The call of Lent is not simply to give something up. It is to go looking for something; something of lasting value, something that does not rust, rot, or slip through your fingers when you need it most.

In this Cycle B Lenten and Easter series, Derl Keefer takes readers on what he calls a treasure hunt - through Ash Wednesday's call to honest self-examination, through the six Sundays of Lent and the profound arc of Holy Week, through the Easter morning light of John 20 and the rich series of post-resurrection appearances. Along the way, Keefer draws on sixty-plus years of preaching experience, a lifetime of pastoral storytelling, and a deep conviction that Scripture becomes a message to the person in the pew only when the Holy Spirit is involved.

These are sermons that reach for the life illustrations; a wartime lifesaver who never received a thank-you, a preacher's father refusing aid to those who wouldn't help themselves, the old acrostic on prayer that opens into something deeper. They are honest about the struggle and clear about the power: the power that is not manufactured by the preacher or manufactured by the listener, but given, by the One who defeated death on Easter morning.

Use these sermons as a resource, a starting place, a Holy Spirit-led prompt. Preach the word in season and out of season.