Book: Romans

Jesus’ message is simple, but profound: come to me, and I will give you rest. This passage is also familiar to us, as it is cited in the Comfortable Words of our celebration of the Holy Eucharist. But what does Jesus mean by “rest”?

We are not all called to be Richard Wurmbrand (thank God!). In His mercy, God might not even call us to any serious persecution in our lives. But Jesus does send us out as sheep in the midst of wolves, he asks us to be ready, and he tells us not to fear.

What things are distracting you from the Gospel today? Which distractions are holding you back from sharing the Gospel with your friends and family? Our mission is short, the harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few. Pray how God may use you as a laborer in His harvest, that He may help us lay aside every weight which clings so closely, and run the race He has set before us.

If Jesus is not the resurrection and the life, then Christianity is meaningless, foolish, and inconsequential. But if Jesus is who he says he is, then your answer to this question is of eternal importance. Not only that, but if we don’t answer this question with full, blessed assurance, then Holy Week next week will be robbed of any real meaning for us.

The temptation in our hearts is always to worship things, places, and circumstances. The Israelites in Exodus 17 were preoccupied with things and circumstances. The Samaritan woman worshiped the place of Jacob’s well, and not the living God. The Israelites asked, “Is the LORD with us here?” The Samaritan woman asked Jesus, “Is the LORD with us anywhere else?” Just as Jesus challenged the woman, he challenges us daily to examine ourselves for anything which impedes our true worship of him.

By His Resurrection, Jesus overcame death, and opened up to all Believers the Way to eternal life. In this sermon, the Rev. Galloway examines the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds to remind us of the supreme importance of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Beloved, the victory that Christ won over sin has given us greater blessings than those which sin had taken away from us. Let Lent be a reminder to us that there is a much higher purpose that exists beyond our mortal pain, as we march on to the joy of our Easter Vigil in this life, and eternal reward in the next. O happy fault!

There are no words given to Saint Joseph in all of Scripture, and yet, Joseph is the greatest example of a husband and father in all of humanity. Indeed, Joseph is the most important man who ever lived (apart from Christ). He is here to prove that a good man doesn’t need attention, he doesn’t need to say many words, he doesn’t need to be a superhero. A good man needs to be a righteous man. May we all imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to God’s commands.

We need Advent to remind us of these responsibilities as we wait for Christ to return. And for that reason, Andrew is the perfect saint to start the Advent season. He also (unsurprisingly) embodies the call of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel reading for the second Sunday of Advent to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”