Tag: Following Jesus

How to Be Great

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Today we are kicking off a brand-new teaching series called, Leverage. Over the next four weeks we are going to be working through Matthew 18 where we find Jesus giving a lot of focused attention to how life in the kingdom of God should work. He starts here at the beginning of the chapter with a discussion on what it looks like to be great in the ways that matter most. Let’s tune in together and see what He has to say.

How to Be Great

How do you move something heavy? Well, nowadays, if it’s big enough, you get a big piece of machinery and use that. For smaller things that don’t merit heavy equipment, you call some friends to help. A couple of years ago we got a new TV stand from Sam’s. Seeing it in the context of the enormous store did not give me a proper appreciation for how big it really was. After we bought it, I drove the family home so I could drive back to Sam’s with all of the seats down in the van and pick it up. I should have known what I was really in for when they loaded it into the van directly off of the forklift they were using to carry it…so that they didn’t have to carry it. It fit…barely. Once I got it home, and went around to the back and started pulling at the box to get a sense of what I was in for. I couldn’t budge it. So, I got on the phone and called TJ and Kevin who, much to their credit but as no surprise at all, came right over to help. The three of us did a further assessment of the box. Then they each got on the phone to call for more backup. I think we finally managed to get it into the house with four of us working together with lots of grunting and sweating. I don’t think it has moved much from the place we set it down since that day. 

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 17:1-4

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“The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, ‘Give us water to drink.’ ‘Why are you complaining to me?’ Moses replied to them. ‘Why are you testing the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, ‘Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I remember going to music stores when I was in high school that were absolutely filled with CDs, the latest technology. There were rows and rows and stacks and stacks of them. It was glorious. Now, in an ironic time jump, records outsell CDs, and it’s not close. I haven’t bought a record from this generation yet, but I listened to plenty of them from their first go-round. I’m not sure if they still break like they used to, but in the past, records would occasionally get a snag in them that would cause them to stick in one spot and repeat the same phrase over and over again. That’s where we get the phrase, “like a broken record.” I say all of that to ask this: Have you ever been around someone who was like a broken record? Israel was. Let’s talk about how, why, and why perhaps we’re not so different.

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Is Hell Real?

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That’s a very good question, and one we are going to wrestle with together today as we wrap up our teaching series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions. A significant percentage of the country believes in Heaven. A significant percentage of the country, on the other hand, don’t believe in Hell. They can’t imagine that they’ve done anything sufficiently wrong to warrant their being set on fire and burned for all eternity. Yet while the imagery of Hell we find in the Scriptures is certainly uncomfortable, uncomfortable language doesn’t make the doctrine itself false. Let’s struggle through this question and see how the existence of Hell, far from making God a tyrant, actually elevates His love and justice even further.

Is Hell Real?

Almost 20 years ago, former Vice President Al Gore released a documentary movie about climate change whose title introduced a phrase into the public lexicon that has never left since. The film was called, An Inconvenient Truth. The idea was that Gore was presenting the public with a whole bunch of information about the state of the climate that was true even if we didn’t want it to be. Whether you happen to agree with anything he said or not, the movie undeniably made a huge impact on western culture. (It also made Gore exceedingly wealthy.) Also, whether you happen to agree with his position on that particular issue or not, it is nonetheless the case that there are some things that are true whether or not we want them to be true. 

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Isn’t Heaven for Everybody?

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As we continue in our series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions, today we are tackling a doozy. Most people believe in Heaven. Most people also believe that most people are going to wind up there in one way or another. But is that really the case? To suggest otherwise isn’t very popular, but what did Jesus have to say on the matter, and is that really a good thing? Let’s explore these questions and more together.

Isn’t Heaven for Everybody?

Have you ever felt snubbed? There could have been a number of different things that left you feeling that way. Maybe you joined a club of some sort because it sounded really fun, but then you discovered that the really fun stuff you heard about was only available for the premium members, and you were just a regular member. Perhaps you flew on an airplane with a dedicated first class section and sat close enough that you could see what a great—not to mention comfortable—time they were all having up there. You know…when the curtain accidentally got left open. They don’t want all their secrets from up there getting out. Or it could be that you didn’t get invited to some big party that everyone was talking about afterwards. Right in front of you. Now, your defense mechanism might be to pretend that you didn’t really want to go in the first place and that you had plenty of fun sitting at home by yourself watching reruns and eating cold pizza in your underwear. But you know that’s not true. So does everyone else. Really, you’re hurt that you weren’t invited, and now you don’t want to hang out with those people anymore. You’re going to go find some friends to hang out with who aren’t so exclusive as those jerks are. Of course, once you feel like you’re part of the “in group,” you’re just fine with exclusivity—in fact, you prefer it so the riff raff doesn’t come in and mess up your group dynamic—but we’ll ignore that inconvenient little truth for the moment. 

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 2:18

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“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I have been eagerly watching the latest season of Disney’s Loki series. The latest installment of the misadventures of the fan-favorite villain-turned-hero has, in my opinion, been even better than the last season. Reportedly, its viewership is down some from last season, but Disney viewership in general is down because the company keeps doing things and producing media to trumpet their woke bonafides which just keeps pushing more and more people away. That’s a conversation for another time. So is a full review of the latest (and, honestly, probably last) Loki season as I haven’t yet watched the finale. But a bit of dialogue in the penultimate episode did reveal what has been driving Loki and point to what will probably be the big theme of the season, and possibly Loki’s entire character arc. He’s trying to save the world because he’s lonely. That seems pretty basic as far as motivations go, but it struck me as a whole lot more significant than people might think. Let’s talk about why.

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