Pride Service Sermon Notes
What does that mean, “Pride Service”? I get that question online a lot.
“Doesn’t pride come before the fall?” (Proverbs 16:18).
Well, I actually did a full video on our YouTube channel breaking down the definitions, but let me give you a quick snippet here, just in case.
When the Bible talks about pride, it’s referring to arrogance, boasting in yourself, elevating yourself over others, thinking you’re above correction or accountability. That’s not what this is.
This kind of pride, Pride with a capital P, is about celebrating who God made us to be. It’s about reclaiming our dignity after generations of shame. It’s about standing tall in the truth that we are loved, created with purpose, and welcomed fully into the family of God. It’s about joyfully resisting the lie that says we have to hide who we are to be holy.
So no, this isn’t the kind of pride that leads to destruction. This is the kind of pride that leads to liberation.
We talked last time about liberation, how in Christ we are made free. And with that freedom comes responsibility: the responsibility to welcome those on the margins, to embrace those who have been cast out or silenced.
We can learn a lot about how to be welcoming by paying attention to how the Bible reveals God’s character, and God’s will for all humanity.
Let’s look at Acts chapter 11:
Acts 11:1–12 (NRSV)
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,
saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”
Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,
“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came close to me.
As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.
I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’
But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’
This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.
At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.
The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
Now let’s unpack this.
The first thing you’ll notice is who the topic is in these passages: the Gentiles.
What are Gentiles?
Gentiles are people outside of Judaism. In biblical times, that meant anyone who wasn’t part of the covenant people of Israel. They were considered outsiders, often seen as unclean, foreign, and far from God.
Yet here, the Holy Spirit is doing something radical, bringing them into the story. Not as background characters, but as full recipients of God’s grace.
This moment is a turning point in the early church. God is showing that no one is off-limits to His love. That there is no dividing wall between “us” and “them.”
But not everyone was thrilled.
Notice how the circumcised believers, those from within the Jewish tradition, responded: with criticism.
They asked, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” That question is loaded. It wasn’t just about food, it was about fellowship, about belonging, about breaking religious and social boundaries.
They couldn’t understand why Peter would step outside what they thought was acceptable. To them, inclusion felt like compromise. It felt like letting go of identity, tradition, or even holiness.
But God was doing something new.
And sometimes, when God moves to welcome in the outsider, it shakes up those who have always been on the inside.
That tension is still alive today.
Then Peter, who was the rock of the church, the main guy if you will, what did he do? He shared with them a revelation from God.
He didn’t argue theology or tradition. He shared an encounter. A vision. A message directly from heaven.
And how did God dispel the preconceived traditions that drove these people? The traditions that caused them to gatekeep God’s grace?
God gave Peter a vision that challenged everything he thought was holy and acceptable. Clean vs. unclean. Us vs. them.
God overturned the system. God said, “What I have made clean, do not call profane.”
In other words, God is saying, “Don’t you dare label as unworthy those whom I have already claimed.”
And that brings us to another teaching of Jesus: “No one pours new wine into old wineskins” (Mark 2:22).
New wine is expansive. It ferments, it moves, it grows. Old wineskins, old systems, old mindsets, can’t handle that kind of movement. They’ll burst.
The Gentiles were the new wine in the early church. They didn’t fit the old religious structures, the old expectations. And God wasn’t trying to force them to fit. Instead, God was forming something new. A new community. A new understanding of what it means to belong.
And today, in our time, the LGBTQ+ community is like that new wine to the Christian center.
We don’t always fit the mold that tradition tries to impose. But we are not here to burst, we are here to be poured into something new. A new wineskin. A new kind of church.
One that holds space for all identities, for all stories, for all people created in the image of God.
We are not outside the story. We are the continuation of it.
And so as we move into our time of worship
Remember, you are people God is raising up to move mountains. So act like it. Don’t let the current church at large, the current wineskins, hold back what God has anointed in you.
You are mighty in His name. God knew you as he formed you in your parent’s womb. You have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within you! You are white as snow! You are made perfect in the Name of Jesus.
Can I get an Amen?