In Advent, We Watch, Anticipate and Prepare for Jesus’ Return, but Secular Temptations Are Everywhere; Self-Denial Keeps Our Advent Focus

In Advent, We Watch, Anticipate and Prepare for Jesus’ Return, but Secular Temptations Are Everywhere; Self-Denial Keeps Our Advent Focus

MESSAGE SUMMARY:

In a time in which we hear so much about self-help, self-image, and self-actualization, Jesus is saying self-denial is the way to life. Taking up one’s cross means to die to self-ambitions, as we are told by Jesus in Matthew 10:38-39: “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”. When we die to our self-ambitious and put them on the cross, the Jesus’ life moves through us -- “Not my will but Thy will.”. By denying self, we become a new person who is alive through Jesus; and the Holy Spirit flows through us, as we are told by Paul in Galatians 6:14-17: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Anger. Rather, I will abide in the Lord’s Forgiveness. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 16:24; Mathew 10:38-39; Galatians 6:14-17.

THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “In Advent, Pray for “amendment of life” in which God Gives Us Time in Our Lives and America’s Life to Return to Him Before He Comes Again in Judgment", at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

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