Sloth is not always what we think. It manifests in curious ways: inordinate busyness, restless activity, and, of course, mindless entertainment. At its root, sloth lacks love for God and the opportunities he has given; it fails to see good outcomes from our efforts. Instead, it settles into the path of least resistance, opting for leisure over hard work, willing to leach off others. Paul address this thinking in 1-2 Thessalonians. Jesus models for us a healthy call to rest, the counter-virtue, which is relational, restorative, and rhythmic.

Want to know why sorrow is the least know "deadly sin"? It was struck from the original list. However, when sorrow takes control of our minds, it has a deadly effect: pulling us from the present and stealing our joy. This message will consider variations of sorrow, the reality of depression, and importance of wisdom--sorrow's counter-virtue--in managing our emotions, eliminating our excuses, and expanding our life narrative.

To say our culture has an unhealthy concept of sex is an understatement. Sex drives movies, marketing, and magazine sales. It has reshaped public education and self-perception to the point that even sixty-year olds are encouraged to retain their sex appeal with the right diets, outfits, and skin care products. Sex is central to the American experience. Like the Corinthians, we rarely blush, unless, of course, we're talking about the "old-fashioned, outdated, repressive institute of marriage." Today we are. More broadly, we're talking about the deadly effects lust and humanizing virtue of purity.

Miracles are hard to believe in our secular age. We are trained to be skeptics, to view the world as a closed and often cold system. If God ever existed, he left us long ago, thinks the skeptic. But Jesus gives us a glimpse of "God with us" and engaged in powerful acts of healing, restoring, and welcome. He has authority over nature, demons, sin, and death. These are evidences he is Messiah, Son of God. And we should let the evidence address our inner skeptic, so we see the world buzzing with divine life.

I love America, but out political discourse has become deplorable. Negative polarization has pushed us to extremes. Rather than listen to others and seek for common ground, we villainize those on the opposite aisle. This is sad. Worse yet, in many ways the church has traded her public witness for political power. This sermon looks at the politics of Jesus and the apostle Paul, a history of evangelical missteps, and ways we can recover our public witness as God's people.