The Rock Church

Humility

“Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.“ — Proverbs 18:12

“For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.” -Timothy Keller

Christian, when we walk in humility, we walk within the circle of God’s blessing. The world tells us that we need more power, money, fame, position, praise, more…more…more! The Bible, however, actually calls a person like that a leech. The world is a leech!

“The leech has two suckers that cry out, “More, more!”  — Proverbs 30:15

You see, God’s plan is the exact opposite of the world’s way. In the world, it’s always about more of me, more of me, and more of me. By contrast, the Lord tells us something else. We find true joy in thinking not less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves LESS.

Pride is indeed competitive by its very nature. If I am a proud person, then as long as there is one person in the world more powerful, richer, or smarter than I am, that person is my rival and enemy. Pride always means division and separation. Not only between people but also between us and God.

What It Is

To be humble, however, is to recognize that you don’t always need to be correct. To be humble is to realize that you certainly don’t know everything. To be humble is to remember you can apologize when you’re wrong. To be humble is to recognize that you can finally stop pretending to be the best at everything. To be humble means you can absolutely have real friendships without having to “prove” yourself.

The point of humility is that God wants you to know Him. But pride always gets in the way of that. He wants to give you Himself. And when you know Him, you will inevitably be humble — wonderfully humble! As a matter of fact, you will feel infinite relief. The relief of finally getting rid of all the silly nonsense of your inflated ego. It has only made you restless and unhappy all your life.

For now, think about this. God is good, and He loves you. He wants what leads to your greatest joy. So, if He tells you that pride leads to destruction, by all means, we must learn to listen and obey. Therein lies true joy.

This week, consider thinking of yourself less. Consider not fighting for first place but being content to be last. Not surprisingly, this is a pathway to joy.

Seeking humility with you,

Steele

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by The Rock Church

Credited

“David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” — Romans 4:6-8

Grace is indeed a gift we could never earn. At the same time, our sin has given us an incredible debt before God. And no amount of good works could pay our debt. But the truth is that the Believer is given a credited righteousness straight from Jesus. The word “credited” (in the Bible) is a financial term for transferring a balance to our account — more specifically, a negative account.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Caleb Yetton

Matter of Honor Series

A Look Into Biblical Principles of Financial Stewardship.

Jesus warned us about the danger of putting money in place of God in our lives. He said in Matthew 6:24, “You cannot serve both God and money.” In this three-part series, we’ll look at biblical principles which focus on the importance of financial stewardship. These practical teachings will help you understand (and implement) the basic biblical concepts of honoring God with your finances. Matter of Honor series runs April 15-30.

Posted in News, Series by The Rock Church

Spiritual Wealth

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” — Luke 12:21

Through the years, I’ve never had a lot of wealth. It never really bothered me because I had enough money for burritos, and enough to take my wife on modest dates. I didn’t care all that much that we didn’t have “two nickels to rub together” to make our lives what they were. There was a sweetness in not having a lot of money.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by admin