Jesus Wants to Save Christians, pt 4

Jesus Wants to Save Christians Chapter 3, David’s Other Son “One thinks of the prophets of Israel, of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, all of them. They were par excellence the putters of words to things, and the words they put are so thunderous with rage and exultation, with terrible denunciations and terrible promises, that if you…

The Cry of the Oppressed

The Cry of the Oppressed Exodus 3:1-12 January 11, 2009 Let’s begin this morning’s message by reading together from the Word of God, the book of the Exodus, chapter 3. We are picking up the story of God’s work among the Israelites about 400 some years after the death of Joseph. Moses has been born…

Jesus Wants to Save Christians: Get Down Your Harps

Chapter 2: Get Down Your Harps “Scripture renders a living, breathing, demanding personality, not a set of freestanding, self-evident, abstract, allegedly biblical propositions. Yet then again, a personality with whom we are in relationship obligates us, demands that we take our place in the relationship. In Jesus, salvation and vocation are linked. The pardon and…

The Extravagant and Reckless Grace of God

God’s Extravagant & Reckless Grace Daily Reading: Jonah 3-4, Psalm 1-2 We have been talking a lot lately (at http://www.christianresearchnetwork.info) about God’s salvation. I think, perhaps, we might have been inadvertently, or not, talking about the extent of God’s grace. Grace is a subject we do not speak of highly enough or often enough or…

Skycast: The Unveiling of Jesus to the Church

Friends, I am happy to announce to you that along with my weekly sermons, I will begin doing a series of podcasts here at Life Under the Blue Sky. The first series of podcasts I have scheduled will be from the book of the Revelation. I will not be covering the entire book, but rather…

Jesus Wants to Save Christians, pt 2

Part 2: The Cry of the Oppressed “What are we waiting for? And what are we going to do about it in the meantime? Those two questions shape this book. First, it is about the ultimate future hope held out in the Christian gospel: the hope, that is, for salvation, resurrection, eternal life, and the…

Jesus Wants to Save Christians, pt 1

“My concern is provoked by the observation that so many who understand themselves to be followers of Jesus, without hesitation, and apparently without thinking, embrace the ways and means of the culture as they go about their daily living ‘in Jesus’ name.’ But the ways that dominate our culture have been developed either in ignorance…

90 Days with Scripture: Revelation 21, The Future

Friends, here is the final installment of my series 90 Days with Scripture. In this sermon, I examine, however surfacely, Revelation 21. The conclusion of all things is that humanity has messed things up terribly and that God has solved those problems in a way we did not, and still do not, expect. His solution…

Emmanuel: God with Us

Over at CRN.info, another blog where I write, the other writers and I wrote a Christmas post where each of us explored, in a paragraph or two, the sentence “God with us,” or in Jesus, “Emmanuel.” Below is my contribution to the post. I encourage you to stop by CRN.info and read the entire post.…

Feminine Metaphors, The Bible, God, and The Shack

This post attempts to dismiss the angst many have over so-called ‘feminine’ theology. Much of the angst comes from those who are simply afraid that God might not fit into their pre-conceived ideas. Of special concern is the angst many have over The Shack’s presentation of God as a fat, African-American woman. (I suspect much of it comes, too, because people haven’t actually read The Shack.)