The Poor Rich Man
Pastor Jamie Self - 7/26/2026
Pastor Jamie preaches through Luke 16:19-31, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and asks a harder question than who was blessed and who wasn't: what if you are confident you are right with God, and you are wrong, and you cannot see it? Using the true story of a forged Greek statue that fooled experts at a major museum for years, he shows how self-deception rarely feels like deception, it feels like certainty. The sermon lands on the difference between resurrection treated as proof, something we nod to from a distance, and resurrection received as a gift, something placed directly into our hands. This is a message about justifying yourself before people versus being justified by God, and why only one of those actually saves you.
Weekly Reflection
“Resurrection is your righteousness, not your proof”
It is possible to be sincere and still be wrong, not because we are lying to ourselves on purpose, but because self-deception rarely feels like deception. We build a case for our own righteousness out of good things, church attendance, right theology, a testimony we can recite, and we mistake the case for the verdict. The rich man in Luke 16 never doubted his standing with God until it was too late to matter. What good things have you quietly let stand in for the real thing, and are you willing to let someone else's eyes tell you the truth about your own heart?
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This Week’s Challenge:
Pause and ask: is there a person in my life I have reduced to a name I mention but never actually speak to, a Lazarus at the gate I have stepped over while feeling good about my own faith? Name one thing you will do this week to walk this out, maybe a phone call, a visit, or an honest conversation you have been.
Scripture:
Luke 16:19-31