Our Resurrection Weekend services begin with our Good Friday Evening Gathering, March 29 at 7:00 pm, and conclude with our regular Sunday activities on Resurrection Sunday Morning, March 31!

Please find below Sam Karl's notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday regarding killing sins in our life with the deadliest Sword every made, the Word of God.

I am more susceptible to some of the sins in a recurring fashion if my heart isn’t guarded by the word of God. One of those sins is “Covetousness”.

I covet material things. I covet Brainiac things. I covet authority and I covet humbleness. I even covet prayers.

Exodus 20:11 reads “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

If this commandment is to be strictly translated to be applied, Sin is when desiring somebody else's even if its "spiritual" things.

How do we cure it?

I have tried to count my blessings.
Tried to think through God’s providential care in my life. Typed in a note to self on Facebook so everybody can see it and like it: you are where God wants you to be.
Social media is part of the problem there but I need that to snoop on people.

Nothing that I tried seemed to have helped even in the short term. Then I asked myself, what does the Bible say about this?

1 Timothy 6:6-7 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

I realized that I have been trying to be content without adding the element of godliness in there which was why I was unsuccessful.

What does it mean to add an element of godliness in there?

For example:
I turned the count my blessings times into thanksgiving to God sessions.
I added praise and thanks while thinking through God’s providential care in my life.
I even started praying for people occasionally, as I skim through their feeds or tweets.

I don’t know whether I have justified this in the back of my mind as a tiny no-offense sin or what, it didn’t even cross my mind that I need to confess and repent of this sin. And the Spirit of the Lord helped me confess and repent of my sin of covetousness again and again.

It all sounds super spiritual or radical doesn’t?

Jesus said twice in the Sermon on the Mount “For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29 – 30)

I’m not standing before you this morning as a man who is so radically obedient in overcoming sin in my life every time. I still sin to my dismay but anytime I have a small win, that’s unadulterated full measure of the grace of God.

Are you aware of the sins in your life? What are you doing to overcome it?
Do you search the word of God to see how you can radically kill it from your life?

If you have not, please do so. All that we need for our life and godliness is on there. If you need help interpreting and applying Scripture, please come see any one of us. It would be our greatest joy to walk with you and grow with you in the Lord. Let’s pray.

Holy Father, thank you for choosing to leave us in the world even though we are not of the Lord by your purest grace. We really cannot overcome the flesh without your Spirit. Thank you for the Spirit of the Lord who convicts the world of sin in us and leads us by the truth from your word that will set us free. Please help us to think Biblically, speak Biblically and live Biblically. May your word flavor our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. We acknowledge our dependence on you. Please help us overcome sin. We pray this in the name of our Savior, through whom we have standing before you. Amen.