August 31, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode, Sean discusses the dangers of EGO. It is so easy to allow our own personal ambitions and feelings to crowd God out of our lives. Sean discusses what EGO looks like, what the Bible says about it, and some strategies to avoid it in our lives.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Good morning everybody. This is shown Copeland. Today is Sunday,
August thirty first, and welcome to a brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you so much to the fake crowd. So it's
so good to be with you, guys, and I'm very
(00:31):
excited to share a message with you today that is
based upon very very real personal experience. It's kind of
a repentant ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO podcast, but
I think you're gonna enjoy it, and I think it's
something that we all struggle with. This was a really
fun week for us. I stayed in Oklahoma all week.
(00:53):
I was very productive. I met a couple of amazing individuals.
One who has built Equal Sky Ranch, a Christian camp
that is just absolutely remarkable, and then one who leads
an organization and claremore called Safe Net for Battered women
and men and children and remarkable as well. Very very
(01:17):
inspiring week. I had a big football game Friday night.
Metro got its first win. I've played great.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
He got a little bit of a knee swelling.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But it looks like it's already doing better, so we're
believing for full healing. There, and now all the girls
have come home from college and we are spending the
weekend together at the lake House.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So super super fun.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I also experienced something this week that I want to
share with you because it ties into our It actually
ties into our message today, and that.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Is the dangers of ego. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now, I recently watched a Dallas Cowboys Netflix series that
talks about the Dallas Cowboys in the nineteen nineties and
the Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson days. And if you
watch that, what you will see is all the problems
within that organization happened because of ego. Which ego is
(02:23):
kind of the inner voice that insists on my way. Okay,
it pushes God to the margins. When ego's drives, we
drift from God's will. And Darryl Strawberry put it this way.
He said, ego is just easing God out. So what
I want to talk about today is a personal experience
(02:45):
I had with this and how easy it is to
allow ego to push God out of our lives, and
how important it is that we all focus on living
a humble, spirit led wife lifeicularly as a leader. So
it happened to me and kind of what brought this
message to the forefront for me is I had a
(03:07):
friend who was threatening to bring legal action against our bank.
We had made an operational error. It wasn't a huge issue,
but it really hurt me when this particular individual did.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Not call me.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I had kind of always had his back, always helped him,
tried to help him in a lot of different ways,
and then when the tables returned, he kind of went
against me. I didn't handle it particularly well. I regret it.
I did repent for it, but it made me think
of how that made my ego swell up, and how
easy it is to allow us to let ego take over.
(03:46):
So I want you to think about this. Have you
ever argued with your GPS and lost? Okay, I've done
this a lot. We resist direction even when it's right
in front of us. Spiritually, our ENERGPS is the Holy Spirit.
Ego says, recalculate no thanks. I know a shortcut. When
(04:06):
ego leads, we edge God out of our lives. When
humility leads, we invite God in.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
There's a difference between confidence and ego, and we'll get
into it in just a moment. But God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. He says this in
James four, verse six. The everyday definition of ego is
an inflated, self referenced way of seeing the world. My image,
(04:35):
my control, my credit, my comfort. And as I mentioned,
the Dallas Cowboys show this front and center because you
have two individuals who wanted all the credit for those
great nineteen nineties football teams, and Jerry Jones and Jimmy
Johnson just could not stand to see the other one
get the credit. Now we look at it and think
(04:56):
that is so silly. They're both getting plenty of credit,
but that is not how they felt. And we allow
this to do this, We allow this to happen in
our lives as well. Scripture tends to call this pride
or the flesh. It's our self centered nature apart from God.
And you can see this in Galatians five, sixteen and seventeen.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Now, it's healthy to have confidence.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Knowing your maide in God's image, knowing your love, knowing
you're gifted.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That is all fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But what is sinful is ego, which is exalting yourself
over God and others, having self importance, defensiveness, domination, comparison,
and control. So some questions to ask ourselves is do
I always need the last word? Do I overexplain or
(05:49):
blame when I am corrected? Do I keep score of credit?
Do I resist input unless it confirms my plan? Ego
is so dangerous because it blome reminds us to the truth.
If you look at the pharisee and the tax collector,
one trusted in themselves, the proud man left unchanged, the
humble man left justified and forgiven. Ego blocks grace. Humility
(06:15):
opens the door. Ego breaks obedience. King Saul, he partially obeyed,
then defended himself. Samuel said, to obey is better than sacrifice.
Ego edits God's commands to protect our image. Ego builds
the wrong kingdom. If you look at the Tower of
Babel in Genesis eleven, it says, let us make a
(06:37):
name for ourselves. God scattered what pride tried to stack.
And I think we see this a lot in our
world today. And before ego invites a fall. Proverb sixteen
eighteen says pride goes before destruction. And if you look
at the story of King Nebukinezra and Daniel four, he said,
look at the kingdom I built, and in a moment
(06:59):
it was gone until he looked up and honored God.
Ego resists Christ's likeness Philippians two three and eight. Jesus
made himself nothing. He humbled himself. The son of God
chose the downward path. We avoid God will. God's will
often runs through humility, service, and surrender. There are many
(07:21):
modern examples of this. Let's give some examples. In sports.
It's a star athlete like a Darryl Strawberry who discovered
talent without surrender. That is a fragile kingdom. His line,
ego is just easing God out. Was born and the
collision between success and surrender. He thought it was all him,
(07:42):
and then he realized it was really all about God.
In the workplace, a leader ignores wise counsel pushes through
a flashy deal, and the team pays for the fallout.
Weeks later, a quiet analyst's humble warning proves to be right.
In the family, a spouse doubles down in an argument
to when over his spouse and loses connection. Later, one
(08:04):
simple apology heals more than a dozen arguments and explanations.
So how do we keep ego from separating us from
God's will. Let's use the ego grid. These are three
common ways ego detoords us. E is exalting self over scripture.
(08:27):
I know what the Bible says, but we reinterpret clear
commands to fit our comfort. Antidote Psalm one nineteen one
oh five treat God's word as the light, not a suggestion.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Number two, the g is grasping for control.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We clutch outcomes, timelines and image management. Anxiety spikes, prayer
shrinks the antidote Properbs three, five and six.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Trust in the.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Lord and do not lean on your own understanding. And
the O is obsessing over approval. Saul feared the people.
When people are big and God is small, will trade
obedience for applause. The antidote is in John twelve forty three.
It warns about loving human glory more than God, practicing
(09:18):
living for an audience of one. So there is a
better way. And here's what we want to do. Number one,
we want to recognize when ego is in our lives.
We want to bring ego into the light. Psalm one
thirty nine, twenty three and twenty four says, search me o, God,
see if there be any grievous way in me. We
(09:38):
want to invite feedback from trusted godly voices Proverbs twenty
seven six, where do you see my blind spots? Number
two we want to repent, turn, don't spin, confession breaks
Ego's spell, name the control of the comparison, the defensiveness
without excuses. Apologize and specifically I was wrong to dismiss
(10:03):
your input. Please forgive me. Number three replace choose Jesus'
way on purpose, spiritual practice practices that trained humility are
as follows secrecy. Do an act of service that no
one knows about. As it says in Matthew six, submission,
yield a preference to someone else, yield to another person
(10:27):
unto the Lord Sabbath, release productivity as your identity rest
is humble, trust, fasting, Say no to the body so
you can say yes to the spirit scripture before screen.
Start the day under God's word, not under the world's applause.
And then four we want to repeat, let's build a
(10:49):
humble reflex. John three point thirty says he must increase,
I must decrease. So we have to weakly examine where
did I insist on my way? Where did I yield
to others. So here's a simple rule of life to
become more humble. Number one ten minutes of scripture and
(11:13):
prayer each morning Philippians two five through eleven. Number two
one quiet active service daily with no announcement about it.
Number three, one honest confession each week where you know
Ego has taken over your life. And number four ask
one person each week, what's one area where I can grow?
(11:35):
So as we close, just think about this. Ego climbs
a ladder that's leaning on the wrong wall. Humility checks
the wall before climbing. Ego drags a spotlight to center stage.
Humility hands the spotlight to Jesus and runs away from
the light. The GPS recalculating every time you feel defensive
(11:58):
this week, here the spirit whisper, recalculating, let me lead.
And that's what I had to do with my friend.
As I prayed this through, the Spirit said, Sean, I
understand why this has hurt.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You, but you got to let it go.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You've got to forgive and move on down the road.
It doesn't do any good to harbor hard feelings against someone.
Ego says, earn your way. The Gospel says Jesus made
the way the Christ is God's ego. Ectomy Christ humbled
himself to death, and God highly exalted him. We don't
(12:34):
try harder to be humble. We trust deeper in the
humble King and follow him. For those far from God,
I want to encourage you to lay down the crown
and receive Jesus as your lord and savior. If you're
a believer, I want you to focus on surrendering a
specific area control approval or image, and pray Jesus be
(12:56):
lord over that area of my life. Practice the ego, audit,
exalt self over scripture, don't grasp for control, and don't
obsess over approval.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So let's commit to one step before we leave today.
Let's think through.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Our lives and where is ego ruling our lives? And
as we close today, I just want to close us
out in prayer and I want to pray and just
pray with me this morning. Lord Jesus, thank you for
showing us.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
The way of humility.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
We confess the ways our ego has eased you out
of our lives. Where we've chased control, where we've chased credit,
where we've chased approval. Search us and know us we
lay down our crowns and invite you to lead give
us the mind of Christ increase in us as we decrease.
(13:54):
May our lives, families, and work reflect your will and
not ours and your name.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
We pray ay Man and everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I want to thank you so much for joining this
edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO, and
as we close, I just want to remind you real
quick that our National Faith at Works Summit is October
twenty eighth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Oral Roberts University.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We would love to have you attend with us, and
you can get information at ninety four xmovement dot com.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
God bless you all
Good morning everybody. This is shown Copeland. Today is Sunday,
August thirty first, and welcome to a brand new, life
changing edition of the ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO.
Thank you so much to the fake crowd. So it's
so good to be with you, guys, and I'm very
(00:31):
excited to share a message with you today that is
based upon very very real personal experience. It's kind of
a repentant ninety four x Kingdom Driven CEO podcast, but
I think you're gonna enjoy it, and I think it's
something that we all struggle with. This was a really
fun week for us. I stayed in Oklahoma all week.
(00:53):
I was very productive. I met a couple of amazing individuals.
One who has built Equal Sky Ranch, a Christian camp
that is just absolutely remarkable, and then one who leads
an organization and claremore called Safe Net for Battered women
and men and children and remarkable as well. Very very
(01:17):
inspiring week. I had a big football game Friday night.
Metro got its first win. I've played great.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
He got a little bit of a knee swelling.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But it looks like it's already doing better, so we're
believing for full healing. There, and now all the girls
have come home from college and we are spending the
weekend together at the lake House.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
So super super fun.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I also experienced something this week that I want to
share with you because it ties into our It actually
ties into our message today, and that.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Is the dangers of ego. Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now, I recently watched a Dallas Cowboys Netflix series that
talks about the Dallas Cowboys in the nineteen nineties and
the Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson days. And if you
watch that, what you will see is all the problems
within that organization happened because of ego. Which ego is
(02:23):
kind of the inner voice that insists on my way. Okay,
it pushes God to the margins. When ego's drives, we
drift from God's will. And Darryl Strawberry put it this way.
He said, ego is just easing God out. So what
I want to talk about today is a personal experience
(02:45):
I had with this and how easy it is to
allow ego to push God out of our lives, and
how important it is that we all focus on living
a humble, spirit led wife lifeicularly as a leader. So
it happened to me and kind of what brought this
message to the forefront for me is I had a
(03:07):
friend who was threatening to bring legal action against our bank.
We had made an operational error. It wasn't a huge issue,
but it really hurt me when this particular individual did.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Not call me.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I had kind of always had his back, always helped him,
tried to help him in a lot of different ways,
and then when the tables returned, he kind of went
against me. I didn't handle it particularly well. I regret it.
I did repent for it, but it made me think
of how that made my ego swell up, and how
easy it is to allow us to let ego take over.
(03:46):
So I want you to think about this. Have you
ever argued with your GPS and lost? Okay, I've done
this a lot. We resist direction even when it's right
in front of us. Spiritually, our ENERGPS is the Holy Spirit.
Ego says, recalculate no thanks. I know a shortcut. When
(04:06):
ego leads, we edge God out of our lives. When
humility leads, we invite God in.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
There's a difference between confidence and ego, and we'll get
into it in just a moment. But God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. He says this in
James four, verse six. The everyday definition of ego is
an inflated, self referenced way of seeing the world. My image,
(04:35):
my control, my credit, my comfort. And as I mentioned,
the Dallas Cowboys show this front and center because you
have two individuals who wanted all the credit for those
great nineteen nineties football teams, and Jerry Jones and Jimmy
Johnson just could not stand to see the other one
get the credit. Now we look at it and think
(04:56):
that is so silly. They're both getting plenty of credit,
but that is not how they felt. And we allow
this to do this, We allow this to happen in
our lives as well. Scripture tends to call this pride
or the flesh. It's our self centered nature apart from God.
And you can see this in Galatians five, sixteen and seventeen.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Now, it's healthy to have confidence.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Knowing your maide in God's image, knowing your love, knowing
you're gifted.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
That is all fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
But what is sinful is ego, which is exalting yourself
over God and others, having self importance, defensiveness, domination, comparison,
and control. So some questions to ask ourselves is do
I always need the last word? Do I overexplain or
(05:49):
blame when I am corrected? Do I keep score of credit?
Do I resist input unless it confirms my plan? Ego
is so dangerous because it blome reminds us to the truth.
If you look at the pharisee and the tax collector,
one trusted in themselves, the proud man left unchanged, the
humble man left justified and forgiven. Ego blocks grace. Humility
(06:15):
opens the door. Ego breaks obedience. King Saul, he partially obeyed,
then defended himself. Samuel said, to obey is better than sacrifice.
Ego edits God's commands to protect our image. Ego builds
the wrong kingdom. If you look at the Tower of
Babel in Genesis eleven, it says, let us make a
(06:37):
name for ourselves. God scattered what pride tried to stack.
And I think we see this a lot in our
world today. And before ego invites a fall. Proverb sixteen
eighteen says pride goes before destruction. And if you look
at the story of King Nebukinezra and Daniel four, he said,
look at the kingdom I built, and in a moment
(06:59):
it was gone until he looked up and honored God.
Ego resists Christ's likeness Philippians two three and eight. Jesus
made himself nothing. He humbled himself. The son of God
chose the downward path. We avoid God will. God's will
often runs through humility, service, and surrender. There are many
(07:21):
modern examples of this. Let's give some examples. In sports.
It's a star athlete like a Darryl Strawberry who discovered
talent without surrender. That is a fragile kingdom. His line,
ego is just easing God out. Was born and the
collision between success and surrender. He thought it was all him,
(07:42):
and then he realized it was really all about God.
In the workplace, a leader ignores wise counsel pushes through
a flashy deal, and the team pays for the fallout.
Weeks later, a quiet analyst's humble warning proves to be right.
In the family, a spouse doubles down in an argument
to when over his spouse and loses connection. Later, one
(08:04):
simple apology heals more than a dozen arguments and explanations.
So how do we keep ego from separating us from
God's will. Let's use the ego grid. These are three
common ways ego detoords us. E is exalting self over scripture.
(08:27):
I know what the Bible says, but we reinterpret clear
commands to fit our comfort. Antidote Psalm one nineteen one
oh five treat God's word as the light, not a suggestion.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Number two, the g is grasping for control.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We clutch outcomes, timelines and image management. Anxiety spikes, prayer
shrinks the antidote Properbs three, five and six.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Trust in the.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Lord and do not lean on your own understanding. And
the O is obsessing over approval. Saul feared the people.
When people are big and God is small, will trade
obedience for applause. The antidote is in John twelve forty three.
It warns about loving human glory more than God, practicing
(09:18):
living for an audience of one. So there is a
better way. And here's what we want to do. Number one,
we want to recognize when ego is in our lives.
We want to bring ego into the light. Psalm one
thirty nine, twenty three and twenty four says, search me o, God,
see if there be any grievous way in me. We
(09:38):
want to invite feedback from trusted godly voices Proverbs twenty
seven six, where do you see my blind spots? Number
two we want to repent, turn, don't spin, confession breaks
Ego's spell, name the control of the comparison, the defensiveness
without excuses. Apologize and specifically I was wrong to dismiss
(10:03):
your input. Please forgive me. Number three replace choose Jesus'
way on purpose, spiritual practice practices that trained humility are
as follows secrecy. Do an act of service that no
one knows about. As it says in Matthew six, submission,
yield a preference to someone else, yield to another person
(10:27):
unto the Lord Sabbath, release productivity as your identity rest
is humble, trust, fasting, Say no to the body so
you can say yes to the spirit scripture before screen.
Start the day under God's word, not under the world's applause.
And then four we want to repeat, let's build a
(10:49):
humble reflex. John three point thirty says he must increase,
I must decrease. So we have to weakly examine where
did I insist on my way? Where did I yield
to others. So here's a simple rule of life to
become more humble. Number one ten minutes of scripture and
(11:13):
prayer each morning Philippians two five through eleven. Number two
one quiet active service daily with no announcement about it.
Number three, one honest confession each week where you know
Ego has taken over your life. And number four ask
one person each week, what's one area where I can grow?
(11:35):
So as we close, just think about this. Ego climbs
a ladder that's leaning on the wrong wall. Humility checks
the wall before climbing. Ego drags a spotlight to center stage.
Humility hands the spotlight to Jesus and runs away from
the light. The GPS recalculating every time you feel defensive
(11:58):
this week, here the spirit whisper, recalculating, let me lead.
And that's what I had to do with my friend.
As I prayed this through, the Spirit said, Sean, I
understand why this has hurt.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You, but you got to let it go.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You've got to forgive and move on down the road.
It doesn't do any good to harbor hard feelings against someone.
Ego says, earn your way. The Gospel says Jesus made
the way the Christ is God's ego. Ectomy Christ humbled
himself to death, and God highly exalted him. We don't
(12:34):
try harder to be humble. We trust deeper in the
humble King and follow him. For those far from God,
I want to encourage you to lay down the crown
and receive Jesus as your lord and savior. If you're
a believer, I want you to focus on surrendering a
specific area control approval or image, and pray Jesus be
(12:56):
lord over that area of my life. Practice the ego, audit,
exalt self over scripture, don't grasp for control, and don't
obsess over approval.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So let's commit to one step before we leave today.
Let's think through.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Our lives and where is ego ruling our lives? And
as we close today, I just want to close us
out in prayer and I want to pray and just
pray with me this morning. Lord Jesus, thank you for
showing us.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
The way of humility.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
We confess the ways our ego has eased you out
of our lives. Where we've chased control, where we've chased credit,
where we've chased approval. Search us and know us we
lay down our crowns and invite you to lead give
us the mind of Christ increase in us as we decrease.
(13:54):
May our lives, families, and work reflect your will and
not ours and your name.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
We pray ay Man and everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I want to thank you so much for joining this
edition of the ninety four X Kingdom Driven CEO, and
as we close, I just want to remind you real
quick that our National Faith at Works Summit is October
twenty eighth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Oral Roberts University.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
We would love to have you attend with us, and
you can get information at ninety four xmovement dot com.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
God bless you all
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