The Struggle: The Struggle Seems Lost

The road to the cross was a struggle. Jesus would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us the strength to press on. God calls us to struggle against the devil and his temptations, the world and its pressures, and our own sinful nature and its desires. At times, it feels like that struggle is lost. We fail, we doubt, we sin, we rebel against our God and his commands. And no matter how hard we try, we can’t shake our conscience and its ever-present accusations. The struggle seems lost. But today, we see our victor, though he doesn’t look it. Humble, gentle, and about to die. But in his humility, there is power. And in his death, there is victory. The struggle seems lost, but here comes our victorious king!

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The Struggle: The Struggle is Relentless (Lent 5)

The road to the cross was a struggle. Jesus would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us the strength to press on, even when the struggles seem relentless. Today, as we struggle against our own weaknesses and through our own hardships, we look back to God’s past performance, his ongoing faithfulness, and his unfailing love for strength in our battles, for confidence in our future, and the final and ultimate victory that is ours in Christ.

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The Struggle: The Struggle with Guilt

The road to the cross was a struggle. Jesus would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us the strength to press on. Today, we consider those moments when the struggle seems too much and the guilt too great. No matter what trials we go through, no matter what we may face in this world, today’s Psalm encourages us to cling to God’s promises, to the forgiveness our Savior won for us, and to fervently pray for God’s deliverance.

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The Struggle: Empowered by God's Word (Lent 3)

The road to the cross was a struggle. Jesus would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us strength to press on. Today, we consider that our struggles here on earth can quickly sap our strength and patience. So, the Psalmist takes us back to God’s Word where our God not only reminds us of who he is, but he empowers us by his Word so that we can live according to his will. By God’s grace, we strive to shape our lives around his Word.

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The Struggle: The Struggle Seems Unfair (Lent 2)

The road to the cross was a struggle. Jesus would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us strength to press on. Today, we confront the fact that often, the struggles we have seem unfair. We look around and see people who are dishonest, who cheat, and who seemingly are getting along just fine here on earth while we struggle and suffer. Life seems so unfair at times. Our Psalm today lifts our eyes to our Savior and the ultimate good he has brought to me with his life, suffering, death, and resurrection. In my Savior and the final outcome of eternal life he gives me, I find reason not only to praise him in the midst of my hardships but to also rejoice in his care and love for me.

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The Struggle: The Struggle Against the Enemy (Lent 1)

The road to the cross was a struggle. This Lenten season, we see Jesus descend the mount of glory so that he could enter a valley of suffering. He would be rejected by his people and betrayed by his disciple. Satan tempted him to give up, but he pressed on to the cross for you. Hebrews 2:18 says, “Indeed, because he suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.“ The struggle was real.

The Christian life is a struggle. The struggle is real. Faith in Christ doesn’t make us exempt from difficulties. But faith in Christ does give us strength to press on. This Lenten season, we will meditate on the words of the Psalm writers, who put the struggle of the believer into poetry and prayer. They cried out to God when they struggled against their enemies, against temptation, against guilt, and against the perspective that this life is unfair. The Psalm writers were able to press on in the struggle because they know that their God was in control. They knew and prophesied that the promised Savior was coming. Their struggle is our struggle. Their hope is our hope. Their God is our God. This is a Savior who entered our struggle to win the victory over the struggle, to equip us for our struggle. The struggle is real. The struggle is good.

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Prove It! Do You Have the Power? - The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Throughout the season of Epiphany, we have been seeing all the different ways that Jesus proved himself to be the Savior. However, the season of showing his glory to those he has called is coming to a close. We stand at the threshold of the season of his ultimate humiliation. But before we go down to the valley of the shadow of death, he gives us a glimpse of the glory which he hid so carefully even while he was revealing it. Lent is coming; hang on to the glory that soon will be covered in shame and washed with blood!

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Prove It! Have You Come as My Personal Savior?

During the season of Epiphany, we are seeing how Jesus reveals himself and proves that he is our Savior and King. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature try hard to convince us that our many sins, failures, and troubles in life are too great for God to forgive or overcome. They try hard to get us to doubt God’s love, his plan and purpose in our life, and ultimately, his forgiveness that is ours in Jesus. Today, we hear Jesus say that the purpose in his coming to earth was to proclaim the Gospel—the Good News that a Savior had come to forgive sins… your sins. Now, we have an answer to our doubts, our fears, our troubles—a Savior who had us in mind when he came to earth to accomplish our salvation; A Savior who still has us in mind as he works out our troubles for our eternal good.

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Prove It! Do You Have the Authority?

During the season of Epiphany, we are seeing how Jesus reveals himself and proves that he is our Savior and King. Today, we ask, “Does Jesus have the authority that God said the Savior would have?” As we hear from God’s Word, we see that God’s Son has authority over all powers, even the demons. For the child of God, there is great comfort in know that because of his authority, we are always safe in his arms. And because of his authority and power, we now strive to obey him!

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Prove It! Do You Have the Right Message?

Find out how Jesus reveals himself as your Savior and King! This Epiphany season, we are reminded that Jesus is everything we need.

We are bombarded with messages each day - what we should buy, where we should eat, why our side is good and the other side is bad,... and so many more. All claim to be right and all clamor to be the most important in your life. In today's worship, however, our Savior helps us to realize that he has the only message that the world, and you and I, need to hear. He is the world's Savior, and there is nothing more important than being called to follow him and to share that message with others.

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Prove It! Are You The One We've Been Waiting For?

Find out how Jesus reveals himself as your Savior and King! This Epiphany season, we are reminded that Jesus is everything we need.

You have probably already discovered how difficult it is to convince someone of something, especially if they already have their own ideas about it. Today, we see how God’s Word has the power to convince people that Jesus is who he says he is—the Savior God had promised. Jesus comes to save us from our sins and convince us through his Word that he is our Savior!

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Prove It! Are You From God?

Find out how Jesus reveals himself as your Savior and King! This Epiphany season, we are reminded that Jesus is everything we need. This week, we rejoice in Jesus' baptism. There, Jesus is revealed as God's Son, sent from the Father, to save us from sin. As we marvel at God's love in sending his Son for us, we remember our own baptisms, where God washed our sin away and made us his children.

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