John 1:1-18
Our congregation, as you may know, has begun a short study on what it means, from our understanding, to follow Jesus. It is a five-week study that is based in our groups. In this sermon, I explore some ideas around what it means to follow Jesus.
I have been captivated recently with the thought of how humbling, amazing and astounding it is that God would invite us into a relationship with himself, and that is what I think it means to follow Jesus. After all, God already has everything he needs, and lives--has lived eternally--in a satisfying relationship of love and mutuality within the realm of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So why does he need me. Well, he doesn't. He doesn't need me, but rather desires me, and that is amazing.
In this sermon I explore just a bit the nature of the trinity and I play around with the word "perichoresis", which was used by the church fathers in an attempt to capture the nature of the relationship between the persons in the Godhead. I say attempt because all human reasoning about this falls short at some level or another. If you are interested, wikipedia has a good article here and another article here that works at the etymology of the word and its use in theology. What I say in the sermon is a very, very shallow introduction.
The four ways I mention that "follow" is often understood, or practiced, in today's world of Christianity are elaborated further in the book With by Sky Jethani (Thomas Nelson, 2011). You likely will be hearing me talk about these concepts more in the future.
You can view the video we used in worship. You may recognize the video from the opening of Contact staring Jodi Foster, and the voice over was inspired, in part, by a paragraph in With (page 100).
Thanks for digging deeper.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Unconditional (Tough) Love
Hosea 1 and 3.
As I was preaching the sermon on Unconditional Love a few weeks ago, I realized that I did not have enough time to elaborate on all the aspects of God's redeeming love for us (not ever, actually). Particularly, I did not have time to talk about God's tough love--how does God love me when I turn my back on him and go astray?
In my previous sermon (which you can link to via the side bar), I mentioned that the story of the Prodigal Son is a great window into how God loves us and waits for us to turn towards him. Likewise, the prophet Hosea is the story of how God loves us when we turn from him, and how God desires to win us back, and how he has paid the price for our redemption. He is ready to buy us back from whatever form of spiritual slavery into which we have sold ourselves. God is amazing.
Well, you need to listen to the sermon to get the detail. What I want to give you hear is some more background stuff. Hosea can be a hard read.
If you are interested in various views concerning how much Hosea knew of Gomer's promiscuity before they married, read this article by a Rabbi.
One of the fascinating things about the Hosea story is the naming of his children. His first son was named Jezreel, as a prophetic word against an atrocity committed years before. God to 2 Kings 9 and 10 (and the latter part of 2 Kings 8) to read about that event. Also, link here to a really good family tree, showing you the relationship of the kings over the northern Kingdom of Israel and their descendants, and that of the southern kingdom of Judah and their descendants. This gives us insight into why Jehu would have killed Ahaziah, king of Judah, in his wild slaughter at Jezreel. (His mother was a daughter of Ahab and sister to Joram [Jehoram on the chart].) The other two children, Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi, are names that refer to the way in which God would deal with is rebellious people. Listen to the sermon.
Hosea is an amazing story of love and obedience to God, and it is a picture of how God loves us, even when he must discipline us for our sin.
The primary message to the book of that of Redeeming Love, albeit love that takes a really hard edge. It is sometimes difficult for us to see how God's love is seen in the really hard times, but it is there and for a purpose.
Finally, for a rather in-depth review of the kings and prophets with some really helpful charts, link here.
(as is often the case, I do not necessarily agree with or support everything in these links, or other things that might be written by the authors linked to. I think you all understand that.)
Thanks for digging deeper,
Galen
As I was preaching the sermon on Unconditional Love a few weeks ago, I realized that I did not have enough time to elaborate on all the aspects of God's redeeming love for us (not ever, actually). Particularly, I did not have time to talk about God's tough love--how does God love me when I turn my back on him and go astray?
In my previous sermon (which you can link to via the side bar), I mentioned that the story of the Prodigal Son is a great window into how God loves us and waits for us to turn towards him. Likewise, the prophet Hosea is the story of how God loves us when we turn from him, and how God desires to win us back, and how he has paid the price for our redemption. He is ready to buy us back from whatever form of spiritual slavery into which we have sold ourselves. God is amazing.
Well, you need to listen to the sermon to get the detail. What I want to give you hear is some more background stuff. Hosea can be a hard read.
If you are interested in various views concerning how much Hosea knew of Gomer's promiscuity before they married, read this article by a Rabbi.
One of the fascinating things about the Hosea story is the naming of his children. His first son was named Jezreel, as a prophetic word against an atrocity committed years before. God to 2 Kings 9 and 10 (and the latter part of 2 Kings 8) to read about that event. Also, link here to a really good family tree, showing you the relationship of the kings over the northern Kingdom of Israel and their descendants, and that of the southern kingdom of Judah and their descendants. This gives us insight into why Jehu would have killed Ahaziah, king of Judah, in his wild slaughter at Jezreel. (His mother was a daughter of Ahab and sister to Joram [Jehoram on the chart].) The other two children, Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi, are names that refer to the way in which God would deal with is rebellious people. Listen to the sermon.
Hosea is an amazing story of love and obedience to God, and it is a picture of how God loves us, even when he must discipline us for our sin.
The primary message to the book of that of Redeeming Love, albeit love that takes a really hard edge. It is sometimes difficult for us to see how God's love is seen in the really hard times, but it is there and for a purpose.
Finally, for a rather in-depth review of the kings and prophets with some really helpful charts, link here.
(as is often the case, I do not necessarily agree with or support everything in these links, or other things that might be written by the authors linked to. I think you all understand that.)
Thanks for digging deeper,
Galen
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Unconditional Love
Jeremiah 31:1-6; John 3:16-18; Romans 5:6-8 (and a bunch of other verses).
For some reason, the idea that God loves us unconditionally is difficult for some people to affirm. If you google this idea, you will meet with posts that disagree with the concept, usually because they think to love unconditionally means to excuse sin and allow it to go unpunished. (If you are interested in reading a misconstrued article that completely misses the point, which is not helpful for everyone, check this out.)
Herein lies one of my reasons for this sermon: to explore what it means for God to love us unconditionally and then to understand what it means for us to love in the same way.
A. W. Tozer (a Bible teacher of the past century) says in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, that the most important thing about us is what enters our minds when we think about God. Wow. To think of him rightly, then, is to shape us in a positive way and to think of him wrongly, leads us astray.
So is it correct to think if God as loving us unconditionally? Yes, if we understand what that means. Listen in to the sermon and check out this post. (link to the related topics at the bottom of the page for more good reading).
To say that God's love is unconditional is not to say he tolerates sin and will wink at sin's consequences. Rather, to believe God loves us unconditionally means that He loves us first and that his love for us continues, even after we fail him and that, even when he is rightfully angry with us, he still loves us, and even when we reject him and continue on a path of destruction, he still loves us and desires our return to him, and that even as we are dying and obviously headed for Hell (if we have persisted in our rejection of God) he loves us and grieves over us, and that even while people writhe in the pain of eternal punishment forever and ever, God still loves them.
Why does God love like this? Well, because he is God and because he created us. He is our Father and as such desires to live in a relationship with us. He is the ultimate loving father who never gives up.
You might want to meditate on this song and on the image of the loving father, waiting for his erring son to return home in Luke 15:11-20.
Thanks for digging deeper.
For some reason, the idea that God loves us unconditionally is difficult for some people to affirm. If you google this idea, you will meet with posts that disagree with the concept, usually because they think to love unconditionally means to excuse sin and allow it to go unpunished. (If you are interested in reading a misconstrued article that completely misses the point, which is not helpful for everyone, check this out.)
Herein lies one of my reasons for this sermon: to explore what it means for God to love us unconditionally and then to understand what it means for us to love in the same way.
A. W. Tozer (a Bible teacher of the past century) says in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, that the most important thing about us is what enters our minds when we think about God. Wow. To think of him rightly, then, is to shape us in a positive way and to think of him wrongly, leads us astray.
So is it correct to think if God as loving us unconditionally? Yes, if we understand what that means. Listen in to the sermon and check out this post. (link to the related topics at the bottom of the page for more good reading).
To say that God's love is unconditional is not to say he tolerates sin and will wink at sin's consequences. Rather, to believe God loves us unconditionally means that He loves us first and that his love for us continues, even after we fail him and that, even when he is rightfully angry with us, he still loves us, and even when we reject him and continue on a path of destruction, he still loves us and desires our return to him, and that even as we are dying and obviously headed for Hell (if we have persisted in our rejection of God) he loves us and grieves over us, and that even while people writhe in the pain of eternal punishment forever and ever, God still loves them.
Why does God love like this? Well, because he is God and because he created us. He is our Father and as such desires to live in a relationship with us. He is the ultimate loving father who never gives up.
You might want to meditate on this song and on the image of the loving father, waiting for his erring son to return home in Luke 15:11-20.
Thanks for digging deeper.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Baptized Into Jesus
John 15:1-17
1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-28
Baptism has a jaded history. During certain eras of the Christian Church, passionate defenders of various aspects of baptism engaged in hot debates about water baptism's form and meaning. Church split over the issues and whole movements began. The Church of the Brethren was birthed in the waters of baptism as our forbears broke with the tradition of their church and violated the law of the land, by entering the water of baptism as adults and administering baptism to each other. Through this act brought them persecution, they preserved.
So baptism is important. But how important? In other sermons over the years I have worked at the relationship of water baptism to salvation. (Water baptism does not save us, but constitutes an act of obedience to the teachings of Jesus and thus is important in our journey. Every act of obedience opens us up to more fully experiences with our risen Lord.) I have also preached about the method of baptism. (Biblically speaking, all we can say is that it involves water and is applied to people who have made a decision to follow Jesus. There are good reasons why we use the mode of trine immersion, but it is not the only mode nor is it biblically mandated.)
In this sermon I desire to look more closely at the spiritual dimension of baptism--what it means to be baptized into Jesus.
The key verse is 1 Cor 12:13 and though I do not say much about it in the sermon, the big debate over the years with this verse is with the meaning of Baptized by one Spirit. Is Spirit baptism something separate from water baptism and something different from conversion. Classic Pentecostal teaching saw the Baptism of the Spirit as an experience one received subsequent to salvation which opened a person up to the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the distribution of his gifts in one's life. In this theology, speaking in tongues was the sign that you had experienced this blessing.
In more recent years, the Pentecostal movement has come closer to the more central evangelical idea that Spirit Baptism, especially as it is expressed in 1 Cor 12:13 is more likely one way of understanding what happens to us when we get saved. At conversion the Holy Spirit places us in Christ. Now for sure, as we live out our faith in Christ, there will be subsequent experiences with the Holy Spirit and we will grow into an ever deepening experience with him and his gifts and may be given the gift of tongues. However, the sign of being spirit filled is not to be seen in the participation in any particular gift, but in the fruit of character development (Galatians 5:22ff).
So much for that. The sermon opens up for us questions about what it means to be in Christ. I suggest that we should view our baptism as a mark that we carry throughout life that identifies us as belonging to Jesus. The problem is that our baptism sort of wears off--that is, after we dry off from being baptized we no longer look any different.The only way we can appear different is in the manner of our living.
We might ask ourselves--how can people tell that I have been baptized? Good thoughts to ponder.
Thanks for digging deeper.
1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-28
Baptism has a jaded history. During certain eras of the Christian Church, passionate defenders of various aspects of baptism engaged in hot debates about water baptism's form and meaning. Church split over the issues and whole movements began. The Church of the Brethren was birthed in the waters of baptism as our forbears broke with the tradition of their church and violated the law of the land, by entering the water of baptism as adults and administering baptism to each other. Through this act brought them persecution, they preserved.
So baptism is important. But how important? In other sermons over the years I have worked at the relationship of water baptism to salvation. (Water baptism does not save us, but constitutes an act of obedience to the teachings of Jesus and thus is important in our journey. Every act of obedience opens us up to more fully experiences with our risen Lord.) I have also preached about the method of baptism. (Biblically speaking, all we can say is that it involves water and is applied to people who have made a decision to follow Jesus. There are good reasons why we use the mode of trine immersion, but it is not the only mode nor is it biblically mandated.)
In this sermon I desire to look more closely at the spiritual dimension of baptism--what it means to be baptized into Jesus.
The key verse is 1 Cor 12:13 and though I do not say much about it in the sermon, the big debate over the years with this verse is with the meaning of Baptized by one Spirit. Is Spirit baptism something separate from water baptism and something different from conversion. Classic Pentecostal teaching saw the Baptism of the Spirit as an experience one received subsequent to salvation which opened a person up to the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the distribution of his gifts in one's life. In this theology, speaking in tongues was the sign that you had experienced this blessing.
In more recent years, the Pentecostal movement has come closer to the more central evangelical idea that Spirit Baptism, especially as it is expressed in 1 Cor 12:13 is more likely one way of understanding what happens to us when we get saved. At conversion the Holy Spirit places us in Christ. Now for sure, as we live out our faith in Christ, there will be subsequent experiences with the Holy Spirit and we will grow into an ever deepening experience with him and his gifts and may be given the gift of tongues. However, the sign of being spirit filled is not to be seen in the participation in any particular gift, but in the fruit of character development (Galatians 5:22ff).
So much for that. The sermon opens up for us questions about what it means to be in Christ. I suggest that we should view our baptism as a mark that we carry throughout life that identifies us as belonging to Jesus. The problem is that our baptism sort of wears off--that is, after we dry off from being baptized we no longer look any different.The only way we can appear different is in the manner of our living.
We might ask ourselves--how can people tell that I have been baptized? Good thoughts to ponder.
Thanks for digging deeper.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Keeping Sabbath
Mark 2:23 - 3:6
Wow, apologies to all my blog followers for this very late posting. I had computer issues during the week, getting all my stuff transferred over to a new system, and thus was not as connected as usual.
In this sermon I address two questions I am often asked about the Sabbath--which is the right day and what is appropriate for me to do on the Sabbath.
In the sermon I make a big deal over the fact that as Christians, we do not really celebrate the Sabbath, since that is an Old Testament concept which is rooted in the Law and set for the seventh day of the week. Rather, we celebrate the Lord's Day. We keep the principle of a sabbath, but we do it on a specific day, in honor of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Sometimes Sabbatarians (those who insist that the Christian Sabbath must be observed on Saturday) try to make a point that it was not until Constantine, the Roman Emperor, converted to Christianity that the church began to worship on Sunday. That is not the case, as this article shows.
Actually, except for the fact that we want to honor the Resurrection of Jesus--the event that changed the world--it does not really matter what day we set aside for sabbath. Paul was clear that we should not get hung up on special days. See Galatians 4:8-10. There are millions of people who cannot take Sunday as their day of worship and rest, at least not every week--medical personnel and caregivers, pastors, air traffic controllers, first responders, etc. But take a day we must, for God order our bodies to function in this way, and we need sabbath to worship, refresh and rejuvenate.
In the sermon I speak a bit to the principles that I understand to govern the Christian sabbath. If you have not heard it, give it a listen (linked from the side of this page).
Thanks for digging deeper.
Wow, apologies to all my blog followers for this very late posting. I had computer issues during the week, getting all my stuff transferred over to a new system, and thus was not as connected as usual.
In this sermon I address two questions I am often asked about the Sabbath--which is the right day and what is appropriate for me to do on the Sabbath.
In the sermon I make a big deal over the fact that as Christians, we do not really celebrate the Sabbath, since that is an Old Testament concept which is rooted in the Law and set for the seventh day of the week. Rather, we celebrate the Lord's Day. We keep the principle of a sabbath, but we do it on a specific day, in honor of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Sometimes Sabbatarians (those who insist that the Christian Sabbath must be observed on Saturday) try to make a point that it was not until Constantine, the Roman Emperor, converted to Christianity that the church began to worship on Sunday. That is not the case, as this article shows.
Actually, except for the fact that we want to honor the Resurrection of Jesus--the event that changed the world--it does not really matter what day we set aside for sabbath. Paul was clear that we should not get hung up on special days. See Galatians 4:8-10. There are millions of people who cannot take Sunday as their day of worship and rest, at least not every week--medical personnel and caregivers, pastors, air traffic controllers, first responders, etc. But take a day we must, for God order our bodies to function in this way, and we need sabbath to worship, refresh and rejuvenate.
In the sermon I speak a bit to the principles that I understand to govern the Christian sabbath. If you have not heard it, give it a listen (linked from the side of this page).
Thanks for digging deeper.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Not About Us
Though I was not preaching last week due to attending our Annual Conference, I was still writing. Here is an article I wrote for the pastor's column in the Ephrata Review, our local weekly newspaper. It was published in this week's edition (July 11, 2012).
The apparent shrinking of our world defines one of the great developments in this age in which we live. Just a bit over 20 years ago my family and I moved to Africa to serve the church there. Our means of communication consisted of letters that took anywhere from a month to a half year to reach home or a telephone located several hours away that worked intermittently. Now I can pick up my cell phone and call my friends there as easily as I call across the street. Colleagues that served a generation before me tell of long journeys lasting many months to reach their destination, while my family and I flew to Nigeria in a matter of hours. And now Facebook, Skype and other technologies enable us to have face to face conversations with loved ones living half a world away. Clearly things have changed.
And yet, with all this technology that links our world, we are lonelier than ever. We cast about seeking meaning and purpose. Many of us aimlessly wander through life, searching for an elusive happiness in the things we can accumulate or the activities in which engage. We are told that life is all about us, that finding the right partner, landing the right job, making a big enough salary or acquiring notoriety, will bring us the inner worth we crave. But it never works. As we sit by ourselves in the twilight of evening, we find ourselves asking, “Is this all there is?”
A wise sage once said, “If you want to find your life, you first have to lose it,”(Matt. 10:39) and another ancient voice says, “You are not your own; you have been bought with a high price” (1 Cor. 6:19). The root of our desperation stems from an error in our thinking. It is a fundamental mistake. One that all of us make, initially, and, even after realizing it, from time to time. It is the human condition. The mistake is the belief that life is all about us. It is not, and to think it is marks the gravest error anyone can make. To assume life is about us sets us on a self-centered quest for which there is no satisfaction. Rather, we are not our own; we were made for something else. Until we lose ourselves in the “else” we will strive endlessly to find rest from our labor.
What is the “else?” The “Else” we really seek is our Creator. He made us with intention. Though we rebel against him, he buys us back by his grace and seeks to call us to a place where we fulfill the purpose for which He created us. And when we do—when we lose our lives in His purpose—we find the abundant life, a life so full we need nothing else.
So what is life about if it is not about me? Well, simply put, life is about God. It is about bringing God honor and praise and glory in all I am and all I do. Life is about honoring God in my home; not about having my needs met. Life is about honoring God through my job as I provide a service to my community; not about acquiring wealth to spend on myself. Life is about honoring God in my relationships, as I learn to be gracious and righteous and kind and devoted.
Life is not about you or me. After all, we did not choose to be here. Life, the abundant life, is found in knowing our Creator and enjoying a life-long relationship with Him through the gift of life received through faith in his Son, the Lord Jesus.
The apparent shrinking of our world defines one of the great developments in this age in which we live. Just a bit over 20 years ago my family and I moved to Africa to serve the church there. Our means of communication consisted of letters that took anywhere from a month to a half year to reach home or a telephone located several hours away that worked intermittently. Now I can pick up my cell phone and call my friends there as easily as I call across the street. Colleagues that served a generation before me tell of long journeys lasting many months to reach their destination, while my family and I flew to Nigeria in a matter of hours. And now Facebook, Skype and other technologies enable us to have face to face conversations with loved ones living half a world away. Clearly things have changed.
And yet, with all this technology that links our world, we are lonelier than ever. We cast about seeking meaning and purpose. Many of us aimlessly wander through life, searching for an elusive happiness in the things we can accumulate or the activities in which engage. We are told that life is all about us, that finding the right partner, landing the right job, making a big enough salary or acquiring notoriety, will bring us the inner worth we crave. But it never works. As we sit by ourselves in the twilight of evening, we find ourselves asking, “Is this all there is?”
A wise sage once said, “If you want to find your life, you first have to lose it,”(Matt. 10:39) and another ancient voice says, “You are not your own; you have been bought with a high price” (1 Cor. 6:19). The root of our desperation stems from an error in our thinking. It is a fundamental mistake. One that all of us make, initially, and, even after realizing it, from time to time. It is the human condition. The mistake is the belief that life is all about us. It is not, and to think it is marks the gravest error anyone can make. To assume life is about us sets us on a self-centered quest for which there is no satisfaction. Rather, we are not our own; we were made for something else. Until we lose ourselves in the “else” we will strive endlessly to find rest from our labor.
What is the “else?” The “Else” we really seek is our Creator. He made us with intention. Though we rebel against him, he buys us back by his grace and seeks to call us to a place where we fulfill the purpose for which He created us. And when we do—when we lose our lives in His purpose—we find the abundant life, a life so full we need nothing else.
So what is life about if it is not about me? Well, simply put, life is about God. It is about bringing God honor and praise and glory in all I am and all I do. Life is about honoring God in my home; not about having my needs met. Life is about honoring God through my job as I provide a service to my community; not about acquiring wealth to spend on myself. Life is about honoring God in my relationships, as I learn to be gracious and righteous and kind and devoted.
Life is not about you or me. After all, we did not choose to be here. Life, the abundant life, is found in knowing our Creator and enjoying a life-long relationship with Him through the gift of life received through faith in his Son, the Lord Jesus.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The Church: Who we need to be
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
This sermon is a follow up the last week's sermon, "The Church: what it was, is and is becoming.
About a year ago I had the privilege of hearing Dallas Willard speak in person. Dallas is one of the key Christian leaders today. He is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California who has also specialized in the the area of Christian spiritual formation. Read whatever you of what he wrote, and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, do it. Here is his website.
Anyway, that day Dallas was talking about the human soul and he defined it as "that part of us that integrates all other parts." (He explores this some in his book, Renovation of the Heart). I was fascinated by this and discussed it with him a bit, and have been thinking it through ever since. I also mention in my sermon that Paul Grout has been saying that "our current manner of living is destroying our soul." So if our soul's are being destroyed by contemporary life, then we are losing our ability to integrate life--we are becoming more animal-like and less human. It is no wonder that human nature is degenerating, which is the fulfillment of one of the three prophecies I discuss in the sermon.
Pollster George Barna discusses what he believes are "four common barriers to transformation, including lack of commitment, unwillingness to fully repent, confusing activity for growth, and failure to engage in genuine, accountable community." Read it here.
If you google around the statistics related to Christian faith in the USA, you find a lot of interesting stuff. One fact is that those who self-identity as Christian are decreasing by 1% a year, and this while the population is increasing each year, meaning that there are less of us, by percentage of our society, each year. This is one reason our influence is waning. Despite the prevalence of mega-churches (more now than ever, and larger ones each year), there is no county in the USA where the percentage of Christians has grown.
Without a major spiritual revival, this will not change. The purpose of these two sermons was to help us understand what is happening, but to also left up what God is doing in the midst of it. During the era when Christendom reigned, the church got all entangled with the culture and the world and the government. It brought power, but power often corrupts. God is not taking us to a place where we have the opportunity to reexamine what we are, what we seek, and what we are called to. It is a good thing.
All this leads me to seek out from God, what this means for me and for the congregation I serve. Status quo no longer makes it. Being busy doing good things, no longer accomplishes much, if it ever did. Society is redefining normal; we need to "understand" (listen to the sermon), what God deems normal, and commit to it.
Do not fear. Rather, seek Jesus and the spiritual transformation only He can provide, and you will be fine in this post-modern, pre-Christian era. You will be fine, but you will be weird (in the world's eyes) and you will not remain the same. You will be God's person.
Thanks for digging deeper.
This sermon is a follow up the last week's sermon, "The Church: what it was, is and is becoming.
About a year ago I had the privilege of hearing Dallas Willard speak in person. Dallas is one of the key Christian leaders today. He is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California who has also specialized in the the area of Christian spiritual formation. Read whatever you of what he wrote, and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, do it. Here is his website.
Anyway, that day Dallas was talking about the human soul and he defined it as "that part of us that integrates all other parts." (He explores this some in his book, Renovation of the Heart). I was fascinated by this and discussed it with him a bit, and have been thinking it through ever since. I also mention in my sermon that Paul Grout has been saying that "our current manner of living is destroying our soul." So if our soul's are being destroyed by contemporary life, then we are losing our ability to integrate life--we are becoming more animal-like and less human. It is no wonder that human nature is degenerating, which is the fulfillment of one of the three prophecies I discuss in the sermon.
Pollster George Barna discusses what he believes are "four common barriers to transformation, including lack of commitment, unwillingness to fully repent, confusing activity for growth, and failure to engage in genuine, accountable community." Read it here.
If you google around the statistics related to Christian faith in the USA, you find a lot of interesting stuff. One fact is that those who self-identity as Christian are decreasing by 1% a year, and this while the population is increasing each year, meaning that there are less of us, by percentage of our society, each year. This is one reason our influence is waning. Despite the prevalence of mega-churches (more now than ever, and larger ones each year), there is no county in the USA where the percentage of Christians has grown.
Without a major spiritual revival, this will not change. The purpose of these two sermons was to help us understand what is happening, but to also left up what God is doing in the midst of it. During the era when Christendom reigned, the church got all entangled with the culture and the world and the government. It brought power, but power often corrupts. God is not taking us to a place where we have the opportunity to reexamine what we are, what we seek, and what we are called to. It is a good thing.
All this leads me to seek out from God, what this means for me and for the congregation I serve. Status quo no longer makes it. Being busy doing good things, no longer accomplishes much, if it ever did. Society is redefining normal; we need to "understand" (listen to the sermon), what God deems normal, and commit to it.
Do not fear. Rather, seek Jesus and the spiritual transformation only He can provide, and you will be fine in this post-modern, pre-Christian era. You will be fine, but you will be weird (in the world's eyes) and you will not remain the same. You will be God's person.
Thanks for digging deeper.
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