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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

Kameron DeVasher

Mark Howard

01 Reality Check

02 To Know God

03 Pride Versus Humility

I'm Cameron DeBasia and I'm Mark Howard and this is Talking Points.

We're now on the third lesson of our second quarter all about growing in a relationship with God.

And I was thinking about it, that should be the theme of every quarter's study, no matter what it is, the topic, but this time we're focusing on the concept of growing in a relationship with God and this week's title is what is it Pride versus Humility.

Yes, I can talk about how those interplay with the whole relationship aspect and impact our relationship with God.

A relationship could be a good 1 or a bad 1, so how do these interact and make it a good 1 or bad 1?

Yeah, and you put our points together this week, so let me have a word of prayer, get out of the way, and let you lead us in this study.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can know you and have a relationship with you.

Thank you for the study in your word that we're going to engage in today.

Bless us now as we not only are edified by the study itself but prepare to have a wonderful Sabbath school experience in every local church.

Bless our teachers, participants alike, and help us to each be more like you.

I always chuckle at that get out of the way.

It's like he's a bull in a china shop, folks.

We're on the clock, but boy, you're coming down the mountain and you've got a lot to say.

You're gonna be involved in this as well.

Now what I've put, actually copied from the lesson itself for the introduction in our outline, this week we'll explore the impact that pride can have on our relationships and we'll look at what the Bible teaches about humility before others and of course before God.

So that's the gist of our- So apparently pride has an impact not only just on our divine connection with God but our human connection with each other.

It's a relationship issue all over the place.

So the talking points I am drawing out of this week's lesson are 3.

Talking point number 1, Lucifer is king over all the children of pride.

Taking that from primarily Sunday and Monday.

Okay, I think that phrase was lifted from the Bible itself, right?

Yeah, that actually wasn't in the lesson, but we'll get into why I got that in the lesson.

Talking point number 2, pride when indulged makes salvation impossible.

And so that's drawn primarily from Monday and Wednesday.

And then finally talking point number 3, beholding Christ is the only safeguard against pride and that is drawn from Tuesday and Thursday.

Okay, very important issues here so let's go back to number 1.

Lucifer is king over all the children of pride.

Okay, well the the quarterly says, in fact I've got the statement there if you want to read what it says on paragraph 2 of Sunday.

Pride first began with Lucifer, the covering cherub, who was in close service to God.

Now for most of our viewers who have watched for any length of time, the theme of the Great Controversy is consistent through our Talking Points presentations and they're well aware that pride began with Lucifer like sin began with Lucifer.

So of course the lesson is making this point, and I've referred in our notes also to the classic texts in Isaiah 14, 12 to 14.

I'll speak specifically in 14 or read specifically in 14 where Lucifer is quoted as saying, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high.

So there's a very, there's a self focus there and an exalt, self exaltation that we see.

And then if you would read Ezekiel 28, 17.

Speaking of the same, Lucifer in his fall says, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you.

OK, so in fact, before we comment further, it probably is important as much as we use the word pride a lot to define pride.

It's interesting the lesson points out that sometimes the way we use pride isn't in an evil way.

We say to our children, I'm proud of you, or this isn't the self-exaltation that we're looking at with Lucifer.

So the lesson brings out in Sunday, paragraph 1, pride is a feeling that you are more important or better than other people.

And I looked it up actually in Webster's 1828 dictionary primarily because today if you look it up in the dictionary it brings in the idea I'm proud of my children and this that and the it wasn't at all so there are positive aspects but there weren't positive aspects.

I'm trying to think of a time in the writings of Ellen White or something of pride is like a virtue, right?

Oh good But I understand in the modern context.

You're proud of your nation You're proud of this achievement or something like that But that's a more real.

That's a more contemporary and newer and take on pride.

Right, so if you read, this is the description we find in Webster's 1828 Dictionary.

Yeah, in ordinate self-esteem, an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority of talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank, or elevation in office which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others." None of that is positive.

No, and I have to say this week's lesson, you're talking about pride, and pride is at the heart of sin, this whole, so it's not a little subject and there's no way you're gonna exhaust the topic this week, which may help in not getting too proud of yourself.

Notice all the things though, there are several aspects here, inordinate self-esteem, an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority and talents, but what I don't have to have talents, it could just be beauty.

There are people that are just born great-looking and they're proud of that.

That's a hard burden for some of us to bear.

I don't have talents but I've got it so there's There's lots of ways to be proud.

But anything distinct about you, you could turn it into a source of pride.

Like, oh look at me, I've got this going for me.

Well, and so what all of that has to do with is not even that they, a person has talents or beauty or wealth or accomplishments but they take all the credit to themselves and then it says it manifested in lofty airs, and then distance, reserve, right?

Because I'm distant from others, because this is all me.

I'm so much better than, and so there's this often it says in contempt of others.

We're actually gonna see that in the scripture as we continue on.

He began to see his talents, his qualities, his abilities as something that was emanating from him And therefore he deserves some credit for that.

So him recognizing whether it's his appearance or his abilities or his talents or whatever, the fact that he had those wasn't the issue.

It's the fact that he glory in them and he took the credit to himself and started, it changed his character because of it.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor, you know.

Yeah, and we're gonna explore that a little bit more, but here's a statement from Desire of Ages that is familiar probably to some of our viewers.

Lucifer, the covering cherub, desired to be first in heaven.

So it doesn't use the word pride there, but you start to see that pride is this self-seeking, this desire to be first.

So when you're talking about, you know, we often say that sin originated with Lucifer.

Well, and isn't there another statement, I'm paraphrasing off the top of my head, but where Sister White talked about how every list of sin has to the top of it the word self.

Like it's just downstream of that is some manifestation of pride.

So now building on that, my talking point number 1 is Lucifer is king over all the children of pride.

Now some of our viewers may recognize a little bit of that language, but the language actually comes from Job, and we're not going to read all of it, but in Job 41, Job describes this mythical creature Leviathan, and it's interesting if you've read commentators, they'll try to, you know, Leviathan is a sea creature, maybe it's a crocodile, and they try to give it some present existing, or maybe it was some prehistoric existing, whatever, but if you look at Job's description, it talks about how fire and brimstone come out of his mouth and nostrils, and when you look at the, if you read the whole description, which we're not gonna do, you see the closest thing we know today to it, and mythologically, is a fire-breathing dragon.

And that should not surprise us when we come to the book of Revelation, we see that Satan is depicted as a great fiery red dragon in Revelation 12 3.

And I believe that what, you know, here's this Job is being afflicted and he can't see where the affliction is coming from.

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Series

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

03 Pride Versus Humility

Transcript

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