Sunday Sermon

The Lord has fixed a day, called in the Scriptures "the day of the Lord," on which the Eternal Judge will make known his power and majesty. ”The Lord,"says the Psalmist, "shall be known when he executeth judgment." (Psalms 9:17) On this text St. Bernard writes: ”The Lord, who is now unknown while he seeks mercy, shall be known when he executes justice." The prophet Sophonias calls the day of the Lord ”a day of wrath a day of tribulation and distress a day of calamity and misery."

We live in a time in which people do not stand in awe before God. We are so busy that we forget him. We are so consumed with our own agendas that we hardly think about God.

Everything in life is meaningless without God. His ultimate purpose is to show that we can live a meaningful life only when we live it in a right relationship to God.

In His role as physician of souls and bodies, Jesus would heal in that particular order. First, he would forgive sins, and only then perform a miracle of physical healing, sometimes seemingly almost as an afterthought. Clearly, reconciliation with the Father was, and is, infinitely more important than a return to good health.

If you have Jesus' presence in your life, you will experience God's divine order. You'll have a peace and a calm, with no fretting or anxiety, no running to and fro to seek guidance, no sense that the bottom is falling out. You'll live at rest, knowing God has everything under control!

ALL sins are hateful in the sight of God; but the sin of blasphemy ought more properly to be called an abomination to the Lord. Every mortal sin, as the Apostle says, dishonours God. ”By transgression of the law, thou dishonourest God."(Romans 2: 23.) Other sins dishonour God indirectly by the violation of his law; but blasphemy dishonours him directly by the profanation of his most holy name. Hence St. Chrysostom teaches, that no sin exasperates the Lord so much as the sin of blasphemy against his adorable name. Dearly beloved Christians, allow me, then, to show you, first, the great enormity of the sin of blasphemy; and secondly, the great rigour with which God punishes it.

Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly cried that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal Artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root and poison the rest of our life.

It would be nice if forgiveness was as easy as cutting down an old tree in the front yard… if you have lived at all you have experienced injustices that defy your best efforts at mercy and forgiveness.

When Jesus spoke of taking up the cross, there was nothing mystical to them about the idea. They immediately pictured a poor, condemned soul walking along the road carrying the instrument of his execution on his own back. A man who took up his cross began his death march, carrying the very beam on which he would hang.

For a disciple of Christ to take up his cross is for him to be willing to start on a death march. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be willing, in His service, to suffer the indignities, the pain, and even the death of a condemned criminal.

It is interesting to see how people who come from nothing can become something. It is encouraging to see how hard work can pay off. Their stories are encouraging, instructive, and inspiring. Equally interesting and instructive, though, can be the opposite: riches to rags stories. It is just as common to hear stories about those who had it all and then lost it all. Luke shows us both sides of this in our parable as he builds on his great reversal theme. We see a rags-to-riches story and riches-to-rags one that serves to warn and instruct!

To live in this world of evil, sin, and temptation you need all the protection and help you can get. The bible says we need the whole armor of God. The spiritual warfare that we face day in and day out can ware down your defenses. Spiritual strength and courage are needed for our spiritual warfare and suffering. The Christian armor is made to be worn; daily in all life’s situations. There is no putting on our armor until we have planned our warfare, and finished our course.

"How great is God’s goodness! When sinners cast themselves at the feet of the Lord with humility and with sorrow for having offended him, he instantly pardons and embraces them. Behold the sermon for this day, in which I will show, first, the danger to which he who is in the state of sin, and defers his conversion, is exposed; and secondly, the remedy to be adopted by him who is in sin, and wishes to save his soul."