Today what we're going to talk about is forgiveness. Forgiveness. For some of us this word brings up quite a lot of emotions. Even hearing that word some of us have feelings towards it. So what we're going to do today is, I promise, is to simply ease into it. I believe it can speak to us in a very powerful way. We're going to talk about forgiving the small offenses that often accumulate over time. And, those small offenses often-times will lead into bitterness, and hold us back from what God truly has for us.

I'm curious, how many of you would say right now, and be brave, "I know someone who gets offended easily." Be brave and raise your hand. Don't point at them! They might get offended. Right? We know someone who seems to be offended by almost everything, and it's super-duper easy to be offended, especially nowadays. Oftentimes it's by the smallest things. In fact you might find yourself replaying some of the smaller offenses that you've experienced. I don't know what it might be for you, maybe someone will roll their eyes at you and it will totally sets you off. Or maybe someone has a tone in their voice that you just don't like and you take offense to that. Or, maybe someone forgets to say thank you for something that you did in the way that you served them trying to make a difference in their life.

I can get incredibly offended, if I'm honest, when I'm driving in traffic climbing the hill on the Southfork. We live on the Southfork and I don't know about you but...

Good morning, I'm Dave Jenkins. I want to thank Roy for reading the scripture this morning. And, when we're done, we're all going to know a great deal more about John the Baptist.

This Sunday is the first day of Lent. Lent is derived from the old English word, 'Lenten,' which denotes the beginning of spring is near and for ecumenicals, to prepare themselves for Easter. Here we are, eleven weeks from Christmas, and as Ken Sauer puts it, Easter begins at Christmas. Away in a Manger, Joy to the World..."For Unto Us A Child is born, for unto us a Son is given."

This child was born for one specific reason only, and that was to die for our sins.

Matthew Chapter 3: The gospel begins with a chapter about the baptism of John. Which went before his only introduction. This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Long after what was recorded in the previous chapter...

In 1976 President Ford established February as black history month. To honor the too often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. History is defined as the study of past events. Particularly in human affairs. And this morning I would like to share with you a past event dealing with human affairs, which took place in a small rural black community in Mississippi. While these events took place several years ago, and in a specific location, I can assure you that the circumstances are similar to those that have happened, are happening, in this and other places. In times up to and including the present. A few years ago I was part of a group of volunteers that went to Mississippi. The mission of the group was the salvation of the Jonestown Grammar School Building. Years before our arrival the school building had been condemned. There had been no bond passed, nor any other plan for a structure to replace this school building. And, no funds for the maintenance of the present school. When the integration of schools had come to this town, the rich (which is to say all of the whites) who lived within Jonestown School District bought property that would allow them to send their children to a neighboring, more affluent, school district. The poor, an almost entirely black population, were left to attend the local school, which was aging. At this point in time...

I am your guest preacher this morning, and you can look at the back [of the bulletin] and see who I am. Started out in 1972 with an ordination. I've been preaching and working ever since. As you see, I've been around. Buffalo, New York, Little Snake River - you all know where that is, right? A little silence. Very few people have been to Dixon [Wyoming]. Then Lander, then Atlantic City, that included Lander, then also on the Shoshone Indian Reservation on the Shoshone side for five years. Then to Cody in 1989, and have been here ever since.

I know a lot of you already I think. Mellingers are sitting over there. Your organist Tim. I listened to him learn to use the organ at Christ Church when he was learning from Jim Hager. He's come a long ways since then. It would always be a good break in my day in the office to hear him practice. Phil Farman over there, borrowed him for a couple of youth trips. One to San Francisco, the other to New York. We had some great times together. He was head of the...

I'm going to take you on a journey. It really started when we were living in California, and Kent was working with World Vision International. It was a few years, and very few it felt, after Vietnam. I had a great job in a hospital, a great boss in radiation oncology, and I was training some hospice volunteers. My dear husband came home on one fine day, and he said to me, "How would you like to be on a team to go to Ethiopia?"

And, I said, somewhat uncharacteristically, "No way! I can't even consider it. I have this and this that I just mentioned."

Two weeks later I was on a plane on my way to Ethiopia. I want to tell you...

Friends, I want to talk a little bit this morning about, primarily, this passage in Luke. I really like Luke's version of Lord's call to Simon Peter, James, and John to be His disciples. And, honestly, I like it better than what you hear in Matthew and Mark as they describe it. Matthew and Mark we're told as soon as Jesus started His ministry; He walks up the shore of Galilea and spots these fishermen, and says come on, follow me. And, they dropped what they were doing and followed. That doesn't sound as plausible to me as what we hear here. This is one of the reasons it sounds more believable. Let's talk about it a little bit. According to Luke Jesus had already started His ministry for some time. He had built a reputation. In fact He is standing on the shore, and there are so many people...maybe like me a little bit...I can relate to this...He gets uncomfortable and He needs some boats to step in to get away from everybody. People came to see Him. They had already heard what He had shared. He had been preaching in synagogues around town, he had been performing miracles, these large crowds had been following Him. So these two boats he spotted happened to belong to Simon Peter and his friends. As you can imagine, in those moments, Simon Peter got to hear everything Jesus was telling those crowds. We don't know exactly where Jesus ended up. But, I imagine it's in line with what we do hear from Jesus in other places. And, when Jesus had finished He suggested...rather, basically told, Simon Peter to go out into the deep area and put down your nets for a catch. Now, Simon Peter was very quick to point out that he and his partners had been fishing all night and had not caught a single fish. Yet, right after, he agreed. Now, I don't know if you missed this or not in there - what were Simon Peter and them doing before Jesus called them over? They were cleaning their nights. They fished all night, those nets had been in the water and hooked who knows what. They were cleaning them out...