“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 NLT)

Pride is about self focus

We usually think of pride as good thing, but God does not when it’s about self righteousness or conceit. That’s because self pride is the opposite of humility. Self pride puffs up a person and humility does not. Self pride is the sin that entered Satan and got him cast out of heaven. There is a difference between the kind of pride that God hates (Proverbs 8:13) and the kind of pride we can feel about a job well done (Galatians 6:4) or the kind of pride we express over the accomplishment of loved ones (2 Corinthians 7:4). The kind of pride that stems from self-righteousness or conceit is sin, and God hates it because it is a hindrance to seeking Him.

Pride precedes destruction 

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18 ESV)

Pride precedes disgrace 

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Prov. 11:2 ESV)

Humility precedes honor

“Fear of the LORD teaches wisdom; humility precedes honor.” (Prov. 15:33 ESV)

Therefore…

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” (Rom. 12:16 ESV)

“Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” (Prov. 27:2 ESV)

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10 ESV)

Quote:

“Humility says you can learn from anyone. You don’t know it all. No one does! That’s why we need to remain teachable, humble, and lifelong learners.” - Rick Warren

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” (Rom. 16:17-18 ESV)

Sowing discord among brothers is listed among the things God hates

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Prov. 6:16-19 ESV)

Causing divisions is among the works of the fresh 

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal. 5:19-21 ESV)

“As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him…” (Titus 3:10 ESV)

Therefore…

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9 ESV)

Quote:

“Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. He attaches far more importance to godly intercourse than we do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation.” - Charles Spurgeon

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) 

Agape love: Agape is the term that defines God's immeasurable, incomparable love for humankind. It is his ongoing, outgoing, self-sacrificing concern for lost and fallen people. God gives this love without condition, unreservedly to those who are undeserving and inferior to himself.

The greatest kind of love

The greatest kind of love is called  Agape love, which expresses itself in loving action toward others. God demonstrated it by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us to provide the free gift of eternal life for all who will believe (John 3:16-17). This kind of love is a new commandment given by Jesus and is how people will be recognized as His followers.  

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)

Measure your love by comparing it to God’s love definition...

• Love is kind 

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” (1 Cor. 13:4)

• Love is not self-seeking

“ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Cor. 13:5)

• Love always rejoices in truth

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Cor. 13:6 NIV)

•  Love always perseveres

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  (1 Cor. 13:7 NIV)

• Love never fails

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Cor. 13:8 NIV)

Therefore...

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13 NIV)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7 ESV)

“Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Cor. 16:14 ESV)

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 ESV)

Quote:

“In the New Testament, love is more of a verb than a noun. It has more to do with acting than with feeling. The call to love is not so much a call to a certain state of feeling as it is to a quality of action.” - R. C. Sproul

“And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze.” (Exo. 35:31-32 ESV)

Being able to create things is a wonderful gift from God

You see how God has put the knowledge and ability to create what they need within the nature of the creatures He’s made. Birds instinctively know how to build their nests and beavers know how to cut down trees and build dams. Every creature knows how to do what it needs to do. God has gifted humans to do much more than what animals can do. They can endlessly create as much as they can imagine. The above passage says that God gives us “intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs.” 

God provides creative skill for any sort of workman or designer 

“He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.” (Exo. 35:35 ESV)

The Lord be with you as you work 

“You have an abundance of workmen: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and all kinds of craftsmen without number, skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Arise and work! The Lord be with you!” (1 Chron. 22:15-16 ESV)

Therefore…

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Rev. 4:11 ESV)

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3 ESV)

“But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.” (Gal. 6:4 ESV)

Quote:

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” - Albert Einstein

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” (Heb. 19:26 ESV)

Watch out, sin is all around you, recognize it and avoid it!

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5 ESV)

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Gal. 5:19-21 ESV)

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10 ESV)

Confess sin immediately and turn from it

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Prov. 28:13 ESV)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV)

Therefore…

“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:6-10 ESV)

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21 ESV)

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV)

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isa. 1:18 ESV)

Quote:

“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!” - Billy Sunday

“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matt. 10:31 ESV)

You are valuable because you were made in God’s image

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27 ESV)

You are valuable because you’re wonderfully made by God

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (139:14 ESV)

You are valuable as a child of God!

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…” (John 1:12 ESV)

You are valuable because you were bought with the precious blood Of Christ 

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” (2 Cor. 7:23 ESV) 

Therefore…

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17 ESV)

Quote:

“While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.” - Maya Angelou

“By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God…” (2 Cor. 3:5)

God makes qualified those whom He calls

God does not call “qualified” people because God’s Word says that there are none that are qualified. “None are good; not even one.” (Rom 3:12). Instead, He makes qualified those He calls by His equipping them by the gifts of the Spirit. Therefore, He is the one who does the qualifying of those He calls, not we. 

Pray that you may become fully qualified 

“And we pray for this: that you may become fully qualified.” (2 Cor. 13:9)

Qualified to encourage others with sound teaching 

“…holding fast to the faithful Message which he has received, so that he may be well qualified both to encourage others with sound teaching and to reply successfully to opponents.” (Titus 1:9)

Therefore…

“…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (Col. 1:12 NASB)

“And the [instructions] which you have heard from me along with many witnesses, transmit and entrust [as a deposit] to reliable and faithful men who will be competent and qualified to teach others also.” (2 Tim. 2:2 AM)

Quote:

“God does not choose those who are fit. He outfits those whom He chooses.” – Jack Hyles

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Rom. 12:10 ESV)

Look to the interest of others

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:4 ESV)

Build others up for their good 

“Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. (Rom. 15:2 NIV)

In love, open your heart to others in need

“But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” (1 John 3:7 ESV)

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17 ESV)

Therefore…

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil. 2:3 ESV)

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” (1 Peter 3:8 ESV)

Quote:

“One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbor; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us.” - John Wesley

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8 ESV)

Jesus understood tears

“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” (John 11:33 ESV)

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35 NIV)

He will wipe away every tear

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 ESV)

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4 ESV)

Therefore…

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!” (Psalm 126:5 ESV)

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.” (Psalm 34:15 ESV)

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (Isa. 25:8 ESV)

“For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:17 ESV)

Quote:

“We hear tears loudly on this side of Heaven. What we don't take time to contemplate are the even louder cheers on the other side of death's valley.” - Zig Ziglar