sermon stuff

I was recently blessed with an opportunity to preach the first word at a Good Friday service here in brooklyn. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" was the word for which i was responsible.

My sermon was on forgiveness - 15mins.

I started with a story about a time that my mom had forgiven me for an egregious offense that I had committed against her. I then spent the remainder of the sermon talking about how an understanding of the offense committed will help us to better appreciate forgiveness received.

Prayerfully i will get more opportunities to preach.

If given an opportunity to pick a topic for the next sermon I preach, I will probably cover something around a "wider view of worship" - addressing the fact that "worship" isn't just singing a ballady sounding gospel song...you know?

One of the applications that would come from that sermon would be to forgive others since we have been forgiven much. Another would be to love others since we have been loved much. The funny thing about those applications is that I need to take some time to apply them directly to my life - specifically to a relationship with a family member.

Please pray that the gospel would inform how I relate to others. Returning anger for anger is sin - and it does not reflect how the Lord relates to me. Crazy that i'm dealing with this after preaching a sermon on forgiveness...