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BIG SHOW, SIMPLE MESSAGE - from Sunday, February 23. 2020

2/23/2020

The big show is very impressive - pillars of fire, towers of cloud, brilliant lights. But the razzle-dazzle may keep us from hearing the simple message. Follow Moses up the mountain and join Jesus' disciples at the Transfiguration to see if you can hear the simple message.

It is a spectacular sight when God descends upon the mountaintop and Moses enters the presence of God. The spectacle is about something much simpler for God's people who will soon be on their own.

Jesus, too, ascends the mountaintop with Peter and the Zebedee brothers. A fantastic show ensues, complete with cameos by Moses and Elijah no less! But the whole shebang is all about a simple message. Hint: it gets delivered with an exclamation point.

Check out the sermon video below and see if you saw beyond the fire and smoke, the glitter and the luminous and heard the simple message.

02-23-20-sermon.mp3
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02-23-20-ff-answers.pdf
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02-23-20-big_show_simple_message.pdf
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DOES JESUS REALLY MEAN THAT? - from Sunday, February 16, 2020

2/16/2020

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Jesus' teaching is so radical, we may find ourselves asking: "Is he serious?" or "Does Jesus really mean that?" Moses reminds the people that God's way is really different while Jesus' Sermon on the Mount considers strategies for resisting the oppressor and demands love for one's enemies.

Overcoming our confirmation bias - finding our biases confirmed by everything we encounter - is necessary to hear God's word and change ourselves into what God desires from the faithful.

Knowing from long experience how poorly God's people make choices when it comes to being faithful to God, Moses has some parting words as their leader just before they set out to conquer the Promised Land. Choosing God is choosing life; not choosing God or God's way has bitter consequences.

Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God requires some significant changes in the way people engage with life. His teachings begin, "You have heard it said ..." referring to the customary, common way of thinking. Then he re-orders things as the Kingdom way. Some of his most difficult teachings are here.

First, the trio of examples about not resisting the evildoer. As we consider the three examples, we find that Jesus is talking about non-violent resistance and a renunciation of violence, not passive acceptance.

Second, love for one's enemies and prayer for those who persecute you are plenty challenging, but underscore the values of the Kingdom, and for us, the difficult choices to be made in pursuing the Kingdom life.

Get the whole picture in the sermon video below.

02-16-20-sermon.mp3
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02-16-20-ff-answers.pdf
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02-16-20-does_jesus_really_mean_that.pdf
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WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT? PART TWO - from Sunday, February 9, 2020

2/10/2020

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90-year old Arnold Abbott arrested in Fort Lauderdale for feeding the homeless, his second arrest in one week in November 2014. Abbott died at age 94. Here is his obituary: https://hrld.us/38gnyss

Picking up where we left off last week, we return to the voice of a prophet denouncing empty devotions and explore the Beatitudes for directions, insights, and answers about what Jesus' Kingdom vision is all about.

Like the prophet Micah last week (6:1-8), this week the prophet Isaiah takes his turn, addressing pretty much the same issue 200 years later. God's people love to do ritual and worship (go to church), but the important stuff that is on God's agenda is not something they seem to care about at all. God's complaint is followed by a to-do list of things that God expects faithful people to do. Hint: ritual, worship, and devotions are not among them.

We resume our examination of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, providing a recap of last week which covered the first three Beatitudes. Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of God and by using the Kingdom as the lens to focus our understanding, we discover the radical nature of Jesus' vision for the Kingdom.

Explore it all in the sermon video below.

02-09-20-sermon.mp3
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02-09-20-ff-answers.pdf
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02-09-20-what_does_the_lord_expect-part_2.pdf
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WHAT DOES GOD EXPECT? - from Sunday, February 2, 2020

2/2/2020

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What does the Lord expect? Going to church on Sunday? Think again. Micah tells God's people what God expects, and Jesus teaches a radical vision of the Kingdom.

We continue with the different understanding learned last week in examining wisdom and foolishness, very differently understood by the world on one hand, and the Kingdom on the other. Going further, we consider what God's expectations are from God's faithful people.

Micah 6 starts with God's complaint, continuing with the peoples' response. God's people don't understand God's problem. They do all of the right worship and ritual practices. Does God want more, far more, ridiculously more?

No, answers the prophet implicitly. Then Micah lays out the three things that God requires, and - spoiler alert! - doing worship by going to church regularly isn't among them.

Jesus, too, doesn't include, 'Blessed are the church-goers' among his Beatitudes in Matthew 5. We examine the first three beatitudes to understand that "poor in spirit," "mourn," and "meek" are not - I repeat NOT! - different ways of referring to feeling or being wimpy.

Explore what the Lord expects from all of us in the sermon video below.

02-02-20-sermon.mp3
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02-02-20-ff-answers.pdf
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02-02-20-what_does_the_lord_expect.pdf
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