The lenten journey begins in repentence.

Theme: The lenten journey begins on our knees or bowed head of repentance.

ME: ORIENTATION: FIND COMMON GROUND WITH THE AUDIENCE

I have noticed people walking around with Ashes on their head.

I had a breakfast meeting and noticed some coming and leaving with this symbol on their forehead.

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

or

Repent, and believe the gospel.

What does all this mean?

WE: IDENTIFICATION (MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU STRUGGLE)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

the early Christians observed with great devotion

the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection,

and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration

there should be a forty–day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.

It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins

and had separated themselves from the community of faith

were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,

and restored to participation in the life of the Church.

In this way the whole congregation was reminded

of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ

and the need we all have to renew our faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,

to observe a

by self–examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self–denial;

and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.

To make a right beginning of repentance,

and as a mark of our mortal nature,

let us now kneel (bow) before our Creator and Redeemer.

holy Lent:

by self–examination and repentance;

by prayer, fasting, and self–denial;

and by reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.

To make a right beginning of repentance,

and as a mark of our mortal nature,

let us now kneel (bow) before our Creator and Redeemer.

GOD: ILLUMINATION (THE GOAL IS TO RESOLVE THE TENSION

I. Joel talks about judgement

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;   and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

A. Joel began with the announcement of judgement.

this is describe by such phrases:

Blow the trumpet in Zion

Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!

The day of the Lord is coming. ( you can read chapter 2 for yourselves.

Call for repentance.

return with all your heart

fasting, weeping, and mourning

rent your heart not your garment

Repentance and Renewal (2:12–19)

The destruction of the day of the Lord could be averted only by genuine national repentance and seeking the Lord’s mercy with faith.

C. Offer of repentance (2:12–14). At the dedication of the temple Solomon had prayed that the Lord would hear the repentant prayer of his people when they assembled there in times of calamity; he prayed specifically about locust invasions (). When there was repentance, God promised that he would “heal their land” (). At the time of Joel we see the outworking of Solomon’s prayer: God keeps his promise to hear prayer at the temple; he forgives and heals the land. The merciful, compassionate, and gracious nature of God is one of the great recurring themes of the Old Testament

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Joel 2:13

B. God calls us to return to the Lord.

There are times and seasons in our life when we must be engaged in soul searching.

For the church Lent is that season.

II. Remember your first love and repent.

To the Church in Ephesus

2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

(1) He holds the seven stars in his right hand. That is to say, Christ holds the churches in his hand. The word for to hold is kratein, and it is a strong word. It means that Christ has complete control over the church. If the church submits to that control, it will never go wrong; and more than that—our security lies in the fact that we are in the hand of Christ.

The Spirit of God still has relevant warnings in these letters to churches in every place and time.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

v. 5) if they are to avoid the threatened judgment. Their present labor (v. 2), which was not lacking in quantity, differed from the first works (v. 5) by the absence of the first love which had driven the earlier works. Like Martha, a church may become so engrossed in religious work that it neglects the “one thing needed” (). No amount of religious orthodoxy, labor, or loyalty can make up for a deficit in Christian love ().

Whether love of God or of one another is intended is not specified, though the two likely are not to be sharply differentiated (; ). The loss of love is no minor defect, but constitutes a fallen state of the church, requiring that they repent and do the first works

As a priest in the temple tends the lamps to keep them from growing dim or going out, Christ moves among the churches to attend to the purity and brightness of the light they give to the world.

How many churches today stand at this same crossroads’? Do we sense the importance to Christ of not only honoring his name by our true confession but also reflecting his life by our loving relationship to others? This threat of loss of light bearing (or witness) applies doubtless equally to the other four churches,

III. What can this mean today?

A. as we walk toward the Passion and resurrection of Christ we can take a few moments to look at our faith life.

How am I walking with Christ?

When was the last time a sat before God humbly repenting and seeking change in my life?

How is my faith and life compare to what the scriptures states?

How can I be more like Christ?

B. What was my first love like?

a.my love for God

b. my love for others

c. My love and concern for the lost

d.My willingness to give my life over to service

C. What must I repent of and seek deliverance for.

YOU: APPLICATION (TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO AND WHAT THEY HAVE HEARD)

Will Christ come and remove the Spirit from Zion… York Conference… United Methodist Church

It begins in our heart.

It moves in our lives

We are transforming

Family

Church

World