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The church is not a building, but a community of imperfect people who are being transformed by God's grace.
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Letter from the Pastor
"Pride goes before the fall" Genesis 11:1-9
Read Text: A lady said to her doctor: "Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror & saw my hair all wiry & frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled & pasty, my eyes were blood-shot & bugging out & I had this corpse-like look on my face! What's wrong with me, Doctor?" The doctor looked her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly said, "Well, I can tell you one thing... there isn't anything wrong with your eyesight." The story of the Tower of Babel is a sad description of the breakdown of fellowship, failure in communication & growing isolation & confusion. And it all resulted from human beings failing to live in dependence on God, becoming proud of their achievements & determined to be the source of their own security. That was the root cause of the chaos they brought on themselves. One particular group founded by the legendary Nimrod who was celebrated as “a mighty hunter before the Lord” migrated to what is now known as Iraq. It became the center of civilization of the ancient world. Babylon was the high point of human achievement. In the founding of Babel was the foundation for what would later flower as Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon from its inception symbolized Evil & Rebellion against God! False religion started in Babel or Babylon & we are told in Revelation 17-18 that Babylon is where it will end. They said “Let us make a name for ourselves” They were in direct conflict with God’s command to them. Remember, God told Noah & his children to be fruitful & multiply. They wanted to build a tower that would reach to the heavens & stay right where they were in direct disobedience to God. They wanted to become great, they wanted to be equal with God. But you see that’s what happens when pride takes over, it becomes all about us & our accomplishments. God saw that & said; nope, ain’t happening! Your pride is going to be your downfall. He looked around & said look at what they are doing. Look at the pride & arrogance & depravity. Pride= Boasting about religious or moral superiority, looking down on others. The inability to apologize or accept constructive feedback, often driven by the need to always be right! Arrogance = Arrogance is pride put into action characterized by an aggressive attitude of superiority & a blatant disregard for other people's feelings, boundaries or inputs. We are seeing this thing today called Cancel Culture & Public Shaming: Tearing others down on public forums with a sense of moral superiority, acting as judge & jury without any willingness for grace or redemption. Dominating conversations, interrupting others & treating opposing viewpoints as inferior or foolish. Depravity = Depravity represents a severe moral corruption characterized by a fundamental disregard for the integrity, honor & the well-being of others. Are we not seeing people on the news, the anchors & journalist included celebrate or cheer at the suffering, oppression or massacre of certain human beings? One of the most successful propaganda campaigns of the modern age has been the attempt to convince Christians that Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed for being inhospitable. The world says the problem was not sexual immorality, rebellionor depravity. The problem they say was poor manners. Sodom was apparently reduced to ashes because its citizens failed a hospitality seminar. The culture we live in is as dark & depraved as Sodom & Gomorrah. People today enjoy, revel in & brag about pride, homosexuality & disobeying God. We’re shopping at Target, we got pride month, we got a pride parade, we got drag queens, we got transgender bishops. Turn on the news or scroll through social media & it seems like anger, division& negativity are everywhere. People argue over politics, beliefs or even trivial matters. There’s a lot of hate speech, name-calling & a lack of empathy. Sometimes, it feels like being mean or winning an argument matters more than showing understanding or compassion. There’s a lot of hate speech, name-calling & a lack of empathy. Sometimes, it feels like being mean or winning an argument matters more than showing understanding or compassion. This isn’t just about the world outside our doors; it’s happening within communities, neighborhoods & yes, even within churches. What makes this even sadder is that many who claim to follow Jesus, who talked so much about loving your neighbor look the other way or even add fuel to the fire of division & hate. Arrogance & depravity stem from Pride! Our pride drives us to this attitude of self- sufficiency that says we don’t need God. And that’s what happened at Babel. They thought themselves to be equal with God. Pride is a subtle thing that sneaks upon us. It doesn’t appear overnight. It’s born in years of small accomplishments that create in us an attitude of superiority. One person observed this about pride. “Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful, we’ll be proud of our humility. When this happens, our goodness becomes badness. Our virtues become vices. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who having told the story of the Pharisee & the publican, said, “Children, let’s bow our heads & thank God we are not like the Pharisee!” Pride comes before the fall when we focus more on things below rather than on things above. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we must realize that without God, we are nothing but a person separated from their creator by their sin. We must empty ourselves of this pride & arrogance in thinking that we control our eternity. That we are in control of our eternal destiny. There is only one gateway into Heaven, only one doorway & it’s entered through humility. Religion will not bring salvation. Religion is man trying to reach God. Christianity is God reaching down to people through the person of Jesus Christ. King Solomon wrote, "There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death." Pride will lead you to look at the world’s view of salvation. Pride will make you look at salvation from the view of the people of Babel. But true salvation is found only through humility, not pride.
Thank you for watching our services & may God continue to Bless.
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