Pride - 10/22/2008

Hey there!

This week, God brought another amazing message through Tom in the "Poser" series. He talked about two different kinds of pride in our lives - pride in thinking we are better than others and pride in thinking we are smarter than God.

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who both go into the Temple to pray. The Pharisee, puffed up with pride, uses his prayer to scorn the tax collector for being a sinner, while the tax collector is humbled by his sinfulness and begs for God's mercy. Jesus says it is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who leaves justified before God. Tom challenged the students not to be like the Pharisee. Our faith is not based around what we don't do - I don't smoke like her; I don't drink like him; I don't mess around with my boyfriend like her, etc. So often, we justify our faith by comparing ourselves with other people, and that's a dangerous trap of pride to get caught in. Salvation is not a reward, and God is not impressed by the "good" things we do. The present is always the best time to repent for the times we dare to think we are better than others because of what we do or don't do.

To illustrate the second area of pride, Tom used stories of people doing things that obviously lacked in common sense to show the students that is what we are doing when we try to run our own lives. We crave the things God designed for our lives - love, joy, peace - but we're not doing life the way God designed. We dare to think we are smarter than God. We have to stop letting our pride get in the way and instead choose to live our lives the way God and His Word direct us to. Then, His Fruits will overflow in our lives and onto those around us.

After the message, Tom challenged students to spend some time during the musical worship repenting of the pride in their lives - toward God and toward others. He also reminded all of us that repentence isn't a negative thing. We should be encouraged by opportunities to come before God with a humble heart and ask Him to make us whole again.

Like every other topic in this series, we all struggle with pride in our lives. When it comes to pride, what areas of struggle AND victory can you share with your student? Please continue to pray alongside the leaders for the students and the direction God is taking the ministry. Have a great week!

-Shannon

Scriptures used:
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Luke 18:9-14
Ephesians 2:4-9