Introduction to Lent
Erik fills us in on how City Church will observe Lent together in 2018.
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Beauty in the Brokenness and Glory Through the Ashes
“...for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19b)
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Murmuration
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. "For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding."
(1 Chronicles 29:14-15)
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Healing Light
"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
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Pulling Out the Root
“‘And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.’” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
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Rest for Your Soul
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
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Caught Between
"Through [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:2-6)
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The Second Line of the Soul
"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" (Psalm 126:5)
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Hunger No More
"And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need… and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything." (Luke 15:14, 16)
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Nothingness Welcome
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
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Love Breaks In
"Peter said to him, 'Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.' Jesus said, 'I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.' [...] But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are talking about.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:33-4, 60-62)
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Suffering and Surety
"You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, 'Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.'" (Psalm 77:4-6)
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Waiting in Sorrow
"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18)
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