"A man’s pride bring him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor." Prov. 29:23
I wish I could remember the name of the movie ... it was a good one, set back "in the olden times." It was a movie about a young boy facing some of the problems of growing up. He was learning how to relate to girls, how to stand up to bullies and how to work.
In one scene, the boy is trying to plow a field behind a team of oxen. Something goes wrong ... the reigns get tangled or the animals don’t move for him, but the boy gets extremely frustrated, throws the reigns down, and marches to the edge of the field and slumps to the ground in tears. His grandfather sits beside him. "Son, don’t let it get to you. You’re learning. You are going to meet a lot of rock walls that you don’t know how to get over or around. You’ll get frustrated. But don’t let your pride get in the way. Pride brings a man down, it breaks him. You stay in there learning and struggling."
I saw that movie about thirty-five years ago, so I don’t remember all the details. But I do remember two things about this movie. One, I remember it’s quality. It was in black and white and did not have a lot of fancy sound or visual affects. But it was a quality movie because it was more than just entertaining. It was educational. And I remember my dad pointing his finger at the television and saying, "Now that’s when they made movies that were worth watching!" Secondly, I remember that the grandfather was teaching the boy MORE than how to handle a team of animals and plow a field. He was teaching him about life. He was teaching him about set backs, failing, frustration and pride. "Pride brings a man down." Maybe Solomon saw the movie? Or maybe the movie director read the Proverbs?
Other verses in Proverbs addresses the problems of pride, an exalted view of one’s ability or value, and contrasts it with humility, a godly-based assessment of oneself. Consider Proverbs ...
11:2 - "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."
16:18&19 - "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud."
18:12 - "Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor."
What is it about pride that is so dangerous? Pride exalts the self. Pride places one above everybody else, whether in ability ("I’m better at basketball than you") or value ("I’m just better than you, period"). If this person is so sure of his or her ability and value, why do they need God? Or the Bible? There is a reason why "The Lord detests all the proud of heart ..." (Prov. 16:5), and that is that pride works against the "fear of the Lord." (Prov. 8:13).
Humility is the recognition of one’s need for God. Sure, you may be a great basketball player and have great self-esteem. But where does your ability come from? To whom do you owe your very life? Who sent his son so that you could have more than just basketball skills? To the one who is humble and recognizes his need for God, God gives grace (Prov. 3:34).
Pride brings a man down because none of us are as good as our pride may convince us we are. Ultimately pride will cause God to set us down to teach us that there is only one God, and it is not any of us! "A man of lowly spirit gains honor."
Warren Baldwin
THANK YOU to Ron French for preaching for me last week. We had a great trip to Wyoming visiting with brothers and sisters we have known there for years. It was also nice to see hundreds of antelope, deer and elk and even one grizzly bear!
THANK YOU also for the prayers for Jenny. Right now she doesn’t need surgery. She is probably experiencing extreme food allergies so the doctor is putting her on a special diet.
IN OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
The Carters, Ronnie Lofland, Roy Bessire. Those expecting: Cinda Wolf, Meagan Bartlett(set for April 12), Amy Carter, Anna Faulkner & Jennifer Garrison.
Those with cancer: Les Ballard, Mary Turner, Levie Hughes, Gayle Caffey, Terry Pepper, Betty Jo Bartlett, Dewaine Moses, Darlene Lucero, Debbie Perry, Janett Smith, Larry Tremmel, Darris Hanes, Ryan Maturey, Valdene Huffman, Sharon Simpson, Teresa Haliburton, Lorraine Cook, John Stewart, Butch Wolf, Mark Lott, Teri Anderson, Ed Applegate, Don Williams, Norma Dudley, & Joyce Smith’s Aunt Irene & friend Rowena.
Military: Matt Jones, Mark Aycock, Chris Maturey, Matt Cook, John Wilson, Dave Knight, Jerry Baker, Nick McGraw, Travis Kaufman, Kenneth Schwindt, Curtis Keene, Timothy Newman, Brian Kelly, Trafton Wieland, Mark Newman, Brad Anderson, Chris Brown, Jamin Hartman, Monty Duncan, Brett Scarborough, Nick Lane, Marcus Betzold, Kenny Henley, Cyrus Cole, Danny Graves, Peter Gangwer, Chance Carter, Corey Shelbourne, Jacob Bauregard, Tyler Humphreys.
AREA HAPPENINGS (info on board)
Weekend to Remember Marriage Conferences
April 6 & 7 LTC
April 14 Lariat Bible Camp Work Day
April 28 Goodland Lectureship
April 28 Scott City - The Islam Seminar
May 26 Bill & Shirley Brown’s 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration
Lariat Creek Camp - June 8 & 9 3rd-4th grade; June 10-16 5th-7th grade; June 17-23 - 8th-12thgrade; July 8-14 - 7th-9th grade; July 22-28 - 9th-12th grade.
Silver Maple June 10-16 Family Camp; July 8-14 Junior Session; July 15-21 Senior Session; July 22-28Jr./Sr. Session.
SERVERS NEXT SUNDAY
Opening Prayer: Neal Haddock
Song Leader: John Turner
Lord’s Table: Rob Berry
Assist Lord’s Table: Spencer Smith
Scripture: John Turner
Closing Prayer: David Higgins
Power Point (Sun & Wed): Rick Trejo
Care Groups - No evening service
Wed PM Song Leader: John Turner
Back Room/Aisle Workers: Jason King
Greeter/Recognition: Maple
Elder in Charge: Steele
Weekly Budget needs: $2668
Last Weeks Contribution: $2531
Attendance Last Week: 120
TODAY
Elder Contact: Keith Steele
Greeters: Tracy & Lynda Caffey
Birthdays: Paula Maple
The Youth will be meeting at the Palmers home tonight and the Kings will be providing the food.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
No one has signed up for this weeks Wednesday night meal. If you can prepare a meal or help with clean up please sign up in the hallway.
Linda is working on getting the list of graduates ready. If your child is graduating from college or high school or an 8th grader promoting - please give her those names ASAP.
Please bring your pictures for the picture board in the hallway. If we need to make a copy or make it smaller or larger we can do that. Please put these in Linda’s mailbox.
Next Sunday is Western Prairie Care Home Bible Class at 9:30; Care Groups will meet and there will be NO evening services.
April 15th we will be taking a special contribution for Sarah Novak’s mission trip to Africa this summer.
ULYSSES CHURCH OF CHRIST WEEKLY NEWSLETTER APRIL 1, 2007
THOSE SERVING US TODAY
SONG SERVICE: Tracy Caffey
OPENING PRAYER: Ted Maple
LORD’S TABLE: Lloyd Martin, Michael Tyler
SCRIPTURE READING: Gene Pflughoft, 1 Cor. 11:23-32
SERMONS: AM: The Lord’s Supper; PM: Rebuke or Flattery
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jason King
CLOSING PRAYER: John Stinebaugh
POWERPOINT: John Turner
BACKROOM/AISLE: Jason King
The Ulysses Church exists to reach the lost, to continue to grow as a family of God, to serve our fellow man, to worship God, and to do all this in the spirit of unity.
