Tag Archives: Christ

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What is PRAYER?

What is prayer?

Prayer is SO much and there are so MANY ways to pray….but here is a
brief list of what prayer is about…
1. Time with God
“…Prayer is a window into knowing the mind of God, whose kingdom is
entrusted to all of us frail, selfish people on earth.”-Philip Yancey
2. Praise to God: Thank Him for all the blessings in your life…
2. Requests to God: ASK Him, SEEK Him
3. Partnership with God
“…Prayer is our chance to join forces with God’s power to confront
suffering and evil head-on.”-Philip Yancey

 

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Where is God? Part 2: No Where Else To Go (CREATOR)

During our 6 week series titled: Where is God? We will be exploring 6 C’s of Evil and Suffering: Connection, Creator, Choice, Cross, Compassion, and Conclusions.

Part 2 addressed the Creator by looking at the Book of Job.

  • Why ask Why? It is ok to ask why in times of suffering.
  • Friends or Fiends? Job’s friends had it right the first time when the comforted Job with not trying to answer why but being present with him.  The most honest answer may be: I don’t know, or as C.S. Lewis responded to a theologian friend of his when his wife, Joy, died, “It’s just a bloody mess!”
  • The God of our misunderstanding.  Job’s heart was right, but his theology was wrong.  When we go through a dark time, we often turn to our false understanding of God.  I turned to my understanding of God–a distant God who told me that I was not enough.  Our times of suffering are defining times because we will either run away from a false god of our own making, or we will finally see the true God who is closer than we could ever imagine and who is whispering in our ear, “you are enough! You are my beloved child!”
  • Why to Who.  Finally we turn away from the why and focus on the Who.
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First Importance Part 2: 1 Corinthians 15

This is the 2nd of Mike Erre’s sermons on 1 Corinthians 15–a pivotal section of scripture regarding the first importance of the resurrection.

The last part of 1 Corinthians 15 is confusing to our modern reading because we miss the cultural context, and we lack back 1st century knowledge of the Old Testament.  Mike does a great job of walking us through the what Paul is saying.

We have to remember that Paul was a famous preacher/communicator so when he said these words to a crowd of  1st century people, they must of understood it as clearly as we understand the newspaper.

Mike ends with a magical time of helping us to picture the grandeur and excitement of heaven.  Enjoy!

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Cornerstone: Christ is ALL & without Him there is NOTHING!

This is a powerful sermon by Greg Boyd about the Messianic prophecy regarding Christ being the cornerstone.  He points out the emptiness, void, and nothingness that we have without Him.  Without Christ, we try to fill the void and despair of our meaningless existence by so many fleeting and worthless endeavors.

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First Importance Part 1: The Resurrection 1 Corinthians 15

Mike Erre at Rockharbor Church has been doing a series on 1 Corinthians.  I have attatched for your listening interest the 1st of his sermons concerning 1 Corinthians 15 which is a pivotal section of Scripture describing the importance of the Resurrection of Jesus.

Mike points out:

  • without the resurrection our faith is worthless
  • the word used in this passage and throughout the New Testament means trust in something that you know to be true
  • 1 Corinthians 15 is a creedal statement dated to approx 36 A.D. (only 3 years after Christ’s death)
  • there is substantial historical and testimonial evidence for the resurrection: crucifixion=death, empty tomb=skeptics need to ‘show me the body’, appearances=many and so convincing that cowards became martyrs, tranformed lives=Saul to Paul, doubting Thomas, and James the younger brother of Jesus…cumulative evidence–what event best explains all of this? A: The resurrection
  • gospel accounts: women first to see Him (only way women would be first witnesses would be that it really happened this way); non embelished, simple accounts (not enough time for legend & very real, down to earth accounts), etc…
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Contempt is the key to a BAD Marriage

I was reminded of some powerful marriage tips and principles from one of John Gottman’s great marriage books when Gottman’s research was brought up in Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell points out that Gottman has done detailed, objective research to find traits that can sink any marriage.  The primary trait that will ruin a marriage? CONTEMPT.

“Four Horsemen: defensiveness, stonewalling, criticism, and contempt. Even within the Four Horsemen, in fact, there is one emotion that he considers the most important of all: contempt. If Gottman observes one or both partners in a marriage showing contempt toward the other, he considers it the single most important sign that the marriage is in trouble.
“It’s trying to put that person on a lower plane than you. It’s hierarchical.” Gottman has found, in fact, that the presence of contempt in a marriage can even predict such things as how many colds a husband or a wife gets; in other words, having someone you love express contempt toward you is so stressful that it begins to affect the functioning of your immune system. “Contempt is closely related to disgust, and what disgust and contempt are about is completely rejecting and excluding someone from the community.”
“The big gender difference with negative emotions is that women are more critical, and men are more likely to stonewall. We find that women start talking about a problem, the men get irritated and turn away, and the women get more critical, and it becomes a circle. But there isn’t any gender difference when it comes to contempt. Not at all.” Contempt is special. If you can measure contempt, then all of a sudden you don’t need to know every detail of the couple’s relationship.”–excerpt from Gladwell’s book
My marriage was in trouble, and I didn’t even know it.  I specialized in contempt.  It has been a slow process, and my wife remembers when I was filled with contempt, but we both look back amazed at how contempt has been eliminated from our marriage for many years now.  How?
  • HUMILITY through serving her, putting her ahead of yourself, learning to love her the way that she needs to be loved
  • BROKENNESS–being willing to acknowledge your own faults and inadequacies helps to break the contempt cycle
  • CONFESSION–share with her your brokenness, be volunerable with her, allow her to see the real you–flaws and all.
  • working at making our marriage better
  • being WILLING to change and serve your spouse
  • dating other men–deep, meaningful relationships with a few men has helped me to be a better husband (and person)
  • spending time in the appreciation room (see Love Dare book for details)–leaning and training myself to look at and appreciate her for all her beauty and for who she is–being grateful for her.
  • walking with Christ–prayer, Bible study, learning more and more about His love, humility, service, sacrifice

There is more to follow….

Marriage is an adventure and a journey not a destination, and just like when you said I do to her and to Christ, it is just the beginning–the relationship (sanctification) is the adventure.

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Kingdom Living: Listen & Look for God moments

In Mike Erre’s newest book: Death by Church, he has an important chapter titled: Postures of Incarnation.  We need to show the world the incarnation through out actions.  We need to prayerfully watch and listen for the God moments–those moments every day where God is nudging us to show his love to others.

“I used to hate interuptions to my ministry until I understood that interruptions were my ministry.”-Henri Nouwen

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Is there REALLY a satan? PART 1

This is the 1st of a 3 part series on the Biblical foundation of the spiritual truth of the demonic, the evidence of the demonic, and some evidence of the demonic learned from experience and C.S. Lewis. Uberlumen has chosen this 3 part series because we in the western world have lost site of the demonic.  As one friend has said: Don’t you think satan is real if Paul wrote about him?  Part of our Christian growth and walk must acknowledge the truths that we don’t like to think about and that we put into question in our society.
PART 1: The Biblical foundations of this spiritual truth.  We live between a clash of 2 kingdoms.  Enjoy this sermon by Mike on the Biblical truth of the kingdom of darkness.
As always please share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
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Men’s Group: Calvary Road, Dove and Lamb, Chapter 5

This chapter’s focus is once AGAIN: humility.  Only when we are broken and willing to be filled can we truly embrace and grow in the Holy Spirit’s teachings.  I have included this amazing statement below, study questions, and Dave’s insights.
Study Guide statement, pg 18:  “Remember the goal of the Christ-life is NOT to be a better Christian.  It is to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, by the Holy Spirit’s conquest of self.  Victory is not me overcoming my sin, victory is Jesus Christ overcoming me. When He overcomes me, moment by moment, the only Biblical response is humility and brokenness, which brings on the much needed grace of God. GLORY!

study questions:

1. Take a few minutes to meditate on this statement:  “But inasmuch as there is no past or future with God, but all is present and timeless, there is a sense in which the suffering of the Lord Jesus for the sins of which we have not repented is present too. What a vision it is when we see these sins wounding and hurting Him now!”
2. How can we be more like the Lamb?
  • humility–examples at work and at home?
  • submissiveness–examples at work and at home?
  • self-surrender–examples at work and at home?
3. What does Hession mean by this statement: “Victorious living and effective soul-winning service are not the product of our better selves and hard endeavours, but are simply the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are not called upon to produce the fruit, but simply to bear it.“
4. “A saintly African Christian told a congregation once that, as he was climbing the hill to the meeting, he heard steps behind him. He turned and saw a man carrying a very heavy load up the hill on his back. He was full of sympathy for him and spoke to him. Then he noticed that His hands were scarred, and he realised that it was Jesus. He said to Him, “Lord, are you carrying the world’s sins up the hill?” “No,” said the Lord Jesus, “not the world’s sin, just yours!”
What are the sins that Jesus is carrying?

Dave’s Insights:  You had to be awake and ready to start this session because Drew got your brain going right out of the gate. Here is what we led off with: Take a few minutes and mediate on this statement, “But inasmuch as there is no past or future with God, but all is present and timeless, there is a sense in which the suffering of the Lord Jesus for the sins of which we have not repented is present, too. What a sin it is when we see these sins wounding and hurting him now.”

Robby said we tend to focus more on the forgiveness than the severity of the sin. I know I have been guilty of that, “I am forgiven” attitude, rather than taking the time to truly realize the impact of my sin and that it is wrong. I have come to realize I do not feel forgiven until I spend time with God, confess my sin and ask for His forgiveness.

The next question asked how we can be more like the Lamb. It gave suggestions for exploration in three areas, humility, submissiveness and self-surrender. Bucky talked about self-surrender. Bucky said sometimes he has hidden expectations and gets distressed when the outcome is not what he expected or wanted. I think we can all relate to that one, can’t we? We all have expectations. What do we do, or how do we respond when that job interview doesn’t get us the job, our finances aren’t where we would like them to be, or, the old, “I never thought I would be in this situation at this point in my life (it isn’t what I expected).” Funny thing is, a song by a fairly new Christian says “Welcome to wherever you are. God makes no mistakes; you are exactly where you are supposed to be.” How true, God has a plan for you. That plan may not be what you want or expect but it certainly is where you are supposed to be. So, maybe in your time with God, you can ask Him, “Lord, how may I serve you in this situation?”  If you keep your heart open, God will use you in that situation, no matter what it is. And, I believe you will both benefit from it.

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Part 4: Does suffering show us God?

This is the 4th of a 5 part series that we did at Pathways Church.  Bucky does a powerful job of sharing the uniqueness of Christianity and the power of the cross to help us during our suffering.  Evil and suffering is a topic of great concern to all of us.  We have a history of posts on this important topic that you can review by simply scrolling down and looking to the right to see under the categories section: Evil and Suffering link.

As always, please share your thoughts with us.

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Passover and the Cross

I missed yet another ‘God moment’ when I was listening in to a discussion between 2 families about passover and the cross.  Lacking the courage and/or energy to speak up, I listened as the Jewish family and the Catholic family had this dialogue with the conclusions that the passover and the cross are stories that shared from each other and just happen to fall on the same days this year.  I proceeded to try and share with my sister the incredible parallel’s between the passover and the cross during our Good Friday dinner discussions.

We have lost sight of the incredible and miraculous design of the Bible: “The old testament is the new testament concealed and the new testament is the old testament revealed.”-Chuck Missler

One historical event that is truly miraculous and shows us the overwhelming design of the Bible message is the passover and its foretelling of Jesus and his ministry.

Enjoy Mike’s great message as he points out some of the incredible connectedness between the passover and the cross.

  • I have always thought that the plagues in Exodus were just random and honestly very bizarre choices for God to make–locust, frogs, etc…BUT Mike points out that each plague represented God’s very specific and intential counter to each of the major Egyptian false gods.  Once again our western minds and education miss the point and see the choice of plagues as funny and random to satisfy our desire to make fun at the Bible and it’s ‘God’; when in reality, the God of the Bible is VERY real and chose each plague carefully to point out to the Egyptian people that they were worshipping false gods/idols!
  • The Jewish slaves had 2 problems–slavery and the wrath of God just as we have the same 2 problems today (as Paul points out in Ephesians 2)–slavery to sin and the wrath of God.
  • wrath of God:  1. God’s wrath is used to do all that can be done to eliminate sin and 2. again our western mind set now is fixated on God’s love and ignore His Holiness.  But the new testament teaches a different covenant but NOT a different God–the entire Bible teaches of God’s Holiness (His only attribute that is emphasized in the Old Testament by Isaiah’s statement: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord…).  With His holiness comes His wrath against anything that is not holy–i.e. our sin! 3. When we sin and God allows it to continue–that is His judgment; when we sin and we get caught–now that is His mercy… 4. God’s wrath and love merge at the cross.

Enjoy Mike’s sermon and please share your thoughts.

Here is a GREAT summary of the passover and the cross–the golden thread of redemption and the incredible design proven by prophecy and foreshadowing in the Bible is AMAZING!

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Luke 18: The rich young ruler & all of His homes

Greg Boyd hits 2 homeruns in a row with these 2 sermons.  The first discusses that age old challenge of the rich young ruler who approaches Jesus and asks Him what must he do to inherit eternal life, and the second discusses Jesus’ comments later on in Luke 18 regarding who is your mother, brother etc….  Both are powerful and moving.

  • The die to stuff exercise at the end of the first is really revealing and powerful
  • The community of Christ teaching that can truly transform our communities throughout the second is inspiring and challenging.

As always share with us your comments.

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Men’s Group: John 8:1-11 February 18, 2009

Summary from Dave:

On Wednesday morning we read the story of Jesus and the woman “caught” in adultery (John 8:1-11).  Please take a few minutes and read it before you continue.  And, as you read it consider your answers to these questions and record them in your journal:

Who do you relate to most in this story?  Why?

What is the purpose of the “Law” in our lives?

Well, many of us agreed that the woman in the story (the adulterer) represents all of us.  We are all sinners; no one is perfect, only God.  And, it is a reminder that before we go around condemning others for their sins, we need to look at ourselves, because in God’s eyes, all sin is the same.  An adulterer’s sin is not any greater than someone who cheats and lies in business or someone who views pornography.  In other words, it doesn’t matter which commandment you break, they are all sins and they hurt the One who loves us.  The grace that Jesus showed this woman is the same grace He shows us every minute of every day.  And, when we repent, Jesus commands us to go and sin no more (that is the key – we must go to Jesus and repent).  What I find interesting in this story is that Jesus tells the woman He does not condemn her but He does not tell her she is forgiven.  If you have some thoughts on that please write me; I’d like to hear them.

To the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, the Law represented the truth.  But Jesus turned the tables on them.  He showed them they were no better in God’s eyes than this woman.  The truth was, they were all sinners.  None of them was capable of judging the woman; judgment is up to God, not us.  We learned last Wednesday that the Law shows us the need for a Savior. Without Jesus we all fall short of the Law and none of us would make it to heaven. Have you thought about where you are on the grace/truth scale in your relationships?  Many of us are slanted toward one or the other.  Of course, Jesus was the perfect balance of grace and truth.  Who gives the grace in your relationship and who is the person of truth?  I know I am a man of truth.  It is difficult for me to show grace; I want to ram truth down your throat.  But, to counteract that, to temper my truth, God introduced me to Cynthia. If you saw my email last week you remember the grace Cynthia showed me.  By pairing me with Cynthia God is showing the grace given to me.  And, if you’ve gone on to the Uberlumen website (www.uberlumen.com) and listened to my testimony you know I do not deserve a woman of Cynthia’s caliber.  Kind of like how we do not deserve the grace, mercy and forgiveness God gives us.  God sure is good, isn’t He?.

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Men’s Group: The Good Samaritan February 11, 2009

Then an expert in Moses’ Teachings stood up to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “What is written in Moses’ Teachings? What do you read there?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.’ And ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'” Jesus told him, “You’re right! Do this, and life will be yours.” But the man wanted to justify his question. So he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way robbers stripped him, beat him, and left him for dead. “By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went around him and continued on his way. Then a Levite came to that place. When he saw the man, he, too, went around him and continued on his way. “But a Samaritan, as he was traveling along, came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he felt sorry for the man, went to him, and cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day the Samaritan took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. He told the innkeeper, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than that, I’ll pay you on my return trip.’ “Of these three men, who do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?” The expert said, “The one who was kind enough to help him.” Jesus told him, “Go and imitate his example!” (Luke 10:25-37 GW)

 

Who do you most identify with in this story and why?

 

Have you ever felt like or been the man on the street?

 

What are the barriers to helping the man on the street?

 

Have you ever been too busy to help someone?

 

Is our decision to help someone determined more by our character or by our circumstances?[1]

 

What can we do to better prepare ourselves to be a good neighbor?

 

How can we ‘go and imitate [the good Samaritan’s] example’? [2],[3]

 

[2] “God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things.  He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.”-Ted W. Engstrom, The Making of a Christian Leader, 81

[3] Luke 10:37

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Start the New Year with a Resolution: A Daily Devotional

Now is the time to start a yearly devotional.  It is imperative to our walk with Christ to be in a devotional daily. The secret to the best devotionals? Reading the Bible (And if you do this every year, one way to motivate you to keep going is to read through the Bible in a different translation than one that you usually read e.g. New Living Translation, New American Standard, God’s Word, to name a few):

1. The Discipleship Journal has several options (I am doing this one this year) AND I am using a different Bible translation: Holman Christian Standard Bible AND I am reading the Bible using The Apologetics Study Bible which is excellent for those with a lot of questions.

2. A One Year Bible is a great way to go

A few GREAT options for those who want to do a daily devotion but not read through the Bible:

1. The One Year Book of Church History (I just finished this one, and it was AMAZING! I HIGHLY recommend it.)

2. Promises by Bill Bright (I did this one years ago. It is excellent, but I think it is out of print.)

3. Our Daily Bread: You can download it to your PDA, read it online, or order a paper copy. (I have done this one for years, and it is simple, concise and FREE! They will send you a free copy FOREVER–even tracked me down when I moved across the country!)

4. The One Year Book of Bible Prayer is another great option.

5. walkthru.org has a eDevotion that is sent to you via email, and they have some GREAT paper devotionals

(Their Daily Walk will walk you through the Bible in a year, and their Closer Walk will walk you through the New Testament in a year–both are excellent.)

Finally there are some GREAT audio options:

1.  The Bible Experience (you can buy on itunes via audiobooks or at their website)  I have bought the book of John and the Psalms and listened through it.  They are VERY good. 

2. The Bible Podcast is a FREE audio version of the Bible that is also excellent.

It doesn’t matter what you do as much as doing SOME form of daily devotion.  Ideally you are reading the Bible daily.