Christ Redeemer Church >> Sunday Sermons

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Some of you are praying for me. Don’t pray for my safety, pray for my obedience. If you pray for safety that’s a denial of the cross.”

~Bishop Zac Niringiye, a Ugandan leader who has been arrested and
persecuted for his gospel preaching, speaking to American Christians


“It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.”

~St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

“The more helpless you are, the better you are fitted to pray, and the more answers to prayer you will experience.”

~Ole Hallesby (1879-1961), Norwegian Lutheran minister, imprisoned by Nazis

“You can do more than pray after you’ve prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

~John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of Pilgrim’s Progress,
imprisoned for his preaching

“Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons; but they are helpless against our prayers.”

~J. Sidlow Baxter (1903-1999), Australian-born pastor and theologian

“None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has heaven and earth at his disposal.”

~C. S. Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher

“…Our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered.”

~Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), Scottish clergyman

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 4:2-6 (NASB)

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Matthew 5:11-16 (NASB)

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Acts 2:41-42 (NASB)

41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“In Jesus Christ the reality of God entered into the reality of this world…. Henceforth one can speak neither of God nor of the world without speaking of Jesus Christ. All concepts of reality which do not take account of Him are abstractions.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German theologian and pastor,
executed for his opposition to the Nazis


“[The gospel] changes the way you see all of your life from Monday through Sunday, and it begins to help you understand how big the gospel is and the expanse of God’s heart.”

~David Kim, Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work in Manhattan

“The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian and pastor

“There is a perennial nobleness and even sacredness in Work. Were he never so benighted, and forgetful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man who actually and earnestly works: in Idleness alone is there perpetual despair.”

~Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish philosopher and essayist

“The more you practice what you know, the more you know what to practice.”

~William Jenkyn (1612-1685), English Puritan clergyman

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

~Brennan Manning (1934-2013), American author

“I was wrong all along,
but too stubborn a man to change my mind.”

~Toy Caldwell (1947-1993), American singer, songwriter, musician

“Behind the debris of our self-styled, sullen supermen, there stands the gigantic figure of one person because of whom, by whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope: the person of Jesus Christ.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 3:18-4:1 (NASB)

18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. 20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.

22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

Chapter 4

1 Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“And with this new life comes a call to a new kind of obedience to God’s law in every part of life, an obedience rooted in love.”

~Michael Goheen, Drama of Scripture

“Just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, in this way continue to walk in him, rooted and built up and established in the faith.”

~Colossians 2:6

“Love is the fulfilling of the law because it does nothing but good to a neighbor.”

~Peter T. O’Brien, New Testament Scholar

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 3:1-17 (ESV)

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“[Philip Seymour Hoffman] hated what he was good at. It tormented him. I think he wanted to be so good, but it was such a difficult place, I guess, to get to. It had to all come from the inside.”

~Anton Corbijn, Dutch photographer and film director,
on the now late lead actor of his latest film


“You don’t have to be a sociologist to know that we live in a culture of asphyxiating ‘performancism.’ Performancism is the mindset that equates our identity and value directly with our performance. It casts achievements not as something we do or don’t do but as something we are (or aren’t).”

~Op-Ed in The Washington Post (10-17-2013)

“Jesus did not come with sword in hand but with nails in hand. Not to bring judgment but to bear judgment.”

~Edmund Clowney (1917-2005), American theologian

“Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth, which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens—at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from…an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle…. Those who do not know that this great myth became Fact when the Virgin conceived are, indeed, to be pitied. But Christians also need to be…reminded that what became Fact was a Myth, that it carries with it into the world of Fact all the properties of a myth. God is more than a god, not less; Christ is more than [myth], not less. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting in our theology.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

“…eternal life…consists in the enjoyment of God Himself: for we should hope for nothing less from Him than Himself, since no less is his goodness, by which he communicates good things to the creation, than His very essence.”

~St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1275)

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 2:16-23 (NASB)

16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? 23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“We believe that we can stand on our own two feet, independent of God, and still affirm that God is the creator of everything. But that doesn’t make sense. We can be both dependent on God and free; dependence on God is the source of our being, and therefore, our freedom. But we can’t be created by God and independent; God sustains creatures in being and in freedom.”

~Miroslav Volf (1956-present), Free of Charge


“Emptiness is loneliness,
and loneliness is cleanliness,
and cleanliness is godliness,
and god is empty just like me.”

~Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins in Zero

“But, nevertheless, so saith the Scripture, even on the cross Christ enjoyed a triumph. Yes! while those hands were bleeding, the acclamations of angels were being poured on his head. Yes, while those feet were being rent with the nails, the noblest spirits in the world were crowding round him in admiration. And when upon that blood-stained cross he died in agonies unutterable, there was heard a shout such as never was heard before for the ransomed in heaven, and all the angels of God with loudest harmony chanted his praise. There was sung, in fullest chorus, the song of Moses, the servant of God and of the Lamb, for he had indeed cut Rahab and sorely wounded the dragon. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

~C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), Christ Triumphant

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 2:6-15 (ESV)

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.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“It’s the greatest gift of all, to bear their pain without breaking. And it’s born from the most human power – hope.”

~Charles Xavier, X-Men

“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

~Karl Marx (1818-1883)

“We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Problem of Pain

“The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something. Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

~John 16:33

“And in the end, the end is oceans and oceans of love and love again.
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales.”

~Andrew Peterson (1974-present), “After the Last Tear Falls”

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 1:24-2:5
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Chapter 2
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.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.”

~G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)


“True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564)

“Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls.”

~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1753)

“If we want to develop truly Christian maturity, we need above all a fresh and true vision of Jesus Christ—not least in his absolute supremacy, which Paul sets out in Colossians 1:15-20, one of the most sublime Christological passages in the whole New Testament.”

~John Stott (1920-2011)

“Men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth.”

~Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

~Ephesians 1:7-10 (ESV)

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 1:9-23 (ESV)
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“For all of us have a basic, intuitive feeling that once we were whole and well; at ease, at home in the world, totally united with the grounds of our being; and that then we lost this primal, happy, innocent state, and fell into our present sickness and suffering. We had something of infinite beauty and preciousness – and we lost it; we spend our lives searching for what we have lost; and one day, perhaps, we will suddenly find it.”

~Oliver Sacks, British-American neurologist at NYU
School of Medicine, in his 1973 book Awakenings


“Behind the debris of our self-styled, sullen supermen, there stands the gigantic figure of one person because of whom, by whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope: the person of Jesus Christ.”

~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer

“In Jesus Christ the reality of God entered into the reality of this world…. Henceforth one can speak neither of God nor of the world without speaking of Jesus Christ. All concepts of reality which do not take account of Him are abstractions.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German theologian and pastor,
executed for his opposition to the Nazis

“The American Jesus is more a pawn than a king, pushed around in a complex game of cultural (and countercultural) chess, sacrificed here for this cause and there for another.”

~Dr. Stephen Prothero, professor at Boston University

“The business of the poet and novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things, and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things.”

~Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), English novelist, poet, and short-story writer

“We live in a broken world and we want hope. And we go to movies—we read stories—because we get to see broken people become whole. And that’s the message that Jesus gives us.”

~Matthew Luhn, Pixar Story Editor and Artist

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 1:13-23

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“There is no process of amalgamation by which opinions, wrong individually, can become right merely by their multitude.”

~John Ruskin (1819-1900), English art critic, artist, and author

“We live in a broken world and we want hope. And we go to movies—we read stories—because we get to see broken people become whole. And that’s the message that Jesus gives us.”

~Matthew Luhn, Pixar Story Editor and Artist

“ . . . no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

~Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), Dutch theologian and statesman

“Jesus did not come with sword in hand but with nails in hand. Not to bring judgment but to bear judgment.”

~Edmund Clowney (1917-2005), Presbyterian theologian

“The sermon which does not lead to Christ, or of which Jesus Christ is not the top and the bottom, is a sort of sermon that will make the devils in hell laugh, but make the angels of God weep.”

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

“The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian and pastor

“What binds us [as Christians]…is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together because they have all been loved by Jesus himself.”

~D. A. Carson, contemporary theologian and biblical scholar

SERMON PASSAGE

Colossians 1:1-8 (NASB)

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.



Colossians 4:12-16 (NASB)

12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. 15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. 16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.



Acts 19:8-10 (NASB)

8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy…. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.”

~John Adams in a letter to John Taylor (April 15, 1814)


“Flattery of the people and incapacity to resist public opinion are the democratic vices, particularly among writers, artists, journalists and anyone else who is dependent on an audience.”

~Allan Bloom (1930-1992), The Closing of the American Mind

“Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

~Winston Churchill in a speech to the House of Commons (November 11, 1947)

“We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.”

~Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Founding Father

“You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.”

~Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989), American political and social activist

“For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘hold office’; everyone of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we…deserve.”

~John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) in Profiles in Courage

“All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.”

~James Thurber (1894-1961), American cartoonist and writer

SERMON PASSAGE

Luke 9:18-26 (NASB)

18 And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” 20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Luke 14:25-27 (NASB)

25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.