Tag Archives: deny self

Crossing the Wilderness – Sermon on Mark 8:31-38 Lent 2B

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February 28, 2021
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We’re in the second week of Lent. How is your journey through the wilderness going? Or, as Pietists like to say, “How goes your walk with the Lord?” Are you managing to keep up with Jesus? We may be in only the second week of Lent 2021, but for some of us, it feels like we’ve been on this Lenten journey through the wilderness for more than a year. If you’re like me, the wilderness can wear you down. So how’s your walk with the Lord really going? Continue reading →

Selfless: Bold in Witness – Acts 4

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Message on Acts 4:8-13, 18-20, 29-30 for Epiphany 2B
January 14, 2018

We’ve made it a couple of weeks into the New Year, and maybe some of us are working on forming some new habits. Things like losing weight, or at least eating healthier food and exercising more; maybe getting out of debt or doing a better job of taking care of the house or the car… I know someone who has resolved to drink less diet soda this year. These are all good things, good habits to form.

When you think about it though, the New Year’s resolutions people make mostly focus our attention on ourselves. We might even ask God to help us keep our resolutions for self-improvement. Instead of surrendering to God’s will, we see him as a tool to get us what we want.

God, help me. Bless me. Protect me. Make my life better, make me happier, make me richer. And then when things don’t go our way, when God doesn’t perform according to our expectations, we reject God. “Yeah, I tried God, I tried church, but it just didn’t work. It didn’t help me.”

And the tragedy is that, when we focus on what we want God to do for us, we miss out on the real blessings God wants to pour into our lives. Continue reading →