God Makes New

The Gathering, The Word, and a Farewell to Pride

We started our morning remembering how God gathers us as a family, seeing a young man, Levi, sent out with blessing, a Marine-to-be, foundation in faith beneath his steps. Scott pointed us to gratitude, to recognize how easily we forget what we owe to God and one another.

"You have to see God as, it’s Him, it’s Him more than us."

The heart of this sermon came into focus with the reading of Luke 4, where Jesus declares the good news and faces the pride and familiarity of His own hometown. People missed God standing among them, not out of ignorance, but because pride draws us away from the very grace we rely on.

Scott spoke honestly about a drift he sees in our culture and even our churches, the creeping danger of thinking our value comes from ourselves and not from what God says about us. We were reminded: we are loved, yes, but the danger comes when that truth twists into entitlement. The problem is not how special the Lord finds us, but when we insist on our own specialness above the Lord’s claim on us.

The Broken Kingdom and the Pattern of Rebellion

Turning to 2 Kings, Scott placed us in the long story of Israel, rescued from slavery, set apart, given laws and promises, warned of the risk of turning away. That pattern, blessing answered with pride and then exile, echoed the old pain from Eden itself. Kings and people forgot their need, their story ending in collapse.

With a story from his own past, Scott lightened the room, youth group memories, humor about baldness, but the point landed sharp. Even those marked as chosen can evict God by their actions long before their words ever do. “We are living in a time now,” he said, “where not only our society but churches sometimes quietly ask Jesus to leave by our disobedience.”

Naaman: The Proud Commander’s Need

The story of Naaman, found in 2 Kings 5, became the backbone of this sermon. Famous, competent, wealthy, and yet ruined by leprosy, Naaman was not just in need, but reliant on the word of an enslaved Israelite girl, the lowest person in his household. Here was humility forced upon pride, and an unexpected channel for blessing.

Scott insisted: to be made new, we must lay aside pride. This isn’t just believing we don’t deserve God’s mercy, it is the willingness to be changed in ways we would never script for ourselves.

"For God to be able to do what He needs to do, for Naaman to meet his need of curing him, he’s got to lay his pride aside."

He painted Naaman’s initial outrage at Elisha’s instructions in plain terms. Expecting great acts, Naaman was insulted by the simple direction to dip in the muddy Jordan. Scott made the parallel: our pride rebels when grace is offered without drama, when God asks us for trust, not spectacle.

"It’s in my pride that I’m offended."

Faith That Acts: Obedience as the Shape of Trust

The narrative turned as Naaman’s servants gently reasoned with him. They called him "father," inviting him to humble himself without shame. Scott drew our attention to how gentle honesty can lead others out of pride.

Naaman, at last, entered the water. Whatever he left on the bank, his medals, his reputation, even his clothing, was a picture of empty-handed faith.

"Saving faith would be that faith that not only do I believe what Jesus says I’m supposed to do, I’m actually going to do it."

Scott pressed this as the ache of the church today: many believe in Jesus, fewer do what He says. “How?” people ask. Obedience in small things, even when it doesn’t make sense, is what faith looks like in action. And as Naaman rose from the water restored, the point shined clear. God’s mercy is free, but pride cannot receive it. It takes real, lived-out trust.

Confession and the New Shape of Worship

Scott did not let the story end at healing. He traced what true gratitude and new life give rise to: confession and worship. Naaman attempts to give Elisha a reward, but the prophet refuses.

"The result, the outcome of all this, is that Naaman now, the uncircumcised pagan, confesses openly that there is a God in this world."

For the first time, Naaman is not trying to repay God. Instead, he carries dirt home, meaningless to anyone else, but now holy ground for worship. The very place of his humbling became his altar.

Scott warned against worship reserved for convenient moments, or quiet private faith. True new life tells the truth about who God is, even when it is costly, even when the world around does not understand.

"The result of you being made new in Jesus Christ, you should be openly confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Living It Out: Humility, Trust, and Open Worship

The sermon closed by inviting us to self-examination. Is there pride that keeps us from receiving? Have we been content with belief but not obedience? Are we silent about the one who has made us new?

Scott said, “Worshiping the Lord is the outcome of being made new.” He named the danger of settling for a faith that does not yield change, the risk of loving God’s gifts but never growing to love the giver.

Let us walk from this week ready to lay aside pride, to respond in faith, and to bear witness, publicly and gladly, that Christ, not we ourselves, makes all things new.

Discussion Questions

1. Where have you noticed pride holding you back from responding to God’s invitation, either recently or over time? What might it look like to lay that aside?
2. In what practical ways do you sense God asking you to act on your faith this week, especially in small or humble steps that are easy to ignore?
3. How you can make your worship and confession of Christ more open in your everyday life, even when it feels uncomfortable or costly?