Last Sunday, my 25 year old son Austin, delivered his first sermon at his church. His pastor was having some health issues and asked him to be ready to preach for him. Austin asked if his mama and I could come to hear him preach and of course we said "yes." Austin and I got together on Saturday to review his sermon preparation and I gave him a few suggestions to consider and that night he finished up his message.
I awoke during the early morning hours on Sunday and took that as an opportunity to continue to pray for him - wisdom, discernment, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's leading as he preached. Austin's message was titled "What is our hope?" His text was based on Romans 8:18-25 in which the Apostle Paul uses the phrase "in hope" or the word "hope" six times. Paul was pointing to the believer's ultimate hope in Christ and the final consummation of the believer's spirit to the resurrected body. This eschatological event will occur when Christ establishes His earthly kingdom during His Second Advent. Austin concluded his message by taking us to Revelation 21 as the Apostle John "saw a new heaven and a new earth" and closed his sermon from Chapter 22:20b with the cry of every Christian who is in his or her right spiritual mind, Amen!Come, Lord Jesus (maranatha, Aramaic)."
Austin's overarching conclusion for the question "What is our hope?" was... "Our hope is that Christ is coming again, defeating Satan, sin, and death, and establishing his everlasting kingdom on earth where we are in intimate fellowship with him."
Now back to my original question... Is It Ever O.K. To Be Proud? I believe that Scripture supports a hearty Amen under the following provision. We can be proud of one another when we attempt to exalt Christ rather than ourselves as we point God's people to Scriptural truth and give one another biblical principles upon which to live out our faith daily. I believe the Holy Spirit empowered His servant Austin to do just that on Sunday.
Yes, I'm proud of you son.
As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians using Christ as the model of humility.
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil. 2:3-4)."
