Summer is over and hopefully I’ll get back on track with writing the blog. My intention here is to give “my take” on the sermon that, Matt Miller, our Lead Pastor presents every Sunday morning. The last month or so he has been preaching out of the book of Daniel. I love the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den and about the fiery furnace that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into for refusing to bow down to the image of gold. If you’ve never read these stories, check out the book of Daniel!
Any way, back to this Sunday’s sermon…Somehow, I had missed the message that pride leads to other sins. That’s what I love about Matt’s sermons. He challenges us to look at scripture with a new perspective! Here are some of the main points from this sermon: 1) We lose empathy when we are prideful. We tend to care more about ourselves than others and sometimes take credit for being the “creator” of something when it was really a gift from God. When we think of our position in life as something we created, “look what I did”, we lose sight of the fact that everything we are and everything we have is because God has allowed it. 2) Life for us becomes one big competition. We try to one-up our neighbor.
Matt’s suggestion: Stop looking inward at yourself and outward at others, and start looking upward to God. Begin to build a relationship with him by reading His word, meaningful prayer time, and growing in your faith by sharing with others. Get involved in a church. It doesn’t have to be our church (although we certainly hope it is), after all, we are worshiping God, not the pastor or any other person in the church. But find a church that you’re comfortable with that will feed you with the word of God and challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and serve in a way you have never served before! You’ll be glad you did.
If you don’t have a church, we welcome you to visit us. Check us out at http://www.milanchurch.com!
Milan Church 