Sermons About Pride
Assurance, Intercession, and Purity
Do any of you know people that are amazingly self-assured? Their confidence just overflows when you are around them. Sometimes being around them can be encouraging, and quite honestly, some times it can be intimidating. Maybe they have the effect on you that you try your best to be at your sharpest, wittiest, and most intelligent when you are interacting with them. Either way, everyone in the room senses their confidence. A lot of athletes are like that. When the game is on the line, they want the ball in their hands. When the Super Bowl is on the line, they want the ball thrown their way. They want to stand at the plate at the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded. Moments like that are what many kids dream of and play out in the backyard every day. I had that moment my very first organized baseball game. I may have told you guys this story before, but it bears telling again. I was in 4th grade in my very first little league game. I had not stepped onto the field the entire time. My uniform would not even need cleaning. It was the bottom of the ninth, we were down, there were 2 men on base, and my coach decides to put me in as a pinch hitter. I watched the last two pitches whiz by, I struck out, and we lost the game. I handled that like many other 9 year olds do by crying my eyes out. Fast forward 20 years later, and the exact same situation came up. I was playing church softball, it was the playoffs, and I step up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. It was not lost on me at that last time that I was in the same situation, and the last time I was there I didn't come through. However, this time, I hit a bloop single that brought in two runners, and we won the game. Winning the game was enough to erase most of the pain of the 4th grade, but I was pretty sure that I was never going to be any team's go to guy on the baseball field. No matter whether you are confident or not, built into self-assurance or self-confidence is this attitude that sounds like the expression, "If it is going to be, it is up to me." There is a sense in some folks, right or wrong, that they just know if something needs to get done, they know they can count on themselves. Though this issue wavers back and forth between confidence and pride, it got me thinking about confidence and assurance in God. If I asked many of you, "Is God powerful enough to do anything?" I think many if not most of you would say, "Yes." "Is he powerful enough to create, heal, call things into existence by His very word?? I think most of you would say yes. But if I asked you if He was powerful enough to keep your salvation secure and in the process assure you that your salvation is real, I don't know if I would get as many affirmations. For some reason, we think God is powerful enough to do anything He wants in the material world, but when it comes to our heart, salvation, and assurance of that salvation, we think God either cannot or has chosen not to make us secure with Him. This Sunday, at Sovereign King, I want to remove that doubt today. Rather, John in this last sermon from 1 John wants to. John is going to use language like "knowing we believe" and "knowing you have eternal life" and "having confidence" in God. He is going to talk about what the life looks like that has confidence in God and what God has done.
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Living in Line with the Gospel
False gospels produce pride and fear which destroy community. The gospel (we are accepted by God thru faith in Jesus' work for us) produces humility and security as a foundation for Christian community.
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The Devil and our Pride
"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 5:5-11
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Transforming Grace
“When I was ten I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.†- C.S. Lewis To be so self-absorbed, so fearful of the opinions of others, so defined by what others think, is a sure way to miss the real Jesus. To be like a child, to be willing to look foolish for Jesus is a crushing blow to your pride, and it is a necessary step to meet the real Jesus. Have you gotten over the fear of looking childish? It’s one of the ways you know you’re growing up.
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KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE POWER OF GOD (Mark 12:13-27) 01-11-09
Introduction: Opposition against Jesus â— Five Conflicts: in the Beginning of His Ministry (Mark 2:1 - 3:6); â— Five Conflicts: at the End of His Ministry (Mark 11:27 - 12:37). EXPOSING THE SINFUL HEART â— The Evil Intent of a Rebellious and Prideful Heart (vs13-17); â—The Spiritual Deception with a Self-Exalting and Unbelieving Heart (vs18-27). KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES AND THE POWER OF GOD â— For Living a Joy-filled Holy Life: by Overcoming our Sinful Nature and in our Secular World; â— For Living Victoriously by Faith: with Spiritual Wisdom and in our Hope of the Resurrection.
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The Unity of the Church: Part 1
Paul appeals to the church to live out the unity that God has created through Christ. Our unity is dependent on our humility. God has called us to build together within our local church, and also with the universal church. We can only do that when we keep in mind that the gospel truths are what unifies us. After all, our unity as Christians is one of diversity!
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Praying With The Psalmists: A Study in the Psalms, Psalm 51
Repentance Begins With Acknowledgment of Our Condition: The lack of desire to admit you are wrong is in direct proportion to your pride. It’s hard to be sorry if you don’t feel you are wrong. Repentance Ends With A Restored Heart: Restoration comes as a result of a heart that is free from pride, and that humbly comes before the Lord in repentance. In order to live a mentally healthy life, we need to live aware of our sin and of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ. It is only the morally self-righteous that ignore this through denial or false humility.
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