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[applause] >> There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here with you worshipping him. He is coming again. I would be very happy if the Lord would come today, wouldn't you?

And I'm going to preach until he does come. How about that? I don't mean this morning, I'm just saying.

Father, we thank you right now for the privilege of being able to speak your name without condemnation. I thank you, Lord, that all sins that we who have repented have committed are gone forever. It seems like every song that the choir sang to you today was a Thanksgiving song.

Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the cross and the empty tomb. Thank you, Lord, when you were on the cross we were on your mind.

What a God we serve. Oh, holy is the Lord God almighty today. So, I I want us to lift our hands to you, Lord Jesus, from the front to the back from the top to the bottom.

Hear us, Lord, Lord, as we bless your holy name. Hallelujah to God. Hallelujah.

Amen. David, I'm going to pull one on you guys. I want us to sing the doxology.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. Choir, I know you've done well this morning, but let's do it one more time. Ready?

God from whom >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [singing] [singing] [singing] [music] [music and singing] >> Hallelujah. >> [applause] >> Thank you for being seated. Three or four weeks ago, I made a statement.

And ever since I made that statement, it was, you know, just off the cuff. I guess the Holy Spirit just prompted me to say it, but I've been analyzing it. And it went something like this.

God seems to always tell us to go somewhere we don't want to go and do something we don't want to do. Remember saying that? And pushing us in places knowing that we can't do it.

To get us to understand we can't do it. We totally depend on the Lord for it all. God did not send Christ to make us comfortable.

We are in this stretching, growing, expanding thing called Christianity, and God will never let up until we stand before him on that day. So, if you are in a place right now and you can't understand why you're there, and you don't know what to do, and you don't know how you got here, you might as well just understand that the heavenly Father is in the business of molding, correcting, perfecting. You are to be one of his choice trophies in glory.

And it's the simple things that get us to that place. Let me read a narrative to you from Second Kings chapter 5. And I'll read most of these verses, but listen to this great Old Testament story.

Now, Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. He had everything everything life could offer, the prestige, the recognition, the power, and he had some money.

But he was a leper. That one thing kept his whole life from being full and radiant. And the Syrians had gone out on raids and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel.

She waited on Naaman's wife. Then she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would heal him of his leprosy." Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel." Then the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he departed and took with him 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, 10 changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, "Now be advised, when this letter comes to you that I have sent Naaman, my servant, to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy." And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God to kill and make alive that this man sends to me a man to be healed of his leprosy?

Therefore, please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel with me." He thought the king was trying to pick a fight with him. So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Please, let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Then Naaman went with his horses and his chariot and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be clean." But Naaman became furious and he went away and said, "Indeed, I said to myself, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Da- Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?

Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So, he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then when he says to you, 'Wash and be clean'?" So, he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan and according to the saying of the man of God, his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.

And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aids and came and stood before him and he said, "Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant." But he said, "As the Lord lives before whom before whom I stand, I will receive nothing." And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And we'll stop there.

I just want to use the word almost several times this morning. Naaman almost missed the healing because of his pride. He really wanted some type of pageantry, you see.

He had his entourage, chariots, horses. He was a big deal. I'm pretty sure he had on his finest regalia as a soldier.

And he probably thought that when he came over the knoll towards the house of Elisha, that Elisha would run out and fall down and worship him. But prophets don't do that kind of thing, you see. In fact, Elisha didn't even go out and say hello.

He sent a messenger out there. And just very bluntly said, "My master says, go jump in the river and dip seven times." Now, when a person is used to um being waited on and being recognized, they don't deal well with this kind of uh what would I call it? insult.

He doesn't know who I am? That little bearded prophet I know is in that house. And he sends a mere servant out to tell me to go jump in the river Jordan and dip seven times?

The Bible says he was furious. Can everybody hear me? Pride has cost us more than we will know.

Pride. Pride is all about me. You see, pride came from Satan.

It originated in his bosom. Satan is in the condition he's in today and the position because he was proud. And every one of us, because we have flesh, have to deal with pride on a regular basis.

And if you let pride ever outweigh humility in your life or obedience in your life, you will miss some of God's greatest things. There are people who have missed healing because they were too proud. And the list goes on and on.

He was even more proud of his country's rivers than he was that little nasty Jordan River. But his servants reasoned with him. Master, it just bear with us.

If he had asked you to do some great, seemingly impossible thing, you would have done it. Because pride says, "I can whip any situation that comes my way in my own strength." If he had asked you to do some great thing, you would have jumped right on it. But he didn't.

He asked you simply to go and dip in the Jordan seven times. Well, the man had to do what we all have to do. We have to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord.

There's nothing that makes God any more nauseous than proud people. A proud and a haughty look God despises. A self-sufficient attitude about life God despises.

What moves the hand of God is when someone says I can't but because God told me to, I'll try. And there he was insult of insults and they reasoned with him and then he said, "Well, let's go then. Let's go find this Jordan River." And off goes this little royal uh caravan chariots, horses and there's the Jordan River and it is muddy and the banks are slick and he's looking around at all of his soldiers and associates they're just sitting on horses and sitting in chariots watching what he's going to do.

And he said I guess I'll try it. He had to stand there and disrobe in front of all of his people. He's obeying.

And I want to tell you something. When you make the decision to obey God everything changes. Now, you may have to be humiliated just a little bit.

That's the second thing that Naaman discovered. He took off his beautiful helmet. He laid his weapons down on the side of the bank took off his breastplate probably took off his leather sandals and may have even taken off his shirt, the top, and just left the bottom but he's undressing in front of those he commands.

Isn't God amazing? And so he begins to work his way down in the water, but there's mud and the hill is slick, and he finally gets in and moves up to his waist. And everybody's watching.

He says, "Here it goes." And he goes down once. That started the track to healing. He obeyed.

He was humiliated. He listened to other people give him good, sound advice. Second time he went down.

By this time, all of that pride is beginning to leak out. He shakes his head and goes down the third time and the fourth time. Uh, something may have risen up and said, "You know, I'm I'm embarrassed to death." Seven times?

You mean I've got to do this two more times? That's what the prophet said. So, he went down the sixth time.

And he checked his hands, and nothing had happened. But, he remembered seven times. And when he went down the seventh time and came up and slung the water out of his hair, he looked and his hands and his legs, his body looked like the flesh of a new child.

He could hardly wait to get dressed again and head toward Elisha's house to say thank you, to bless him, to give him an offering. And Elisha just said, "I don't want it." I do not want that. I don't do this for money.

He said, "Well, then let me ask you this, prophet. Can I take several wheelbarrows of this dirt back to my country? Yeah, I want to take some dirt back.

You don't want my gold, but I want your dirt. I'm blessing myself right now. He said, "I got some mules here, and we've got some containers here.

Can I just load them up with dirt from Israel? And when I go back, I'm going to put it in a place, and I'll never again call on a dead God from a pagan country. From now on, there's only one God, and he is your God.

Praise God. >> [applause] >> God made him do an an embarrassing thing. You come to the New Testament and there's a blind man standing there, and Jesus walked up.

He said, "Would you like to see?" Yes. Jesus picked up some dust, and he spit in his hand and made the mud. And the blind man couldn't see what he was doing, but Jesus took those two wads of mud and spread them on his eyes and said, "Now go wash in the pool of Siloam." Well, why wouldn't you heal him right there, Jesus?

You got your hands on him. You are the healer. Why would you make him go somewhere and wash?

He's got to have help. Some Somebody has to escort him to the pool. Somebody has to help him in it and help him to get out of it.

Let me just remind you that his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He never does anything that seems logical to us.

And you just have to roll with the punches. And walk in obedience. And to suffer some kind of humility every single time.

And so the man went and he washed and he opened his eyes and he could see again. But the Lord required him to do something to see if he would be obedient. There's another passage in the the about Jesus.

>> [snorts] >> Um Then one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.' This is the first commandment." This is Jesus talking. "And the second, like it, is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." Now, listen to this.

So, the scribe said to him, The scribe is talking to Jesus. "Well said, teacher. You have spoken the truth.

For there is only one God and no other but he. And to love him with all your heart, with understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love one one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." Now, when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You ready for this? "You're not far from the kingdom of God." You're not in yet, but you're not far.

So, he was that close. He had it all up here, and he knew all the people, but something in here had never been changed. As I prayed about this message, I thought, "Wonder how many in church today will be that far away from the kingdom?

That far away from a blessing from God? You are not far from the kingdom." My question is, "Why didn't you just drag them on in, Jesus? Because Jesus requires that I confess that he is God.

And with all of the knowledge of the Bible that you may have, if you have not yet humbled yourself to say that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you are not walking according to the truth, you're about that far away. But that won't get you in.

You've got to call on the name of the Lord. That's the problem with that, remember, rich young ruler? Lord, what must I do to be saved?

HOW CAN I have eternal life? Jesus said, "Keep the commandments." And he talked HE SAID, "I'VE DONE ALL THAT." I'VE DONE IT. JESUS SAID, "WELL, OKAY.

ONE more thing. Sell all you have, give it to the poor, and then come and follow me and you'll have riches in heaven. I don't believe for a moment Jesus really wanted him to suddenly get rid of all his uh merchandise, estates, money, or anything else.

He was testing his heart. The Bible says the man dropped his head and went away sad because he had great wealth. He was that far.

Just that far. And I'm still wondering now, I wonder how many that are listening to me today are just that far away. But pride, pride, I guarantee you that old Naaman the rest of his life would go I almost let my pride keep me from the greatest healing of my life.

I've had people in this church tell me I love the Lord and I love the church. I go to preaching, I'll go on mission trips, but I will not go down in that baptismal pool. I'm not letting anybody see my my wet hair.

I don't want my makeup to run. I'm not wearing clothes that that are soaking and I'm not going back to dressing undressed with other people. I ain't doing it.

Okay. But just let me remind you Jesus sent the apostles into the world to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Paul, the great apostle to the church, was baptized.

JESUS! SORRY. Jesus was baptized.

You see pride pride You can be that far away, but the obstacle of pride can keep you from stepping in to the kingdom and stepping in to the blessings. But why does God do this kind of thing? He's exposing our unwillingness to go all the way.

He is showing even to us that there's a part of us that says I don't want to take up a cross and follow him. I still want to retain somewhat belief in my life, control of my destiny. I cannot just sling it into the wind and say I'm yours, God.

Just that close. He exposes our disobedience and highlights our helplessness. And Jesus always brought it back to this approach we have to God.

He said there was a there were two men that went to the temple. One went on that side and the other one on that side. The one who was on this side was a a renowned religious leader, and he had on all of the you know, church garb, the robes and the stuff, and he knew what to say, and he quoted scripture, and in that corner he said, "I am so glad I'm not like other men." I fast, I give, I pray.

He happened to look out of the corner of his eye to see that other fellow over there, just a common man, common man who realized that he was a sinner. He had nothing to brag about, nothing to boast of. When he turned and saw that guy, he said, "I'm really glad I'm not like him." Jesus turned our attention then to that guy.

He said, "Listen to what he said." "GOD BE MERCIFUL to me a sinner." He smote his breast. "GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER." He had pride. He had none.

He was self-reliant. He was self-destructive. He could do it without God.

He couldn't. And he said, "Be merciful to me a sinner." And Jesus said, "I'll tell you this, that man went home justified rather than the other. For he that humbles himself will be exalted." Pride, just that little bit of I don't know if I can go that far and do that much.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, I look at it, I've read it, I've over AND OVER AGAIN. HOW MANY blessings have we missed because of pride? How many answers to prayer have been delayed because of pride?

I have a strong feeling about what God's able to do when we humble ourselves in his sight. HOW [snorts] MANY FAMILIES could be put back together if pride were not there? There will be empty seats at the Thanksgiving table this year because of somebody's pride.

Marriages will dissolve because of somebody's pride. Here we go. I'm going to say it.

We pe- We have people with degrees in Christian counseling and all of that, but I got a degree in preaching. >> [applause] >> And I've had my degree a whole lot longer than you've had your degree. And here's what my degree says.

There is no way on this earth that two saved, spirit-filled people can divorce. I I I said can divorce, I should have said won't to divorce. Did everybody hear me?

There is no way in this world that two BELIEVERS FILLED WITH GOD'S SPIRIT, walking in the truth, working in the church, will ever divorce. If that ever happens, one or both have backslidden in some way or another. Now, that's my counseling.

That's my Christian counseling. And it is free today. >> [applause] >> Something's wrong when people start looking for a way out.

And I will tell you this, you may be one of those that you may be in that situation. THE BEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO IS CRAWL IN AN ALTAR ON your face and call on the name of the Lord. Jettison your pride and say, I want this to work.

I want to be a forgiver. I want to walk in a way with my spouse that I show them I love them. Folks, you there is no greater counseling and there certainly isn't a medicine to make this work.

What when you get in front of God and you kneel and you humble yourself and you obey his word, God will heal you. GOD WILL HELP YOU. FAMILIES CAN BE PUT BACK TOGETHER.

HOMES CAN BE RESTORED. FRIENDSHIPS. BUT we're too proud.

We feel like people owe us something. Owe us an apology. And it just goes on and on and it eats and it nags and it strips and it steals.

Let me tell you something, pride is dangerous. It will scoop up all the seed that's been planted in your garden of life. Pride will quietly strip you of the blessings that the Lord has ordained for you.

God can't stand pride. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and the Lord will lift you up. If your heart is proud, the Lord will not look upon you.

He that humbles himself before God will have the attention of God and the blessing of God. I have found that when we humble ourselves before the Lord, the things we tried to fix and couldn't, he can fix it in 2 seconds. The situations in our life, I don't care if it's marital, business, social, whatever, God is a healer.

And every time we obey God, Dr. Jesus shows up. He can fix any situation if both are willing and ready, God can do it.

As often as we have read these verses from Paul, they need to be read again. You see, our lives are too complicated. We're on a storm on a ship and WE'RE TRYING TO STACK HIGHER THAN OUR heads stuff.

There comes a time when you got to cut the ropes and throw stuff overboard just to survive. All the extra stuff, just throw it overboard. That's what happened when Paul was in a storm.

If they were in a storm for 14 days and they started cutting ropes and throwing wheat overboard and saying, "Oh, we just need to survive this." Folks, sometimes you just got to start throwing things overboard and realize what really matters. Your marriage matters. Your family matters.

Your health matters. And sometimes stuff we've accrued will, in fact, those relationships. You might have to get rid of some friends in your life.

See, I'm at THE STAGE NOW I DON'T NEED ANY BAD FRIENDS. I DON'T NEED NEGATIVE TALKING. I DON'T NEED MOANING AND GROANING AND GRIPING.

I DON'T NEED NEED NEGATIVITY. I WANT TO WALK WITH JESUS AND I'M I'M GOING TO LET YOU CHEAT ME FROM DOING THAT. >> [applause] >> OH, but pastor, what about winning them to the Lord?

Aren't Aren't we supposed TO BE A LIGHT AND A WITNESS? YEAH, HOW'S IT WORKING? HOW LONG WOULD YOU HAVE TO DO IT BEFORE YOU see the negative effects in your own life, in your own being?

So, Paul said, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. That means pride's gone. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead.

You know what he's saying? Uh all I think about and all I want IS TO BE RESURRECTED WITH JESUS. Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.

Oh my, I'm grabbing him and he's grabbing me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. And this is where we we dwell.

BUT ONE THING I DO, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark, the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, we're at the stage in the history of the world where the church needs to realize HE IS OUR LIFE. I DON'T KNOW OF A BUSIER MAN IN the Bible than Paul was.

Traveling oceans BY SHIP AND BY SANDAL. EVERYWHERE HE WENT, he was preaching and starting a church and being arrested and being whipped. AND BESIDES GOING UP INTO THE THIRD HEAVEN and meeting a resurrected Jesus, coming back down to this earth so he could give proper guidance to the churches.

And yet WITH ALL OF THAT ON HIM, HE SAID, "I JUST GOT ONE thing I want to do. I want to forget yesterday. I want to walk away from what it was.

And I came to tell you that in the church house today, the very thing you're still regretting and hanging on to is slowing you down. It's keeping you from God's best and God's fullness. If we could find ourselves at some point in an altar prayer, say, "God, cut it.

You have forgiven me and I am clean. Cut it from my mind. Let me realize that that's not who I am anymore.

I DID IT, BUT I did it in darkness. Forgive me, Jesus." Oh, did you hear what I said, PEOPLE? I DID IT.

AND IT MAKES ME SICK TO THINK THAT I DID IT. BUT I'M COMFORTED TO KNOW THAT I DID IT IN THE DARKNESS. BUT NOW THE LIGHT HAS COME.

FORGIVENESS IS MINE. CLEANSING AND WASHING BELONG TO ME. THAT'S GONE.

THAT'S WHERE WE'RE HEADED, TO SEE the Lord Jesus Christ. >> [applause] >> Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run this race that is set before us. Here it is, looking unto Jesus.

The author and finisher of our faith. Folks, it's a given. My body follows my eyes.

What I'm looking at is what I go after. What I see is what I become. That's why the writer said, "Looking unto Jesus." There's a lot to detract today.

Again, this country is in a mess. Anybody agree with me? It is a stinking, confusing mess.

We are, I repeat it, we are a vulgar nation. We are sinners. We are proud above everything else.

We need a revival in this country. But judgment must begin at the house of God. It starts with us who claim to know the truth.

IT STARTS WITH US. AND FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO are just about there, the best thing you can do is figure out what's holding you back and get rid of it. And say, with Paul, "I press toward the mark of the high call of God in Christ Jesus." I want Him.

I don't want to be entangled with the affairs of this life, so I can serve Him who has saved me. Pride. What would happen if we could just be cleansed from pride?

I'm going to repeat this. How many blessings have we missed because of pride? How about that wonderful sensation when there's a reconciliation with an enemy and y'all finally shake hands?

Isn't that a wonderful thing? How many of those have we missed? How many will not see somebody this Christmas because of a an insult that was hurled or a political view that is held.

That's so sad to me. I mean it. That families are divided today over something as rotten as politics.

The most important thing in your life is your family. That I mean that with all of my heart. Family, blood kin, that's who we ought to be loving and forgiving.

And I'm going to close and I just going to tell you God has a great blessing in store for anybody that has heard this message. And you know what's happening in your heart and you're you're you're considering do I need to do this? Do I need to make the call?

Do I need to humble myself and apologize? Folks, you never do wrong when you do what Jesus said do. Stand with me, please.

>> [snorts] >> Sometimes in church I'll I'll finish the service and I won't give an altar call. And every time I feel like I missed God. Here's what I want to do this morning.

If any of this applied to any of you, I'm asking you to come down front. And let's recognize we need God. You might be in a place right now you don't want to be and he's asking you to do something you don't want to do.

But if God called you to do it, he'll help you [music] do it. If there's anybody that needs to be closer to Christ this morning, if there's anything anybody that needs something fixed, come on down here. God bless you.

>> [snorts]