Tag: Humility and Faith

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 11/1/2024

Sermon Prep

The summer months of 2023 were defined by greats highs and lows for me. To start, at my job I began looking for new opportunities about mid-May. Gave it a chance at my role and realized I just couldn’t longterm deal with the leadership above me (i.e. 2 people specifically). By mid-July, I booked what would now be my second job change in 2023 and had the first initial recruiter meeting set for that Friday before I shared this message. It took 3 months to find a new role and yet this wouldn’t be the last of my job hunting in 2023, but we’ll get to that down the road.

As far as good things go, it was a fun season in the summer. We had a wedding that we got to attend, I placed 2nd at the Celtic Bison Strongman Show and I performed okay, along with us becoming a 2 car family too. During the summer, I was reading Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund which informed a lot of my thinking at this time. I think there’s hints of his work throughout the sermons I shared in this season.

But for me looking back, there were 2 moments that defined these summer months: the Oregon vacation and the passing of Pastor Avant Ramsey. In fact, both things happened simultaneously in the first half of June. It truly was an emotional tension between one of the greatest vacations of my life and one of the saddest funerals I’ve ever attended thus far.

As far as that vacation in Oregon goes, it really was an amazing way to celebrate my birthday. It’s one of my favorite places ever right along the coast where the mountains meet the seashore. Glory and I loved it so much in fact, that we hope one day to live on the coast of Oregon. It was on the second day of that trip where I got the message from my friend Andrew that Pastor Avant Ramsey passed away.

I’m not going to claim that he was one of the mentors that made me a man like I have for others on here, but he did mean a lot to me and my family. Heck, our whole community loved Avant! He just was one of those guys that lived a good, godly life. A quiet giant and friendly leader at my family’s old church. I’ll always remember him as gentle and lowly. It’s with these various changes in life that I preached this message below:

Sermon Notes

Opening Line

• Life with Jesus is humility, then faith.

Intro

• John teaching me how to catch a football.
  • Problem (Humility) = Couldn’t catch football.
  • Bridge (Faith) = Trust John’s help.
  • Solution (Grace) = John teaches me.

Transition To Main Point

• Responding to God’s grace requires humility, then faith. It’s the transformative 1-2 punch.

Main Point

• The kingdom life is humility and faith.

• Luke 17:1-4 | Temptation and Forgiveness
  • Gives warning to temptors, then command to victims of sin. This applies to both.
  • Matthew 18:1-6 shows children there too.
  • A Christian has child-like humility and faith.
    • Talking about children and Christians.
  • Only the humble can protect, correct, and forgive other sinners like themself.
• Luke 17:5-6 | Increasing Our Faith
  • Add to our trust because we’re not able to be humble and obey you.
  • Mulberry Tree = wild, untamed flower that grows in arid and dry climates.
  • A little faith goes a long way to forgive.
• Luke 17:7-10 | The Unworthy Servants
  • We are the unworthy servants. Not great.
  • There’s no reward for doing the bare minimum of what’s expected of you.
  • Our efforts and works of human holiness are nothing compared to our perfect God.
• Luke 17:11-19 | Jesus Cleanses Lepers
  • Story of division and exile.
    • Physical, racial, regional; social exile.
  • The lepers were Jewish and Samaritan.
  • The 9 got mercy, but the 1 got grace.
  • He humbled himself and trusted Jesus.

Why This Matters

• A life in the kingdom of God is defined by a consistent state of humility and faith in Jesus.
• All Christians have a child-like heart to be gentle and lowly like Jesus.
  • Matthew 11:28-29 and Philippians 2:3-5

Final Thoughts

The analogy at the beginning was a little clunky. The final section about the 10 lepers was my favorite story to share, so I was more enthusiastic for that ending. Beyond that, the feedback I received was that it went really well and I personally thought the execution was excellent. I loved our series in Luke and this was one of those messages where that passion poured through into the prep and preaching.

To be obedient and teach God’s word doesn’t require passion to be faithful, but it certainly doesn’t hurt either. I think this message paints that picture clearly. Like every season there’s “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance” (2) as King Solomon succinctly put it. It’s just that in some seasons like this one, the spectrum of emotions is a lot more evident. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Footnotes

1. https://calvarychapelmagazine.org/articles/avant-testimony
2. Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NRSVue)