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From the PastorsOur Head Pastor - Jeremy Simons with his wife |
Regularly one of our pastors will share a sermon, reflections on religion, or what's going on around the community and the world.
From David H. Lindrooth
2009 Feature - from August 29, 2010
Be a Peacemaker
"“These things I have spoken to you, that you may have peace. In the World you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33)."
Hell would love nothing more than to rip our dear church to pieces by leading us to fall in temptation. Swedenborg describes the miserable intent of the hells with the following words from the book Heaven and Hell 538: “It has sometimes been given to me to perceive the sphere of falsity from evil flowing in from hell. It is like a perpetual effort to destroy all good and truth, combined with anger and, as it were, fury. The effort is especially to destroy the Divinity of the Lord.
These “temptations bring varying states of vastation and desolation, states of despair, and consequently of grief and anger in addition to other painful emotions” (AC1917). One consistent byproduct of temptation is a sense of being lost and alone.
However, while the Lord does not lead us into temptations. He does help us grow by means of them. They are important times were we come to realize that we need to change. The change is one of coming into a closer relationship with the Lord. They are times where we must pursue a better and more functional relationship between what is good and what is true in our lives. These experiences help us to understand the true nature of evil. These unpleasant experiences are the beginning of evils being broken up and pushed out of our lives.
We can only overcome temptations through a reliance on the Lord to sustain us. In John, He reminds us that: “in the World you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33). The Lord said this as a reflection on his own crucifixion. It remains as a powerful reminder that He protects us in our temptations.
The Writings for our Church teach that a church is established through temptations. As our church struggles with temptations today, we, collectively, can renew our commitment to building a community based on uniting the truths He teaches us in His Word with the Love that comes from Him. The Church is a place where people gather for this relationship with Him. It is time for us to gather as one in creating a new presence of the Lord. Through this change our church can become known as a place where people turn to find the support and peace that comes from Him.
(DHL)
Lessons: