The Sound Word

Proverbs 13:10 Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. How much does your anger have to do with your pride? Probably more than you might think. Scripture warns us about pride all over the place. Proverbs tells us much about pride; none of it good. Pride comes before the fall, A fool’s mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them, Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor, and Ecclesiastes says, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride” just to name a few. It is one thing to be proud of something; it is another to be prideful of something. I am proud of my children, they are God’s gift to me. I am proud of my wife for all she does for the benefit of our family. I am proud of the spiritual growth I see n people no matter where that growth may find its source. I am also proud of the accomplishments I have made in my life, but the pride is based on an u...

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Have you ever had a bad day? A day when not only things go wrong, but as they go wrong people are yelling at you, calling you names, and if they are not yelling at you and calling you names, you know they WANT yelling at you and calling you names. I’ve had days like that before myself. God knows we have days like this too, and Jesus had a few of them Himself. No matter what you do, even if it is the proper thing to do and righteous before the Lord, someone’s angry. Well, rejoice and be glad! Becoming a Christian is an awesome thing. With it comes forgiveness for all your sins, trespasses and wrings that you have committed, and a knowledge of peace in your salvation is part of the fruit of the joy of knowing you and the ...

Mark 7:8,12-13 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Yesterday I began a sermon series on the understanding of Christmas. The idea is to focus for the next three weeks, with an Advent sort of feel, on two things: The true Spirit of Christmas and secondly, the true story of Christmas and its impact on the world. In the end, no matter how you paint it, the story of Christmas is the awesome and predetermined expression of God’s love for His people. This was accomplished by the Son leaving His perfect heaven and Father behind to become a man, in every way, just like you and me. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the messages, but you get the idea. But my point today is that, to the best of my memory, this is only the second time in my nearly 6 years now as the pasto...