The Seven Deadly Sins is a Lenten sermon series exploring the ancient Christian wisdom of how certain sins, or vices, can deform us as human beings. These habits or character traits expose the ways in which we turn away from God and others through our disordered desires.
Through this series, we will consider what Scripture has to teach us about each sin/vice: Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. We want to see how these seven sins appear in our own hearts and in our culture and how we can work against them through spiritual practices that cultivate a life of discipleship to Jesus. Above all, we are inviting Jesus to show us his forgiveness and mercy as he transforms us.
April 6, 2025
Lust: The Case of David (2 Samuel 1:1-15, Matthew 5:27-30)
This week’s sermon explores the deadly sin of lust through the story of David and Bathsheba. Lust is a disordered desire that leads me to use sex for my personal pleasure and gratification, leading us to dehumanize others, distort relationships, and ultimately desensitizes us to sexual sins. In contrast to lust, the gospel calls us to be a community of chastity that preserves and protects sex, channeling sexual desires under the Lordship of Christ and (when married) using sex as an act of love to serve your husband/wife.
Pastor Omar Ortiz
March 30, 2025
Sloth: The Case of Israel (Numbers 13:21-14:11)
In this sermon, we consider sloth. Sloth, or acedia, is not just laziness but a spiritual resistance to loving and following God wholeheartedly. Like Israel in the wilderness, we can grow apathetic when faced with difficulty, distraction, or disappointment, settling for a mediocre faith instead of persevering in trust and obedience. However, through God’s power, promises, and presence, we are called to resist sloth and pursue "a long obedience in the same direction," finding true joy and fulfillment in Christ.
Pastor Omar Ortiz
March 23, 2025
Wrath: The Case of Cain (Genesis 4:1-16)
The story of Cain in Genesis 4 invites us to reflect on the nature of anger. Scripture warns us about anger while at the same time telling us that righteous anger can be a reflection of God’s anger towards sin, injustice, and evil. In this next sermon in our series on the Seven Deadly Sins, we consider the difference between unrighteous anger (wrath) and the righteous anger that Jesus displayed.
Pastor Omar Ortiz
March 16, 2025
Gluttony: The Case of Eli’s Sons (1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25)
Gluttony is a disordered desire for food, drink, or something else to satisfy our deepest desires. By consuming too much, too fussily, or too little, we give in to temptations at the expense of our health, community, or calling. In contrast, we see that Jesus invites us to follow him in feasting as fasting. Through these two practices, we train our desires to believe that the Lord’s provision is enough and good.
Pastor Omar Ortiz
March 9, 2025
Greed: The Case of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 21)
This week, we consider the sin of greed, using King Ahab and Queen Jezebel as our case studies. Greed is a disordered desire for money or other possessions that allows us to justify our actions even at the expense of our neighbor. Together, we consider how greed works, why we are so easily blinded to its presence in our lives, and how the generosity we experience from Jesus in the gospel drives us to repentance and sacrificial generosity.
Pastor Omar Ortiz
March 2, 2025
Pride: The Case of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4)
This sermon is part of our Lenten series on the Seven Deadly Sins, exploring how pride, the root of all sin, distorts our hearts and leads us away from God. In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar learns a hard lesson when God humbles him, reminding us that all power and success are gifts from above. By looking to Jesus, who humbled Himself for our sake, we find the antidote to pride through repentance, gratitude, and faith.
Pastor Omar Ortiz