Tag: Defending the faith

Turf Wars

Leave a comment

Roughly speaking, the job of a salesman is to convince you to buy something you don’t want or need. In truth, though, the best salesmen understand that their job is to help you discover what it is that you do need, and to then help you see that need met. In sharing the Gospel in a post-Christian context, we are surrounded by people who don’t really understand what they actually need. It is our job as followers of Jesus to help them with that. In order to do that, though, we first have to establish a relational connection with them. That means learning to operate on their turf. This all what we are talking about as we continue our teaching series, When Faith Isn’t Assumed. Let’s dive right in.

Turf Wars

There’s nothing quite like a home field advantage. Personally, with the exception of the Royals, I’m pretty accustomed to cheering for teams with incredible home field advantages.I know this season was somewhat of a disappointment, but the Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium is the loudest stadium in the NFL. Props on their dominant win last week aside, Seattle fans tried to make a counter-claim that, actually, theirs was the loudest NFL stadium a few years ago. Chiefs fans promptly demonstrated the error in Seattle’s thinking by responding with the cold, hard reality of 142.2 decibels, a Guinness World Record that, no, Arrowhead really is the loudest NFL stadium. 

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Romans 1:19-20

1 Comment

“…since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I love engaging with optical illusions. I especially like the kind where you can’t see something at first, but then, when your brain has wrapped itself fully around what’s really there, you can’t not see it. Sometimes it takes a little work to get to the place where you can really see—and sometimes you need help from someone else who can already see to adjust your mind and eyes accordingly—but that moment when you finally get it is always a pretty sweet one. Thinking about it, the world is kind of like an optical illusion. It looks one way at first glance, but once you see what really is, you just about can’t not see it anymore. This is where Paul goes next. Let’s join him.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 34:27-28

4 Comments

“The Lord also said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.’ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Words matter. This is something we understand fairly well today. If something isn’t written down, there’s no sure record beyond our memory that it happened. When you make a big purchase like a home or a car, you have to sign a contract that likely runs into the thousands of words to guarantee you’ll pay for them or they’ll take them away from you. God’s covenant with Israel was recorded in words so that the people would remember it for sure. Let’s talk about why His word matters and what we see going on here.

Read the rest…

Afternoon Musing: 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

5 Comments

***I couldn’t call this a morning musing because it is so late in the day, but it’s not long enough to qualify as digging in deeper into anything. So, you get an afternoon musing today. Enjoy.

“Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I used to love looking at Magic Eye images. Do you remember those? It was a picture that upon an initial inspection just looked like an abstract artistic design on the page. It was just visual nonsense. Even looking closely didn’t change that initial impression. But if you looked at them in just the right way, all of a sudden, the page came to life. There was shape and depth to the image that had previously looked flat and lifeless. It wasn’t always easy to maintain an ability to see what was really there. That took some work and intentionality, but the more you looked at them, the easier seeing what was really there became. If you weren’t willing to take the time and do the work to learn how to see them, they were never anything more than gobbledygook on the page. I have reminded of late that something very much like this is true with life more generally. Let’s talk about it.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 John 4:13

Leave a comment

“This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do we know we are in a relationship with God? That’s a pretty important question. It’s a better question than its more common cousin: How do I know I’m going to Heaven? The ability – or not – to answer that question has had a profound impact on human history. For those who manage to convince others that they have the answer, these folks are able to accumulate enormous power for themselves of just about whatever type they want. Financial? Have you seen the net worth of the Prosperity Gospel preachers? Political? Of course. Cultural? Easy. Religious? Immense. But the ultimate answer to that question is a personal one. Let’s talk for just a few minutes this morning about how we can know.

Read the rest..