Sin is not a very popular topic. Most

people would rather focus on more

“positive” and “uplifting” things. But

we need to understand sin for three

important reasons. First, without an

understanding of sin we will not under-

stand our own hearts. Within each of our

hearts is a tangle of sinful desires and

understanding those sinful desires helps

us to make sense of our own thoughts,

emotions, and behaviors - why we do

the things we do. Second, without an

understanding of sin we will not under-

stand the grace of God. At the heart of

the gospel is that God has forgiven our

sins through the work of Christ on the

cross. Without an understanding of our

sin, we cannot fully appreciate the

depth of God’s grace to us. Third,

without an understanding of sin we will

not understand how to continue growing

spiritually. John Owen once said, “Be

killing sin or it will be killing you.” So

without an understanding of the “enemy

within” we will not be able to apply the

gospel in our lives and continue to grow

in Christ.

In the fourth century, a pastor named

Evagrius of Pontus (a contemporary of

St. Augustine) gathered a group of

monks and they went out into the desert

to live in a community separated from

the rest of society. They did this because

they believed that by separating them-

selves from the rest of society they

would insulate themselves against all

the evils and vices of the world and be

able to get closer to God. What they

discovered, however, was that they were

not able to separate themselves from sin

– for the simple reason

that sin is not some-

thing that is merely “out

there” in the world; it is

something that resides

in each one of us. As

Evagrius reflected more

deeply on this, he began

to notice that certain there were

certain sinful tendencies that seemed

to plague the human heart consis-

tently. More than that, they seemed to

be like fountainheads from which all

other sins flow. These eventually

became known as the ‘seven deadly

sins’ in the sixth century. Ever since,

they have become a valuable

diagnostic for helping people see,

understand, and defeat the darkest

desires in their hearts.

Since that time, they have had a vivid

history. In the early 14th century, the

Italian poet Dante used them as an

organizing element in his long

narrative poem, “The Divine Comedy”

as he imaginatively described the

horrors of hell. Later that century

Geoffrey Chaucer has the parson

preach a sermon on them in his

“Canterbury Tales.” In John Bunyan’s

famous “Pilgrim’s Progress,” the sins

become personified. And though some

of the Protestant Reformers in the

16th century shied away from them

because they could not be found all

together anywhere in Scripture, most

Protestants as well as Catholics have

found them immensely useful and

biblical. After all, in the Sermon on the

(continued on page 2)

The Gospel and the Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony Philippians 3:17-21

The Gospel and the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

The Gospel and the Seven Deadly Sins: Greed 1 Timothy 6:6-10

The Gospel and the Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth Proverbs 6:6-11

Mount Jesus traces murder back to the root

sin of anger and adultery back to the root sin

of lust. The other sins on the list – gluttony,

envy, sloth, greed, and pride – can be traced in

similar ways in other parts of Scripture.

Even today they are an enormously helpful

diagnostic to understand our own hearts.

William Willimon once observed that one of

the initially strange things about the seven

deadly sins is that don’t really seem that

deadly. We would expect a list of deadly sins

to include things like political tyranny, ethnic

hatred, war and violence, and corporate

injustice. But things like envy and lust and

anger – they seem so ordinary and pervasive

and even relatively harmless in the grand

scheme of things. But, as Willimon points out,

that is exactly why they are so deadly. Because

they appear innocuous we can fail to see just

how terrible a threat they are. Not only that,

but the fact that they are so

ordinary, so pervasive, and so

entrenched in our hearts, they can

be that much harder to shake. Most

people don’t find it particularly

difficult to stop committing murder;

overcoming their anger, however, is

a whole different matter.

In that sense, they are not only a helpful

diagnostic to understand our hearts and why

it is we do the things we do. They are also a

helpful place to go to see the true power of

the gospel. After all, there are a lot of things

we can do in our own strength. But we simply

cannot defeat envy or pride or lust with our

own willpower. So by looking at these root

sins, we are able to see with particular clarity

how the gospel can actually change us in

those very places where we ourselves are

powerless to change.

So, this Lenten season we will be looking at

the seven deadly sins but not out of a dark or

morbid curiosity to dwell on evil - but for the

purpose of understanding how the gospel

goes deeper than our behavior to change us

at the place of our deepest desires. Each

week we will look at one of the seven deadly

sins and then apply the gospel to each of

them, to show how Jesus roots out that

particular vice and replaces it with its

opposite virtue. May this season leading up

to Easter be a time when God does something

in each of our hearts that is far beyond what

we might think or imagine and may we

discover just how powerful the gospel is in

our lives.

Brookdale News is a

monthly publication of

Brookdale Church

203 South 31st Street

St. Joseph, MO 64501

Phone: 816-279-0983

Fax: 816-279-7684

Website:

www.brookdalechurch.com

Editor: Terri Lansbury

E-mail:

terri@brookdalechurch.com

Put on your best party dress and

join us for a fun time of

Tea, Treats, Tokens and Treasures (From the Bible)

Feel free to bring your BFF and/or a stuffed animal

We will party from 2:00pm-3:30pm

Saturday March 18th

Just come to Brookdale Church (31st & Edmond) Fellowship Hall

All girls ages 4 - 4th Grade are welcome

We will look at God’s love for us and others,

Make crafts and enjoy some goodies.

Hope to see you there, it will be so much fun!

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,

that you should follow in his footsteps.” (1 Peter 2:21)

On Wednesday March 1st @ 7pm I will be hosting an all city youth event for middle

and high school students at the SMC, challenging them as to their purpose here on

earth. This will be the kickoff to promoting

the “Beyond Sunday” conference that will

be held April 7-8.

I, along with youth directors from six other

churches, are putting this event on to

challenge our students to take their faith

beyond the confines of youth group or

Sunday school and to really be an inten-

tional generation out to follow in the

footsteps of Christ. This will be a night of

fun and worship with an actual worship

band..yay!! If you know of any students

who might be interested please let them

know about this upcoming event!!

A group of about 50

kids and adults tested

their skills at Bode Ice

Arena on February

22nd. Everyone had a

blast playing on the ice!

Brookdale had a long

relationship with

Frontier Fellowship

and its Associate

Director, Dan

McNerney before officially including them in

our list of supported ministries. They are doing

incredible work with the unreached throughout

the world. I want to share just a bit of the

history of this organization — I’m sure you’ll

understand why we are pleased to have them as

one of our outreach partners.

Frontier Fellowship traces its beginnings back to

a kitchen table in Portland, Oregon, in 1981. It

was there Ralph Winter, renowned missiologist

who pioneered the unreached people groups

movement, imparted his vision to revive a

frontier missions focus within the United

Presbyterian Church to Harold Kurtz, longtime

missionary in Southwest Ethiopia. Both men

were driven by a desire to see the Gospel shared

in culturally honoring ways among every distinct

ethnic group in the world and to encourage the

Body of Christ to engage more deeply in God’s

mission to the unreached.

United Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship was

started, and was soon renamed Presbyterian

Frontier Fellowship. Today they’re simply known

as Frontier Fellowship, deeply rooted in their

strong legacy and continuing to look toward the

frontier of missions where the Good News of

Jesus has yet to find expression. They believe

His message is for everyone, and each person

deserves the opportunity to hear the Gospel in

the context of his or her own culture.

To that end, Frontier Fellowship is committed

to its call to mobilize the Church—inviting,

educating, inspiring, gathering and equipping

followers of Jesus to embrace the unique and

important role God has given each of us to make

His name known among every nation, tribe,

people and language.

THE VISION:

For every people: an indigenous church

For every church: a mission vision

This vision describes a two-fold conviction: that

God desires to be worshipped by all peoples

through culturally unique expressions of faith

and the global church is called to unity and

participation in sharing the Good News of Jesus

with the world’s 6,500 distinct ethnic groups

who still have little or no access to that message.

THE MISSION:

As part of God’s mission to the world, we invite

believing communities to engage people groups

where the Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom is

not yet known.

Rev. Dan McNerney,

Associate Director

Dan’s calling to

frontier mission led

him from working

as an agriculture

commodities trader

after graduating from

Yale to serving as a

church planter in

Costa Rica during the early 1980s. Following

his return from Costa Rica in 1985, Dan pursued

his Master of Divinity degree from Trinity

Evangelical Divinity School and became an

ordained minister.

Dan has been on staff with Frontier Fellowship

for over 20 years and has pioneered work in

Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. He’s

currently engaged in Middle Eastern mission

initiatives, counsel and mobilization for American

churches’ missional practices and bridge-building

efforts with Muslim leaders and communities in

the U.S.

We look forward to sharing more about Frontier Fellowship and all of our other outreach partners in future newsletters!

1 - Deborah Birr 3 - Mike O’Donnell 5 - Kamille Paden 6 - Teresa Fetter 8 - David Bolander, Mike Seever 9 - Walt Ashler, Chance Dahle 14 - Jill Blazer, Connie Decker 15 - Mike Hanlan, Cole Peterson, Don Weckerlin 16 - Zachary Decker 17 - Cait Parker, Pat Wyckoff 18 - Ellen Beier 20 - Troy Hague, Kristen Schaeffer 21 - Josiah Halvorsen

22 - Delores Hendrix, Doug Walley 23 - Vickie Bartelt, Mel Hagan, Kai Nightingale 24 - Carrie Blazer 27 - Julia Beier 29 - Scott Nelson 31 - Christian Hoffman, Owen Jones, Rick Thornton April 1 - Hilda Bell, Kristin Lemon 2 - Stanley Viestenz 3 - Lindsey Wyble 4 - Andrew Schweder

On behalf of Brookdale Deacons, thank you for your wonderful support of the St. Joseph Pregnancy Resource Clinic (PRC), in

recognition of Sanctity of Life Sunday. It was such a joy to witness the outpouring of love from our first ever diaper drive!

Know that your donations of diapers, wipes, clothes and

supplies will assist our neighbor in their Christian outreach to young families.

PRC’s mission is to eliminate the need for abortion in our region

through effective, Christ-like service to women experiencing

crisis pregnancies. Through Willowbrook Women’s Center, pregnancy testing, ultrasound, and STD testing are available free

of charge. Those medical services are so important. An ultra-

sound allows a mom to see and hear a heartbeat; she can suddenly recognize an “it” as a “baby.”

PRC is there to follow up with Christian counsel and options, including parenting classes. They encourage

healthy, life-affirming decisions. PRC also offers confidential support groups for women recovering from

post-abortion experiences. And every person who walks through their doors - moms, dads, family - also

hear the good news story of the gospel.

In 2016, PRC served 231 women in a 13 county area with medical services and parenting classes. And 166 babies were born to women who came through their clinic! We can also make a difference through our continued help - with prayer, volunteer opportunities, fundraising events and monthly monetary support. For more information, check out stjosephprc.org or their Facebook page, St. Joseph PRC. We will also keep

a donation box handy, in the lower level, to make ongoing deliveries of diapers, baby clothes and maternity

wear for their boutique. Look for the “Brookdale for Babies” sign!

If you were at our Annual Celebration the end of January, I’m sure you took notice of all the wonderful desserts. I don’t mean cakes, pies and cookies in large pans. I mean a large

assortment of decadent, tasty, individual desserts, ALL prepared by Tonette Eagleburger! A HUGE thank

you for all her work preparing desserts for 200 people! I just wish I had taken a picture in the kitchen during prep time!

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Each month our senior adults plan an event at the church or

an outside activity (day trip). In February, Marshall White

from the St. Joe News Press was the guest speaker at a

Valentine Lunch. He shared some of his postcard collection

with the group, telling a bit about their origins and the history

of the places depicted on them.

On March 17th the group will have their annual Baked Potato

Bar in Fellowship Hall. For the program, they plan to watch

a video about the Pony Express. Anyone interested in

attending should sign up at the Welcome Center by Sunday,

March 12th.