Who Do You Want to be? – Page 2

This week we are kicking off a new teaching series. Next week we’ll be off again. After that, though, we’ll finish the last four weeks of this series. In the apostle Peter’s final letter, he asks a question that is critical for followers of Jesus to answer. In light of Jesus’ forthcoming return and the end of the world it will bring with it, who do we want to be? If Jesus really is coming back, what kind of lives should we be living? In our new series, Who Do You Want to Be, we are going to explore some of the ways we should be living as followers of Jesus in a world that won’t last forever. We’ll start today by taking a look at Peter’s question and why it matters so much.

The End Is Near

Have you ever met someone who was so convinced of some future event that they were willing to make dramatic adjustments to their life and the lives of their family members in light of it? One such group of folks are colloquially called “Preppers.” That’s short for Doomsday Preppers. These folks may look normal—or maybe not—but they hide a secret. Everything they do, they do with the idea in mind that the world is going to end sometime soon, and they’re going to be ready for it. And if you choose not to get ready yourself, don’t come crawling to them when you’re out of food and water and the zombie hordes are threatening to bust down your doors and you don’t have sufficient firepower to hold them off. That’s your fault, not theirs.

Read the rest…

In this third part of our series, God Moved into the Neighborhood, we take a look at the fact that Jesus came to see us become our truest, God-created selves. In a world that encourages us to be true to ourselves, this advice only makes sense if we know to which self we are seeking to be true. Read (or listen) on to learn more…

Who Do You Want to Be?

If you spend much time listening closely to modern pop music you will quickly come to discover that one of the banner themes of this age is: Be True to Yourself. For example, singer Katy Perry has a song called “Firework” that was on Billboard’s Top 40 chart for almost a year including some time at the number 1 spot. At least part of the reason for this success, I would argue, is that the song taps into a longing in the human spirit to be more than we currently are. Now, I happen to think this is an entirely Biblical idea. We are called by guys like Paul and Peter and John to become fully reflective of the image of Christ which is far greater than any image we can produce on our own. Perry, however, isn’t thinking in these terms. Listen to some of the lyrics: “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in? . . . Do you know that there’s still a chance for you ‘cause there’s a spark in you? You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine. . . .You don’t have to feel like a waste of space. You’re original, cannot be replaced. If you only knew what the future holds. After a hurricane comes a rainbow. Maybe the reason why all the doors are closed [is] so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road.” Read the rest…