Tag: Salvation

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:1-6

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“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope at your calling – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the ideas I have set before you fairly often over the years of our doing this together is that the Gospel lies at the heart of all of our stories. That one story is so powerful that we just can’t get away from it. In just nearly every story we tell, you can find echoes of the Gospel in some form or fashion. Sometimes you have to look pretty carefully for it, but it is just nearly always there. That’s why I can keep coming back here on most Fridays to offer a review of something I’ve watched recently and talk about its Gospel implications with you. Well, I finally finished watching through something new this week (really new this time, not just new to me but a year and a half old for everyone else), and today we’re going to talk for just a few minutes about its Gospel implications. This series is based on a video game franchise set in a post-apocalyptic future. And while video game franchises set in a post-apocalyptic future are about a dime a dozen, this one has been around for a pretty long time and has remained pretty popular for most of that time. Let’s talk today about the Amazon Prime series, Fallout.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 3:23-24

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“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the bits of hope more seasoned parents often give to parents who are busy navigating their way through the teenage years (count me in on that journey) is that there will come a day when your kids say to you, “Dad, you were right.” That statement will pretty much always be framed in the past tense because in the present they’re never going to admit that anymore than we would have done when we were their age. But someday – or so they keep telling me – they’ll finally reach the place of agreeing with us. Getting to that place, though, isn’t easy for either party. In a similar kind of way, one of the hardest parts of the Gospel is having to get to the point that we agree with God. Let’s talk today about what that means and what makes it so hard.

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Grace Upon Grace

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Merry Christmas to you! Blessings to you and your family as you celebrate this special day together. We’ve been talking all this season about Jesus’ coming and the difference it makes in our lives and in our world. There’s one last wonder to marvel over together today: God sent Jesus to save us when we were still in our sins. We weren’t worthy of it. We didn’t deserve it. We hadn’t earned it. But He did it anyway as an act of pure grace. Let’s bask in the glory of that grace as we reflect together this morning on just how good this greatest of all gifts is. As one last note, this will be the only post this week. We’ll get back on our journey through Exodus starting in the new year. I’ll see you then!

Grace Upon Grace

This is a fun day, isn’t it? I mean, it’s Christmas Eve. Who wouldn’t be happy on a day like this? So, on this happy and joyous occasion, I thought we would take a little mental field trip. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Where are we going on this great and special day? Close your eyes for a moment, climb in the mental church van with me (the fun thing about mental field trips is that we can all fit in the same van together without anyone having to worry about being squished in the back), and let’s take a little drive over to one of yours and my favorite places to visit: the DMV. 

Anybody’s eyes pop back open in shock there? 

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The Gifts of Advent: John 1:14

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*I’m recovering from a cold this week and my voice just isn’t there. You’ll have to accept just reading this one today. Happy Monday!

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been around one of those people who were just different in the best possible way? Something about them – and you never could quit put your finger on exactly what it was – just drew you in. You wanted to be near them. At the same time, you never quite felt like you deserved to be near them. The closer you got, the more you became aware of just how much you fell short of their goodness and you didn’t really like that. The odds are pretty good that what you experienced from that person was a taste of the glory of God. As we get closer and closer to Christmas Day, let’s reflect today on one of the greatest gifts of God’s coming near in Christ: glory.

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Why He Came

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We are now officially into the season of Advent. For the next few weeks, we are going to be working through a new teaching series looking at just why Jesus came to Earth and what that means for us. In this first part, we’ll answer the question and reflect together on the glorious nature of this powerful truth. Here’s a sneak preview: the reason Jesus came is you. Let’s talk about it.

Why He Came

I want you to think for a second about a time when you heard a dramatic conversion story. Those can be really powerful. I once knew a chainsaw artist who specialized in making eagle’s nests. He carved some pieces for a prayer garden one of the Boy Scouts at our former church made as his Eagle Scout project. They were pretty amazing. In talking to him a few times, I learned that he had never done any art of any kind, let alone chainsaw art, before he became a follower of Jesus. He was mostly just interested in doing drugs. Almost as soon as he accepted Jesus, though, he felt a calling to art, and had been making it ever since. Maybe you’ve seen the movie, The Jesus Revolution. It tells the story of the rise of Chuck Smith who would go on to pastor the Crystal Cathedral church in Orange County, CA. The movie also features the conversion story of Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, and a prominent speaker and author. Like my chainsaw artist friend, Greg was into all kinds of drugs before becoming a follower of Jesus. The experience that pushed him over the edge in the direction of the Gospel was when he was driving down the road with some buddies who were all high on LSD, and they saw a glowing vision of heaven in the distance on the side of the road. It wound up being a sign for a funeral home. The experience literally scared him back to the straight and narrow path from the broad path leading to destruction he had been sliding down. Do you know who else had a pretty dramatic conversion? The apostle Paul. And his story is one that I’d like to give a bit of our attention this morning. 

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