QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

Paragraph One: The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

Paragraph Two: God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and He hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleases; in His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain; He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He is further pleased to require of them.

Paragraph Three: In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him.

~“Of God and the Holy Trinity” in the 1689 Second London Confession

SERMON PASSAGE

Deuteronomy 6 (ESV)

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Jeremiah 32 (ESV)

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.’

John 1 (NIV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made…. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 14 (ESV)

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

John 17 (ESV)

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 20 (ESV)

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in his book The Great Divorce

“Grumbling is the death of love.”

~Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992), German-American actress

“Bless you, prison! Bless you for being in my life. For there I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity, as we are used to thinking, but the soul’s work.”

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2007), Russian writer of his time in a Soviet gulag

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.”

~Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890), French critic and novelist

“Let us be ashamed of our slowness in thanking God when He gives, and of our quickness in grumbling at Him when He takes away.”

~Nikolaj Velimirovic (1880-1956), Servian Orthodox prelate, imprisoned by the Nazis

“Let me clear up something...God is not against you having things. He’s against things having you.”

~Voddie Baucham (1969-2025), pastor and writer

“Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”

~John Henry Jowett (1863-1923), British minister and preacher

“What the Lord wants is that you shall go about the business to which He sets you, not asking for an easy post, nor grumbling at a hard one.”

~Catherine Booth (1829-1890), co-founder of The Salvation Army

“Thankfulness is a flower which will never bloom well except upon a root of deep humility.”

~J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), Anglican bishop of Liverpool

“Praise is the rehearsal of our eternal song. By grace we learn to sing, and in glory we continue to sing. What will some of you do when you get to heaven, if you go on grumbling all the way? Do not hope to get to heaven in that style. But now begin to bless the name of the Lord.”

~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher

SERMON PASSAGE

Philippians 2:12-18 (ESV)

Philippians 2

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Philippians 1

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“The church…is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship.”

~Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), British theologian and missionary

“The people who heard Jesus’ disciples proclaiming the Good News were as impressed by what they saw as by what they heard. They saw lives that had been transformed…. A new quality, Christian love, was born. Conventional love is evoked by lovable qualities in the beloved, but the love people encountered from Christ embraced sinners and outcasts, Samaritans and enemies. It gave…because giving was its nature.”

~Huston Smith (1919-2016), religious scholar and chair of the Philosophy Department at MIT

“Why do we not observe how the charity of Christians to strangers…has done the most to advance their cause? For it is disgraceful…the impious Galileans support our poor in addition to their own, while everyone is able to see that our coreligionists lack aid from us!”

~The Pagan Roman Emperor Julian (332-363), Letter to Arsacius, 360 AD

“Why among all of the varieties of Judaism in the first century did only two survive….? One, the religion of the Rabbis – the other, the religion of Christianity. [This] rather improbable message that the Son of God has come to earth and been crucified, in human form, and risen from the dead ... appealed to a lot of perfectly ordinary people…in such a way that they were willing…to become initiated into a group which brought them only hostility, estrangement from their families and neighbors, and the possibility of persecution to the point of death.”

~Wayne A. Meeks (1932-2023), Religious Studies Professor at Yale University

“I believe that it was the religion’s particular doctrines that permitted Christianity to be among the most sweeping and successful revitalization movements in history. And it was the way these doctrines took on actual flesh, the way they directed organizational actions and individual behavior, that led to the rise of Christianity.”

~Sociologist Rodney Stark (1934-2022) in The Rise of Christianity

“Assist…one another in good faith, and by deed and with a hearty will; nor let anyone remove his hand from the help of a brother, since ‘by this’ saith the Lord, ‘shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.’”

~Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome from A.D. 199 to 217 on John 13:35

“The person characterized by humility, gentleness, mercy and righteousness does not build a fence around good deeds. Rather, that one ensures that these good fountains overflow for the benefit of others. One who is pure in heart and a peacemaker, even when persecuted for the sake of truth, orders his way of life for the common good.”

~John Chrysostom (347-407) revered early church leader in homily on Matthew 5

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages (ESV)

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.”

Psalm 67

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us

 and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

2 that your way may be known on earth,

 your saving power among all nations.

Isaiah 2

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 5 – Jesus’s Teaching to His Disciples

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 1

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 28 – Jesus’s Commission to the Church

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.”

John 13 – Jesus’s Commandment to the Church

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 17 – Jesus’s Prayer for the Church

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Might be back on the ropes,

Might be down in the ring,

Oh, Death, you’re a fighter,

But you've lost all your sting.

So the more that you hit me

The more you can’t win.

You can knock me down, drag me out,

But ring the bell for one more round.

I’ll get up again, ‘cause this is not the end.”

~“This Is Not The End” by The Grey Havens

“God never fumbles the ball. If he turns it over to the other side for a few downs, it’s because he knows a better way to win.”

~John Piper, pastor and author

“What would it mean for Christians to give up that little piece of the American Dream that says, ‘You are limitless?’ Everything is not possible. The mighty kingdom of God is not yet here. What if ‘rich’ did not have to mean ‘wealthy’, and ‘whole’ did not have to mean ‘healed?’ What if being the people of ‘the gospel’ meant that we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough.”

~Kate Bower in Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved

“This is the most precious answer God can give us: wait. It makes us cling to him rather than to an outcome. God knows what I need; I do not. He sees the future; I cannot. His perspective is eternal; mine is not. He will give me what is best for me when it is best for me.”

~Vaneetha Rendall Risner in The Scars That Have Shaped Me

SERMON PASSAGE

Acts 12:1-24 (ESV)

1 About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

18 Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. 21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. 22 And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

24 But the word of God increased and multiplied.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what is noble and bold and manlike. O that all would believe that this is the nobility of the kingdom of heaven, that this is the royal spirit that the king of heaven displayed, that this is godlike, to humble oneself, to become servant of all!”

~Andrew Murray (1828-1917), writer and pastor

“It is blasphemy if you pray before God while you are full of anger.”

~Ephrem the Syrian (c.306-373), Aramean Christian theologian and writer

My dear Wormwood,

Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is “out there” in the “broken system” rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself.

Keep up the good work,

Uncle Screwtape

~from C.S. Lewis’s devilish book, The Screwtape Letters (1941)

“They all therefore were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous doing which they wrought, but through His will. And so we, having been called through His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves or through our own wisdom or understanding or piety or works which we wrought in holiness of heart, but through faith, whereby the Almighty God justified all men that have been from the beginning; to whom be the glory forever and ever.”

~Clement of Rome in 1 Clement 32:3-4, a letter written to Corinth in c. A.D. 96

“God allowed his Son to suffer as if a condemned sinner, so that we might be delivered from the penalty of our sins. This is God’s righteousness, that we are not justified by works (for then they would have to be perfect, which is impossible), but by grace, in which case all our sin is removed.”

~John Chrysostom (c. 347-407), Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians

Question 33: What is justification? Answer: Justification is the act of God’s free grace by which He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight. He does so only because He counts the righteousness of Christ as ours. Justification is received by faith alone.

~Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647)

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages (ESV)

Acts 2

41 So those who received [Peter’s] word were baptized, and there were added that day [to the church] about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Ephesians 2

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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.

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 4 & 5

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

QUOTES FOR REFECTION

“Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second…. Our moral thinking is much more like a politician searching for votes than a scientist searching for truth.”

~Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion

“What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.”

~John Ashley Null, Thomas Cranmer’s Doctrine of Repentance: Renewing the Power to Love

“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”

~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées

“Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind, as hunger is to the natural system.”

~Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), Scottish minister, professor, and social reformer

“Here’s a thought for my revolutionary heart

Take a deeper look at history, it’s there to pick apart.

See the people at the top, they get to do just what they want,

‘Til after while the people at the bottom finally get smart.

Then they start to holla revolution, tired of living here, destitution…

See, if we destroy the system that means we’ll have less of greed. But see, it’s not that simple.

I got to thinking ‘bout the history of human nature…

Look at the power, but you know what power does to man.

Corruption always leads us to the same…again.

So when you talk about revolution dawg, I hear just what you saying.

What good is taking over, when we know what you gon’ do?

The only real revolution happens right inside of you.”

~J. Cole, rapper and record producer in “High for Hours”

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their Life, their dwelling-place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. …In these things the redeemed have communion with God; that is, they partake with him and of him.”

~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence”

SERMON PASSAGES

Proverbs 4

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

   for from it flow the springs of life.

Deuteronomy 10

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Mark 7

6 And [Jesus] said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

 but their heart is far from me;

7 in vain do they worship me,

 teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’…”

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.… 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Matthew 22

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.”

Romans 1

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.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes.

“Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you.

We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers.

But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea?

Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon?

What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun?

Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns?

Are we not plunging continually?

Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down?

Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space?

Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us?”

~“The Parable of the Madman” by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“How much larger your life would be, if your self could become smaller in it.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), author and literary critic in Orthodoxy

“For even creation reveals Him who formed it, and the very work made suggests Him who made it, and the world manifests Him who ordered it.”

~Irenaeus (c.125-c.202), early church leader, in Against Heresies (II.9.1)

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep…

An endless fountain of immortal drink,

Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.”

~John Keats (1795-1821) from “Ode to a Grecian Urn” and Endymion

“Because the face of God is so lovely, my brothers and sisters, so beautiful, once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure. It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire. We shall always be hungry and always have our fill.”

~Augustine (354-430 A.D.), North African church leader and theologian

“Glory is the beauty of God unveiled! Glory is the resplendent radiance of His power and His personality…. Glory is the external elegance of the internal excellencies of God. Glory is what you see and experience and feel when God goes public with His beauty!”

~C. Samuel Storms (1951-present), theologian and author

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,

 and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

2 Day to day pours out speech,

 and night to night reveals knowledge.

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

John 1

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.

John 12

41 Isaiah said these things because he saw [Jesus’s] glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

John 17

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed….

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.

Leviticus 10

1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

1 Corinthians 3

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

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.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“We have smoothly transitioned from one form of feminine subservience to another, but we pretend that this one is liberation.”

“…Western sexual culture in the twenty-first century…promotes the interests of the Hugh Hefners of the world at the expense of the Marilyn Monroes.”

~Louise Perry, British journalist in The Case Against the Sexual Revolution

“For we were the purpose of [Christ’s] embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body.”

“He became what we are so that he might make us what he is.”

~Athanasius of Alexandria (c.296-373), On the Incarnation

“The dignity of human nature, fashioned in the divine image, is such that God can take it for himself—and keep it.”

~Nigel Cameron, bioethicist

“[The] central doctrines of Christianity prompted and sustained attractive, liberating, and effective social relations and organizations…. [P]erhaps above all else, Christianity brought a new conception of humanity to a world saturated with capricious cruelty and the vicarious love of death…. [W]hat Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity.”

~Rodney Stark (1934-2022), Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion

“It is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare…. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal…. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit….”

~C.S. Lewis (1893-1963), The Weight of Glory

“Christianity’s success is to be found in its inclusiveness. More than any other of its [ancient] competitors it attracted all races and classes…. Christianity, too, was for both sexes…. The Church welcomed both rich and poor…. No other [religion]…took in so many groups and strata of society.”

~Kenneth Scott Latourette (1884-1986), historian at Yale University

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages (ESV)

Genesis 1

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

   in the image of God he created him;

   male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Matthew 22

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away....

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

1 Corinthians 6

18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Hebrews 2

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.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”

“We mustn’t live like those with ‘little faith’ who compromise for the sake of food and clothing. What we do matters. And not every job is a good job.”

“I understand that there are different expressions of Christianity in different cultures. Contextualization is essential for the growth and expansion of the church. But there is a difference between contextualization and compromise. Using goat’s milk for communion in a culture that has never heard of wine or grapes is contextualization; sacrificing the goat is compromise. Having a Saturday night service because we have run out of room in all four Sunday services is contextualization; having a Saturday night service to accommodate and/or appease people who are ‘too busy’ on Sunday is compromise.”

~Voddie Baucham (March 11, 1969 to September 25, 2025), American pastor and author, who left this world too early

“If God is Creator of the Universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His Lordship. That means no part of my life must be outside of His Lordship.”

~R.C Sproul, American theologian (1939-2017)

“When Jesus is truly our Lord, He directs our lives, and we gladly obey Him. Indeed we bring every part of our lives under His lordship - our home and family, our sexuality and marriage, our job or unemployment, our money and possessions, our ambitions and recreations.”

~John Stott, British theologian (1921-2011)

SERMON PASSAGE

1 Peter 2:1-12 (NIV)

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

    “See, I lay a stone in Zion,

      a chosen and precious cornerstone,

      and the one who trusts in him

      will never be put to shame.”  

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

    “The stone the builders rejected

      has become the cornerstone,”

8 and,

    “A stone that causes people to stumble

      and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Americans have…a new rule written into their mental operating systems: Do your own thing, find your own reality, it’s all relative. …Today, each of us is freer than ever to custom-make reality, to believe whatever and pretend to be whoever we wish. Which makes all the lines between actual and fictional blur and disappear more easily. Truth in general becomes flexible, personal, subjective. And we like this new ultra-freedom, insist on it, even as we fear and loathe the ways so many of our… fellow Americans use it.”

~Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire

 “…there is the view that God still speaks to us independent of the Bible. Drink this milk for a number of years and you will soon be attributing to God the inner voices coming from your fallen self.”

~Conrad Mbewe, Zambian pastor

“Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.”

~Richard M. Rorty (1931-2007), postmodern philosopher

“When people give up the search for truth, people turn to propaganda. And propaganda relies on emotional power.”

~Jacques Ellul (1912-1994) French philosopher and sociologist

“…we are not entitled to such license, I mean that of affirming what we please; we make the Holy Scriptures the rule and the measure of every tenet…”

~Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-c. 394), influential Christian leader, based in ancient Cappadocia

“…we ought not to deliver even the most casual remark without the Holy Scriptures: nor be drawn aside by mere probabilities and the artifices of argument. Do not then believe me because I tell you these things, unless you receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of what is set forth: for this salvation, which is of our faith, is not by ingenious reasonings, but by proof from the Holy Scriptures.”

~Cyril of Alexandria, 5th century Christian bishop

“[Christ] is everywhere, but he does not wish that you grope for him everywhere. Grope rather where the Word is, and there you will lay hold of him in the right way.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German reformer

SERMON PASSAGES

Genesis 1 (NASB95)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light....

Psalm 33 (NASB95)

6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host….

9 For He spoke, and it was done;

He commanded, and it stood fast.

John 1 (NASB95)

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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it….

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

John 5 (NASB95)

39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life…. 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Luke 24 (ESV)

25 And [Jesus] said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself….

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Galatians 1 (NIV)

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2 (NIV)

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Hebrews 1 (NIV)

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.