This week brings us to the third part of our series, What We Believe. With the Lifeway and Ligonier Ministry State of Theology survey as our jumping off point, we have been working to clarify some pretty core questions of Christian theology on which professed followers of Jesus in our culture recently reflected some pretty profound confusion. We have so far looked at the doctrines of God and the Holy Spirit. This week we are talking about Jesus. No other person in human history has attracted amount of interesting into the question of who exactly they are as Jesus has. Let’s take a look at the Scriptures together to see what He had to say about Himself and what that means for us.
More Than We Imagine
We’re talking about a survey in this new teaching series, so I thought we’d do a little survey of our own this morning. By a show of hands, who currently has an appliance at home that is still working and which is more than ten years old? How about twenty years? Thirty years? Who has an appliance that is still working that is more than thirty years old? They don’t make them like that anymore, do they?
What exactly is it we believe about God? Better yet, what should we believe about God? The Scriptures are obviously our most important guide here for followers of Jesus. Recent results from The State of Theology survey conducted last year by LifeWay and Ligonier Ministries, however, suggests that folks who self-consciously identify themselves as followers of Jesus hold some beliefs about Him and about the Christian worldview that do not line up with the Scriptures in any way, shape, or form. Over the next few weeks leading to Easter, we are going to examine some of the most egregious examples and talk about why the truth is so much better. In this first part, we will address the idea that God accepts worship from all different religions. Let’s dig in to see what’s true and how we can live in light of that.
Truly Unique
A few years ago, I was given a Kobalt 80V battery-operated leaf blower. All the leaf blowers I had owned to that point were ones you had to plug in. Being able to go cordless for the first time (and at a point when leaves in our backyard will pile up to a foot deep in the fall if we don’t stay on it) was fantastic. What I like even more than its power and portability, though, is the fact that its battery works in multiple different tools. I now own a leaf blower, a set of hedge trimmers, and a chainsaw that all use the same battery. That is just super convenient.
This week we wrapped up our journey through the beautiful story of Ruth. We got to hear from one last character in the story who gave us a bit of a bird’s eye view of the whole thing. This allowed us to see that what would have been experienced by the people in the story as nothing more than ordinary life working itself out ordinarily was really God’s accomplishing His extraordinary plans through ordinary means. God does this through the Scriptures and He is still in the same business today in our own lives. Let’s marvel at all of this together. Thanks for reading and sharing.
A Story of Serendipity
Have you ever experienced something that was perfectly serendipitous? It was one of those moments when everything just fell into place like you wanted. Everything worked so perfectly that it almost seemed like someone else was pulling the strings. Sometimes we’re aware of that kind of thing happening in a moment, but more often we don’t see it until we look back with the clear vision of hindsight. I can point to a few different circumstances like that in my own life including the ones surrounding the time I first met my lovely bride. If we lived in a world that was perfectly fair, I would never have gotten the chance to even meet her. Thankfully, we don’t live in that world. We live in a world presided over by a God who is just and good and righteous and who has incredible plans for us that He works out in ways that are delightful, surprising, and which often feel very serendipitous.
For the last three weeks, in a series called, “A Love Story,” we have been together experiencing a story that has just that sort of serendipitous feel to it. And I say, “experiencing,” not, “telling,” because that’s the better word for it. Each week we have encountered the next part of the story of Ruth through the eyes of one of the characters who were in it. We started with Naomi and her realization that even when things are bitter, God is still with us. From there, we rejoiced with Ruth in the fact that when we are picking up the pieces, God won’t leave us alone. Just last week we marveled with Boaz in the truth that risks of faith are rewarded with gifts of life. It all works out to some pretty incredible truth from a tiny, little story.
This morning, as we wrap up our journey and Ruth’s story, we are going to experience things from yet one more perspective. We are also going to answer the question you may have wondered about as to why the series is called, “A Love Story.” The big idea of each part of the story so far has been good, but it hasn’t had anything to do with a love story. Before we leave this morning, my hope is that you will have a much better understanding of just why this love story is so powerful. This week, we are going to be in the final chapter of Ruth’s story. If you have a copy of the Scriptures handy, find your way to Ruth 4. Follow along as we take one last dive into the story to see how the ways God works that seem perfectly serendipitous can really serve to reveal the good plans He was patiently unfolding all along.
This week we continued our journey through the story of Ruth by hearing from yet another character in it. Hear this week from Boaz as he marvels at the incredible risk of faith Ruth took and the gift of life brought about because of it. Thanks for reading and sharing.
Risks of Faith
For two weeks now we have been working our way through the story of Ruth in a teaching series I am simply calling, “A Love Story.” This hasn’t been quite our normal journey, though. Rather than merely telling you about the story as I normally would, we have been looking at the events described in the pages of Scripture through the eyes of the people who experienced them. Naomi took us through the awful events of the first part of the story. Then, last week, we heard from Ruth as she unpacked her incredible first day gleaning to provide food for Naomi and her, and how she stumbled upon the field of a distant relative named Boaz. This morning, we are going to jump forward a few weeks to the end of the barley season to hear some more of the story…
This week we continued our teaching series, A Love Story, by looking at the second chapter of Ruth. Like last time, though, we didn’t simply read the story. We experienced it. Follow along as Ruth tells her own story and reminds all of us of God’s sometimes surprising faithfulness. Thanks for reading and sharing.
Picking Up the Pieces
So, last week we began a new series looking at the beautiful story in the Hebrew Bible we know simply as Ruth. In this season when we give love a bit more time in the spotlight than usual, we are exploring this truly great love story in the Bible together. And, we’re doing this just a bit differently than we normally do things. Each week we are encountering the next part of the story through the eyes of one of the characters in it. Last week, Naomi took us through the events of the first chapter. As she did, it quickly became apparent that this story did not have a very happy beginning. In fact, I don’t know about you, but I was kind of depressed when we got to the end of things last week. Yes, we were left with a glimmer of hope that even when things are bitter, God is still with us, but not much more than that. This morning, we are going to begin clawing our way back up from the cellar of life in which Naomi and Ruth were sitting at the end of the first chapter. As we do, we’ll see that idea that God is still with us even when things are bitter given beautiful form. Hear, then, the story through the eyes of one who experienced it…
The Nexus 