QUOTES FOR REFLECTION
“What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Pilgrim’s Regress
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”
~Steve Jobs (1955-2011) at Stanford commencement address
“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.”
~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician
“I freed thousands of slaves, but I would have freed hundreds more had they known they were slaves.”
~Harriet Tubman (1822-1913), key leader of the Underground Railroad
“When we submit our lives to what we read in scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories, but our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.”
~Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), pastor, scholar and author
“It is the identity that we ascribe to God out of doubt or faith in his Scriptures that will determine the identity we will give ourselves and ultimately the life that we inevitably live. If he is the Creator, then we are created. If he is Master, then we are servants. If he is love, then we are loved. If he is omnipotent, then we are not as powerful as we think. If he is omniscient, then there is nowhere to hide. If he cannot lie, then his promises are all true. It is faith in the truths of God’s character that has the power to completely revolutionize how our lives are lived out.”
~Jackie Hill-Perry, writer and hip-hop artist
“The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness but my badness; not my merit but my misery; not my riches but my need.”
~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), British preacher
SERMON PASSAGE
John 4:43-54
John 4 (NIV)
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come [down] and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
John 1 (ESV)
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 2 (ESV)
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
A Sign of Faith: Desperate and Persistent
John 4:43-54; May 23, 2021; Don Willeman
May 23, 2021 • Don Willeman • John 4:43–54
Living for the Glory of God, Part 7: Living into our New Identity
August 6, 2023 • Don Willeman • John 14:18–20, John 15:4–5, Colossians 2:6–15
QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.” ~Ernest Becker (1927-1974) in The Denial of Death “Religion used to be the opium of the people. To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an afterlife. But now, we are witnessing a transformation, a true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.” ~Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004), Polish-American poet and Nobel Laureate, regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century “The final dignity of a thing is its glory—that is, the realizing of its built-in potential for good…. The true glory of all objects appears when they do what they were made to do.” ~J.I. Packer & Thomas Howard in Christianity: The True Humanism “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.” ~Irenaeus (c.130-c.202), early Christian leader in Against Heresies “Living according to the truth is the most authentic way to live because it’s what we were made for.” ~Alisa Childers, singer-songwriter and author “…a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor…. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor.” ~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German reformer SERMON PASSAGE selected passages (ESV) John 14 – The Words of Jesus 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. John 15 – The Words of Jesus 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Colossians 2 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. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Living for the Glory of God, Part 6: Overcoming Sin by Beholding God’s Glory
July 30, 2023 • Don Willeman • 1 John 3:1–10, John 17:22–26, Colossians 3:1–4
QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” ~Albert Camus (1913-1960), French journalist and philosopher “Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.” ~Ernest Becker (1924-1974), in The Denial of Death “…over the past few decades, people have lost a sense of their own sinfulness. Children are raised amid a chorus of applause. Politics has become less about institutional restraint and more about giving voters whatever they want at that second. Joe DiMaggio didn’t ostentatiously admire his own home runs, but now athletes routinely celebrate themselves as part of the self-branding process.” ~David Brooks in The New York Times “‘You are enough’ is a message that enslaves people…. It burdens them with the obligation of being the source of their own joy, contentment, and peace.” “You are not enough, but when your trust is placed in Jesus, his enough-ness is transferred to you.” ~Alisa Childers, singer, songwriter, and author “The true penitent, though he dreads punishment, much more dreads sin…” ~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) “Modern secularism (which insists on keeping faith private) and modern pietism (which keeps Jesus safely contained in the hearts of individual believers) are usually assumed to be adversaries. But this feud is ultimately a battle between brothers. They share conceptual DNA with Marcion and the Gnostics.” ~Ken Myers, contemporary Christian thinker “It is not a question of whether we worship, but what we worship.” “We are what we love. And love takes practice.” ~James K. A. Smith, Canadian-born contemporary philosopher “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.” ~Irenaeus (c.130-c.202), early Christian leader in Against Heresies SERMON PASSAGE selected passages John 1 (ESV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. 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. 1 John 3 (ESV) 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. John 17 (ESV) – The Words of Jesus 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them…. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Colossians 3 (NASB95) 1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Living for the Glory of God, Part 5: Fighting Sin
July 23, 2023 • Don Willeman • Colossians 3:1–10
QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “…God does not let himself be surpassed in generosity, but surpasses our generosity in endless ways.” ~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Annotations on Ecclesiastes “Unbelief doesn’t see God as the ultimate good. So it can’t see sin as the ultimate evil.” ~Jackie Hill Perry, writer and hip-hop artist “Sin is a deep interior dislocation of the soul.” ~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), English writer and poet “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” “…longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that hath a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after.” ~John Owen (1616-1683), English academic and theologian “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’” ~J.I. Packer (1926-2020), English-born Canadian theologian God declares us righteous “…upon the justice of Christ given and imputed to us, and not upon the holiness and grace that is inherent in us.” ~Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542), Italian Diplomat and Cardinal “Because faith alone justifies… publicans and prostitutes will be first in the kingdom of heaven.” ~Hilary of Poitiers, key 4th century Christian leader “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ you’ll be at rest.” ~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch watchmaker and Holocaust survivor SERMON PASSAGE selected passages John 17 (ESV) 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them…. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Colossians 3 (NASB95) 1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him… John 8 (NASB95) 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 1 John 2 (NASB95) 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 3 (NASB95) 1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.