What is something that you get excited about?  Maybe it is a sports team, a particular college, club, or a life story.  Maybe it is sharing stories about your children, grandchildren, or even your dog or your cat.  What do you get excited about?  Perhaps it is your career, a hobby, or even the last movie or TV show you have watched. 

 
How great is God?  How would you describe the power and love of God?  How great is God?

 This is an interesting question, because anyone who has been in the church for much time at all knows the “right” answer to this question. 

However, the way we live our lives and even the things we make of greater importance God looks more like the people in our Old Testament text then people who have discovered the power of God presence, power, and purposes being given to them.


God has a purpose and a plan.  God will make his presence known.  God reveals His power still that people living in darkness would see the glory of the only begotten Son, Jesus in the lives of people who step into His marvelous light.

Where are you today?  What has defined your identity?  What is directing your decisions and the steps that you take?  What are you trusting in to make it through the day?

Brothers and Sisters, will you step into the light?  Will your fix your eyes on Jesus and experience His power transforming your body, soul, and mind?

Will come to the light and allow His presence to saturate your soul to filling you to overflowing proportions that His glory would shine from your life?

Will you move into the Light of Jesus and seek His purposes in all the you do and in all that you go through?

Will you come to the Altar today with the recognition that you are turning to Jesus, stepping out of darkness, and stepping into all that God has purposed for you to be and become? 

A.  How many of you believe God exist?  How many of you believe God is almighty?  How many of you believe God is good?  How many of you believe that God’s love is greater than your own?  That God’s ways are wiser than our ways?  That His thoughts are higher than our thoughts?  That God’s strength is stronger than your own strength?  How many of you believe these statements about God are absolutely true?

Then what’s the problem? 

God does not desire for us to come into His presence only to see our stumbling blocks of sin or to hear the walls of concerns or doubt that keep us from believing.  

 God moves in our lives and draws us to His presence so that we might leap over the stumbling blocks and demolish every wall; that we would live in the fullness of life that He desires and find victory and hope, joy and peace coming alive within us.  That the song of soul would shift from the pain of denial to the wonder of His glory.

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength does not mean to withdraw and find a safe distance from God where our faith can be comfortable with whatever we want it to be.  

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength means we trust and believe that God is more powerful than our weakness and God is wiser than our deepest thoughts or greatest questions or concerns.  

Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength means hearing the whispers of the Holy Spirit and saying: Yes, Lord I will with your help.  

To God be the glory from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus our Lord.  AMEN.

An opportunity to receive the fullness of what God has given to His children.  All because of who He is.

When you cross the point of no return, there is no looking back.  It is too late.  You are committed to go forward, you cannot return to where you were moments ago.

What if, what if God desires for us to cross a point of no return as it relates to our faith?

Will you go?

Fr. Comforted gave a great sermon to the students this morning about why we make the sign of a cross on our heads for Ash Wednesday.  He talked about our Christian Identity.  How this little cross reminds us of our belonging to Jesus above and before the things of this world.  Beginning today and through our Lenten journey we are intended to walk a path of closer connection to Jesus that when Lent is over our Identity does not end or morf back to a time before, but instead has become clearer and more clearly defined.  That we become the salt of the earth that directs people to Jesus who is Light of the world.  And for today, this cross stands as a stark reminder that we are Christ followers.  And because of this we are called out from who we were to who God has called us to be.

I want to ask you, what does it mean to Repent?  If you have answered this question, let me ask you another one.

What do you have to Repent of?  

If repentance means to turn away from that which draws you from God and then to turn towards the way of God.  What do you, what do I have in our lives that we need to Repent from?

Truth-Justice-Repentance-Compassion and Mercy

Compassion and Mercy require God’s truth and repentance.  And God’s truth offers compassion and mercy because that is how great His love is for you and me.  

Have we learned the lesson of Lent?  We have come full circle and we have another invitation to intentional draw near to the heart of God.  Do you know what His voice is calling you to repent from?  Do you know how His word is speaking to you?  If you want to more fully understand the depth of His love the fullness of His compassion and mercy.  Harken to His voice and allow His truth to reveal everything that is in your life and mine that is not of Him that we would Repent and find that indeed God is a God of those who Repent.

That he is our God we are his people and the sheep of His hand.

Fr. Comforted gave a great sermon to the students this morning about why we make the sign of a cross on our heads for Ash Wednesday.  He talked about our Christian Identity.  How this little cross reminds us of our belonging to Jesus above and before the things of this world.  Beginning today and through our Lenten journey we are intended to walk a path of closer connection to Jesus that when Lent is over our Identity does not end or morf back to a time before, but instead has become clearer and more clearly defined.  That we become the salt of the earth that directs people to Jesus who is Light of the world.  And for today, this cross stands as a stark reminder that we are Christ followers.  And because of this we are called out from who we were to who God has called us to be.

I want to ask you, what does it mean to Repent?  If you have answered this question, let me ask you another one.

 What do you have to Repent of?  

If repentance means to turn away from that which draws you from God and then to turn towards the way of God.  What do you, what do I have in our lives that we need to Repent from?

 Truth-Justice-Repentance-Compassion and Mercy