“Do not be a slave to your „I“” – Sunday sermon from July 19, 2026

Spiritual context of service

The service began with an ardent prayer of thanks to the Lord for saving lives after another restless night full of anxiety and danger in the suburbs of Kyiv and the capital. Despite the visible consequences of the war – the smoke and ash that littered the streets after enemy flights – there is a firm conviction that God’s hand is protecting His children. Peace within the heart does not depend on external circumstances, and glorifying the Most High is a conscious choice of a believer during a storm.

The main theme of the sermon within the month of Christian character research was the exposure of the hidden internal enemy – human self-centeredness, our “I”, which seeks to usurp the throne of the human heart, displacing God from it.

Key theses of the sermon

1. The trap of independence and the illusion of control

The modern world imposes the philosophy “you are the master of your life.” However, in the spiritual realm, trying to solve everything without God is a dangerous trap. Often we build our own plans (roof) without God’s foundation, and then ask for blessings on what is already destroyed by our self-confidence. True faith begins where the total control of our self ends.

“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”
from John 10:10 CSB

Our inner selfishness acts like an enemy, undermining God’s blessings by sowing doubt and fear whenever reality does not match our expectations.

2. Who is on the throne of your heart?

Spiritual maturity is tested not when we are in the cozy atmosphere of Sunday service among brothers and sisters, but in everyday life situations – in queues, transport or domestic conflicts. It is where no one sees us that what really fills the heart is revealed. We cannot serve two masters at the same time.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
from Matthew 6:24 KJV

The world evaluates a person by career, charisma and appearance, trying to embellish reality with “digital filters”. Instead, God looks exclusively at the heart and the presence of love in it.

3. Self-denial is strength, not weakness

Trust in God and conscious renunciation of self does not make a Christian spineless. On the contrary, it is a manifestation of supernatural power and faith. Trusting God means allowing Him to take the helm of our lives.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2 KJV

The Lord gives us His Word as seed, but we have to sow our day with it ourselves. In order to reveal His power, God often allows challenges and “Goliaths” in our lives, expecting us to go against them not with our own weapons or ambitions, but with the Lord’s Name.

Conclusion and appeal

The most difficult victory in the life of a believer is the victory over his own pride. The call of the sermon consists in a daily choice: instead of building plans around one’s own ego, to offer God a prayer of humility:

Only after freeing oneself from the slavery of one’s “I” does one find true peace for one’s soul, spiritual healing and protection in God’s strong fortress.