1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,000
1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1.

2
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,320
We're not really looking at the context of 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

3
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:19,320
You can read that.

4
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:20,320
It's a short chapter.

5
00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,040
You can read it later.

6
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:29,620
In the context, Paul is dealing with food that's being eaten here.

7
00:00:29,620 --> 00:00:33,280
Food offered to idols in particular.

8
00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:38,560
But what we see in the first verse I think is applicable in a lot of areas, not just

9
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,520
our knowledge about food offered to idols, which is what he was dealing with.

10
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:48,840
But I think what he's addressing here is something we can all think about for a second tonight.

11
00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:59,140
So 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1, he says this, about food offered to idols.

12
00:00:59,140 --> 00:01:06,840
We know that we all have knowledge.

13
00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,720
Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.

14
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:11,720
Let's pray.

15
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:12,720
God, we come to you.

16
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:14,280
We thank you for your word.

17
00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,320
And I pray, dear Lord, that we would learn from your word tonight.

18
00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:24,080
I pray that we would check ourselves to see if we are puffed up with pride in our knowledge,

19
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,640
dear Lord, or if we are being built up and building others up in love.

20
00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,600
So God, I pray that we would listen to these words.

21
00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,360
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be among us tonight.

22
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,560
I pray that you would speak through me this evening, dear Lord.

23
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,560
I pray that you would hide me behind the cross.

24
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:45,000
I pray that you would help us to be free of worries and distractions, dear Lord, and any

25
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,840
attacks from the enemies tonight, dear Lord, but that we would listen to you and that we

26
00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:51,360
would hear from you.

27
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,920
And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

28
00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:54,920
Amen.

29
00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:55,920
Amen.

30
00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:01,120
Now, some of your Bibles may have a part of this verse as a quotation.

31
00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,600
He says, we know that we all have knowledge.

32
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:05,600
We all have knowledge.

33
00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:10,640
It may be in quotations in some of your translations, and it may not.

34
00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:13,000
But I think that it probably should be.

35
00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,160
There's some difference of opinion.

36
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:21,680
But it appears as though that Paul is quoting something that the Corinthians have told

37
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,120
him, and he's rebutting what they have told him.

38
00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:26,360
He's coming back at them.

39
00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,240
They had an answer to something he had addressed them about possibly, and he's repeating what

40
00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:36,040
they have said and addressing while they are wrong in what they have said.

41
00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:38,840
And we see this kind of throughout the book in some of these things.

42
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:45,640
We see some of these quotations or what appear to be quotations in which Paul is saying,

43
00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:50,360
you guys said this, but I'm going to tell you where you're failing and what you said.

44
00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:56,440
And so it appears as though what the people of Corinth said in regards to food offered

45
00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:02,720
to idols, but in our case, I think it's applicable in any area of our life.

46
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,920
What they appear to have said was, we all have knowledge.

47
00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:10,440
That is, we know everything there is to know about this.

48
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,000
We know about this subject.

49
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,800
We don't need you to tell us anything about this, Paul.

50
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:19,360
You're writing these letters to us, and you're telling us how to deal with things, and we

51
00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:20,360
know stuff.

52
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,280
We're as smart as you are.

53
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,840
We have knowledge, and that's their argument.

54
00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,360
We don't need to listen to you.

55
00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:29,360
We have knowledge.

56
00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:35,120
Now, it's hard for somebody that knows everything to learn anything.

57
00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,520
That's important for us to remember.

58
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:43,460
If you know everything, you're not going to learn anything because as soon as somebody

59
00:03:43,460 --> 00:03:50,680
starts to tell you about something, you're going to say, I know more than you about that,

60
00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,160
and perhaps we're guilty of that.

61
00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:57,220
And then we follow that up by saying all that we know.

62
00:03:57,220 --> 00:03:58,760
We put our knowledge out there.

63
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,360
We open our mouth and we spill our great knowledge that we have.

64
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,560
Now, maybe we don't do that in many areas.

65
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,520
Maybe we do it in every area.

66
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,640
There's some people that know everything about everything.

67
00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:14,280
You may know some of those people.

68
00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:15,280
You may be some of those people.

69
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,280
I don't know.

70
00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:22,280
Maybe we don't do it in every area, but maybe there's one or two things that we feel pretty

71
00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:26,360
confident about that we have a lot of knowledge about.

72
00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,760
And anytime we get in that condition, we get ourselves in trouble.

73
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,320
One, because we cannot learn anything new.

74
00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,660
It hinders our own learning if we have the attitude that the Corinthians had.

75
00:04:39,660 --> 00:04:43,060
So they tell Paul, hey, we know about stuff.

76
00:04:43,060 --> 00:04:44,060
We know things.

77
00:04:44,060 --> 00:04:46,240
We know everything there is to know about this.

78
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,840
Now, he doesn't say that exactly, but maybe that's the mindset and the heart and the attitude

79
00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:52,400
that they have.

80
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,800
And so what does he do to combat this, to correct them in this?

81
00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:01,360
He says, knowledge inflates with pride.

82
00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:06,240
Now maybe some of us have experienced that before.

83
00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,200
Have you ever thought you knew something about something?

84
00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,400
You felt pretty good about it.

85
00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,440
And then you proceeded to use your knowledge and your pride of how good you are in something

86
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,440
only for it to blow up in your face.

87
00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,560
For you to realize you don't know quite as much about that thing that you thought you

88
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,760
did and maybe you got a little bit of learning to do.

89
00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,640
I can tell you guys a good experience here recently that happened to me.

90
00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:36,080
Now, I considered myself, not so much now as I'm telling this story, but I considered

91
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:44,320
myself to be pretty good when it came to cleaning vehicles and maintaining vehicles and making

92
00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,780
sure they looked good and polishing them up and taking a lot of pride on the materials

93
00:05:49,780 --> 00:05:54,080
that are used to clean certain parts of, you know, this is for plastic and this is for

94
00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,280
metals and don't use this on the paint.

95
00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,000
Don't use this on the plastic and don't do this.

96
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:05,240
And I really took a lot of pride and thinking that I knew what I was doing.

97
00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:10,480
And then what happened was my truck had some swirl marks on it, not put there by me because

98
00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,760
I know everything about how to not put a swirl mark on there.

99
00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:19,440
And so knowing everything, I was going to remove those swirl marks, which I proceeded

100
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:20,440
to do.

101
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:27,040
However, in the process of doing that, there magically appeared some big spots on the side

102
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,800
of my truck where something had scratched through after I got through buffing.

103
00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:33,800
Now it may or may not have been my fault.

104
00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,520
I would like to say I didn't do it because after all, I'm pretty much an expert on that.

105
00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,720
But nonetheless, it happened.

106
00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:45,200
And so then I got to thinking, maybe I got a little bit of learning to do.

107
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,020
Maybe I don't know quite as much about that as I need to know.

108
00:06:49,020 --> 00:06:52,120
So I had to take it to an expert to get it fixed.

109
00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,600
Praise the Lord, he's able to fix it.

110
00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:59,560
And so there are times in our life that we think we know stuff and then we go through

111
00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:04,160
stuff like that and it helps us to realize that maybe we don't know quite as much as

112
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:05,480
we thought we knew.

113
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,240
Now before this, I would have, boy, somebody would have come to me.

114
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,120
I ought to give them all this advice on what they need to do and not do.

115
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:16,680
But since this, if somebody tells me something about their car, I kind of bite my tongue

116
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:18,160
because how can I give anybody advice?

117
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:19,480
I done messed up my truck.

118
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,280
I better not dare tell somebody how to fix something on theirs.

119
00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,960
So maybe I do know some stuff or maybe I don't know much at all.

120
00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:27,960
I don't know.

121
00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,080
But things like that kind of put us in our place.

122
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:35,040
And maybe there are times that you've had those experience, a topic that you really

123
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,120
thought you knew about and you were talking to somebody and you wanted to show how good

124
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,560
and smart you were and you begin to say stuff.

125
00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,260
And then somebody that you're talking to knows a little more about it than you do.

126
00:07:44,260 --> 00:07:48,480
And they call you out on something that you thought was right and you were wrong about.

127
00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,640
Boy, that makes you feel pretty foolish, don't you?

128
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,280
So sometimes it's better just to keep quiet and keep our knowledge to ourselves.

129
00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:59,680
But what happens is we get a little knowledge about something and it gets us into trouble

130
00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,920
because we all of a sudden think we're an expert in this thing and we get puffed up

131
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:08,640
and that might be a one area, two areas, three areas, a dozen areas of our life.

132
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,520
And the more we know, boy, we puffed up and puffed up.

133
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,280
And then there's that temptation that we want to make sure that everybody else knows that

134
00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:21,160
we know all there is to know about cleaning our vehicles or about our technology or about

135
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:22,680
whatever it is.

136
00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:27,240
And then all of a sudden, what comes before a fall?

137
00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:30,360
Pride comes before a fall.

138
00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,160
Similar idea here.

139
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:38,240
He says, knowledge inflates with pride.

140
00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:39,240
That's a good use.

141
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:41,720
That's a good English word for the Greek word there.

142
00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:42,720
Inflate.

143
00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:44,320
We understand what it means to inflate.

144
00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,000
Anybody ever inflated balloons before?

145
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,440
We inflated some balloons at Christmas.

146
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:49,440
Well, my mom did.

147
00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:50,680
I couldn't figure out how to do it.

148
00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:51,680
We had this machine.

149
00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:53,720
You put the balloon on there just right.

150
00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:55,360
It'd blow right up.

151
00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:57,480
You'd have your balloon inflated.

152
00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,360
But inflating a little bit's good.

153
00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:04,440
But what happens if you just put that balloon on there and you just keep inflating?

154
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:05,760
It's going to pop.

155
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,260
It's going to burst.

156
00:09:07,260 --> 00:09:10,000
And sometimes that's what happens to us.

157
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,680
We get so caught up in what we think we know and how knowledgeable we are.

158
00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:15,040
We can't be taught.

159
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:19,360
We can't learn from other people who may be wiser than us.

160
00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:25,520
We can't learn from the word of God because we get to the point sometimes, better be careful,

161
00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:31,240
maybe not probably none of us, but do we say, I know what God's word says.

162
00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:32,320
Sometimes you may encounter people.

163
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:34,280
I know the word of God better than you do.

164
00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,440
I've read the word of God more times than you've read the word of God.

165
00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:41,320
And we get to this point sometimes where we read and we just think, here's what this verse

166
00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:42,320
means.

167
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:43,320
I know what this verse means.

168
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,580
And nobody can tell me any different because I have read it more than they have read it.

169
00:09:47,580 --> 00:09:53,840
And sometimes even in the word of God, we may get to a point where we know it all and

170
00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,680
God can't even teach us anything.

171
00:09:56,680 --> 00:09:59,880
So maybe we know the word of God pretty good.

172
00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:04,480
Maybe we don't know the word of God quite as good as we thought we knew it.

173
00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:05,520
Here's a good thing.

174
00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:07,400
I learned this when I worked at the Apple store.

175
00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,440
This is one of the first things that they taught us.

176
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:12,540
And this is a game changer.

177
00:10:12,540 --> 00:10:14,680
This is the greatest thing that you can do.

178
00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:20,340
If somebody asks you a question and you don't know the answer to that question, here's what

179
00:10:20,340 --> 00:10:21,340
you can do.

180
00:10:21,340 --> 00:10:22,480
You can tell them this.

181
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:23,480
I don't know.

182
00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,040
That's a, that's a, ain't that crazy?

183
00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:32,020
We don't like to do that, especially if somebody's coming to us for our expertise and our opinion

184
00:10:32,020 --> 00:10:34,000
and we don't want to look like a fool.

185
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,980
And so we might just open our mouth and just say something and try to make it sound good.

186
00:10:37,980 --> 00:10:41,720
But there is no harm in saying, I don't know.

187
00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:42,720
Let's find out.

188
00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:44,120
I don't know the answer to that.

189
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:45,760
You know, I'm going to look into that.

190
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,200
Hey, let's, let's, let's think about that.

191
00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,080
Let's meet later and talk about that.

192
00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,840
There is nothing wrong with saying, I don't know, because people might think you're a

193
00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,880
fool if you say, I don't know.

194
00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:00,200
But then again, you might open your mouth and leave no doubt.

195
00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,780
They may leave there saying, oh, that guy's a fool.

196
00:11:02,780 --> 00:11:04,760
But if you say, I don't know, they say, well, you don't know.

197
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:07,120
Maybe you'll know and take some time to learn it.

198
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,080
You might learn something too along the way.

199
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:10,960
Don't pretend like you know it.

200
00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,760
That's a good skill in life for us to learn.

201
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:18,540
And so he says, knowledge inflates with pride.

202
00:11:18,540 --> 00:11:23,000
So we want to be those who grow in knowledge of God's word.

203
00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,920
That's a good thing for us to do, but we don't want to get to the point where we think we

204
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,820
know it all, where God's word can't even speak to us.

205
00:11:30,820 --> 00:11:33,800
And those people around us can't even speak to us.

206
00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,320
Here's a good thing for us to do is listen.

207
00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:42,440
Listening is one of the best things we can do, but that's hard to do because what we

208
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,940
want to do is talk.

209
00:11:44,940 --> 00:11:48,280
What we want to do is tell other people what we know.

210
00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:53,400
And that's not in and of itself a bad thing to share if you have some wisdom and knowledge.

211
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,000
That's not a bad thing.

212
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,900
It matters what heart in which you're doing it with.

213
00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:03,680
If you're doing it with a heart of pride to show off what you know, then that's not good.

214
00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:07,320
It's not bad in and of itself to share knowledge.

215
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:08,840
That's a good thing.

216
00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:14,440
But we don't want to have that I know it all type of attitude so that we won't become inflated

217
00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:20,920
with pride and we won't inflate ourselves to the point where our bubble is burst and

218
00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:25,400
then we do look like the fool that we really are to begin with.

219
00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,240
So it's better for us to acknowledge that and keep our mouths shut.

220
00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,360
And so he says, knowledge inflates with pride.

221
00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,400
Okay, so this is a bad thing, this type of knowledge.

222
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,280
But then what does he say?

223
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,460
He says, but love builds up.

224
00:12:41,460 --> 00:12:42,880
But love builds up.

225
00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:47,800
He goes on to say in first Corinthians chapter 13, some of you may be familiar with that,

226
00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:53,920
the love chapter, he talks about these things, about having knowledge and all these other

227
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:54,920
things.

228
00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,240
But what does he say is the most important?

229
00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,120
Love is the most important.

230
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,560
Love surpasses all these things that he lists in first Corinthians 13.

231
00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:07,560
And knowledge is one of those things.

232
00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:12,760
So the question is, are you really loving people and caring about people and trying

233
00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,720
to help people?

234
00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,880
Are you just going to people to show off your knowledge?

235
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,760
Well, it's important for us to figure that out.

236
00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:27,360
Do we really go see people, check on people and do for people because we care about them?

237
00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:32,120
Do we come to church because we want to learn God's word and grow in God's word and have

238
00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:36,740
a knowledge in God's word is going to shape us so that we can use what God does in us

239
00:13:36,740 --> 00:13:39,920
to help others in a humble way?

240
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,280
Or do we simply come to church or go to events, whatever they may be, just to show off our

241
00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,800
knowledge?

242
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,880
So it's not about knowledge.

243
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:54,800
It's about using that knowledge to do what God's will is in our life.

244
00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,120
It's good to know, but blessed are those who do.

245
00:13:58,120 --> 00:13:59,120
That's what Jesus said.

246
00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,160
I believe it was Jesus said that.

247
00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,160
This is scripture nonetheless.

248
00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:09,080
It's good to know, I'm paraphrasing, but those who bless those who do are the ones who are

249
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:10,900
blessed.

250
00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:17,040
So don't be one who's, who's inflated with, with knowledge and that leads to pride, but

251
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,960
he says love builds up.

252
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,120
So we need to, we need to check ourselves to see if we really love people.

253
00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,260
If we care about people, if we're pouring into people from a right heart, do we really

254
00:14:28,260 --> 00:14:29,880
care about people?

255
00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:34,160
Because people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

256
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,560
And so maybe there is some knowledge that you can impart on somebody, but maybe you

257
00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,760
just need to not worry about what they're going to think about you and not worry about

258
00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:48,960
how smart you look in front of them, but just go love them for who they are and try to impart

259
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,280
some wisdom on them when the opportunity presents itself.

260
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:57,160
But maybe we just need to take more time to listen to those that we encounter than to

261
00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:01,240
open our mouth and spout off what little knowledge we have.

262
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:06,240
And maybe we need to say, God help me to be humble and not think that I know everything

263
00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,800
that there is to know, but know that there's always something more to learn.

264
00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:16,760
There's always areas in which we can grow and we don't know everything and it's okay.

265
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:18,840
We don't have to know everything.

266
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:20,360
And sometimes there's pressure on us.

267
00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,900
You know, we feel the pressure of the world, like we're supposed to know everything, whatever

268
00:15:23,900 --> 00:15:28,600
your career is, if you're an expert machinist or if you're a preacher or if you're a barber

269
00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,960
or whatever you do, if you're the expert in that field, people will come to you and they'll

270
00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:34,440
ask you a question.

271
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,440
And there's a lot of pressure that you feel like you're supposed to know the answer to

272
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:38,780
that question.

273
00:15:38,780 --> 00:15:43,000
And it would be fantastic if I knew every answer to every question in the Bible, but

274
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,880
there's, sometimes I feel like I know less now than I did 10 years ago.

275
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,920
I realized that I still got a lot to learn and there's no shame in us saying that we've

276
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,520
got a lot to learn in whatever areas it is in our life.

277
00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:02,380
But I think there is some harm in us saying and acting like we know it all when really

278
00:16:02,380 --> 00:16:05,520
we are just trying to grow in the Lord.

279
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:06,600
Hopefully we are.

280
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:11,000
So let us not be those who are inflated with pride, but those who received the love of

281
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:16,880
God and are built up by the love of God and use the love of God through Jesus Christ to

282
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:18,360
build up others.

283
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:19,360
Let's pray.

284
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:24,200
God, we thank you for this word and I pray dear Lord that we would not fall into that

285
00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:25,200
trap of pride.

286
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,840
It kind of creeps up into our life dear Lord.

287
00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:34,600
And if we're not careful, it's easy for us to think a little too much about ourselves,

288
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,320
to think that we are really hot stuff dear Lord.

289
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,000
But we might not be quite as hot as we thought we were dear Lord.

290
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,360
And we might be a couple of pumps away from the inflator of busting us wide open dear

291
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:47,440
Lord.

292
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:52,040
So I pray God that you would help us to be humble, that we would seek you, that we would

293
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:58,080
not be one who knows it all, that we would be one who is continually seeking to learn,

294
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,760
especially in the areas of your word and in service to you.

295
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:08,400
God, let us not be one who wants to show off our knowledge to others, but let us be one

296
00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:12,280
who wants to love others dear Lord.

297
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,280
Love is something that can be built upon.

298
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:20,160
Love is something that can help us and those that we are trying to minister to.

299
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:25,600
So God let us be those who are built up in your word and growing in your word and using

300
00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,600
what you do in us to build up others with love.

301
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:45,400
I ask these things in Jesus name, amen.