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RESURRECTION WITNESS: LOVING FAMILY - from Sunday, April 24, 2016

4/25/2016

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We're great at labels, division, and exclusion, but lousy at the things Jesus was about like reconciliation, peacemaking, and inclusion. The earliest church struggled, too, but Jesus reminds all disciples of the priority.

We need to remember that the people of faith in Jesus as Messiah - the Jesus people - were regarded for decades after the crucifixion and resurrection as a Jewish sect. That meant keeping all the Jewish laws and codes as well as worshiping at the Temple and synagogues, keeping the holidays, and maintaining separation from profane things that would make one unrighteous or sinful before God. Eating only the right foods and staying away from wrong foods, and eating with fellow Jews and staying away from Gentiles (non-Jews) was fully expected and practiced by the earliest Jesus people. And baptism? Well, what do you think?

Cracks in that strict adherence to the Torah-Law had already begun during Jesus' ministry, and his departure left the church to figure it out going forward. It wasn't easy, just like it wasn't easy to dismantle Jim Crow segregation or integrate public schools from Little Rock to Boston. It isn't easy now with the transgender issue in the local public schools. Departing from longstanding custom and tradition to envision something new is invariably loaded with conflict.

The passage from Acts 11 is the last section of a story that took all of chapter 10 to tell. Chapter 10 details the experience of Peter and his vision (painting above by Doug Jacques), a centurion in the imperial capital of Caesarea and his vision, the bringing of them together, and a bunch of boundaries crossed and customary restrictions violated. What a mess!

In Acts 11, Peter brings news of what happened at Caesarea to his apostolic colleagues in Jerusalem. He is met with resistance - surprise, surprise! But he wins them over.

In the process, it seems Peter has recalled Jesus' teaching and discovered its meaning in new ways in light of being a resurrection witness. As it comes to us in John 13, Jesus commands "love one another."

This love ideally is the love of a family for its members. Jesus' vision of the Kingdom is that all people in God's creation regard themselves as sisters and brothers, as members together in the same family of God's promise.

It's a great story that you can check out in full with the sermon video below, and with the downloads below the video panel.

04-24-16-ff-answers.pdf
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04-24-16-resurrection_witness-loving_family.pdf
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RESURRECTION WITNESS: FOLLOWING ONE VOICE - from April 17, 2016

4/18/2016

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When you think about it, there are hundreds of voices trying to get our attention every day. There are few that we actually pay attention to. Jesus says that his sheep know his voice and listen. 

Jesus was responding to the demands of "the Jews," establishment-types, probably leaders, who were upset at Jesus' indirectness about whether he is the Messiah. Jesus insisted that it was quite clear from his works (not simply miracles as the NIV improperly translates) if not from his statements and teachings.

However, those who know his voice know precisely what he is doing and what he is about. They are like sheep who hearken to the voice of the shepherd. That statement in itself is pretty loaded. Those who don't get it aren't listening; they're waiting to entrap and convict, to get Jesus out of the picture.

We use filters to decide what gets our attention and what isn't worth it. They're very effective. But we need to be deliberate if we're looking to set the Lord's voice and the Kingdom's agenda as a priority.

Peter gives a lesson in that as he is called to Joppa where a saintly figure has died. Upon arrival, he is confrotned by the wailing mourners. They are a witness to death, not a resurrection witness. He shoos them away and devotes himself to prayer. He sets his priority and connects with the voice that empowered him with the promise of life. From that spirit, he brings the deceased to life once again.

There is a whole lot more in the sermon which you can check out with the sermon video or by downloading the text at the link below the video panel.

04-17-16-ff-answers.pdf
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04-17-16-resurrection_witness-following_one_voice.pdf
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RESURRECTION WITNESS: RISKY FAITH - from Sunday, April 10, 2016

4/12/2016

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​Risk and Christian faith seem to have been divorced since the church's earliest days. How risky is your Christian faith? Yet scripture won't let us forget that faith and risk go hand-in-hand.

The story of Saul's conversion includes Ananias, an often forgotten character, Ananias is told by Jesus in a vision to go and minister to Saul of Tarsus. Saul is known among the Jesus people in Damascus for his persecution zeal. Ananias questions Jesus, given the deadly risk involved in exposing himself to the one who presided over the stoning death of Stephen in Jerusalem (Acts 6). You can't fault his logic, but Jesus is adamant. Ananias' risk in faithfulness to Jesus needs to be recognized as he goes forth to complete his mission.

In (the appended) John 21, after Jesus cooks up a fish breakfast, there is a conversation between Jesus and Peter. It's a strange dialogue that features a three-fold repetition of Jesus' question to Peter, "Do you love me?" Something is missing that has thwarted scholars. However, I think I know what it is. It isn't what is said - the angle that scholars pursue - but what is not said.

You can check out the sermon video below, or download and read the sermon text below the video panel to find out how Jesus challenges Peter to adopt a risky faith.

04-10-16-ff-answers.pdf
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04-10-16-resurrection_witness-risky_faith.pdf
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RESURRECTION WITNESS: SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT - Sunday, April 3, 2016

4/4/2016

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The church and believers have been struggling to figure out the resurrection since it was discovered, as the stories about Mary and Peter attest. As we share that struggle in a new era, we can recognize several things about the resurrection worth noting in coming weeks.

This week's scriptures point us to realize that resurrection isn't simply about life after death.

​They give testimony to the courage and determination of the earliest disciples confronting the Sadducees of the Jewish religious establishment in Acts 5. It reminds us that Jesus wasn't the only unpopular and rebellious individual. His followers insisted that they were answering God's call to ministry in Jesus' name and in the promotion of the gospel, and no amount of threats, even of death itself, was going to deter them. What happens when what we may see as "good deeds" are punishable by arrest, punishment, and even execution? 

The most well known symbol of the struggle to understand the resurrection is "doubting" Thomas, of course, in John 20. In the exchange between Thomas and the resurrected Lord, the final message is "believe." Belief and doubt need to be seen as opposites.

The resurrection is meant to be spiritually empowering. Resurrection without spiritual empowerment almost voids its meaning. To delve into this further, check out the sermon video below (only half of my head, but it is the half that I use), and note the downloads below the video panel.

04-03-16-ff-answers.pdf
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04-03-16-resurrection_witness-spiritual_empowerment.pdf
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