Nobody likes a 'know-it-all'. They’re the people who only stop talking long enough to figure out what they’re going to say next. And it turns out that that sort of pride – not only stunts our growth, but hurts other people.

Lets face it, nobody likes a 'know-it-all'. You know the sort of person, it doesn't matter what suggestion you make to them, it doesn't matter what the subject is, they know it all. They have a better way. They simply will not learn from anyone else.

Now, its great for people to be confident and competent at what they do but there's a line that we can step over and when we do that, when we step over that line, we become a 'know it all'. Know it alls always talks and never listens.

Now they may stop talking for a while to let other people talk but they're not actually listening. They don't need to because they know it all. They don't need to take anything anyone else says on board because, well, they already know it.

We all have that sort of thing going on to a greater or lesser extent. I mean we dismiss other people's views and knowledge and wisdom because somehow, to learn from them implies that we must have been wrong in the first place.

And it hurts sometimes to think that we're wrong or we didn't know enough or we didn't have the maturity to handle a situation. Other people’s knowledge and wisdom and ability can make us feel inadequate and so we shut them down. We deal with it by telling the world and telling ourselves that we know it all.

Over the course of this week on the program we've been examining one of the most insidious emotional diseases going around. It's the disease of pride. That's why I've called this little series of programs, 'How To Get Over Yourself And Live A Life That Counts'.

A bit in your face I know but there's an incredible freedom and liberty that starts to happen in our lives when we finally stop trying to serve a little tin pot god of self. When we let go of that and we stop caring so much about what other people think and start living to please God.

You'll hear me say this over and over and over again, the biggest thing God ever set me free from was me. And whilst that setting free remains a work in progress for God, I can tell you, the day I stopped having to win and stopped having to be right and stopped having to be seen to be the best and stopped having to have the lime light, it was like being released from a lifetime prison sentence.

One of the biggest problems of pride is that we're so insecure. We simply can't be told anything or taught anything. We're so touchy, we can't take criticism or instruction. Interesting but one of the most powerful wisdom books in the Bible starts off in dealing with this very issue.

It turns out that unless we deal with this element of pride in our lives we can't grow in wisdom. I don't know about you but wisdom is something that I want. And yet, unless we have a teachable spirit then the door to our hearts and minds is shut and wisdom is locked out. Wisdom just can't get in.

The Book of Proverbs was written by King Solomon. One of the wisest men that ever walked the earth. He went to God and asked God for wisdom. Solomon was King David's son and he succeeded his father of the throne of Israel. And one day, early on, he was praying. Have a listen to what he asked God for. 1 Kings chapter 3, verse 5 to 13:

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, 'ask what I should give you', and Solomon said, 'you have shown great and steadfast love to your servant, my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart towards you and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.

And now O Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David although I'm only a little child. I do not know how to go or how to come in and your servant is in the midst of people whom you have chosen. A great people, so numerous they can't be numbered or counted.

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people. Able to discern between good and evil. For who can govern this, your people?

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this so God said to him, 'Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself a long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but you have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right. I now do according to your word.

Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind. No one like you has been before and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also all that you have not asked for, both riches and honour in your life. No other king shall compare to you.’"

Here's young Solomon, instead of going to God in pride and asking for wealth. He went to God in humility and asked Him for wisdom. And so God gave him not only wisdom but wealth as well. So when Solomon is much older and much wiser, he writes down much of his wisdom in the Book of Proverbs.

Have a listen to how he kicks off the Book of Proverbs. He actually talks about how to get wisdom. Proverbs chapter 1, verses 7 to 9:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear my child, your father's instruction and do not reject your mother's teaching for they are a fair garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

Do you see how pride and wisdom are mutually exclusive? And it all begins with humility, the fear of the Lord, a right fear, respecting and honouring God. And that's the exact opposite to the fools who despise wisdom and instruction.

And then he comes up with this instruction to the young men, presumably to his sons. Listen to your mother and your father. Now we all know that, as teenagers, we pushed the boundaries there and we roll our eyes when our mother's and father's told us things. This pride is what locks us out of learning and it's a sign of immaturity and the sad thing is that so many people never grow up.

They go to their graves stunted and stupid because their heart was closed, because they knew it all. This is what Solomon goes on to say in that same chapter. Proverbs chapter 1, verse 20:

Wisdom cries out in the street, in the square she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out. At the entrance of the city gate she speaks. 'How long O simple ones will you love being simple? How long will you scoff as delight in your scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof, I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make my words known to you.

What a picture of pride, scoffers and fools who hate knowledge. See, pride keeps us simple. Pride stunts our growth. Pride is what makes us ugly. And we deal with that when we bow our lives down to God. When we fear God in a right way because what happens then is that He opens our hearts to receive instruction and wisdom and reproof.

What's reproof? It's rebuke and reprimand. We're going to pick up on that tomorrow on the program. It's when we have a teachable heart that we grow as people and the thing is, to accept instruction, to learn from other people, it means that we have to accept, deep down, that we don't know it all, that we have something to learn.

I am firmly convinced that the thing that sets some people apart to achieve great things isn't necessarily their natural talent because each one of us has some natural talent in something. The thing that sets people apart for greatness is a teachable spirit. A heart open to correction and learning and receiving.

If there were just one thing you and I could do to get over ourselves, just one, then I would suggest it be this one thing. To decide from this moment on to have a teachable spirit. It's time to get over ourselves so we can live a life that counts.