Tag Archives: Sermon Notes

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Trials, Temptations, & Thankfulness (James 1)

This is a brief excerpt from a  series at Pathways Church on truths from the book of James (from back in Oct 2008).  

  • TRIAL: I sat on the porch watching my 3 little kids playing in the street realizing that I would/could very well lose everything; a lawsuit that threatened to cause me to lose everything–KEY: No matter how much you have prepared; no matter how much you have planned for every situation; no matter what you say and do; no matter how much control you think that you have–you will be hit in life with things that are unfair and out of your control and yes, even devastating.
  • TEMPTATION: The night before Thanksgiving I lost sight of God.  I doubted His love, His presence.
  • THANKFULNESS:  Thanksgiving day came and although I was not that thankful, I chose to be thankful and list and look for thankful moments “…consider it all joy…”-James 1:1 Later on James mentions a ‘crown of life’.  My pastor friend, Bucky, shared with me that maybe we have misunderstood the ‘crown of life’ to be a crown we receive after we die.  Maybe this is a crown that we wear now on this side of heaven in the kingdom of God that is NOW HERE!  Maybe the trials we go through give us the eyes to see LIFE as God wants us to see LIFE as a GIFT!

Please enjoy my short audio about my “trial” and what it has taught me about thankfulness.  And as always please leave a comment!

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Not A Copy But An Image: Thoughts from The Shack

In his amazing book: The Shack, Paul Young writes a parable with a dialogue between a guy named Mack and the Trinity: Jesus, Papa aka God, and Sarayu aka The Holy Spirit.  Here is a section that explains the Christian walk beautifully and helped me to refocus and better understand my Christian walk.

Jesus says, “Mack, just like love, submission is not something that you can do, especially not on your own.  Apart from my life inside of you, you can’t submit to Nan, or your children, or anyone else in your life, including Papa.”

“You mean…that I can’t just ask, ‘What Would Jesus Do’?”

Jesus says, “Good intentions, bad idea…my life was not meant to be an example to copy.  Being my follower is not trying to ‘be like Jesus,’ it means for your independence to be killed.  I came to give you life, real life, my life.  We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you begin to see with  our eyes, and hear with out ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do…”

Mack says, “This must be the dying daily that Sarayu was talking about…”

“I have been crucified with Christ.  I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”-Galatians 2: 20

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If you had ONE word to describe Jesus what would it be?

During this CRAZY financial time, this is a GREAT message from my friend Bill’s newsletter:

One Word

Christian Soul Care Devotional

Bill Gaultiere

Some time ago I was meeting with Dallas Willard and in the course of our conversation he asked me, “If you had one word to describe Jesus what would it be?”

How would you answer that question?  Close your eyes for a moment and consider this.  Write down the first words that come to mind. If you could only use one word to describe Jesus what would it be?

Have you stopped reading this devotional so you can give your own answer?!  Go ahead take a moment now….

Jesus is the Word of all words!   His is the name above all names.  He is so magnificent and multi-faceted how could we pin him down to just one word!  And yet, I found this to be a very meaningful exercise.  The words we pick and the ones we don’t pick may have something to say about our relationship with him.

Here are the words I thought of…  Jesus is… Love… Holy… Lord… Teacher… Risen… Healer…  (These areall good words to describe Jesus.)

Then Dallas looked into my eyes and shared with me his word.  You need to know that this was a special moment for me.  He’s my key mentor.  I’ve read every book he’s written more than once.  I’ve listened (many times) to every audio teaching series of his I can find.  In the last six years he has discipled me to Jesus in ways that have impacted all that I am and everything that I do as a Christian, husband, father, friend, psychologist, minister, writer…

What one word would Dallas Willard use to describe Jesus?  “Relaxed.”

Relaxed? 

I would have never thought of that word!  But ever since that conversation I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Jesus being relaxed.  

Think about it.  Jesus had far and away the most important and dangerous mission that any human being has ever had or ever will have.  He had to wait 18 years to begin working on his calling and then he had just three years of public ministry to fulfill it.  And yet Jesus was relaxed!

Jesus needed to convince a large number people that although he was merely a man he was also the unique Son of God.  And his followers needed to be so confident in him as their Lord and Savior that they would give their lives to lead other people to know him – even to the point of torture and death. And yet Jesus was relaxed! 

Jesus could only be in one location at a time.  And when he left one city to go to another he left behind people that hadn’t been healed or discipled (Matthew 13:58).  Most people – even his own family at first – rejected him and his message (Luke 4:28-30, Mark 3:20, 31-34).  Many of the people he discipled deserted him (John 6:66).  And even his faithful disciples didn’t understand who he was until after he rose from the dead (Mark 8:31-33)!  And yet Jesus was relaxed!

The fate of all humankind – past, present, and future – depended on Jesus successfully completing his gospel mission!  And yet Jesus remained relaxed! 

When I have big responsibilities I start to feel overwhelmed… When I am stressed by situations anxious feelings rise up within me… When I am criticized or rejected I am tempted to react by feeling bad about myself or getting angry… When I have lots to do I tend to hurry… 

How did Jesus remain at peace when he was under pressures much, much harder than I face?  He practiced what he preached!  He lived in the same “easy yoke” that he offers to us.  Jesus was the first disciple: he apprenticed himself to the Father, learning to live out the things he would later teach (think of Jesus’ 18 hidden years from ages 12 to 30 as his discipleship training program). 

Our sinless Lord “grew” (Luke 2:52); he “learned” (Hebrews 5:8) how to…

·        Maintain moment-by-moment submission to God’s will, never saying or doing anything except as the Father directed him (John 6:38, 12:50). 

·        Pray without ceasing (John 11:42, 1 Thessalonians 5:17)

·        Be so dependent upon the Holy Spirit as to be filled with his presence and power without limit (John 3:34).

·        Bless those that cursed him (Luke 22:34). 

In my discipleship to Jesus I am learning how to follow his example and walk with him in his “easy yoke,” his “unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:28, MSG).  And so more and more I too am relaxed!

If Kristi or I can offer you counseling or spiritual direction call us at 949-262-3699.

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Spiritual Secret

The famous missionary to inland China wrote a book titled: Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret.

Hudson Taylor had a difficult and amazing life.  At one point in his life, he had become very depressed, even contemplating suicide due to so many frustrations in the mission field of China.  He shared his frustrations and concerns with a friend who wrote to him in 1869 the words that forever transformed Hudson Taylor.  Here are the words that describe Hudson Taylor’s spiritual ‘secret’:

“I seem as if the first glimmers of the dawn of a glorious day has risen upon me…I seem to have supped only that which can fully satisfy…To let my loving Saviour work in me His will…abiding, not striving or struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power…resting in the love of an almighty Saviour in the joy of a complete salvation…Not striving to have faith, or to increase my faith but a looking at the faithful one seems all we need.  A resting in the Loved One entirely, for time, for eternity.  It does not appear to me as anything new, only formerly misunderstood.”-John McCarthy

Hudson Taylor had found his spiritual secret.  It was the exchanged life–no longer I but Christ living in me.The One Year Christian History devotional, pg 497

“I have been crucified with Christ.  I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”-Galatians 2:19-20

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Paul Young speaks and preaches AGAIN

This is the 1 of 4 teachings from July 2008 at Mariners Church when the author of the amazing book: The Shack spoke.  (There are 4 separate podcasts that you can listen from Mariners Church podcast; these 2 are the best of the 4.)

As always please share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment.

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Paul Young SPEAKS about The Shack etc.

This is the 1 of 4 teaching sessions from Mariners Church by Paul Young author of the amazing, must read book: The Shack.  In this session he shares some of his life’s experiences and answers some of the common questions people have about the book. (There are 4 separate podcasts that you can listen from Mariners Church podcast; these 2 are the best of the 4.)

Please share your thoughts with us here at UBERLUMEN by posting a comment.

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Love your Enemies

I recently had a conversation with a friend at work who mentioned that a skeptic friend of his pointed out that the God of the Old Testament seems to be a different God from the New Testament using the classic example: O.T.=eye for an eye; N.T.=turn the other cheek.

Here is a classic Mike Erre sermon from the sermon on the mount in which he explains this supposed contradiction.

Take home: eye for an eye laws were VERY progressive at the time and were created by God to promote societal justice whereas turn the other cheek teaching of Jesus was what we as individuals should continue to strive to do.

Here is another great summary of eye for an eye laws vs. turning the other cheek

As always, please share with us your thoughts!

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Evil and Suffering, Passing the Blame

It took me some time to see it (15 years), but it finally dawned on me as I observed another doctor do it.  I saw a patient who was dying of end stage liver disease from alcoholism.  The first question that the admitting doctor asked the patient was “When was the last time that you had a drink?”  How is that relevant at the end of this patients life?

I have been guilty of this as well.  I have seen patients dying of lung cancer that I have asked if they smoked and how much.  WHY?!! There is no medical reason to ask.  We ask these types of questions because it makes us feel better.  We think to ourselves:  1. They are to blame for their demise and 2. I won’t get this horrible disease because I don’t smoke or I don’t drink.

The blame game does NOTHING to help with the suffering, the evil, the tragedies, the messes of life.  We must rise above the blame game to ask ourselves how can I help others through this and to help heal the pain with God’s help.

We all play the blame game and look for someone to blame.

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God Questions Part 3: Evil and Suffering

This topic has hit me personally right between the eyes this last few years.  Bucky and I discuss evil and suffering in this session of the God Questions at Pathways Church (www.ocpathways.org)

You can also read this brief collection of information that I put together concerning evil and suffering:

The 5-C’s of Evil and Suffering

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Evil and Suffering Sermon #2 Luke 13:4

This is Greg Boyd’s final sermon on evil and suffering his preaching on Luke 13. He makes 3 KEY POINTS in this sermon:

#1. collapse the judgment–don’t blame the sufferer and don’t blame yourself for the suffering. We don’t know squat! As C.S. Lewis said to a colleague who was trying to comfort him with Lewis’ own theological answers to evil and suffering after his wife Joy died: ‘Shut up, it’s just a bloody mess.”
When we judge or look for blame for a tragedy, it forces us to conclude that God is just, and therefore we must blame the individuals involved in the tragedy.  Or we must conclude that God is unjust, and we must blame God for the tragedy.  But God doesn’t cause the messes; He brings purpose to the messes!
The one suffering often feels horrible and that they are to blame which causes us to label ourselves a murderer or a whatever and that makes us “not a verb that we did but a noun that we are!”
We must live in the now because God is in the now.  No blaming but asking God how He can bring good out of this tragedy.  Every mess is an opportunity to bring healing and something good out of it.  In a time of suffering, we must be quiet, listen and ask how would you, God, have me respond to this mess?
#2. in the face of tragedies don’t judge, just respond–Are you turned and walking in the kingdom? Don’t try to figure it out! Just bring healing! HOW CAN GOD BE GLORIFIED IN THE MESS?
#3. God’s response to tragedy is always about healing never about condemnation–We live in a demonic war zone…demonic forces play a big part of suffering….
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God Questions Part 1

Bucky and I did a sermon series together titled: The God Questions.  Here is Part 1 of 4.  This is an introduction by Bucky to the journey, the questions, the talking time with our friends about these life changing questions.  Please let me know your thoughts about these messages.

The 3 key themes through out our series were:

  1. Love: It is the MOST exciting adventure of our lives to explore the key questions in life.  Why not do it with love? We want to emphasize the key to any time in discussion with someone must be with love.
  2. Listen:  The best answer is a question.  Too much time has been spent NOT listening to the other person in the discussion of these important questions of life.  If you don’t know or don’t understand, then listen!
  3. Learn: This is a team effort.  We want you to enjoy and learn from the time with others in discussion on these GREAT topics.
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John 9:3

3 great points made by Greg Boyd:

  1. Some people use this verse to say that God is sometimes the source of evil but we must look at the entire Bible and note that based on what the Bible says about God being good, this verse is the exception and not the rule
  2. There are unseen evil forces at work
  3. the original Greek of this text  states: “…But let the works of God be displayed in him…”  Therefore it does not say that God caused the man to be blind but his blindness lead to God’s goodness being displayed
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Evil and Suffering Sermon #1 Luke 13:4

Another GREAT sermon by Greg Boyd! I wish that I had heard this during my times of suffering.

KEY POINTS:

  • Evil and suffering is not from God
  • God is good
  • Don’t ask why but ask ‘to what end’ (26:45)
  • Ask God ‘How should I respond in this situation?’ & ‘How can God be glorified in this situation?’