{"id":2178,"date":"2011-12-12T16:58:15","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T20:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shieldsgroup.com\/?p=2178"},"modified":"2011-12-14T14:25:19","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T18:25:19","slug":"an-advent-sermon-on-fresh-meaningful-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/12\/an-advent-sermon-on-fresh-meaningful-life\/","title":{"rendered":"An Advent Sermon: Fresh & Meaningful Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I did a little homebrew research<\/strong>. I googled three phrases:\u00a0\u201cI feel like a failure.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Google found that phrase over 2 million times on the internet.\u00a0\u201cI feel like a loser.\u201d<\/em>Google found that phrase over 4 million times.\u00a0\u201cI feel guilty.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>67 million times.<\/p>\n

What I conclude from this \u00a0research<\/strong>\u00a0is that guilt is a huge issue in human lives. And when we think about it, we\u2019ve some pretty good reasons to feel guilty. And we know it. But Jesus doesn\u2019t say, \u201cHey \u2014 what you\u2019re doing isn\u2019t that bad. Lighten up!\u201d\u00a0Jesus says,\u201cYeah \u2014 you’re right. You should feel guilty about what you\u2019ve done. But I am here to take that guilt. I died on the cross to pay for your sin. You can be forgiven if you turn from your sin and trust in me. You can trade in your old life for a new one. I\u2019ll give you a clean slate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This Advent sermon is about three exchanges:<\/strong>\u00a0Exchanging an old life for a new one; Exchanging a phony life for a real one; And exchanging a meaningless life for one of purpose.<\/p>\n