Sunday Sermon Series February, 2017

Hello everyone. I hope you are well. My family and I just returned from a week long vacation in Phoenix, Arizona. The sketch you see here is from the sermon preached at our friend's church Harvest East Valley (harvestev.org). The main verses used were from the Sermon on the Mount, which goes from Matthew 5:1 through 7:29, but he specifically spoke on Matthew 5:1-10.

Losing ourselves to find Jesus was a theme I picked up on. There were many themes the pastor touched on, but this one grabbed me. Dying to self. Such an alien concept to most of our society. I don't see many people on the news these days denying themselves. In Luke 9:23 Jesus says "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Most of the interaction I have on a daily basis is with my family. I find that pretty much every time I have trouble it is because I am forgetting or turning away from this basic Christian truth. Whether it's with my children or my wife. It's something I work on every day.

Also from my notes: "Blessings can be a bi-product of faith, but it is not the target or goal." He seemed to feel that too many people expect blessings all day every day. I have to admit a lot of my prayers (but not all) are asking for blessings(mostly for healing of illness for myself and people I know). The goal is eternity with Christ, and doing what he asks of you while you're here.

The artwork here is pencil on paper, scanned and then colorized in Photoshop. Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have enjoyed this drawing and that you have a great day.