Hopefully, our ministry is growing in the soil of humility. That is the key, no matter your age. If you're a younger pastor, please plant your heart into the soil of humility now before it's too late.

Remember, only about one in 10 who begin in the ministry in their 20s actually finish well. If you were like me when I planted the church, you may have had unrealistic goals, such as growing a large church in a short amount of time. Church planters often think, I'm going to do things the right way.

I see the flaws in this other church, I'm gonna do things the right way. And they often pull down other churches in the process. The damage is far-reaching.

When God builds a church, there's nothing wrong when God grows a ministry, even quickly. But we have to be careful that pride has not crept in. Note the words, when God grows, that's the key.

When I broke out of my season of discouragement, I thanked God over and over again for the pace at which He grew our ministry. Looking back, if the ministry had grown very quickly, I don't think my character would have provided a strong enough foundation. And that's through the years of being humbled and broken.

They pay off later, they really do. God is investing in humility. Be careful, don't rush the process.

Sadly, that's what we often see today. A charismatic pastor plants a church in a highly populated area, but sadly, the church grows faster than his character. And because it grows so quickly, and he thinks he's God's man, man, I've got the touch of God, I've got the anointing of God.

Be careful, the enemy might help you grow your ministry as well, if your heart's not right. Because of the incredible growth, this person thinks he is truly God's man, and pride begins to tighten its deadly grip. He fails to realize that the growth might just be a numbers game.

A church, a good community, in a highly populated area, equals growth. I could list some churches right now that are very big, but very unhealthy. And it's an area we must be careful in.

I'm going to leave it at that. In many cases, but not always, this type of pastor is inclined to be soft on doctrine, avoid confrontation, and sidestep difficult topics. Not all the time.

I can list some megachurch pastors that I know who are very solid. But why is this? Well, because he built the ministry, not God. And what it takes to build a ministry is what it takes to keep it going.

Have you ever seen any of these people, maybe from the old school, 1980s, 90s, and maybe early 2000s, I don't know, but they're constantly asking for money. And send the seed gift, sow the seed gift. I'll send you this glass whatever, trinket.

If you send $1,000, and if you send $1,000, you're going to be, here's all the blessings you're going to receive. And why in the world do they do that? Because that's what they had to do to start the ministry. And that's what they have to keep doing to keep the ministry going.

I would rather just, I would downscale, and I would get my heart right again. I'd get it focused on God. Let God bring in the revenue.

Not have it be about money, because that's very stressful. Let God build the ministry in his time. What it takes to keep it going.

Social media feeds, new videos every day, marketing, strategies, posters, billboards, is it gets exhausting. And if you use all that to build the ministry, you might have to keep all that going to continue the ministry. And like Samson, many of you know not that the spirit of the Lord has departed.

Because you've departed from him. You need to return to that first love and get filled again with the spirit. When God builds a church at the right pace using a pastor filled with the spirit who boldly preaches the unchanging truth of his word, the church is spiritually healthy.

That's the gauge, the budget at all. It has to do with God building a church using leaders filled with the spirit of God, obeying the doctrines and commandments of scripture and loving the truth as well as loving people. In closing, recognize and avoid the landmine of pride at all costs.

G.K. Chesterton once said, if I had only one sermon to preach, it would be a sermon against pride. How true, how true, how true. Make sure that your church is planted in the soil of humility and continue to water it with brokenness.

Pastor Ronnie Floyd said, God can do more in a moment than you can ever do in a lifetime. He's actually one great example of what was a mega church pastor who has continued steadfastly and will hopefully finish well and continues to hold to the truth. It's been well stated over the years that pride must die in you before heaven can live in you.

Let me say that again. Pride must die in you before heaven can truly live in you. I believe that was Andrew Murray.

To truly succeed in ministry, humility has to be your goal. Let me say that again. To truly succeed in ministry, humility has to be your goal.

Remove your defenses, humble yourself, apologize if warranted, repent to God and let the soil of humility grow an incredible blessing for you and for your church.