selected scriptures
December 14, 2015
preached by Don Willeman
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Everybody’s dependent on somebody. Nobody gave birth to themselves…. It’s an American lie that anybody’s self-made.”

~Cornell West, philosopher, activist and public intellectual

“The future of our country, our future happiness and that of our children, depends decisively on whether we as individuals and as a people practice obedience to the unenforceable.”

~John R. Silber (1926-2012), longtime president of Boston University

“In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation…even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine.”

~The Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

“The problem does not seem to be that churches are teaching young people badly, but that we are doing an exceedingly good job of teaching youth what we really believe; namely, that Christianity is not a big deal, that God requires little, and the church is a helpful social institution filled with nice people focused primarily on ‘folks like us’…”

~Kenda Creasy, Dean of Princeton in her book Almost Christian:

What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church

“Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up by itself.”

~American comedian Tom Wilson

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

~Augustine (354-430), North African bishop

“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.”

~Brennan Manning (1934-2013), American author

Sermon Passages

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ⁴ “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Proverbs 15:32 ³² He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. Ephesians 6:4 ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Matthew 3:16-17 ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”