1 Peter 2:11-12

I am an exile, a sojourner A citizen of some other place All I've seen is just a glimmer in a shadowy mirror But I know one day we'll see face to face

I am a nomad, a wanderer I have nowhere to lay my head down There's no point in putting roots too deep when I'm moving on Not settling for this unsettling town

I am a pilgrim, a voyager I won't rest until my lips touch the shore Of the land that I've been longing for as long as I've lived Where there'll be no pain or tears anymore

[Chorus] My heart is filled with songs of forever A city that endures, where all is made new I know I don't belong here, I'll never Call this place my home, I'm just passing through

Passions of the Flesh

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

illicit sexual desire [marriage blessing]

greed [joy of generosity]

power/control/authority [servant of all]

thrill [joy]

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Worldly Hedonism [Christian Hedonism]

Waging war against your soul

Passions of the flesh:

distract us from our divine purpose (functional gods)

fail to satisfy

rob us of our joy

? Are my desires too strong?

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. WE ARE FAR TOO EASILY PLEASED! -C.S. Lewis

...The promises of splendor in Heaven are not a mere bribe, they are the consummation of our discipleship.

? What of the pursuit of earthly pleasure?

The [things] in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through the, and what came through them was longing. These things-- the beauty, the memory of our own past-- are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.

Our loneliest moments are found when we have attained the “thing” for which we have striven, and still found ourselves wanting...

1 Peter 2:11-12

Is God a Cosmic Kill-Joy?

Sojourners and Exiles

Passions of the Flesh

Waging war against your soul

Call to repentance