TRUE MINISTRIES CHURCH

THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE

1 JOHN 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. Whoa! Does that mean God doesn’t love you? No. It means you are not
acknowledging the love of the Father. Verse 16, For all that is in the world—the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. So the
lusts of the flesh, the eyes and the pride is not of the Father but is of the world! Lust is a desire
to gratify senses. It gratifies your senses—your feelings, your emotions. Understand this, it also
refers to a desire for things that are contrary to the will of God. We see that the lust of the flesh,
lust of the eyes and pride of life is of the world and not of the Father. So when you and I are
loving the things of the world, guess who we are under. Even though you are a believer. You
have a choice as to who you are going to serve. Well I’ve been a believer for years—and still
can’t do the right thing … It’s because you are under the authority of satan. Yeah but I received
Jesus Christ a long time ago! Well, the word believe means to follow. If you are really a
believer, you are a follower—or you are a liar! It’s real simple. So that means you are back
under the authority of satan—because you are making that choice not to follow Jesus. You are
following the ways of the world. And the ruler of the world is who? Satan. Verse 17, And the
world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. So he
is saying if you are following Jesus you are doing the will of God. If you are following satan,
you are doing the will of the world. It’s that plain and simple. Of course, who you serve when
you die is where you go. You mean not once saved always saved??!! No, that’s a lie from hell!
Who you serve when you die is where you go. Well I thought God was a loving God. He is—
and he is a just God! And he is a righteous God! He is the God of love, the greatest love that
you and I could ever know. But I wouldn’t want to fall into his hands of wrath! Who you serve
when you die is where you go. You can’t serve two masters. So if you are serving the world and
you have the love of the world, when you die that’s where you go.

1 CORINTHIANS 2:12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Now he does another comparison here
and says you have not received the spirit of the world. You have received the Spirit of God. the
spirit of the world is a representation of all that is under the authority of the powers of darkness.
He is not talking about one specific spirit. He is talking about the rule of satan. In other words
you have been rescued from the spirit or being under the authority of satan—because Paul is
writing to the church of believers. And he is trying to tell them, Come on—come out of there
will ya! Don’t you get it? Yeah I know you have received Jesus—now come out from that
bondage and quit having that love affair with the world and start having a love affair with the
true King! Because that spirit (or the authority or the ruler of the world) is trying to access you!
And move you out of position. In other words, move from under the authority of the kingdom of
darkness and come under the authority of the kingdom of Light. The spirit of Pride—Pride is a
spirit. Lust is a spirit. All of these things are spirits because it says if it’s not of the Father and
it’s of the world, and the ruler of the world is satan, that means those are his demonic forces.
People are trying to say, Oh it’s just my flesh! That’s baloney. Yes our flesh is the seed of the

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serpent. We have dominion over it. But there are demons trying to access you through your
senses. Through your mind. Through your flesh. They are trying to access you and contaminate
your spirit. They want you back. They want access to you to run their life in you! Pride is the
number one killer. Pride is personal reverence into deadly end. In other words, you are
reverencing yourself.

PSALM 36:10-12
Oh, continue Your loving kindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the
upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked
drive me away. So he acknowledges the foot of pride and the hand of the wicked as the same!
There the workers of iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise. So
here David was calling out to the Lord saying, Please Lord continue in your loving kindness
towards me! And don’t let the foot of pride have access to me which shakes hands with the
wicked one! Because I know I will fall and it will be hard for me to get back up. Personal
reverence into a deadly end.

PROVERBS 8:13
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil—Now that’s powerful. I had one guy try and tell me, Man
you can’t hate, you’re a Christian! I threw him out of the class because he kept coming against
it—during it. No demon is going to come against us in our classes. He tried to come against it
because he didn’t understand the word. I told him to be quiet and listen. He wouldn’t. so, out!
We don’t have time to play with demons. Demons do not accept counsel. You can’t medicate
one and you can’t counsel one! The only thing you can do is cast them out! And if the demon
isn’t willing to leave, the person can go right out with them! The fear of the Lord is to hate evil!
Do you know that you and I are to hate evil? That’s why people fall. They don’t hate evil. They
still haven’t gotten that hatred for evil yet. They still touch unclean things. They don’t hate evil!
How much you love God is how much you hate evil. The more you love him, the more you hate
evil. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way—We are to
hate pride! We are to hate arrogance! And we are to hate the evil way! Then he tells us another
one, And the perverse mouth I hate. So these are things that you and I should hate. Why?
Because they are evil. And like I said, that’s why people fall. They really don’t hate evil. They
are still touching and playing with accursed things—and do not have a hatred for evil. But you
and I must hate evil and how much you love God is how much you hate evil!

PROVERBS 16:5, 17-19

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD—That ought to just say it right there.
We can all go home now! Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Do you want
to be an abomination to the Lord? Then shake hands with pride. Though they join forces, none
will go unpunished. They will not go unpunished. He who shakes hands with pride, sows to the
flesh. He who sows to the flesh reaps corruption. In verse 17, The highway of the upright is to
depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul. Pride goes before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall. So we know that a haughty spirit is the same as a prideful spirit.
When somebody falls and backslides and does the wrong thing and whatever—breaks covenant
with God, it’s because there’s pride—that pushed them out of the way. Number one is before the
devil can get to you, you are rejecting the Spirit. The Spirit tells us things to come. So the Holy
Spirit is trying to lead us away from that destruction. He is trying to quicken us and unction us.

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What happens is that we reject the Spirit and the other spirit shows up. When the other spirit
shows up, we bite the bait—because it’s part of pride and we make a fall. Now we can have
little falls and big falls. There can be all kinds of falls. There is something that you know,
especially in relationships and whatever—you know that there is something you are not
supposed to say or do. But what happens is that you reject what the Spirit is saying and Mr.
Pride shows up. Someone who speaks everything he thinks, has no control over his tongue—has
fellowship with the spirit of pride. Because he really doesn’t care. If he cared he would be
listening to the spirit. The Spirit would be telling him what’s to come. Verse 19, Better to be of
a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. Wow! We see that not
only are we to hate pride, but pride goes before a fall and is an abomination to God.

PROVERBS 28:25-26
He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife—Always causing division. Has a lot of butt ministry—
Yeah but you know…. Has a lot of reasoning. But he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered.
Someone who is prideful does not trust in the Lord. He trusts in himself. Verse 26, He who
trusts in his own heart is a fool—God calls a prideful person a fool! But whoever walks wisely
will be delivered. So we see pride also stirs up strife and brings division.

Pride is a terrible thing. Understand that we all deal with it. Everyone deals with pride.
Remember the word says when a spirit leaves an individual he comes back. He will try and
access you and I one way or another. If he can’t access you, he can at least throw his darts at you
and try and cause you to stumble.

PROVERBS 11:2
When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. Shame comes with pride.
Because usually after a fall there is shame.

OBADIAH 3-4
The pride of your heart has deceived you—Pride always brings deception. Deception is the
devil’s greatest weapon. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you
who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you ascend as high as
the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says
the LORD. You can’t out run Daddy! Pride brings deception.

JAMES 4:6-8
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.” God resists the proud. He resists them. Verse 7, Therefore submit to God. Resist the
devil and he will flee from you. Here is the formula. How much you submit to God is how much
you can resist the devil. So how much you love God is how much you hate the devil. How
much you submit to God is how much you can resist the devil. So if you don’t have a love affair
with the Lord, you’re not submitting too much, are you. So if you are not submitting too much,
you can’t resist the devil too much. You are still struggling and fighting because he is still
running parts of your life. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. God resists the proud. The formula of
how much you submit to God is how much you can resist the devil. How much you love God is
how much you hate the devil.

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1 PETER 5:5-9
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to
one another, and be clothed with humility—The opposite of pride is what? Humility. That’s
what pleases God. It says again, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Grace
is a representation of favor. Verse 6, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of
God, that He may exalt you in due time. Too many people are trying to exalt themselves.
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. A prideful individual tries to work
everything out himself and doesn’t allow God to do it. And when you try and work everything
out yourself, that means you are sowing to the flesh and you will reap corruption. That’s the
devil’s play. You and I are supposed to be wise enough to know the trickery of the devil.
Because if you are really fellowshipping in the spirit you are going to know these things! You
are not going to bite the bait. Or if you do bite the bait, you will spit it out before he pulls the
hook. In verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You have to understand something, he is looking for
someone to bite the bait of pride. Why? So he can devour us. Devour doesn’t mean just to push
over and attack. It means to kill! Devour means to extinguish! Gone! Evaporate! History! In
verse 9, Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by
your brotherhood in the world. So you’re not the only one going through it! We’re all going
through it! Well I don’t understand, why isn’t this person and why….—Why? Because there is
more relationship in the Spirit. There is more humbleness. There is more resisting the proud.
Jesus said deny, pickup and follow. If you can’t deny yourself, you will never pick up and
follow. And he said to do it daily! Just because you denied one day doesn’t mean you are going
to deny the next. By denying yourself you are resisting pride. And you are putting on the cloak
of humility. And you have grace from God. And you are able to submit to the Lord. And you
are able to resist the devil. And pride will not access you. It doesn’t mean you won’t be tempted
because it says right here all of us are going through it. We are going through it every day. You
and I have to be careful. That’s one of the first things we share with guys that come into the
discipleship house—they get a lot of knowledge right away. A lot of things happen to them right
away. The Holy Spirit is here delivering and healing and changing right away. You can’t allow
that to push you out of position with pride. We see a lot of guys come in here that don’t fulfill
what God has asked them to do. They leave before God allows them to. They usually call back
in a few weeks. Can I come back??? I bit the bait. Now the course has got to run. We have got
to learn to do it right the first time. We’ve got to deny ourselves. It doesn’t mean we are not
going to struggle with it. It’s not about a feeling. Discipline is an important factor in our life as
a believer. We must be disciplined. Discipline maintains a relationship which maintains a love
affair. There is no glory in discipline. There is no pride in discipline either. Well man I just
don’t feel like doing it! Let me share something, if you stop doing what you are doing in the
morning with regard to your prayer time, the demon of pride has got you wrapped! And it’s just
a matter of time before he pulls you out of position and devours you. If you are one in here I
pray such conviction comes upon you and such fear of God will come upon you that when you
leave this room tonight and go home you will get on your knees and cry out for mercy! Because
time is too short to play games with God! Way too short. You are either in or you’re out! You
are either hot or you’re cold. If you are lukewarm, you’re cold!

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MARK 16:16-18
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will follow those who believe—Now what does the word believe mean? To
follow. Then it says, In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they
will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” That’s one who follows because you are
following the one who is a sign and wonder so signs and wonders should follow me and you.

The word believe of course means to follow. One of the problems is, and what pride does, is get
into a believers life where the believer begins to rely on knowledge and stops following. So he is
not following anymore. He is relying and trusting in what he has already learned—and he stops
following! Now the devil can deceive us and make us believe that we are following because we
are doing what we have learned. But we have actually stopped following what the Spirit is
telling us. And pride is right there. Now we have relied on what we have learned. False
revelation. False goose bumps. We begin to rely on what we have learned, emotions and
feelings. And we stop following what the Spirit is saying. That’s where pride comes right in.
When you stop following the Holy Spirit, the other one shows up. Personal reverence into a
deadly end. Pride.

PROVERBS 3:5-10
The devil convinces people they can rely on yesterday’s prayers. In verse 5, Trust in the LORD
with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding—That’s a hard thing to do
sometimes. Too many times we begin to rely on what we feel and our senses and what we see
and what we hear. When you begin to rely on what your understanding is, that’s pride. That’s
why we are to cast down thoughts and imaginations that come against the knowledge of God.
There is a difference between assuming and faith. Faith comes by hearing—that means you
heard what God told you to do. People say, Well I’m going to step out in faith. Well did God
tell you to go? No. Then it’s assumption. That means you are trusting in what you are feeling,
instead of going with what God is telling you to do. That’s called pride. In verse 6, In ALL your
ways acknowledge Him—Wait a minute, stop right there! The word says that he establishes the
steps of a righteous individual—a righteous individual acknowledges God in every step he is
going to make! He doesn’t assume! He acknowledges him! It says acknowledge Him in ALL,
ALL not some. ALL. When you start going by what you feel, that’s assuming. You don’t move
until you hear. When I don’t hear, I usually get thrown out or moved somehow. If God wants
me to move and I miss it, HE moves me! I’m not worried about it. He makes a way. Slides me
out, whatever it may be, and puts me in another place. He usually tells me a few days before
what’s up. And then I’m waiting. Because when you don’t know what to do, you wait. That’s
how God acknowledges and shows himself to you. So that you’re not building this house. He is.
That’s what causes people to get prideful. Look what he said to Gideon, Look man, I know
you’ve got 22,000 guys out here—and I need you to get rid of some. Because then you’re going
to think it’s your own strength and I won’t get the glory. In fact, he knocked them all the way
down to 300, out of 22,000 dudes! He said, Now I’m going to get the glory with 300. He always
gets the glory. Always! Always! Let’s read verse 6 one more time, In ALL your ways
acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the
LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Now he’s
coming to the nitty-gritty here. You ready, Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the

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firstfruits of all your increase—He’s saying, Would you please trust me! Would you please
acknowledge me! I’m going to direct your paths so that you can get a blessing. God is always
trying to get something to us, not take it away. The only thing he is asking you and me to give
up is the garbage. In us—we are our own worst enemy. He saying, Do not be wise in your own
eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. Evil is trusting in yourself. Then he says it will be
health to you and strength for you. And if you will do this, you’ll honor me with your first
possessions because you truly trust me—Yeah but I got bills to pay. You want 10% of my money
—He wants 10% so he can get you the money to pay your bills. Verse 10 tells you why. So
your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. How many of
you want your barns to be filled with plenty? AMEN! Then do you know what you’ve got to
do? Die! You have to die quickly to yourself. You don’t understand, I have diapers to buy!
You don’t understand, you give God 10% that’s due to him and you’ll have a barn full of
diapers. You don’t understand, they are going to turn off my electricity! Praise God! Use a
candle until God moves on your behalf! Yeah but it’s hot out! Open your windows. Hallelujah.
He who trusts in man is cursed. He who trusts in the Lord is blessed. The devil is always trying
to get you in cursed position. Because the curse brings the wrath!

1 JOHN 4:4-6
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater
than he who is in the world. But if you don’t have fellowship with He who is in you, you are not
giving Him reign over your life. Verse 5, They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the
world, and the world hears them. Sounds like they have friendship with the world. We are of
God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the
spirit of truth and the spirit of error. He who is not of God or he who is not fellowshipping—He
is talking about believers too. Because believers move out of position. One of the things
believers have a hard time doing when they are not listening (unless they are right with God and
in position) is receiving counsel, correction and direction. We must learn and be willing to
receive the counsel, correction and direction from the Lord every morning. Then we wouldn’t
have to get it from our pastor. If we go to God every morning and get it from there, everything
that you hear after that will be giving you witness. If we are listening. If we are taking time and
seeking the Lord. If we are going after Him. He says, if you go after me you will find me. We
must set our hearts toward Him. Every day. We must make connection with Him. It doesn’t
mean he has to show up in a cloud of glory. It doesn’t mean the windows have to blow out in
your house. It means you just have to make contact—and you know in your Spirit. So, We are
of God. He who knows God hears us—In other words, he who is fellowshipping at that point
hears. Why? Because the devil likes to come and blind. As soon as he can blind us that means
he is accessing us and bringing us back under his authority. I always share with people that if
you don’t have dominion over your members, somebody else does. So we know that there is a
Spirit of truth and a spirit of error. And when we come under the devil’s authority again, we are
fellowshipping with the spirit of error.

We minister in the jail and we come up against so much religious garbage. Unfortunately there
is much religion being preached in there. The Lord has always shared with us that we are like
the clean up ministry, the fourth batter in a baseball lineup. Because of that sometimes it’s
difficult. It’s difficult for the men, especially the babies that are up and down and so forth and

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bound by religion. One of the greatest powers of darkness in religion is pride. The second one is
fear.

ROMANS 8:13-15
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds
of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of
adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Now we understand that the spirit of bondage
that he is talking about is the spirit of the world. The devil brings bondage. Religion brings
bondage. Fear brings bondage. God is not looking at how much you know. He is looking at
whether you know Him. There are a lot of people that know about Him but don’t know Him.
There are a lot of people who do nothing but fellowship with the letter but not in the Spirit and it
brings bondage. That’s why the word says that the letter kills but the Spirit brings life. We see
here we don’t want to come under the spirit of bondage and pride is a representation of a spirit of
bondage. Every demon carries the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life. Every
demon is an antichrist spirit. These are characteristics. Of course each one is ranked in a certain
area and so forth but I am not going to get into all of that. But there are spirits of pride. They are
known as a haughty spirit.

ISAIAH 14:12-15
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the
ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the
congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I
will be like the Most High.’ It sounds like a lot of I’s. This is the Lord’s response, verse 15, Yet
you shall be brought down to Sheol [which is hell], to the lowest depths of the Pit. So that’s
where pride brings you.

1 TIMOTHY 3:1-6
Pride is one of the hardest things we will have to fight. Even when God gives you revelation and
increases his wisdom and knowledge in you. Solomon fell to big pride. Big pride! God blessed
him with wisdom and knowledge but Solomon fell to big pride. He began to trust in himself and
began to allow altars to be built and forgot God! Even though he built the temple of God he still
forgot him. He fell into big pride. This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a
bishop, he desires a good work. In other words, if he desires a position in the body of Christ. A
bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good
behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but
gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in
submission with all reverence [not by fear] (for if a man does not know how to rule his own
house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with
pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. So we must allow God to promote us.
Not us. Not a novice. The devil snares man with pride. Pride stops deliverance. Pride will stop
you from getting delivered. Pride will stop you from getting healed. Pride will stop you from
receiving blessings and freedom. Pride is the number one thing that prevents people from getting
free from demonic holds in their lives. Pride also prevents that individual from getting in

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position and getting a blessing from God. The individual begins to work on blessing themselves.
Pride stops everything. That’s why the devil wants to snare us in pride.

I CORINTHIANS 12:1, 5-7

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant—So Paul is expressing
he doesn’t want his people to be ignorant about spiritual gifts and he begins to explain certain
things. He says in verse 5, There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. So the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the
profit of who? ALL. Not for one’s exaltation. Not for self-exaltation but for the profit of all.
That’s where people begin to use the gifts of the Spirit for their own advantage. Do you know
what that is? Pride. And behind that, involved in it, is a controlling spirit. They begin to work
in a mixed anointing. Let me explain this a little more. The spirit of pride exercises their
controlling spiritual gifts among the people of God. They begin to use these gifts to puff
themselves up so that they can get control. They have a form of godliness but yet their fruit
stinks. They have no dominion or control over their own temple. Yet they try and take control
over others by using the gifts of the Spirit. That is a demon of pride. You and I are to judge
these things because you and I are to have discernment. We are to have discernment. You don’t
discern by gifts do you. You discern by fruits! You don’t discern by how much wealth a person
has. You discern by their fruit. You determine, you judge by their fruit. If their fruit stinks, I
don’t care how great their gifts are, don’t accept them. They are walking in a mixed anointing.
That mixed anointing is known—with a familiar spirit. Because that person is bound by the
demon of pride. He may get great revelation. He or she may be able to prophesy and speak. He
or she may have a word of wisdom. They may have this or that – great swelling words. But let
me tell you something, if they can’t have control over their own temple and their own house,
don’t accept anything they have to say because they are walking in a mixed anointing and the
devil’s hand is right there. What the devil tries to do is puff up and not straighten up. So you
and I must have the discernment of this. We must be able to judge by fruit. Because what gets
involved in there is a controlling spirit. And they begin to utilize the gifts to control lives.
That’s witchcraft. It’s not the spirit of God. You and I must have the discernment of this. There
will be much more of this coming out. We have to know this stuff now. There will be more and
more false prophets. And they are going to be believers that don’t even know that they are being
used. They will be believers that love God but don’t even know they are being used because
they are out of position. You have to judge by their fruit. If their fruit isn’t right, don’t accept
the gift.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-7
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of
godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! Now understand this, so you
didn’t fall into every category. Did you fall under one? If we fall under just one of these
categories, we need to get rid of the pride. Verse 6, For of this sort are those who creep into
households [of True Ministries] and make captives of gullible women [people. Or they creep into
the body of Christ and make captives of gullible people. We won’t let them stay in here.] loaded

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down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now isn’t that powerful. This is what we were talking about. They are
always learning, learning, learning, but they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth
because they have no relationship in the Spirit. They haven’t taken that time. That’s all they are
doing is learning. They are not fellowshipping. See if you don’t have fellowship, that means
you don’t have fellowship with the Spirit of truth. You are always learning and not able to
understand truth. So you can memorize the bible from cover to cover and not know anything!
Because it’s truth that makes people free and not what they know. And what we are dealing with
is the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Always learning and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.

We have this one guy in our class in jail and the other day, Monday, we went in to minister. My
hope was to get in there and get some praise and worship and stuff and the Lord didn’t allow me
to worship. He gave me a teaching for two hours. He said I want you to keep going—Bam!
Bam! Bam! We didn’t get to worship. That was the first time we had not worshipped, unless we
were shut down and couldn’t worship. It was for a specific reason. What had been preached in
there prior, which I didn’t know about, was so much garbage! That you had to be baptized in
water or you didn’t get the Holy Spirit. Nothing but religion and rituals. That if you don’t get
baptized in water, you’re going to hell. All of this garbage! And the Holy Spirit just had me
going and going. Truth was being revealed. I was never baptized in water. I got baptized in the
Holy Ghost and then I got baptized in water. Baptism in water is the same kind of ritual that we
utilize when we do communion. It’s in remembrance. It’s acknowledgment. It’s symbolic.
Jesus said eat this and do this in remembrance of me. We get baptized in remembrance for what
he has done. We make a public confession when you and I are baptized in water. But you can
go and get baptized in water and not repent! You’re not saved! So you can go through all the
rituals you want but the baptism in water is not going to get you home! Your confession of sin
and fellowship with Jesus is what is going to get you home. There was a lot of straightening up.
Anything that was puffed up was blown up. It’s the Spirit trying to rescue his people from pride.
From deception. From traditions of men. From the spirit of error. So we see that the spirit of
pride is the spirit of the world. He brings bondage. He’s a demon who boasts on what he knows.
Instead of who he knows. He refuses correction and counsel. He runs from the truth. Blames
everyone for his own faults. Won’t take responsibility and won’t admit wrongs. Justifies
rebelliousness. Justifies his rebellious actions. And won’t make confession of his own sins. He
confesses of his own achievements. He claims outreach godly promises when his own temple is
not in order. He wants control over every circumstance. Lies to protect himself and claims his
own self-righteousness. That’s pride.

LUKE 18:9-14
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and
despised others. Whoa! Pride always criticizes. Pride always looks at everybody’s wrongs.
Verse 10, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men
—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. Justifying and boasting of his
own good! Thank you Lord I’m not like them! I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I
possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven,
but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to

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his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

JAMES 4:13-17
It’s all in preparation. The devil is going to try and attack you any way he can. Sometimes a
brother might be sharing something with you. Or even your wife. You’ve got to listen!
Especially if you hear it more than once. There is something wrong! Well how can I receive
something from that brother who is not walking right! Because God will use anybody! Out of
the mouth of two witnesses. You know what you need to do? Go to the Lord. Or you need to
go to the office and get counsel and ask. Find out what’s happening. Don’t hold it there.
Because the devil has access to you. He has access to blind areas of our lives. We all are
vulnerable. If you think you have made it, you already bit the bait. None of us have made it.
None of us. The day you have made it is when you hear the Lord say, Enter in my good and
faithful servant. But none of us have made it. None of us. If we stay in that attitude that none of
us have made it, you will stay humble. And you will be willing to do whatever it takes to stay
humble. Let God build our house. In verse 13, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow
we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor
that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord
wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such
boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

TITUS 1:10-16
For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things
which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said,
“Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke
them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and
commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure all things are pure, but to those
who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and
disqualified for every good work. There are a lot of people who profess to know God. But they
don’t. You will know them by their fruit.

TITUS 2:11-15
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke
with all authority. Let no one despise you. So let’s not let the spirit of pride or anyone carrying
pride to despise you. You check by fruit. Don’t fall into the trap. And when you bite the bait,
spit it out real quick! If you are beginning to hear brothers or sisters or your wife or spouse or
friends begin to speak certain things, check it out!!! You might be blinded somewhere!! If you
are not willing to check it out, you know you have a problem! If you have to hear it more than
two or three times, you know there is a problem! But if we are checking ourselves out every

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morning with God, and we’re asking to be filled with the Spirit, and we are being disciplined in
seeking him and we are doing what is supposed to be done every morning with the Lord, you
will know where you are at!

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