Got Freedom? Part 5

Pride, at its deepest root, is wanting to be accepted by others, but the godly, sanctified pride recognizing the fact that I owe everything to God. That I am filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for the one who gave me everything. I give God the full credit for every gift I have for every achievement or every accomplishment. And this is not something you do once and you move on.

This is something you do every day. And beloved, that's where the praise-filled life comes in. Welcome to Leading the Way with pastor, author, and international evangelist, Bible teacher, Dr. Michael Yousaf. This time of year, homes are filled with friends.

Often people are sporting their school or their pro team's colors, sharing food, screaming for the teams, unique celebratory dances when a touchdown or a field goal happens. The question is, will you show that much excitement at church during the worship service? Ouch.

That hurt, didn't it? Well, today on Leading the Way, Dr. Yousaf takes you to a moment in King David's life when he touches the topics of praise, pride, and allowing the Spirit of God to reign and shine in your life. Go with us to the sixth chapter of 2 Samuel in your Bible or in your app and listen along with me as Dr. Michael Yousaf continues his series called Empowered by Praise on Leading the Way. Preaching for as long as I have been preaching, I'm aware of the fact that there are some messages, some topics, some texts will touch some more than others, will relate to some more than others, and that's natural because we are not all on the same level of our faith. We have different experiences as we walk with the Lord. We're not all the same.

That's very understandable. But today's message, today's issue that I'll be preaching on touches every single person at the sound of my voice. Whether you're young or old, this is a message for you.

You cannot switch off and say it's for somebody else. It's for you. Whether you've been a believer for 50 years or 50 days, this message is for you because I'm going to be speaking about pride. Yeah, you heard me right. Let me pronounce it correctly. Pride.

Yeah. Now you understand why every one of us be touched by this issue because I want to make a clarifying statement. The only people who do not have pride are those who have died. The only people who don't deal with pride on a regular basis are those who have gone with the Lord or maybe mentally incapacitated. So please, don't cut yourself out and tune in very closely to what the Word of God is going to teach us today. I want to use only two examples, two examples of two people.

One had his pride under control, the other one did not. So to give you the background, biblical background to what I'm going to be talking about. King David. You remember King Saul died, King David was sworn in to office, become the king of Israel.

He unified the nation and the first executive order King David has signed was to bring the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistine land where it was and he stole it and to bring it back to Jerusalem. Now, the Ark is really, when you think about it, the Raiders of the Lost Ark sort of popularized it, but it's really a very small box contained the original Ten Commandments that were given by God to Moses, has the Aaron's staff and also had a jar of manna, so to remind him of God's provision in the wilderness. Now, the Ark of the Covenant is a symbol, just like the Lord's table is a symbol, it's symbolic and whenever the Ark was there is a symbol of the fact that God is present in Israel. It's a symbolic thing. Does it mean when the Ark is gone, God is not present? No, but it is symbolic in their mind, it's a symbol of the presence of God. So what happened, the group, terrorist groups around the land of Israel saw how the Ark of the Covenant bringing Israel victory and they make such fuss about it, the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant, take it with them before they go to any war and then they have victory, so they say, ah, we can hijack that Ark and we have the victory. This is a clear illustration of how so many people around us who want Christianity without Christ, they want Christianity without the cross, they want the trappings of Christianity without believing and obeying Christ. They want all of the blessings of God without submission to the authority of God.

This is happening right before us. They're not hijacking the Ark of the Covenant but they're trying to hijack the truth. And they failed. And so when the Ark went to the land of Philistine, what happened? It wasn't a blessing, it was a curse. They were cursed by the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in their country. So they would happily want to return it. And David issued the order, it has to come.

Here's what happened. In coming of the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, King David ordered a national celebration and praise of the Lord God Almighty. He wanted to praise Yahweh for all of his goodness, for all his mercy, but especially for allowing him to have the Ark of the Covenant back. National praise of God was allowing them to bring the Ark of the Covenant back. And David appointed musicians, he appointed instrumentalists, he appointed singers to begin the celebration of publicly praised God.

Publicly, publicly praised God. During the celebration, David got so carried away, I mean really got carried away, in the praising of God, in the honor of God, in blessing the name of God, that he did the unthinkable. Not the unthinkable in the eyes of everybody, it's the unthinkable in the eyes of his wife Michael. Now let me tell you about Michael in case you've forgotten who she was. Michael, David's wife, was the daughter of Saul, King Saul. Listen to me, Michael was her father's daughter.

You understand what I'm talking about? Michael inherited her father's self-centered side. Michael inherited her father's poor, pathetic, insecure self-image. And so what was that unthinkable that the king did?

It's unthinkable in her own eyes. David got so carried away in the praise of God. David was so exuberant in the praising of God. David was, got so excited in the praising of God, King David took off his royal robe.

Tossed it out probably. Before Yahweh, in the praise of Yahweh. And he danced before the Lord with all his might. Now if you turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 14. Here's what it says, 2 Samuel 6, 14. David danced before the Lord with all, can you say all? All his might. Well what does that mean?

What does that mean? Danced before the Lord with all his might. David has forgotten who he is now that he's king. He's forgotten, he really didn't, but you understand. And he's forgotten who's watching.

That everybody's looking at him. He danced before the Lord as if he's all alone with God. David was so overwhelmed by the grace of God that he acted as if nobody else is around.

Just he and God. David was so overwhelmed with the goodness of God that he could not find words to express his praise to God. Now think about this, the man who wrote some of the most magnificent poetry, the man who wrote some of the most magnificent prayers, the man who wrote the most significant psalms, he is now without word. Speechless. So much so that he stripped himself of his dignity as king.

Why? To the honor of his Lord, to the praise worthiness of his Lord, in adoration and thanksgiving for the grace of the Lord. The last thing on his mind was his own honor, his own dignity, or even his own position as a king. All you could think of was the glory of God, the praise worthiness of God.

But then, enter Her Majesty Queen Michael. First of all, she was not in the celebration. She was not participating in the praising of God. She was not even giving a helping hand for what's going on.

No, no, no, no. She was watching on television or watching online. She was watching from her window. And when she saw what she saw her husband King David doing, she was livid. Livid. All she can think of was, just wait till he comes home. Ooh wee.

Just wait till I get hold of him. Queen Michael was waiting for King David, not to bless him, not to thank God for him, not to say how great that you honored God and you didn't care about who's watching. No, no, no, no, no. She had both guns, both barrels of both guns loaded. And as soon as he got through the door, she went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. See, Michael's pride was running wild, was really running wild. And that is why she had a terrible, sick self-image and insecurity. There is a difference between biblically healthy self-image and a sick self-image.

I want to tell you the difference so you understand. A biblically healthy self-image says, I know that I am by birth and by nature fallen, have a depraved mind, and I'm prone to sin. But the King of all kings, the King of the universe, when I repented of my sins, he adopted me into his family. He gave me his last name. He forgave me all of my sins, past, present, and future. He has given me unearned and undeserved grace.

He appointed me as an ambassador of the King, wherever you are. Now, beloved, that is a biblically healthy self-image. And that's all the confidence you need.

It will give you all the confidence you need. Now, a sick self-image says, I'm very important in my own eyes. I might have some problems, but I will not let anybody know about them. I feel terrible about myself, but I will not let anyone get close enough to me to see this. I am going to project an image of myself that I want people to see.

I am going to keep that mask on, and no one is going to let me take it off. Now, beloved, I believe with all my heart, God can heal a sick self-image. God can redeem a sick self-image. God can transform a sick self-image. God who's changed me can change you, and he can change you from the inside out.

But all has to begin with confession and repentance and humility before God. Skip down, go down to verse 20, 2 Samuel 6-20. I want to show you an example of a sick self-image in Queen Michael.

Here's how she did it. How is the King of Israel distinguished himself today? See, I'm blowing it up so you can see it. Disrobing himself of his royal robe in front of the servants.

This is how a low-class, vulgar man would do. Of course, the Bible only gives us a summary of what she said. You see, it doesn't tell us everything. But I'm going to take some liberty, because growing up in the Middle East, I am closer to the culture than you realize. You grew up as a poor shepherd boy, but I grew up in the palace.

It's in Hebrew, of course, not in English. See, that's what a sick self-image does. Either forgets its roots or deliberately deny its roots. She didn't say anything about the fact that when Prophet Samuel found her father and met him king, he was only a donkey keeper and allows you one of that. Oh, that's just the past, so I'm not going to get back to my roots.

I'm not going to let anybody see that. He lost the donkeys that he's supposed to be taking care of when Samuel met him. She probably said to him, your family, a bunch of yahoos, but I was brought up in the palace protocol. Her out-of-control pride not only prevented her from joy of participating in the praise of the Lord, but her out-of-control pride robbed her of the blessings that can only come from praising God.

And she wanted to impose her misery on her husband. David's response is classic, is really a classic response, but I want you also to get the use of translation. I think David, if he spoke English, he would have said, protocol my foot. Did you get that?

Protocol is the last thing that concerns me. I am made for the praise of the Lord. I am made to worship my God. I am made to honor my Lord. I am made for the praise of his glory. And furthermore, God honored me for honoring him first and foremost.

Let me ask you this. How many people do you know allow their so-called dignity to keep them from honoring, praising the Lord? By the way, a person who is not honoring the Lord publicly is because probably they're not praising God privately.

How many people do you know who shout themselves silly in a ball game? When it comes to praising God, can't move their lips. How many people do you know who literally lose all inhibition at a stadium, but then the presence of God, they put their hands in a pocket.

Now, my beloved, listen. Pride that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit has robbed many a people of the joy of praise and a praise-filled life. But then there are others who can make up a show of public worship, just only words. Their heart is far from God. Only God knows. Their heart is still filled with anger, with hatred, with envy, with lust, and with the rest of it.

They may be able to mouse the words, but that's it. The first thing you need to do is to, if you want to develop a praise-filled life, you need to come clean with God. You need to come clean with God, surrendering your intellect, surrendering your feelings, and yes, surrendering your will.

And then you do the same thing all over again, every single morning. That, my beloved friend, is the sacrifice of praise. It was a thought about, well, why does the Bible call it the sacrifice of praise?

Now you just get up and sing and say, you know, that kind of thing. That's because we don't understand what a praise-filled life is. One of the hardest things for me personally, and I've done maybe three or four times in my years of preaching, one of the hardest things for me to preach on, is Abraham offering his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice, other than a cross. And the cross just makes me fall apart, because I recognize that my sins that he carried on that cross, and because I've been set free by the blood that was shed on that cross. But preaching and teaching about Abraham, offering Isaac, I have to confess to you, next to the cross is the most difficult thing I've ever done. God is asking Abraham to offer the object of his love. He's asking him to offer the object of his joy.

He's asking him to offer the object of his life. Listen to me, it is painful enough to lose a child. Even though there was a common practice of the day, back then, at the time of Abraham, even pagans did it to their gods, even though it's common practice, nonetheless, it is hard. It is difficult.

You can't imagine willingly do that. But you know, the Lord often teaches me some things when I get to that passage and the difficulty I have. He teaches me some lessons and I'll share them with you. The first question the Lord asked me is this, did God, and you can answer, did God want Abraham to really sacrifice Isaac? No, God bless you. Did God let him sacrifice Isaac? No. Did God need Isaac?

No. He gave him Isaac. After 25 years of waiting, he gave him to him as a fulfillment of that promise he made 25 years earlier. Now beloved, in many ways, praise is a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice. And that's why the Bible call it the sacrifice of praise.

Why is that? Why is it a sacrifice? Because praise, genuine praise costs us something. Genuine thanksgiving and praise to God costs us our pride.

It does. Genuine praise-filled life costs us the self-made label. Praise costs us our own self-importance.

Praise costs us our own self-sufficiency. Praise requires us to say to the Lord, Lord, I yield all my possessions. I yield all my dreams. I yield all my goals.

Lord, I yield all of my relationships. Lord, I yield my all, my all, my all. Beloved, that is the praise-filled life that's worthy of the name.

Mounting few words, that's not it. Developing a praise-filled life costs us something. Lord, I'm so overwhelmed with your amazing grace.

I'm so overwhelmed by your amazing love. And I pray there always will be until I can praise you in person in heaven. And I pray that for all my brothers and sisters in Christ. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Thank you for taking time in your day for Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. This message is just one part of a life-impacting series from Dr. Youssef called Empowered by Praise. You can hear this content on the radio.

You can stream it online. You can subscribe to the podcast and use the Leading the Way app. Learn about all of these when you visit ltw.org. Now, as a response to Dr. Youssef's message on praise, allow us to praise God and to thank you for your generosity and your support of leading the way. In fact, right now, Dr. Youssef is challenging you to be a part of the Open Door Campaign, a new ministry initiative to reach North America, Muslim communities worldwide, and unreached villages over the next five years with the truth of the Gospel. Our five-year vision to come is following in the footsteps of Jesus, His Great Commission. And so we're focusing on bringing the 96% of Americans who do not have a Christian worldview to come and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We're reaching out to the rest of the world through the Navigators, through KingdomSats, through many, many opportunities. And that is God's vision for us. And I pray that you're going to be part of this vision.

Learn more from Leading the Way when you visit us at ltw.org. You can also call our team. We're at 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.