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First Sunday of Lent
with
Mark 1:2-9
www.FirstChurchBville.com
@FirstUMCBville @kerrfunk
This sermon was broadcast on Facebook Live 2/18/18
https://www.facebook.com/FUMCWV/
#rehab
#wilderness #umcgbod #lent
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Lent is a 40 day season of spiritual preparation before the Easter celebration inspired
by Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness we read in Mark 1.
This
season we’ll be following the lectionary and the denomination’s suggestion for
a sermon series called REHAB. Why REHAB? As a part of our spiritual preparation
before the Easter celebration.
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Rehab covers a lot of things. Rehab for addiction to drugs or alcohol. Also rehab
after knee replacement or heart attack. Likely a painful time with drastic
change of behavior. Not exactly something to look forward to, but something to
endure. Rehab begins by going into the wilderness, by following Jesus into the
wilderness.
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Wilderness is not a bad thing. It’s a new thing, a thing that involves change.
Some
of my wildernesses: moving to Pennsylvania from Iowa.
Having knee surgery. Dealing with grief. Dealing with personal substance abuse.
Having knee surgery. Dealing with grief. Dealing with personal substance abuse.
Wilderness
not a bad thing but not a comfortable thing, a place where discipline is
necessary, and trust that you’re not alone and that not only is God with you
but God is willing and able to work in you to shape you mold you prune you
prepare you.
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We do not go into the wilderness alone. And it is in the wilderness that the
first steps of reconciliation and healing and wholeness are taken.
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Jesus’ time in the wilderness prepared him for his mission to bring reconciliation
and healing and wholeness to humankind. And when his time in the wilderness was
complete, he began to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, and of
repentance.
Where
are you feeling in the wilderness?
Pour yourself into this time with self examination and prayer and fasting and self-denial. These are some of the tools God uses. And come and worship and be made new.
Pour yourself into this time with self examination and prayer and fasting and self-denial. These are some of the tools God uses. And come and worship and be made new.
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May God use this time of Lent to shape us into disciples and witnesses to God’s
kingdom.
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Hymn 338 Where He Leads Me
Mark 1:9-15
(HCSB)
9 In those
days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan
by John. 10 As soon as He came up out of the water, He saw
the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending to Him like a dove.
11 And a voice came from heaven:
11 And a voice came from heaven:
You are My beloved Son; I take
delight in You!
12 Immediately the
Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
13 He was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan.
He was with the wild animals, and the angels began to serve Him.
13 He was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by Satan.
He was with the wild animals, and the angels began to serve Him.
14 After John
was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of
God:
15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe in the good news! ò
15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe in the good news! ò
1 Peter
3:18-22 (HCSB)
18 For Christ also
suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He
might bring you to God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but
made alive in the spiritual realm.
19 In that
state He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in
prison 20 who in the past were disobedient, when God
patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In
it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water. 21 Baptism,
which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the
flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22 Now that He has gone into
heaven, He is at God’s right hand with angels, authorities, and
powers subject to Him. ò
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