Teaching Quotes from 12/29/2019

Here are the quotes/cross references from our gathering on 12/29/2019. To listen to the sermon, or other previous messages, you can click here.

Matthew 4:18-22

2 Peter 1:21

“We read scripture in order to be refreshed in our memory and understanding of the story within which we ourselves are actors, to be reminded where it has come from and where it is going to, and hence what our own part within it ought to be.” - NT Wright

Hebrews 1:1-4

Tim Keller - “What is the Bible About?”

“Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him.” - Tim Keller

John 14:15

“Often when we use the term Paraclete, we’re thinking that we’re referring simply to the Holy Spirit. No, the Holy Spirit is not the Paraclete — the Holy Spirit is the other Paraclete. The original Paraclete is Christ Himself…” - R.C Sproul

“As Jesus’ disciple, I am his apprentice in kingdom living. I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of the Heavens as he would lead my life if he were I. My confidence in him simply means that I believe that he is right about everything: that all that he is and says shows what life is at its best, what it was intended by God to be. “In him was life and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4) Being his apprentice is, therefore, not a matter of special “religious” activities, but an orientation and quality of my entire existence. This is what is meant by Jesus when he says that those who do not forsake all cannot be his disciple. (Luke 14:26 & 33) The emphasis is upon the all. There must be nothing held of greater value than Jesus and his kingdom. He must be clearly seen as the most important thing in human life, and being his apprentice as the greatest opportunity any human being ever has.” - Dallas Willard

Teaching Quotes from 12/8/2019

Here are the quotes/cross references from our gathering on 12/8/2019. To listen to the sermon, or other previous messages, you can click here.

Opening quote from the gathering:

"Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.” - James K.A. Smith

Ephesians 3:14-21

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.” - Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God

"The modern loss of faith does not concern just God or the hereafter. It involves reality itself and makes human life radically fleeting. Life has never been as fleeting as it is today. Not just human life, but the world in general is becoming radically fleeting. Nothing promises duration or substance. Given this lack of Being, nervousness and unease arise." - Byung-Chul Han - The Burnout Society

Prov 4:23

“The reach of a tree depends on its roots. Choose roots over reach." - Karen Swallow Prior

"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
  And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
  And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
  Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
  Though stretched from sky to sky." - Fredrick Lehman

"The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands” ― Martin Luther

John 3:16-17

"Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings…Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God.” - James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love

1 John 3:1

“Prayer does not (merely) equip us for greater works, Prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

“If you have never known the power of God’s love, then maybe it is because you have never asked to know it - I mean, really asked, expecting an answer.” - Fredrick Buechner.

"I will let myself not be overwhelmed with the season, but be overwhelmed with the goodness of God, so I can then overflow with the goodness of God to others. I will be experienced as a blessing by others, to the extent I have slowed down — and counted blessings — and first experience myself as blessed. The greatest gift God graces a soul with is His own presence.” - Ann Voskamp

The Everyday

Life is extraordinarily ordinary. Days quickly melt into one another. Work trudges on. Bills need to be paid. Dishes need to be cleaned, laundry needs to be done, kids need to be dressed, groceries need to be purchased. Every. Single. Day. Pretty mundane, right? Did you think life would look this way? 

We often hope for a different version of our lives, or even look into another’s world and long for something more adventurous, more exciting, more together. These longings are typically rooted in a lie that something different, something else, ANYTHING else is where the good life is. It doesn’t end. It can quickly breed an unholy discontent, frustration, and worst of all, a failure to see the goodness of God with where you’re at right now. The struggle is real. 

Where is the hope? Where and when do we see change? As followers of Jesus we are freed from that cycle to see the grace of God in the everyday. Not only that, we are given the perspective and power to redeem the situations and circumstances that we presently find ourselves in. 

In Tish Harrison Warren writes, ““Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.” I was, and remain, a Christian who longs for revolution, for things to be made new and whole in beautiful and big ways. But what I am slowly seeing is that you can’t get to the revolution without learning to do the dishes. The kind of spiritual life and disciplines needed to sustain the Christian life are quiet, repetitive, and ordinary. I often want to skip the boring, daily stuff to get to the thrill of an edgy faith. But it’s in the dailiness of the Christian faith—the making the bed, the doing the dishes, the praying for our enemies, the reading the Bible, the quiet, the small—that God’s transformation takes root and grows.” 

The Apostle Paul who encouraged us to “Make best use of the time” - It’s not accidental that he writes those words from a Roman prison cell. He was maligned, mistreated, and falsely accused yet he still went forward redeeming and making best use of the opportunities that God had given regardless. Not only did he trudge through, but he used every opportunity to demonstrate the grace that had been extended to him in Jesus through both words and deeds. Everyday is an opportunity to redeem the ordinary with the extraordinary grace of God. 

So where has God placed you? Where are you frustrated? Where is it difficult to find satisfaction and fulfillment? Where are you everyday? 

God has placed you there to show forth and reflect HIS grace and HIS goodness. In Christ HE has freed you from the endless cycle of discontent, impatience, and restlessness to find your rest in him. To see and show HIM in the mundane is to redeem the everyday. 

The Unexpected

Life is full of the unexpected. Your entire life can turn upside down with nothing more than a phone call, text message or conversation. It’s in times like these that questions, fears, anxiety, doubt, and depression flood our hearts and minds as though a dam has erupted and the waters are upon us. 

What do you do then? When there are more questions than answers? More fear than faith? More doubt than delight? Jesus shows us the way. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) 

He invites us to himself. Not as isolated individuals but a community of the burdened and broken. In coming to Jesus we see we really aren’t alone. 

Yet here is what often happens: We encounter something that frustrates, flusters, or flattens us, and the internal battle begins. The dialogue rolls around in our brains and tension mounts. Teeth are clenched. Breath is held. Headaches ensue. Distractions are sought to ease the mind, but often to no avail. The burden weighs us down. 

Our vision is often clouded in these times and here’s what we fail to see; He is already aware of it all. He knows the four letter words and unholy introspection that’s going on. Even then, He says “Come.” He pulls up the chair and asks you to “Cast all your anxieties on him” and this isn’t because God is a mindless soundboard with no responsiveness, but “because he cares for you”. He’s a good Father and faithful friend. 

Not only that, He has placed others around us to share the burden. To listen. To learn. To pray. His nearness shows up through our neighbors. 

There is no prerequisite to have it together, polish our prayers, and fake it till we fake it. He simply says “Cast it, throw it, launch every last bit of what you are feeling and thinking and wondering my way.” He gives permission to be messy and promises grace. Remember, He already knows. 

God demonstrates this most clearly in coming to earth. In Christ, He shows us that He cares enough to come personally and tangibly into our lives. He relates, He knows, He feels our hurts and meets us there. 

When the unexpected strikes, we press toward Jesus together in the mess. We can find rest even when we like resolution. We can trust even though the trials persist. He is active, and He cares. He is there in the middle of it all, working for His glory and our good.