Christ Redeemer Church » Sermons

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. If it were possible for a created soul fully… to ‘appreciate', that is to love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that soul would be in supreme beatitude… To see what the doctrine really means, we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God—drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves as incommunicable, hence hardly tolerable, bliss, flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression, our joy no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable from the brightness it sheds. The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”~C. S. Lewis, English theologian and writer, from Reflections on the Psalms“Here are the two best prayers: ‘help me help me help me' and ‘thank you thank you thank you.'”~Anne Lamott, American author, from Traveling Mercies SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 10:19-25 (ESV) 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I've tried to hate myself,Thinking that's how things will change,But it never helps, piling up the blame.Fighting fire with fire, hurt with more hurt,Breaking my own heart makes everything worse.”~“Kind to Myself” by Tenth Avenue North “That is that which I seek for, even to be rid of this heavy burden; but get it off myself, I cannot; nor is there any man in our country that can take it off my shoulders; therefore am I going this way, as I told you, that I may be rid of my burden.” “I went but a little further, and I saw one, as I thought in my mind, hang bleeding upon the tree; and the very sight of him made my burden fall off my back, (for I groaned under a very heavy burden,) but then it fell down from off me.”~The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan “The only way that the disciplines strengthen the Christian life is when we view them as bread, not barter. They are not trading chips to exchange for God's grace but, rather, divine manna, providing the nutrition by which our love for Christ thrives. As we meditate upon the lavishness of grace across Scripture, commune with our God in prayer, and experience many dimensions of his mercy among his people, we grow in our understanding of his love. As a consequence, our love for him grows, displacing lesser loves that attack us even as they attract us.”~Unlimited Grace by Bryan ChapellSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 10:1-18 (ESV)1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,  but a body have you prepared for me;6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings  you have taken no pleasure.7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,  as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them   after those days, declares the Lord:   I will put my laws on their hearts,   and write them on their minds,”17 then he adds,   “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“We have many good reasons to be afraid. But we have better reasons not to be.”~David Powlison, Christian author and counselorSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 2:6-9 (ESV)6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him,   or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;   you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy. When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise. You see things you can't otherwise see; you hear things you can't otherwise hear. You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us.”~Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy “On the cross we see God doing visibly and cosmically what every human being must do to forgive someone, although on an infinitely greater scale. I would argue, of course, that human forgiveness works this way because we unavoidably reflect the image of our creator. That is why we should not be surprised if we sense that the only way to triumph over evil is to go through the suffering of forgiveness, that this would be far more true of God, whose just passion to defeat evil and loving desire to forgive others are both infinitely greater than ours.”  ~Tim Keller, The Reason for God “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”~Pablo PicassoSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 9:15-28 (ESV) 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“This kingdom of God life is not a matter of waking up each morning with a list of chores or an agenda to be tended to, left on our bedside table by the Holy Spirit for us while we slept. We wake up already immersed in a large story of creation and covenant, of Israel and Jesus, the story of Jesus and the stories that Jesus told. We let ourselves be formed by these formative stories, and especially as we listen to the stories that Jesus tells, get a feel for the way he does it, the way he talks, the way he treats people, the Jesus way.”~Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation onthe Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers “When Jesus looked down from the cross, he didn't think ‘I am giving myself to you because you are so attractive to me.' No, he was in agony, and he looked down at us - denying him, abandoning him, and betraying him - and in the greatest act of love in history, he STAYED. He said, ‘Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing.' He loved us, not because we were lovely to him, but to make us lovely.”~Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage “I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.”~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 9:1-14 (ESV) 1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “When Paul writes, ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal. 2:20), that is not an enthusiastic exaggeration but a measured assessment. It is not an expression of overstated rhetoric but of literal reality. At the core of their being, in the deepest recesses of who they are, in the ‘inner self' (2 Cor. 4:16), Christians will never be more resurrected, literally, than they already are. God has already done a work of resurrection in the believer, a resurrecting work that will never be undone.”~Richard Gaffin, In the Fullness of Time: An Introduction to the Biblical Theology of Acts and PaulSERMON PASSAGEGenesis 32:22-32 (ESV) 22 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I believe that the whole universe, heaven and earth, air and seas, and the divine constitution and history of the holy Scriptures, be full of images of divine things, as full as a language is of words; and that the multitude of those things that I have mentioned are but a very small part of what is really intended to be signified and typified by these things: but that there is room for persons to be learning more and more of this language and seeing more of that which is declared in it to the end of the world without discovering all.”~Jonathan Edwards, Typological Writings “For each man spoke well in proportion to the share he had of the seed of the Word, seeing what was related to it….Whatever things were rightly said among all peoples are the property of us Christians….For all the writers were able to see realities darkly through the sowing of the implanted word that was in them.”~Justin Martyr, Second Apology “I see things behind things behind things.”~Bon Iver, SABLE, fABLE SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 8:1-13 (ESV) 1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says:  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel    and with the house of Judah, 9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.    For they did not continue in my covenant,    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel    after those days, declares the Lord:    I will put my laws into their minds,    and write them on their hearts,    and I will be their God,    and they shall be my people. 11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,'    for they shall all know me,    from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,    and I will remember their sins no more.” 13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “….the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” ~Hebrews 11:6 “This is the center of the gospel – this is what the Garden of Gethsemane and Good Friday are all about – that God has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near.”~John Piper “When we resist God, we draw near to Satan.”~Beth Moore “Nearness to God brings likeness to God. The more you see God, the more of God will be seen in you.”~Charles Spurgeon SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 7:11-28 (ESV) 11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,  “You are a priest forever,    after the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:  “The Lord has sworn   and will not change his mind,  ‘You are a priest forever.'” 22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

QUOTE FOR REFLECTION “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”~Jesus, as recorded by John (11:25-26) “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” “Did the resurrection happen? Yes! But, you will be able to confront it only if you let it convince not only your reason and head, but also the commitments of your heart.”~Timothy Keller  “The New Testament writers speak as if Christ's achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe... He is the trailblazer of life... He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so.”~C.S. Lewis “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”~Jaroslav Pelikan “...Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!”~Clarence W. Hall  “With Jesus, even in our darkest moments the best remains and the very best is yet to be…”~Corrie Ten BoomSERMON PASSAGE1 Corinthians 15:1-10, 17-19, 30-34, 58 (ESV) 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”  34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Mark 15:25-39 (ESV)25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

We apologize for the technical difficulty with the noise at the end of the sermon.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“In times like these you need a SaviorIn times like these you need an anchorBe very sure, be very sureYour anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock! This Rock is Jesus, Yes He's the OneThis Rock is Jesus, the only OneBe very sure, be very sureYour anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!”~Ruth Caye Jones, 1943 “When one's hope is properly set on God, fixed upon His promises and founded upon His Word, that hope does not fail.”~Jay E. Adams “We wait for the Lord;he is our help and shield.For our hearts rejoice in himbecause we trust in his holy name.May your faithful love rest on us, Lord,for we put our hope in you.”~Psalm 33:20-22 (CSB)SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 6:9-20 (CSB) 9 Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints—and by continuing to serve them. 11 Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, 12 so that you won't become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance. 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: 14 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. 15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute. 17 Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. 20 Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Do you live with an awareness not only of his atoning work for your sinfulness but also of his longing heart amid your sinfulness?” “For the penitent, his heart of gentle embrace is never outmatched by our sins and foibles and insecurities and doubts and anxieties and failures. For lowly gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts toward others. Gentleness is who he is.” “Jesus deals gently and only gently with all sinners who come to him...If we never come to him, we will experience a judgment so fierce it will be like a double-edged sword...If we do come to him, as fierce as his lion-like judgment would have been against us, so deep will be his lamb-like tenderness for us...To no one will Jesus be neutral.” “Fallen, anxious sinners are limitless in their capacity to perceive reasons for Jesus to cast them out. We are factories of fresh resistances to Christ's love. Even when we run out of tangible reasons to be cast out, such as specifics sins or failures, we tend to retain a vague sense that, given enough time, Jesus will finally grow tired of us and hold us at arm's length.” “He cannot bear to part with his own, even when they most deserve to be forsaken. ‘But I...' Raise your objections. None can threaten these invincible words: ‘Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.'” “The Spirit's role...is to turn our postcard apprehensions of Christ's great heart of longing affection for us into an experience of sitting on the beach, in a lawn chair, drink in hand, enjoying the actual experience. The Spirit does this decisively, once for all, at regeneration. But he does it ten thousand times thereafter, as we continue through sin and folly, or boredom to drift from the felt experience of his heart.”~Dane Ortlund, pastor and author of Gentle and Lowly “Your very sins move him to pity more than to anger...as all his anger is turned upon your sin to ruin it; yes his pity is increased the more towards you, even as the heart of a father is to a child that has some loathsome disease or as one is to a member of his body that has leprosy, he hates not the member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the part affected the more.”~Thomas Goodwin, English Puritan pastor, 17th centurySERMON PASSAGEHebrews 6:1-12 (ESV)1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”~Ephesians 1:18-19 “All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”~C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle “A faithful worship leader magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God's Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to cherish God's presence and to live for God's Glory.”~Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters  SERMON PASSAGEEphesians 1:3-14 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”~2 Peter 3:18 (CSB)“For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready.”~1 Corinthians 3:1-2 (CSB) “Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation…”~1 Peter 2:2 (CSB) “Milk is for babies.”~Arnold SchwarzeneggerSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 5:11-14 (ESV) 11 We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. 12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. 13 Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Call it love, yes, only that can sound too emotional, or call it faith, and that can sound too cerebral. And what is it? Both, and neither... [it's] the decision to be faithful, the patient refusal of easy gratifications... of Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane and on the cross, that bloody crown of love and faith. That is how I learn finally of a God who will not be fitted into my categories and expectations... the living truth too great for me to see, trusting that He will see and judge and yet not turn me away... That is the mercy which will never give us, or even let us be content with less than itself and less than the truth... we have seen the truth enacted in our own world as mercy, grace and hope, as Jesus, the only-begotten, full of grace and truth..”~Rowan Williams, Anglican priest and former Archbishop of Canterbury “I worry for the sun, yes, I worry for the snowI worry I'll die young while I worry I'll grow oldOh, I worry for the time I spent worrying aloneIt makes me sadIt takes me backI break in half.”~“A Troubled Mind,” Noah Kahan “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”~Matthew 9:36SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 4:14-5:10 (ESV)Hebrews 4 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 5 1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son,   today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever,   after the order of Melchizedek.” 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”~Matthew 11:28-30 (CSB) “O soul, are you weary and troubled?No light in the darkness you see?There's light for a look at the Savior,And life more abundant and free! Turn your eyes upon Jesus,Look full in His wonderful face,And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,In the light of His glory and grace.”~“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” by Helen Lemmel, 1922 “A man there was, though some did count him mad, the more he cast away the more he had.”~John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 4:1-13 (ESV) 1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'”  although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”~Revelation 3:21 “Take my love; my Lord, I pourat thy feet its treasure store.Take myself, and I will beever, only, all for thee,ever, only, all for thee.”~“Take My Life And Let it Be” by Frances Ridley Havergal, 1874 “Well, sometimes my life just don't make sense at allWhen the mountains look so bigAnd my faith just seems so small So hold me, Jesus, ‘cause I'm shaking like a leafYou have been King of my gloryWon't you be my Prince of Peace?”~“Hold Me Jesus” by Rich Mullins, 1993 “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”~Romans 8:37SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 3:1-19 (ESV) 1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,  “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,      on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test       and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,  and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;   they have not known my ways.' 11 As I swore in my wrath,   ‘They shall not enter my rest.'” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,  “Today, if you hear his voice,   do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”~Psalm 23:4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”~Ephesians 1:3-6 “Have we trials and temptations?Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged—Take it to the Lord in prayer.Can we find a friend so faithful,Who will all our sorrows share?Jesus knows our every weakness;Take it to the Lord in prayer.”~ “What a Friend we have in Jesus” by Joseph Scrivener, 1855 “I must add, too, that the only purpose of the book is to solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering; for the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified, nor have I anything to offer my readers except my conviction that when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”  ~C.S Lewis, The Problem of PainSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 2:5-18 (ESV) 5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,  “What is man, that you are mindful of him,    or the son of man, that you care for him? 7  You made him for a little while lower than the angels;    you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8  putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,   “I will tell of your name to my brothers;     in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13  And again,    “I will put my trust in him.”    And again,    “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“We are factories of fresh resistances to Christ's love. Even when we run out of tangible reasons to be cast out, such as specific sins or failures, we tend to retain a vague sense that, given enough time, Jesus will finally grow tired of us and hold us at arm's length.”   ~Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”~2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV) “Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!that calls me from a world of care,and bids me at my Father's thronemake all my wants and wishes known.In seasons of distress and grief,my soul has often found relief,and oft escaped the tempter's snareby thy return, sweet hour of prayer!”~ “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” William Walford, 1845SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 4:12-16 (ESV) 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Make every effort to come to me soon, because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica.”~2 Timothy 4:9-10 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”~2 Peter 1:10-11 “Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”~Matthew 13:22 “O to grace how great a debtorDaily I'm constrained to be!Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;Prone to leave the God I love:Take my heart, oh, take and seal itWith Thy Spirit from above.”~Robert Robinson, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”SERMON PASSAGE Hebrews 2:1-4 (CSB) 1 For this reason, we must pay attention all the more to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation had its beginning when it was spoken of by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 At the same time, God also testified by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to his will.

QUOTE FOR REFLECTION“There is, then, a great gulf between the understanding that God accepts us because of our efforts and the understanding that God accepts us because of what Jesus has done. Religion operates on the principle ‘I obey—therefore I am accepted by God.' But the operating principle of the gospel is ‘I am accepted by God through what Christ has done—therefore I obey.' Two people living their lives on the basis of these two different principles may sit next to each other in the church pew. They both pray, give money generously and are loyal and faithful to their family and church, trying to live decent lives. However, they do so out of two radically different motivations, in two radically different spiritual identities, and the result is two radically different kinds of lives.The primary difference is that of motivation. In religion, we try to obey the divine standard out of fear. We believe that if we don't obey we are going to lose God's blessing in this world and the next. In the gospel, the motivation is one of gratitude for the blessing we have already received because of Christ. While the moralist is forced into obedience, motivated by fear of rejection, a Christian rushes into obedience, motivated by a desire to please and resemble the one who gave his life for us.”~Tim Keller, The Reason for God “I find your lack of faith—disturbing.”~Darth Vader, Star Wars: A New HopeSERMON PASSAGEHebrews 1:1-14 (ESV) 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son;  today I have become your Father”?Or again, “I will be his Father,       and he will be my Son”?6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits,          and his servants flames of fire.”8 But about the Son he says,  “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;  a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions    by anointing you with the oil of joy.”10 He also says, “In the beginning, Lord,  you laid the foundations of the earth,  and the heavens are the work of your hands.11 They will perish, but you remain;     they will all wear out like a garment.12 You will roll them up like a robe;     like a garment they will be changed.  But you remain the same,   and your years will never end.”13 To which of the angels did God ever say,“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), imprisoned for hiding Jews from the Nazis “Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.”~Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), writer of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” “He, who first spoke through patriarchs and prophets, afterwards spoke in his own person…saying, therefore, ‘Now, in my own person, I speak of him of whom I spoke through the prophets.' The world could not hear him in his thundering, but may it hear him, at least, in his crying.”~St Jerome (c.342-420), theologian and Bible translator “The majesty of the Father is expressly imaged in the greatness of the power of the Son, that the one may be believed to be as great as the other…. So, the apostle delivered to us the continuity and eternity of that existence which the Only Begotten has of the Father, calling the Son ‘the brightness of God's glory.'”~Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-c.394), theologian and bishop “Therefore, he is true God, existing consubstantially with the true Father…. For he is the ‘very stamp' of the Father's ‘being,' and ‘light' from ‘light,' and the ‘power' and true ‘image' of the Father's substance.”~Athanasius (c.296-373), theologian and church leader from Alexandria, Egypt “‘You are no saint,' says the devil. Well, if I am not, I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Sink or swim, I go to Him; other hope, I have none.”~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher “He's got the whole world in His hands.”~Traditional African American spiritual, first published in 1927SERMON PASSAGEHebrews 1:1-4 (ESV) 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “What does ancient wisdom say about a flourishing life? Be slower to judge and quicker to forgive. What does a phone-based life tell you? Judge now. Quick. No sympathy. No mercy. No humanity.”~Jonathan Haidt, author and social psychologist at the New York University “I wonder if one of the sins we are entertaining beneath all other sins is discontentment, a lack of gratefulness, a lack of thanksgiving. What if when the serpent came, instead of entertaining him, [Eve] thanked God for what He gave her thus far? ‘I've got God and I'm thankful! I've got all these other trees and I'm thankful!'”~Jackie Hill Perry, writer, poet, and hip-hop artist “Our being born again by water and the Spirit is not a recompense for any merit but is freely given. And if faith has led us to the bath of regeneration, we ought not for that reason to think that we have first given something, so that our saving regeneration might be given us in return.”~Augustine of Hippo (354-430), theologian and church leader “But, now, what maketh me so bold and hardy, to presume to come to the Lord with such audacity and boldness, being so great a sinner? Truly, nothing but His own Word: for He saith, ‘Come to me all ye that labor, and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.' What gentle, merciful, and comfortable words are these, to all sinners! What a most gracious, comfortable, and gentle saying was this, with such pleasant and sweet words to allure His enemies to come unto Him! Is there any worldly prince or magistrate that would show such clemency and mercy to their disobedient and rebellious subjects…? I suppose they would not with such words allure them…. But even as Christ is Prince of Princes and Lord of Lords, so His charity and mercy surmounteth all others.”~Katharine Parr (1512-1548), the final wife of Henry VIII,in “Lamentations of a Sinner”   “God has entered us as contestants in a racecourse where it is our lot to be always striving. This place, then, a valley of tears, is not a condition of peace, not a state of security, but an arena of struggle and of endurance.”~Jerome (c. 342-420), Christian theologian and Bible translatorSERMON PASSAGEColossians 2:1-10 & Hebrews 12:1-3 Colossians 2 (ESV) 1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.Hebrews 12 (NASB95) 1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”~ C.S. Lewis in A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken “Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest.”~ J. I. Packer, Knowing God “Man's happiness was never meant to be determined by his circumstances, and that is the fatal blunder that we all tend to make… We must come back to the soul and to God who made it. We were made for Him, we are meant for Him, we have a correspondence with Him, and we will never come to rest until, like that needle on the compass, we strike that northern point, and there we come to rest – nowhere else.”~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), Welsh minister and medical doctor “The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my last dogma defiantly) it is not native to man to be so. Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. Pessimism is at best an emotional half-holiday; joy is the uproarious labor by which all things live.”~ G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy “But in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”~ C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on PrayerSERMON PASSAGEselected passages (ESV)Psalm 374 Delight yourself in the Lord,   and he will give you the desires of your heart. Proverbs 1225 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,   but a good word makes him glad. Proverbs 139 The light of the righteous rejoices,   but the lamp of the wicked will be put out….12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,   but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 1410 The heart knows its own bitterness,   and no stranger shares its joy.11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,   but the tent of the upright will flourish.12 There is a way that seems right to a man,   but its end is the way to death.13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,   and the end of joy may be grief….30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,   but envy makes the bones rot. Proverbs 1513 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,   but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.14 The heart of him who has understanding  seeks knowledge,   but the mouths of fools feed on folly.15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,   but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord   than great treasure and trouble with it….30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,   and good news refreshes the bones. Proverbs 2525 Like cold water to a thirsty soul,   so is good news from a far country. Luke 2 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. John 1624 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“When the Father's Wisdom wanted to communicate His loveHe spoke it in one final perfect Word. “And so the Light became alive, and manna became ManEternity stepped into time, so we could understand.”~Michael Card, musical artist “‘Evangelion' (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word, and signifies good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that makes a man's heart glad, and makes him sing, dance and leap for joy.”~William Tyndale (1494-1536), English, scholar, reformer, and Bible translator “Many people visualize a God who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested, and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until, it may be, they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. Such a view is wholly false. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him.”~John R.W. Stott (1921-2011), Anglican priest and theologian “The Son of God did not want to be seen and found in heaven. Therefore he descended from heaven into this humility and came to us in our flesh, laid himself into the womb of his mother and into the manger and went on to the cross. This was the ladder that he placed on earth so that we might ascend to God on it. This is the way you must take.”~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German reformer “For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is— limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine.… He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.”~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), novelist and playwrightSERMON PASSAGELuke 2:10-11, Proverbs 12:25, Proverbs 25:25 (ESV) Luke 2 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.Proverbs 1225 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,   but a good word makes him glad.Proverbs 25                         25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul,   so is good news from a far country.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Now it is not sufficient for anyone, and does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the shame and humility of the cross.”~Martin Luther, 16th century German theologian and reformer “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”~1 Corinthians 2:2 “If thou hast but a spark of true faith in Jesus Christ, it is better than a whole volcano full of worldly wisdom.”~Charles Spurgeon, 19th century British Preacher “O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.”~“The Old Rugged Cross” by George BennardSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 3:7, Proverbs 16:2, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (ESV)Proverbs 37  Be not wise in your own eyes;   fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Proverbs 162  All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,   but the Lord weighs the spirit. 1 Corinthians 1 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,    “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“…wisdom is the spring of joy, for the joy breaks out whenever and wherever the Creator's wisdom is exercised.”~Derek Kidner (1913-2008), British Old Testament scholar “You are happy when God blesses you, but not as happy as God is.”~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher “People don't get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.”~Jonathan Haidt in The Anxious Generation “To me there is in happiness an element of self-forgetfulness. You lose yourself in something outside yourself when you are happy; just as when you are desperately miserable you are intensely conscious of yourself, are a solid little lump of ego weighing a ton.”~Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), English chemist, philosopher, and educator “There cannot be done so great an injury and displeasure to almighty God our Father, as to tread underfoot Christ, His only-begotten and well-beloved Son. All other sins in the world, gathered together in one, be not so heinous and detestable in the sight of God. And no wonder, for in Christ crucified, God doth show Himself most noble and glorious, even an almighty God, and most loving Father, in His only dear and chosen blessed Son. And therefore I count myself one of the most wicked and miserable sinners, because I have been so much contrary to Christ my Savior…. “But, now, what maketh me so bold and hardy, to presume to come to the Lord with such audacity and boldness, being so great a sinner? Truly, nothing but His own Word: for He saith, ‘Come to me all ye that labor, and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.' What gentle, merciful, and comfortable words are these, to all sinners! What a most gracious, comfortable, and gentle saying was this, with such pleasant and sweet words to allure His enemies to come unto Him! Is there any worldly prince or magistrate that would show such clemency and mercy to their disobedient and rebellious subjects…? I suppose they would not with such words allure them…. But even as Christ is Prince of Princes and Lord of Lords, so His charity and mercy surmounteth all others.”~Katharine Parr, the final wife of Henry VIII, in “Lamentations of a Sinner” “Only the unconditional love of God for sinners will inspire sinners to love God more than their sin.”~Dr. John Ashley Null, English Reformation scholarSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 8 (ESV)1 Does not wisdom call?  Does not understanding raise her voice?2 On the heights beside the way,  at the crossroads she takes her stand;3 beside the gates in front of the town,  at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: 4  “To you, O men, I call,  and my cry is to the children of man….22 “The Lord possessed me  at the beginning of his work,  the first of his acts of old.23 Ages ago I was set up,  at the first, before the beginning of the earth.24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,  when there were no springs abounding with water.25 Before the mountains had been shaped,  before the hills, I was brought forth,26 before he had made the earth with its fields,  or the first of the dust of the world.27 When he established the heavens, I was there;  when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,28 when he made firm the skies above,  when he established the fountains of the deep,29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,  so that the waters might not transgress his command,  when he marked out the foundations of the earth,30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,and I was daily his delight,  rejoicing before him always,31 rejoicing in his inhabited world  and delighting in the children of man.32  “And now, O sons, listen to me:   blessed are those who keep my ways.33 Hear instruction and be wise,   and do not neglect it.34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,   watching daily at my gates,   waiting beside my doors.35 For whoever finds me finds life   and obtains favor from the Lord,36 but he who fails to find me injures himself;   all who hate me love death.” John 1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.”~Friedrich Nietzsche “Words are not in the power of men; men are in the power of words.”~Hermann Bahr “I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.”~John Calvin “Even though our tongue cannot be tamed by human nature, it can be tamed by the Holy Spirit.”~Jackie Hill Perry “A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.”~Henri Nouwen “That non-bony, flappable instrument between our bicuspids can be an instrument of tremendous good or cataclysmic destruction. It can be used to build people up in the faith or to destroy their hard-earned reputations. It can help bring about peace among nations or can start a war.”~Curtis ThomasSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 13:3, 15:1-2, 4, 18:20-21, 21:23-24, James 1:26 (ESV)Proverbs 133 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;  he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 151 A soft answer turns away wrath,  but a harsh word stirs up anger.2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,  but the mouths of fools pour out folly….4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life,  but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 1820 From the fruit of a man's mouth  his stomach is satisfied;  he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,   and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 2123 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue   keeps himself out of trouble.24 “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man   who acts with arrogant pride. James 1 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal—it is a status, an office…. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love. “God makes your marriage indissoluble. ‘What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder'. God joins you together in marriage; it is His act, not yours.”~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), to his niece on the announcement of her wedding, written while imprisoned for opposition to Adolf Hitler “Yet man being made last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve's being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honor upon that sex, as the glory of the man, 1 Cor. 11:7. If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust refined, but the woman was dust double-refined….” “That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”~Matthew Henry (1662-1714) in his commentary on Ephesians 5:21-25 “A good marriage is one where each partner secretly suspects they got the better deal.”~Unknown “To keep your marriage brimming with love in the wedding cup, whenever you're wrong, admit it; whenever you're right, shut up.”~Ogden Nash (1902-1971), American poet “Never laugh at your wife's choices. You are one of them.”~Unknown SERMON PASSAGEselected passages from Proverbs (ESV)Proverbs 21 My son, if you receive my words  and treasure up my commandments with you…5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord  and find the knowledge of God….16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,  from the adulteress with her smooth words,17 who forsakes the companion of her youth  and forgets the covenant of her God…. Proverbs 515 Drink water from your own cistern,  flowing water from your own well.16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,  streams of water in the streets?17 Let them be for yourself alone,  and not for strangers with you.18 Let your fountain be blessed,  and rejoice in the wife of your youth…. Proverbs 124 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,  but she who brings shame  is like rottenness in his bones. Proverbs 171 Better is a dry morsel with quiet  than a house full of feasting with strife. Proverbs 1822 He who finds a wife finds a good thing  and obtains favor from the Lord.Proverbs 1914 House and wealth are inherited from fathers,  but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Proverbs 3110 An excellent wife who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,  and he will have no lack of gain.12 She does him good, and not harm,  all the days of her life….27 She looks well to the ways of her household  and does not eat the bread of idleness.28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;  her husband also, and he praises her:29 “Many women have done excellently,  but you surpass them all.”30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,  but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,  and let her works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 243 By wisdom a house is built,  and by understanding it is established;4 by knowledge the rooms are filled  with all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 1426 In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,  and his children will have a refuge.27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,  that one may turn away from the snares of death.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I wonder if one of the sins we are entertaining beneath all other sins is discontentment, a lack of gratefulness, a lack of thanksgiving. What if when the serpent came, instead of entertaining him, [Eve] thanked God for what He gave her thus far? ‘I've got God and I'm thankful! I've got all these other trees and I'm thankful!'”~Jackie Hill Perry, writer, poet, and hip-hop artist “The thing at bottom is, that men have low thoughts of God, and high thoughts of themselves; and therefore it is that they look upon God as having so little right, and they so much.”~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) New England minister and theologian “Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.”~John Bunyan (1628-1688), writer and preacher “A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason”~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic “Time and again, studies have shown that performing simple gratitude exercises, like keeping a gratitude diary or writing letters of thanks, can bring a range of benefits.…. [T]he more practice you give your brain at feeling and expressing gratitude, the more it adapts to this mind-set ... a sort of gratitude ‘muscle' that can be exercised and strengthened.” ~Dr. Christian Jarrett, British cognitive neuroscientist “Remember that this God in whose hand are all creatures, is your Father, and is much more tender of you than you are, or can be, of yourself. “Consider solemnly, that though the things you fear should really happen, yet there is more evil in your own fear than in the things feared…. Fear is both a multiplying and a tormenting passion; it represents troubles as much greater than they are, and so tortures the soul much more than the suffering itself.”~John Flavel (1627-1691) in Keeping HeartSERMON PASSAGEselected passages from Proverbs and Romans (ESV)Proverbs 35 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce… Romans 1 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”~Soren Kierkegaard “Now this is to be a fool— to act contrary to your own knowledge and better judgment.” “The moth is foolish that flies into the candle, and, having burnt itself, dashes again into the flame. We count the ox foolish that goes willingly to the shambles; but there are multitudes of men and women who take delight in sin; and, though every cup around them be poisoned, yet they drink at it as though it were nectar… We are great fools when we think that we can find pleasure in sin, or profit in rebellion.”~Charles Spurgeon “Only in Jesus can those born into folly, increasingly manifesting foolishness, on a crash course for destruction, be set free to true wisdom and ultimate life.”~David Mathis SERMON PASSAGEProverbs 1:7; 1:20-33; 12:15; 18:2; 26:11; 28:26 (ESV)Proverbs 17 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;  fools despise wisdom and instruction...20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,   in the markets she raises her voice;21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:22 “How long, O simple ones,  will you love being simple?  How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing   and fools hate knowledge?23 If you turn at my reproof,  behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;   I will make my words known to you.24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,   have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,25 because you have ignored all my counsel   and would have none of my reproof,26 I also will laugh at your calamity;   I will mock when terror strikes you,27 when terror strikes you like a storm   and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,   when distress and anguish come upon you.28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;   they will seek me diligently but will not find me.29 Because they hated knowledge   and did not choose the fear of the Lord,30 would have none of my counsel   and despised all my reproof,31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,   and have their fill of their own devices.32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,    and the complacency of fools destroys them;33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure    and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” Proverbs 1215 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,   but a wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 182 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,   but only in expressing his opinion. Proverbs 2611 Like a dog that returns to his vomit   is a fool who repeats his folly. Proverbs 2826 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,   but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Imagine a society where no one had to work. Robots and artificial intelligence performed all essential jobs while advanced technologies provided unlimited clean energy, food, and consumer goods. Human beings were free to pursue their passions and spend time with loved ones instead of working. What would life look like in this futuristic work-free world? [...] For the first time in history, our jobs wouldn't dictate how we spend our days.”~Roy Lam, Data Scientist and Psychometrician, “What Life Would Look Like if Humans Didn't Have to Work Anymore” “The image of God was never meant to yawn through life. Yet those who are paying attention will also see something more in this tragi-comic sloth: themselves. We all have an inner sluggard, counseling us to sleep when we should rise, rest when we should work, eat when we should move.”~Scott Hubbard, pastor in Minneapolis, “The Sluggard in Me: Four Lies that Lead to Laziness” “The wise man knows that the sluggard is no freak, but, as often as not, an ordinary man who has made too many excuses, too many refusals, and too many postponements. It has all been as imperceptible, and as pleasant, as falling asleep.”~Derek Kidner, Bible Commentator and Old Testament Scholar, Proverbs “In short, work – and lots of it – is an indispensable component in a meaningful human life. It is a supreme gift from God and one of the main things that gives our lives purpose. But it must play its proper role, subservient to God. It must regularly give way not just to work stoppage for bodily repair but also in joyful reception of the world and of ordinary life…. When we think, ‘I hate work!' we should remember that, despite the fact that work can be a particularly potent reminder (and even amplifier) of the curse of sin on all things, it is not itself a curse. We were built for it and freed by it. But when we feel that our lives are completely absorbed by work, remember that we must honor work's limits. There is no better starting point for a meaningful work life than a firm grasp of this balanced work and rest theology.”~Tim Keller (1950-2023), pastor in New York, Every Good EndeavorSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 6:6-11, 12:11, 21:5, 25-26 (ESV)Proverbs 66 Go to the ant, O sluggard;  consider her ways, and be wise.7 Without having any chief,  officer, or ruler,8 she prepares her bread in summer  and gathers her food in harvest.9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?   When will you arise from your sleep?10 A little sleep, a little slumber,   a little folding of the hands to rest,11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,   and want like an armed man. Proverbs 1211 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread,   but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. Proverbs 215 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,  but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty…25 The desire of the sluggard kills him,   for his hands refuse to labor.26 All day long he craves and craves,   but the righteous gives and does not hold back. Exodus 20 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.Ephesians 2 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  John 5 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.'” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk'?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“You create your story in consciousness as you interpret your own behavior, and as you listen to other people's thoughts about you. The life story is not the work of a historian [...]; it is more like a work of historical fiction that makes plenty of references to real events and connects them by dramatizations and interpretations that might or might not be true to the spirit of what happened.” “The inner lawyer, the rose-colored mirror, naive realism, and the myth of pure evil—these mechanisms all conspire to weave for us a web of significance upon which angels and demons fight it out. Our ever-judging minds then give us constant flashes of approval and disapproval, along with the certainty that we are on the side of the angels. From this vantage point it all seems so silly, all this moralism, righteousness, and hypocrisy. It's beyond silly; it is tragic, for it suggests that human beings will never achieve a state of lasting peace and harmony.”~Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at NYU, in The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom “People don't get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.” “In my 35 years of studying moral psychology, I have come to see this as one of humanity's greatest problems: we are too quick to anger and too slow to forgive. We are also hypocrites who judge others harshly while automatically justifying our own bad behavior.”~Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness “The Christian is righteous and a sinner at the same time, holy and profane, an enemy of God and a child of God. Only those who understand the true meaning of justification will understand this apparent paradox.”~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Second Lectures on Galatians “[Our] faith is not primarily a comfort, but a truth about ourselves.”~Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), English novelist and playwright “…what the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”~Dr. John Ashley Null on Thomas Cranmer's (1489-1556) understanding of psychologySERMON PASSAGESelected Passages from Proverbs (ESV)Proverbs 612 A worthless person, a wicked man,  goes about with crooked speech,13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,  points with his finger,14 with perverted heart devises evil,  continually sowing discord;15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;  in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.16 There are six things that the Lord hates,  seven that are an abomination to him:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,  and hands that shed innocent blood,18 a heart that devises wicked plans,  feet that make haste to run to evil,19 a false witness who breathes out lies,  and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 1011 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,  but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 1213 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression  of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.14 From the fruit of his mouth a man  is satisfied with good,  and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,  but a wise man listens to advice.16 The vexation of a fool is known at once,  but the prudent ignores an insult.17 Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,  but a false witness utters deceit.18 There is one whose rash words are like sword     thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.19 Truthful lips endure forever,  but a lying tongue is but for a moment.20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,  but those who plan peace have joy.21 No ill befalls the righteous,  but the wicked are filled with trouble.22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,  but those who act faithfully are his delight.23 A prudent man conceals knowledge,  but the heart of fools proclaims folly. Proverbs 179 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends. Proverbs 199 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish. Matthew 15:18-20 18 “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Exodus 20:16 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Leviticus 19 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” 1 John 410 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION  “The heart wants what it wants.”~Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) in a letter written in 1862 “Ask yourself: if there is something you supremely want to do, do you count as self-sacrifice the difficulties encountered or the other possible activities cast aside? You do not. The time when you deliberately say, ‘I must sacrifice this, that, or the other' is when you do not supremely desire the end in view. At such times you are doing your duty, and that is admirable, but it is not love. But as soon as your duty becomes your love, the self-sacrifice is taken for granted, and, whatever the world calls it, you call it so no longer.”~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), novelist and playwright (emphasis added) “…the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies. The mind doesn't direct the will. The mind is actually captive to what the will wants, and the will itself, in turn, is captive to what the heart wants. “The trouble with human nature is that we are born with a heart that loves ourselves over and above everything else in this world, including God. In short, we are born slaves to the lust for self-gratification, i.e., concupiscence. That's why, if left to ourselves, we will always love those things that make us feel good about ourselves, even as we depart more and more from God and his ways. Therefore, God must intervene in our lives in order to bring salvation… “Now, in effect, [God's work of] justification gives us a heart transplant. For at the same time that we receive the gift of justifying faith by which we are credited with Christ's extrinsic righteousness, God also sheds abroad in our hearts a new love for him and one another. This new heart love for him, from him, naturally redirects our wills…. “[R]eason is not king in human beings, the heart is. Therefore, to change your actions, you must change your desires. But your desires will change, only if the Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible also writes his laws on your heart.”~Dr. John Ashley Null, Anglican scholar at the University of Berlin (Humboldt) “The heart's desire for an ultimate object may be conquered, but it's desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one.”~Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), Scottish minister, professor, and reformerSERMON PASSAGEThe Heart of Wisdom: The Priority of the HeartSelected Passages from Proverbs (ESV)Proverbs 17 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 21 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 45 Get wisdom; get insight;  do not forget, and do not turn away  from the words of my mouth.6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;  love her, and she will guard you.7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,  and whatever you get, get insight.8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;  she will honor you if you embrace her…20 My son, be attentive to my words;  incline your ear to my sayings.21 Let them not escape from your sight;  keep them within your heart.22 For they are life to those who find them,  and healing to all their flesh.23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,  for from it flow the springs of life.24 Put away from you crooked speech,  and put devious talk far from you.25 Let your eyes look directly forward,  and your gaze be straight before you.26 Ponder the path of your feet;  then all your ways will be sure.27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;  turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 71 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;3 bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend Proverb 1312 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,  but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 1722 A joyful heart is good medicine,  but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 212 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. Proverbs 2719 As in water face reflects face,  so the heart of man reflects the man.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.”~Gloria Steinem, journalist and activist “…pride can grow as well upon our virtues as our vices…. For you can have no greater sign of a more confirmed pride than when you think that you are humble enough.”~William Law (1686-1761), English clergyman in A Serious Call “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”~Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French philosopher “With great power comes great responsibility.”~Ben's advice to his nephew Peter Parker (aka Spiderman) “I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases…. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely…. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”~Lord Acton (1834-1902) in a letter to Bishop Creighton (1843-1901) in 1887 “A canoe does not know who the leader is – when it turns over everyone gets wet.”~Madagascan proverb “…Jesus our Savior is described as Jehovah God. He is spoken of as being clothed with irresistible power: ‘See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him;' but, as if to soften a glory that is far too bright for the weak eyes of the trembling, the prophet introduces the delightful words of the text: ‘He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.' Here is divinity; not Jehovah the Man of War, but Jehovah the Shepherd of Israel…. It is the sign of a noble character that it can be majestic as a lion in the midst of the encounter, and roar like a young lion on the scene of conflict, and yet it has a dove's eye and a maiden's heart. Such is our Lord Jesus Christ; he is the conquering Captain of salvation, but he is meek and lowly of heart.”~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) in his sermon “The Tenderness of Jesus” SERMON PASSAGEProverbs 4 (ESV)Proverbs 41 Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,2 for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.3 When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,4 he taught me and said to me,“Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.5 Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;  she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” Proverbs 1215 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,   but a wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 1520 A wise son makes a glad father,   but a foolish man despises his mother. Proverbs 1912 A king's wrath is like the growling of a lion,   but his favor is like dew on the grass. Proverbs 2421 My son, fear the Lord and the king,  and do not join with those who do otherwise,22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and  who knows the ruin that will come from them both?Proverbs 256  Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence   or stand in the place of the great,7  for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”   than to be put lower in the presence of a noble….15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded,   and a soft tongue will break a bone. Proverbs 2812 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory,   but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves…26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,   but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered….28 When the wicked rise, people hide themselves,   but when they perish, the righteous increase. Proverbs 292 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,  but when the wicked rule, the people groan….23 One's pride will bring him low,   but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Romans 13 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 1 Peter 313 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I am not a greedy man. If I was, why would I donate to charity? I care about others as well.”~John Rockefeller “I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt.”~Ben Hecht, American writer “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”~Jesus (Luke 12:15) “All treasures will demand that you die for them, but Jesus – the greatest treasure – died for you. He lost everything for you. You are more valuable to Him than the universe — than even His own glory… YOU are His treasure! You are the ultimate treasure of His life.”~Tim Keller “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”~Jesus (as recounted by the Apostle Paul in Acts 20:35) “Why do we not observe how the charity of Christians to strangers… has done the most to advance their cause? For it is disgraceful that… the impious Galileans [aka Christians] support our poor in addition to their own, while everyone is able to see that our coreligionists lack aid from us!”~Roman Emperor Julian, Letter to Arsacius, 360 AD “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”~C.S. LewisSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 11:24-25, 28, Proverbs 3:9-10, Matthew 6:1-4, 21 (ESV)Proverbs 1124 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;   another withholds what he should give,   and only suffers want.25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,   and one who waters will himself be watered…28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,   but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Proverbs 39 Honor the Lord with your wealth   and with the firstfruits of all your produce;10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,   and your vats will be bursting with wine.  Matthew 6 1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you…. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”~Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974), French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker “Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.”~Rebecca Pippert, author and speaker “My faith is very important to me. The values that guide my work, they are very important to me. For me it is important not just to go out there and talk but that my talk is matched with the action. I don't think I would be where I am if I didn't have my faith in God.”~Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 2016 Dartmouth Commencement Speaker “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”~Attributed to Confucius (c. 551-c.479 BC) “I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.”~Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, aka, “Mother Teresa” (1910-1997), Albanian-Indian nun “What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.”~Ellen Glasgow (1873-1945) novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner “You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner you are, to the God who loves you. He wants you as you are; He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone.”~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life TogetherSERMON PASSAGESelected Passages from Proverbs Proverbs 11:30 (ESV)The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,and whoever captures souls is wise. Proverbs 22:29 (ESV)Do you see a man skillful in his work?He will stand before kings;he will not stand before obscure men. Proverbs 3 (ESV)1 My son, do not forget my teaching,  but let your heart keep my commandments,2 for length of days and years of life  and peace they will add to you. Proverbs 3 (ESV)13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,  and the one who gets understanding,14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver  and her profit better than gold.15 She is more precious than jewels,  and nothing you desire can compare with her.16 Long life is in her right hand;  in her left hand are riches and honor.17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,  and all her paths are peace.Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG)“Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart;don't try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;He's the one who will keep you on track.” Proverbs 3:9 (MSG)Honor GOD with everything you own;give him the first and the best.Your barns will burst,your wine vats will brim over. Proverbs 15:22 (MSG)“Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail;take good counsel and watch them succeed.” Proverbs 16:10-16 (MSG)“A good leader motivates,doesn't mislead, doesn't exploit.GOD cares about honesty in the workplace;your business is his business.Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds;sound leadership has a moral foundation.Good leaders cultivate honest speech;they love advisors who tell them the truth.An intemperate leader wreaks havoc in lives;you're smart to stay clear of someone like that.Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives;they're like spring rain and sunshine.Get wisdom—it's worth more than money;choose insight over income every time.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.”~Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547-1616) “Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.” ~Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist (1930-2013) “A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me.”~Philip Yancy, American author “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.”~Augustine, north African bishop and theologian (354AD-430) “To all life thou givest, to both great and small;in all life thou livest, the true life of all;we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree.”~“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” 1867 Hymn by Walter Smith “[Jesus'] body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father alone.”~Athanasius, Egyptian theologian (296AD-373) “Most Christians probably tend to write God's presence off as a stuffy, philosophical category to be handled by tenured department heads in ivy-covered university halls. Or maybe [they confuse] God with a type of super-Santa Claus who knows when we're sleeping and when we're awake…But when we turn to Scripture, we find God's presence is relational and real, even gloriously manifest at times. The Bible promises that God will be with his people and that he will not forsake them.~Ryan Lister, Professor at Western SeminarySERMON PASSAGEProverbs 2:6-11, 9:1-18 (NIV)Proverbs 26 For the Lord gives wisdom;  from his mouth come knowledge  and understanding.7 He holds success in store for the upright,    he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,8 for he guards the course of the just     and protects the way of his faithful ones.9 Then you will understand what is right and just      and fair—every good path.10 For wisdom will enter your heart,      and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.11 Discretion will protect you,     and understanding will guard you. Proverbs 91 Wisdom has built her house;  she has set up its seven pillars.2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;   she has also set her table.3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls   from the highest point of the city,4  “Let all who are simple come to my house!”  To those who have no sense she says,5  “Come, eat my food   and drink the wine I have mixed.6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;  walk in the way of insight.”7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;   whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;   rebuke the wise and they will love you.9 Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;   teach the righteous and  they will add to their learning.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,   and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.11 For through wisdom your days will be many,   and years will be added to your life.12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;   if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.13 Folly is an unruly woman;   she is simple and knows nothing.14 She sits at the door of her house,   on a seat at the highest point of the city,15 calling out to those who pass by,   who go straight on their way,16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”  To those who have no sense she says,17 “Stolen water is sweet;   food eaten in secret is delicious!”18 But little do they know that the dead are there,   that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”~Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French existentialist philosopher “God writes straight with crooked lines.”~Portuguese Proverb “[‘Acknowledge God in all your ways' (Proverbs 3:6)] has far more to do with one's experience of God than with comprehension of doctrinal points about God.”~John F. Evans, professor of Hebrew and Presbyterian clergyman “The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.” “A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason”~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic “Isn't it interesting how simply being in proximity to God creates a moral self-awareness…? [T]here is something about God that is so pure, even if unspoken, that when near Him, it becomes so plain that nothing is like Him, especially in terms of righteousness.”~Jackie Hill Perry, Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him “It is easier for us to get to know God than to know our own soul...God is nearer to us than our own soul, for He is the ground in which it stands...so if we want to know our own soul, and enjoy its fellowship, it is necessary to seek it in our Lord God.”  “The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”~Lady Julian of Norwich (c. 1343-c.1416), theologian, anchoress, and mystic “I have come to one conclusion: All that I am, all that I aspire to be, all that I was before, is by the grace of God.”~Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 2016 Dartmouth Commencement SpeakerSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 3:1-12 (ESV)Proverbs 31 My son, do not forget my teaching,  but let your heart keep my commandments,2 for length of days and years of life  and peace they will add to you. 3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;  bind them around your neck;  write them on the tablet of your heart.4 So you will find favor and good success  in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,  and do not lean on your own understanding.6 In all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make straight your paths.7 Be not wise in your own eyes;  fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.8 It will be healing to your flesh  and refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the Lord with your wealth  and with the firstfruits of all your produce;10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,  and your vats will be bursting with wine.11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline  or be weary of his reproof,12 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,  as a father the son in whom he delights. Hebrews 12 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,  nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,  and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Character is simply habit long continued.”~Plutarch (c. AD 46-c. 119), philosopher and historian “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist and philosopher “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.”~Helen Keller (1880-1968), author and activist “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”~Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor and politician “Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.”~J. C. Watts, former football player and U.S. Representative “For you can have no greater sign of a more confirmed pride than when you think that you are humble enough.”~William Law (1686-1761) in A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”~James 1:5 (ESV) “If you turn at my reproof,behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;I will make my words known to you.”~Proverbs 1:23 (ESV), the voice of Wisdom speaking “The creature who is not filled with love of God necessarily love himself most.”~Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), German reformer in Loci Communes SERMON PASSAGEProverbs 2:1-22 (ESV)1 My son, if you receive my words   and treasure up my commandments with you,2 making your ear attentive to wisdom   and inclining your heart to understanding;3 yes, if you call out for insight   and raise your voice for understanding,4 if you seek it like silver   and search for it as for hidden treasures,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord   and find the knowledge of God.6 For the Lord gives wisdom;  from his mouth come knowledge  and understanding;7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;   he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,8 guarding the paths of justice   and watching over the way of his saints.9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice   and equity, every good path;10 for wisdom will come into your heart,   and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;11 discretion will watch over you,   understanding will guard you,12 delivering you from the way of evil,from men of perverted speech,13 who forsake the paths of uprightness   to walk in the ways of darkness,14 who rejoice in doing evil   and delight in the perverseness of evil,15 men whose paths are crooked,   and who are devious in their ways. 16 So you will be delivered from   the forbidden woman,   from the adulteress with her smooth words,17 who forsakes the companion of her youth   and forgets the covenant of her God;18 for her house sinks down to death,   and her paths to the departed;19 none who go to her come back,   nor do they regain the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of the good   and keep to the paths of the righteous.21 For the upright will inhabit the land,   and those with integrity will remain in it,22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,   and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”~Miles Kington (1941-2008), British journalist, musician, and broadcaster “The wise person doesn't give the right answers, but poses the right questions.”~Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), French anthropologist “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”~Socrates (c. 470-399 BC), famed Athenian philosopher “The endless cycle of idea and action,Endless invention, endless experiment,Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.Where is the Life we have lost in living?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuriesBring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.”~T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), The Rock (1934) “If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.”~African Proverb “A humble knowledge of myself is a surer way to God than a search after learning."~Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471), German-Dutch priest “There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (‘Man's search for God'!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?”~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), literary scholarSERMON PASSAGEProverbs 1:1-33 (ESV)Proverbs 11 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction,   to understand words of insight,3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,   in righteousness, justice, and equity;4 to give prudence to the simple,   knowledge and discretion to the youth—5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,   and the one who understands obtain guidance,6 to understand a proverb and a saying,   the words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;   fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, my son, your father's instruction,   and forsake not your mother's teaching,9 for they are a graceful garland for your head   and pendants for your neck.10 My son, if sinners entice you,   do not consent.11 If they say, “Come with us,    let us lie in wait for blood;   let us ambush the innocent without reason;12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive,   and whole, like those who go down to the pit;13 we shall find all precious goods,   we shall fill our houses with plunder;14 throw in your lot among us;   we will all have one purse”—15 my son, do not walk in the way with them;   hold back your foot from their paths,16 for their feet run to evil,   and they make haste to shed blood.17 For in vain is a net spread   in the sight of any bird,18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood;   They set an ambush for their own lives.19 Such are the ways of everyone   who is greedy for unjust gain;   it takes away the life of its possessors. 20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,   in the markets she raises her voice;21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:22 “How long, O simple ones,   will you love being simple?   How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing   and fools hate knowledge?23 If you turn at my reproof,   behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;   I will make my words known to you.24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,   have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,25 because you have ignored all my counsel   and would have none of my reproof,26 I also will laugh at your calamity;   I will mock when terror strikes you,27 when terror strikes you like a storm   and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,   when distress and anguish come upon you.28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;   they will seek me diligently but will not find me.29 Because they hated knowledge   and did not choose the fear of the Lord,30 would have none of my counsel   and despised all my reproof,31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,   and have their fill of their own devices.32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,   and the complacency of fools destroys them;33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure   and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” Proverbs 910 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,   and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“This may surprise many, but Christianity is growing around the world and is growing faster than the rate of population. From 2020 to the mid-point of 2024, the world's population is expected to grow from more than 7.84 billion people to more than 8.11 billion, a 0.87% growth trend. The number of Christians worldwide is expected to climb from more than 2.52 billion to 2.63 billion, a 1.08% growth.… The fastest-growing areas for Christianity are in the global south, particularly Asia and Africa. Asia is home to more than 415 million Christians and growing at a rate of 2.11%. Meanwhile, 734 million Christians live in Africa, where the faith is growing at a 2.64% rate.”~Summary of the “2024 Status of Global Christianity” report “It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history, …that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many people and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount…. Jesus is the most influential life ever lived….”~Kenneth S. Latourette (1884-1968), President of the American Historical Association “Jesus loves sinners. He only loves sinners. He has never turned anyone away who came to Him for forgiveness, and He died on the cross for sinners, not for respectable people.”~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Nazi concentration camp survivor “The church is…made up of natural enemies…who love one another for Jesus' sake.”~D.A. Carson in his book Love in Hard Places “If I love God, I must love people. I don't have the choice to choose when.”~Jackie Hill Perry, poet, writer, and hip hop artist “When we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus.”~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch watchmaker, writer and speaker “…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”~Jesus to His disciples (Acts 1:8) SERMON PASSAGEMatthew 28:16-20 (ESV)Matthew 28 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Genesis 12 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 2 Samuel 7 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth…. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Isaiah 2 1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,    and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,3 and many peoples shall come, and say:“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Matthew 1 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Revelation 7 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 22 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “There are a lot of people who struggle mightily with this whole idea. They say, ‘If God is a God of love, he doesn't send people to hell. If God is a God of judgment, he can't be a God of love. I can't reconcile the two things.' Yet the Bible insists that not only is God a God both of love and wrath—not only do those two things not conflict with each other, but they actually establish each other. One without the other is nonsense. One without the other is meaningless. If you actually try to somehow extract, remove surgically, excise the Christian message of the wrath and judgment of God, what you actually have is nothing left at all.”~Tim Keller, Pastor & Author “If we do not protect God's wrath, we lose the bad news, and if we lose the bad news, we lose the good news — we lose the gospel.”~Tony Reinke, Senior Writer at DesiringGod.org “God's wrath is more horrifying than we can ever imagine, but he will pardon any who take refuge in the shelter Jesus provides.”~John Piper, Pastor & Author “'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live.”~“In Christ Alone” by Keith & Kristyn GettySERMON PASSAGEPsalm 7 (ESV)1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;   save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,   rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,   if there is wrong in my hands,4 if I have repaid my friend with evil   or plundered my enemy without cause,5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,   and let him trample my life to the ground   and lay my glory in the dust. Selah 6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;   lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;   awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.7 Let the assembly of the peoples  be gathered about you;   over it return on high. 8 The Lord judges the peoples;   judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness   and according to the integrity that is in me.9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,and may you establish the righteous—   you who test the minds and hearts,   O righteous God!10 My shield is with God,  who saves the upright in heart.11 God is a righteous judge,  and a God who feels indignation every day. 12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;  he has bent and readied his bow;13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,  making his arrows fiery shafts.14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil  and is pregnant with mischief  and gives birth to lies.15 He makes a pit, digging it out,  and falls into the hole that he has made.16 His mischief returns upon his own head,  and on his own skull his violence descends. 17 I will give to the Lord the thanks  due to his righteousness,  and I will sing praise to the name  of the Lord, the Most High.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen. . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy.”~William Wilberforce (1759-1833), social reformer credited with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire “I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of…Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self…. And God is auxiliary to that…. I also saw that quite a lot of…Christianity can easily slip, can become centered in me…, and not in the glory of God"~Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), British theologian “Whenever you…argue within yourself how God is to be found—a God that justifies and accepts sinners: then know that there is no other God beside this man Christ Jesus…. [W]hen any of us shall have to wrestle with the law, sin, and death, and all other evils, we must look upon no other God, but only this God incarnate and clothed with man's nature.”~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his Galatians Commentary “…at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma…. It's clear to me it's at the very heart of the universe…. And yet along comes this thing called Grace…. Grace defies logic. Love interrupts…the consequences of your actions. ….I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sin onto the Cross….”~Bono of U2 fame “Thesis 26: The law says, ‘do this,' and it is never done. Grace says, ‘believe in this,' and everything is already done.”~Marin Luther in his Heidelberg Disputation (1518) “To see the law by Christ fulfilled, and hear His pardoning voice,Changes a slave into a child, and duty into choice.”~William Cowper (1731-1800), famed English poet in his “Love Constrained Obedience”SERMON PASSAGEGalatians 3:23-4:7 (ESV)Galatians 3 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.Galatians 4 1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ. Becoming like Christ does not mean losing your personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created your uniqueness, so he certainly doesn't want to destroy it. God uses His Word, people, and circumstances to mold us.”~Rick Warren, What on Earth am I Here For? “Your core identity is that God chose you. He knew everything about you, yes even what you don't like to admit to yourself...Jesus is not disillusioned with you, because He never had any illusions about who you were in the first place.”~Adam Ramsay, Pastor of Liberty Church Australia “Man became a living being capable of embodying God's communicable attributes. In his rational life he was like God that he could reason and had intellect, will and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was at inception good and sinless. Woman was created to meet man's deficiencies and to be an equal in the job of caretakers of the creation.”~William Barclay “Michelangelo was asked how he could make a beautiful sculpture like his ‘Moses' out of a block of marble. His response was that he simply chipped away everything that wasn't Moses. We must allow the Lord to chip away everything that is not of Him, or of the person He made us to be.”~Mgsr Charles Pope, Dean of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC “Artificial Intelligence's ultimate accomplishment will be to remind us who we are by revealing what it can't do. It will compel us to double down on all activities that make us distinctly human: taking care of each other, being a good teammate, reading deeply, exploring daringly, growing spiritually, finding kindred spirits...”~David Brooks, Op. Ed. In The New York Times 8/4/2024 SERMON PASSAGEselected passages (NIV)Genesis 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Isaiah 532 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,  and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,  nothing in his appearance  that we should desire him. 2 Corinthians 5 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! John 151 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.Ephesians 420 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

***Please note: there was a technical difficulty that caused us to miss the first ~2 minutes of Don's introduction. We apologize for the error!QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I have come to one conclusion: All that I am, all that I aspire to be, all that I was before, is by the grace of God.”~Leymah Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 2016 Dartmouth Commencement Speaker “...we need to fall, and we need to be aware of it; for if we did not fall, we should not know how weak and wretched we are of ourselves, nor should we know our Maker's marvelous love so fully...” “...deeds are done which appear so evil to us and people suffer such terrible evils that it does not seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we consider this, sorrowing and grieving over it so that we cannot find peace in the blessed contemplation of God as we should do; and this is why: our reasoning powers are so blind now, so humble and so simple, that we cannot know the high, marvelous wisdom, the might and the goodness of the Holy Trinity. And this is what he means where he says, ‘You shall see for yourself that all manner of things shall be well', as if he said, ‘Pay attention to this now, faithfully and confidently, and at the end of time you will truly see it in the fullness of joy.'”~Julian of Norwich (c.1343-after 1416), English anchoress and writer “Religion is, as it were, the calm bottom of the sea at its deepest point, which remains calm however high the waves on the surface may be.”~Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian-born philosopher “Meek. Humble. Gentle. Jesus is not trigger-happy. Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated. He is the most understanding person in the universe. The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms … You don't need to unburden or collect yourself and then come to Jesus. Your very burden is what qualifies you to come.”~Dane Ortlund in Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers “Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God."~Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), Scottish Baptist minister SERMON PASSAGEPsalm 57 (ESV)To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,  for in you my soul takes refuge;  in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,  till the storms of destruction pass by.2 I cry out to God Most High,  to God who fulfills his purpose for me.3 He will send from heaven and save me;  he will put to shame him who tramples on me.   Selah  God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! 4 My soul is in the midst of lions;  I lie down amid fiery beasts—  the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,  whose tongues are sharp swords. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!  Let your glory be over all the earth! 6 They set a net for my steps;  my soul was bowed down.  They dug a pit in my way,  but they have fallen into it themselves.    Selah7 My heart is steadfast, O God,  my heart is steadfast!  I will sing and make melody!8 Awake, my glory!  Awake, O harp and lyre!  I will awake the dawn!9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;  I will sing praises to you among the nations.10 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,  your faithfulness to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!   Let your glory be over all the earth!

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“There is a strain of loneliness infecting many Christians, which only the presence of God can cure.” “…blessing come[s] to the church when we stop looking at a picture of God and look at God Himself…when, no longer satisfied just to know about a God in history, we meet…Him in living, personal experience.... We desperately need a divine visitation—for our situation will never be cured by sermons! It will never be cured until the Church of Christ has suddenly been confronted with what one man called the mysterium tremendum—the fearful mystery that is God, the fearful majesty that is God. This is what the Holy Spirit does. He brings the wonderful mystery that is God to us, and presents Him to the human spirit.”~A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) pastor, author, and magazine editor “The holy is hidden and veiled; we cannot grasp it with our intellect, but only approach it with awe and wonder.”~Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), German Lutheran theologian and philosopher “There is an experiential knowledge of God that profoundly changes a person from the inside out. God is known in the soul in such an overwhelming way that it affects a person's entire perception of life.”~Conrad Mbewe, founding chancellor of African Christian University in Zambia “It is easier for us to get to know God than to know our own soul...God is nearer to us than our own soul, for He is the ground in which it stands....”~Julian of Norwich (c.1343-1416), English anchoress “A believer longs after God, to come into his presence, to feel his love, to feel near to him in secret…. Ah! dear brethren, have you ever tasted this blessedness? There is greater rest and solace to be found in the presence of God for one hour than in an eternity of the presence of man.”~Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843), minister in the Church of Scotland “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.”~C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), writer and literary scholar “Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.”~Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), Scottish minister SERMON PASSAGEPsalm 114 (ESV)Psalm 1141 When Israel went out from Egypt,  the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,2 Judah became his sanctuary,  Israel his dominion. 3 The sea looked and fled;  Jordan turned back.4 The mountains skipped like rams,  the hills like lambs. 5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee?  O Jordan, that you turn back?6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?  O hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,  at the presence of the God of Jacob,8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,  the flint into a spring of water. Jeremiah 23 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.Acts 17 28 …‘In him we live and move and have our being'… Psalm 1397 Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!9  If I take the wings of the morning  and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,10 even there your hand shall lead me,  and your right hand shall hold me. John 7 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION  “Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.”~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician and thinker “[T]he mass of two hydrogen atoms that is released as energy when they fuse to produce helium is 0.007 (0.7%). That is the source of the heat produced in the sun.... It is the amount of mass (m) that is converted to energy (E) in the famous Einstein formula E = mc2, and it is a direct measure of the strong nuclear force. If the strong force had a value of 0.006 or less, the universe would consist only of hydrogen—not very conducive to the complexities of life. If the value were greater than 0.008, all the hydrogen would have been fused shortly after the big bang, and there could be no stars, no solar heat—again, no life. As Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow put it in their book The Grand Design, ‘Our universe and its laws appear to have a design that both is tailor-made to support us and, if we are to exist, leaves little room for alteration.'” “There is an erroneous idea that while scientists are always open-minded and searching for new ways to see truth, people of faith think they have it all figured out—they believe they know the final truth, the dogma that cannot change. In reality, open-minded people are open-minded about science and faith, and close-minded people are dogmatic about both.”~Sy Garte, The Works of His Hands: A Scientist's Journey from Atheism to Faith “There are two kinds of people in the world, the conscious dogmatists and the unconscious dogmatists. I have always found myself that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic.”~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer and literary critic “If you dwell on your own feelings…rather than dwelling on the faithfulness…of God, then you're likely to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Our feelings are very fleeting and ephemeral, aren't they? We can't depend on them for five minutes at a time. But dwelling on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of God is always safe.”~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), author and speakerSERMON PASSAGEPsalm 93 (ESV)1 The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. 3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! 5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.”~Jim Carey (1962-present), Actor “Worry is like a rocking chair; it keeps you moving but doesn't get you anywhere.”~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), Author and Holocaust Survivor “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”~Matthew 6:34 (ESV) “Our anxiety often reveals a refusal to trust God's fatherly providence. And, whenever we start ignoring that, there's always a devil along to adopt us, to promise us bread instead of stones, fish instead of snakes. We don't recognize the reptilian voice, but we look into our future, or into our Bibles, and wonder nonetheless, ‘Has God really said?'”~Russell Moore (1971-present), Author and TheologianSERMON PASSAGELuke 12:22-34 (ESV) 22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“God was glorified through both his judgment and mercy, accorded in salvation to Israel. The New Testament unfolds the ultimate display of God's glory in justice and mercy, as it was God's righteous judgment shown on the cross that brought us salvation. God's glory in salvation through judgment will be shown at the end of time, when Christ returns to judge his enemies and save all who have called on his name.”~James M. Hamilton Jr. American Theologian and Pastor “Love is the grand secret of true obedience to God. When we feel towards Him as children feel towards a dear father, we shall delight to do His will. We shall not find His commandments grievous, and work for Him like slaves under fear of the lash. We shall take pleasure in trying to keep His laws, and mourn when we transgress them. None work so well as those who work out of love. The fear of punishment, or the desire of reward, are principles of far less power. They do the will of God best, who do it from the heart.”~J.C. Ryle 19th Century British Theologian “Obedience to the will of God is the pathway to perpetual honor and everlasting joy.”~Charles Spurgeon 19th Century British Preacher “There's a lot in Exodus the secularist would reject. First to go would likely be the miraculous events like the burning bush, the plagues, the provision of manna, or the parting of the Red Sea. But the greatest miracle of Exodus—and of the entire Bible—is how a holy God would make a way for sinful people to dwell with him.”~Kevin Halloran American Pastor and AuthorSERMON PASSAGEExodus 5:1-2; 7:3-6, 7:13-14, 9:13-17, 11:9-10 (ESV)Exodus 5 1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Exodus 7 3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them...   13 Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.Exodus 9 13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. Exodus 11 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.