REFLECTION QUOTES

“Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.”

~P.J. O’Rourke, American satirist and journalist

“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of western culture for almost twenty centuries… It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars, it is by his name that millions curse and in his name that millions pray.”

~Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006), scholar and professor at Yale

“Commitment is not a trap. It is not a prison. Commitment is an escape from prison—the prison of selfishness.”

~Ray C. Ortlund, Jr., American pastor

“You can destroy freedom as much by abusing it as you can be taking it away.”

~Attributed to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

“You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.”

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

“He that is down needs fear no fall;
He that is low no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.”

~John Bunyan (1628-1688), English preacher and writer

“…Persecution has purged the church. If you attend a church that is being persecuted, you do so only for the sake of truth—you cannot have other motives…. Because of the persecution of our church community, our bond of brotherhood is really strong.”

~Yu Jie, Chinese dissident intellectual who has become a Christian

SERMON PASSAGE

Selections from the Gospel of Mark (ESV)

Mark 1

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Mark 8

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”