There Is Freedom and then there is Freedom.

We have an incredible amount of freedom. We have freedom of choice. We can pursue what we want. We can buy what we want; now with one-click and same-day delivery.

We are also the most obese nation in the world. We consume the most opioids than any other country. We have 4 percent of the world's population but the greatest number of deaths by drug overdose by far.  We are addicted to our smartphones. The average number of times a person in the US checks their smartphone is 80 times a day, that's once every 12 minutes. Sociologist Brene Brown observes through her research that: "We are the most in debt, obese, addicted, medicated adult cohort in history."

You can be in the land of the free and be in bondage. There's freedom. And THEN there's freedom.

Christian Adulting

Christian Adulting: 

The practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible follower of Jesus, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.

Following Jesus isn't all about performing signs and wonders. Sure, there may be some of that but most of the time it isn't walking on water...it's watering the garden, it's paying the water bill on time, it's advocating for clean water...and even that work--which may seem like exciting justice work--when you get down to it, but it mainly involves sending emails and calling people and setting up meetings...mundane but necessary tasks...doing these tasks as Christ would do them, with integrity and honesty and selflessness, that's Christian adulting.

Most of the time following Jesus isn't performing miracles surrounded by crowds, it's putting a band-aid on your grandson's booboo; it's walking for a cause like curing breast cancer; it's sitting by your friend as she receives chemotherapy treatment. Not exciting, not glamorous, but necessary...doing these tasks as Christ would do them, with integrity and honesty and selflessness, that's Christian adulting.

Day By Day

Consider what stepping outside of our comfort zones to be led by the Spirit looks like. For some that may mean starting a weekly prayer practice, perhaps with family members, or friends. For others, stepping outside of comfort zones may mean going and talking to someone more about how God is impacting your life, sharing the state of your souls w/others.

One way that churches seek to live a day-by-day faith, in addition to the normal pattern of programming and worship is to consider attending various small groups to grow spiritually with one another. Now, these are not the only avenues for us to explore in living out a day-by-day kind of faith. We all have so much to offer in terms of the different gifts we each bring, gifts of leadership, care, spiritual renewal, and more as we grow in faith together.

I truly believe that through God’s grace each one of us has the capacity to be a source of transformative faith, to others, and to ourselves as we follow God in community here and in our daily lives. But, we are encouraged to share that kind of transformation together, being led by the Holy Spirit, who makes it possible for us to be on the same spiritual page. The invitation to live a day-by-day faith is before us, what will our response be?

The Permission And The Power

You may say: cure the sick? But I'm not a doctor. Raise the dead? Cleanse the lepers? That sounds a little out of my league. Well maybe your marriage is sick. You have the power to work on healing your marriage right now. Maybe your friend is depressed. You have the power to reach out to her right now. Maybe some dream you have has died and you feel like the life has just been kicked out of you. You have the power to start again, to make something new. You are the committee. You have what you need within you already to cure the sick, to raise the dead. 

You may hear that phrase 'cast out demons' and think shoot that is for some Pentecostal church or something and sure maybe so, but also this: Racism is a demon that needs to be cast out of our society for good. Sexism needs to be cast out. Homophobia needs to be cast out. 

And we can sit around, literally sit around, and scroll and troll on Facebook and say: oh things should be different, and if only the powers that be would change things...No.  You have the power to change things. 

Becoming Deeply Devoted Disciples of Jesus Christ

Becoming Deeply Devoted Disciples of Jesus Christ

I wonder if we pulled out our calendars right now and looked at this past week or this past month, or if we were to keep a running log of the hours in the day and what we did in each hour, it would be a good insight into our devotion...

Now if you have a group of people like those members of the early church whose calendars are for the most part synched, who all live in the same rhythm of life, who all give their time and energy to the same things, oh my the power of that!  

Sermon Notes:

Download "A Rule Of Life" 

Listen To This Good News

Listen To This Good News

"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness...now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

====

This large crowd has gathered because of the spectacle that has taken place, which is known as Pentecost, if you were here last week, we celebrated Pentecost, it is when the disciples receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and they are suddenly able to talk in all of these languages, so they can communicate the story of God's grace with everyone, and all these people gather together and they start hearing the good news in their native languages...

You see how God through the Holy Spirit is trying to reach them, each of them, trying to speak to them in a way they will understand, but they have these noise cancelling headphones on, they can't hear it, the word cannot be placed in their ear, it just bounces right off and instead of hearing the disciples' teaching about God's power--you know what they hear?  Drunk people. That's what they say to each other, they say: oooh these people must be drunk! They try and write off what is happening because it so goes against everything they have ever heard about God--yes, these people must be drunk--because that is the explanation that fits in with what we know.

There is no way of telling people that they are shining like the sun...when they have these noise cancelling headphones on...so Peter stands up in front of the crowd and the first thing he says is enotizomai, he says: take off what is preventing you from hearing and let me put the word of God into your ear. 

It is quite practically the first thing we have to do to hear God's word for us, Peter knows this firsthand, he saw Jesus constantly starting his teachings this way, telling people to listen and to hear: in fact the number of times Jesus says to the disciples and the crowds: "Listen!" or "hear!" is quite remarkable...and when Jesus is baptized the voice from heaven says: "This is my beloved son, Listen to him!" Of all the things God could have said or instructed the people to do, God says: listen. God says: take off whatever is preventing you from hearing so my word can be placed in your ear. It starts with listening. Transformation starts with listening.