Good news!

So, last week at Quest, we talked about how our God is so great and powerful that we can't fully know him (if you missed it, you can listen HERE). But can we know him enough? Can we understand the Creator of the universe well enough to grasp what our relationship with him should be? 

We talk about "being saved" and "repentance" and "The Way of Jesus," but what do those things really mean? Can we understand them in a practical way? Can we truly know how to respond to a God who is so huge and powerful, but who also insists that he is present with us whenever we gather? What do we do with that?

One guy who did a really good job of wrestling with it is Paul. He was a smart guy, and he worked his way through these ideas, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and fortunately for us, he wrote it all down in a series of letters to the very first churches and their leaders.

One of those letters was written to the churches in Rome, Italy, which was, at that time, the central hub of civilization. And there is a long-standing tradition, in the church, to grapple with salvation and what exactly we are saved from, by working our way through the Roman letter.

This is often accomplished with something called "The Romans Road" - a series of verses in the Roman letter, which, when read in order, should open up the good news of Jesus Christ in a clear and understandable way. I have put together my own version of the Romans Road for your consideration, and you can download it HERE.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed
-------------
Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God isn't simple
Date: 4/17/16
Main Passages: Job 38:4-7

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• If you've ever tried to "share your faith" what was the most difficult part?
• When do you think it's appropriate to do so?
• Would you be more or less likely to share if you had a resource like this? Why?
• What do you think is more important, conversion or discipleship? Explain.

Did you read the directions?

Have you ever heard the world "Bible" used as an acronym? 

Have you ever heard it said, “B-I-B-L-E stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?”

When my kids were enrolled in Christian school, I heard this quite a bit, and, back in the day, there was even a Burlap to Cashmere song with that title. That would be great, right? It would be great to have a basic instruction manual to get us out of this life alive, wouldn't it? 

I see little handbooks all over the Christian bookstores that seem to take this stance on the Bible. But is that what God's given us? Is that what the Bible is?

If it is, that certainly would make life a lot simpler.  If we could just have a little glossary where we could look up a problem, then follow the glossary listing to the appropriate page, and we'd find simple instructions on how to handle every situation.

     - Depressed? See page 1042.

     - Child misbehaving? Page 619.

     - Wife not being submissive enough? Follow the diagram on page 196.

     - Bit of leprosy? See figure 11b, page 746.

     - Being overrun by pagan hordes? See pages 593-615.

     - Evangelizing? Consult flowchart, page 1267, entitled “Soul Winning for Beginners.”

That would sure simplify things a mite. But if you've ever cracked open a Bible, you know that's not what’s there. Every time you read the thing, it seems to be saying something different to you. It’s so rich and lyrical that it speaks to you differently depending on the day of the week, the level of your research, state of your mind, and the condition of your soul. It describes itself as “living and active” for a reason.

It’s both simple and complicated, which implies that the one about whom it speaks is likewise both simple and complicated, both unfathomable and understandable. Which is why we can view him with both awe and love - both fear and longing - which seems, at least to me, like the perfect qualifications for worship.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed

-------------

Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God isn't political
Date: 4/10/16
Main Passages: Matthew 17:24-27

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):
- How much do you think God gets involved in the affairs of man?

- What does it look like for God to respond to our prayers?

- What do you believe about the Bible? Is it without error? Is it written by men? God? Both?

- Why do you think the Bible isn't more specific? Why does it seem contradictory?

Future Shock

We've been talking about how God isn't looking for excuses to punish you or reasons to weed you out, but instead, he wants to help you become a good citizen of the kingdom. So, if God is more interested in what we're becoming than he is about who we are and what we've done, then maybe he's just generally more interested in our future than our past? Maybe he's less interested in our record - how we've responded to things previously - than he is about how we respond from here on out. 

If that's true, part of me says, "That's great! It's all about what's next! It's all about potential!" But another part of me says, "Oh, dear. What if I don't do any better than I have? What if my future is just as messed up as my past?"

Good question. But maybe a better way to think about it is to remember that Jesus didn't just stroll into your life once you noticed him. You didn't call him out of retirement. The reason you noticed him is because he's been there all along; you just didn't notice him until you figured out what to look for. He's been at work in your life, and a huge part of your development as a Jesus follower - as a disciple - is noticing that. The first big step in your sanctification process - your God-directed forward movement - is this awareness that your future matters, both to you and to him.

With that understanding in your back pocket, the rest of your life is all about a kind of four-step process: engage - respond - correct - repeat. Prayerfully step out. Respond to things as best you can. Based on results, make prayerful corrections. Then do it all again. And again. If you keep this up, God will use you, grow you, and bless you.

It's not easy, but it's awesome.

Blessings!
Pastor Ed

-------------

Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God's not exclusive
Date: 4/3/16
Main Passages: Galatians 3:28

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• In what ways have you felt excluded - in life - in the church?
• Does the idea that God is "inclusive" make you uncomfortable? If so, how? If not, why not?
• What -isms have you struggled with receiving or giving (racism? sexism? ageism? etc.)?
• How has your church family helped you with any of this?

Bless this mess

Last week, we made the case that the first thing we need to know about God before we can move forward and get to know him better is that he's not mad at us. God is not characteristically an angry God who enjoys smiting those who cross him, but is rather a loving God that desires a relationship with his creation. 

So God isn't mad at us, but who is "us?" Who is God not mad at? Surely there are some who aren't included, right?

God desires a relationship with us, and that relationship is not contingent upon our spiritual condition. He wants to reconcile with us now, even if we're still all messed up.

God's not just looking for the really knowledgable folks or the really humble folks or the really spiritual folks. "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

He wants to adopt ALL of us into his family, even if we're broken and confused. He desires connection with all of us, even if we're judgmental and arrogant. He wants to bring us all together under the same tent so we can shed those old identities and adopt new ones. He wants to heal and enlighten and humble and soften and embrace us, and he wants us to become the kind of people who can do the same for others.

So, who is us? It seems that "us" is everyone who is humble enough to enter this tent. It is anyone who is willing to draw together with God's varied and beloved creations, in all their messiness. It is anyone willing to set aside their opinions, and embrace people who look different, who smell different, who vote different, who believe different, in order to form a new kind of family.

It is messy yet beautiful, like a child's finger painting or a jazz improvisation. It is chaotic yet orderly, like a coral reef or a beef stew. But imagine if we removed the mess and the chaos. How boring would that be?

Blessings!
Pastor Ed

-------------

Series Title: 7 THINGS
Message Title: God Isn’t mad at you
Date: 3/27/16
Main Passages: Romans 8:31, Jeremiah 31:3-5, Zephaniah 3:17, John 3:16

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• What role (if any) did fear play in your faith, growing up?
• So, if God's not mad at us, is it okay for us to be mad at him? Explain.
• If you always thought God was mad at you, has this changed? In what way?
• If we shouldn't use "God's gonna getcha!" to reach people, what should we use?

The Walking Dead

The AMC program The Walking Dead (TWD) is a pop-culture phenomenon. It’s one of the highest rated programs in television history, loved by viewers and critics alike. It’s gritty and sexy and realistic and fantastical and deep and action-packed and dramatic and violent. But, at first glance, it seems like a pretty shallow premise.

It’s basically a zombie apocalypse story, drawn out for years. For those of you who aren’t fans of the zombie genre (yes, that’s a thing), zombies are the walking dead. They were once human, but they’ve died and been reanimated as soul-less shells, feeling no pain, and hungry for human flesh. Because they feel no pain and are obviously powered by something other than normal body function, they’re hard to stop. Terminating zombies usually involves stopping their brain function somehow, normally through decapitation or severe head trauma.

So, in some ways, TWD is a typical zombie story. But, there’s a twist. A big one.

In most zombie stories, zombie-ism is passed on from a bite, like rabies. But in TWD, (BIG spoiler alert) at the end of season one, we learn that zombie-ism isn’t caught; we ALL have it. Everyone who dies with brain function in the TWD universe, turns. Everyone becomes a “walker.” Everyone’s a ticking time bomb.

This changes everything.

Consequently, in the TWD universe, we’re all the walking dead. The show’s title doesn’t refer to the zombies, it refers to the survivors - the people looking for safety and hope and a life without fear. Which is interesting, because this is exactly how Paul describes people who have not discovered God’s love.

"You were dead in your transgressions and sins...gratifying the cravings of (your) flesh and following its desires and thoughts." *

We’re like the survivors on TWD, ticking timebombs walking around, dead in our sin. But once we figure that out, there’s hope. 

"Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions." *

We have the answer. We have the cure. Amen?

There’s hope!

Pastor Ed

* (Ephesians 2)

-----------

SERIES TITLE: DYING2LIVE

MESSAGE TITLE: LIVE4HOPE | DIE2APATHY

MAIN PASSAGES: 1 John 4:7-8, 11-12, Matthew 25:31-40

Some questions for use in group or personal study.

• Share a time you thought you had it all figured out, but you found out you were wrong. 
• What’s the difference between being “dead in transgressions” and “alive in Christ?” 
• What are the similarities between being a “walker” and hell?
• What would be heaven to the survivors?

Back In the Day

I used to be able to work on my car.

When I was in high school, I drove a 1976 Ford Pinto Runabout. And when you opened up the hood, there were about five things under there. You could see exactly what everything was connected to, it was easy to understand what everything did, and you could pretty much reach everything with a socket wrench. One time, I actually replaced the points, plugs, and distributer on that bad boy. Quit laughing. I really did.

Those days are gone. These days, every cubic centimeter is packed with something. I can’t tell anything apart. And in order to work on anything, you have to remove two or three things, just to get at it.

The other day, my mechanic buddy, Mike, told me that someone brought in their new car with a blown headlight bulb, and he actually had to take off the front bumper to replace the bulb. It was, like, $160 in parts and labor. For a light bulb. Is it just me, or is that madness?

Most of what Mike tells me about working on cars sounds like voodoo magic and guesswork. So, I don’t even mess with it anymore. I can refill the fluids. That’s about it.

But guess what? I can still get in the car, turn it on, and drive to the grocery store, having no idea how to reset the manometer or where the ignition magneto is located. Ninety percent of the time, it still does everything I need it to do, no problem. And the other ten percent? That’s why I have Mike.

So, in a certain sense, driving my car around town is a little bit like walking The Way of Jesus. I don’t have to know every little detail about atonement and heaven and predestination and eschatology in order to get from Point A to Point B.

Ninety percent of the time, all I need to do is turn the key and go - the basics are all that’s necessary. And for the other ten percent, I have the Holy Spirit, the Bible, my pastor, and 6,000 years of biblical scholarship to fall back on.

This week, join us as we discuss who we are and who God wants us to become and how that path doesn’t require us to understand every tiny detail and every single nuance of God’s plan. At some point, we just have to trust that, if we turn the key, this car will get us where we’re going.

Join us this Sunday!

Pastor Ed

----------

Series Title: DYING2LIVE

Message Title: live4growth | die2junk

Main Passages: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 12:1-3

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• In what area of your life has your faith produced the most growth?
• What have been your greatest stumbling blocks to growing in your faith?
• Share something you’re doing to intentionally to grow your faith.
• If someone asked you how to start learning about Jesus, what would you tell them?

The Tyranny of Distraction

How full is your DVR? I’m always fighting with mine. If I ever get below 50%, I get so excited. But, two weeks later, it’s right back to warning me that it might be too full.

“Are you sure you want to record this?” it asks me. “Maybe you should get some shows off of me and come back?” it says, with a wink. I know it’s just a machine, but I can’t help thinking that’s a little condescending.

Who are you to shame me for my addiction, DVR? You, who are my primary enabler? You, who keep enticing me with your easy search functions and your ability to record and store every viewing whim? You, who know full well that I’ve watched eight episodes of “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in the last two days? Perhaps you should stop being so convenient? You mock me with your warnings.

But who can blame me? I’ve heard people say there’s nothing good on, but those people are crazy. Television used to be the filmmaker’s ghetto, where people went if they couldn’t make it in the cinema. But, today, there’s barely a difference between good TV and good movies.

Sure, there’s so much TV available today that for every good show, there are ten terrible shows. BUT still, if all you ever did was watch the really good stuff, you could still occupy every waking moment. So, quit judging me. My overflowing DVR is completely reasonable. Seriously, quit looking at me like that.

And while everything I just said is absolutely true, I’m really just trying to make excuses for myself. The DVR is just another way for me to stall. And you have them too. Your stall tactics might be different, but you have them. My full DVR is a convenient way for me to avoid connecting. It’s not overt. It’s not intentional. But it IS effective.

When I am catching up on my shows and speeding through the commercials, I am definitely not connecting with my neighbors. Sure, I might be collecting data that I can share around the water cooler. “Did you see last night’s episode of “The Walking Dead?” is a good conversation starter, but what difference does it make if your DVR has drained all of the margin from your schedule? How can I be Jesus to my neighbors if all of my free time is spent binging on TV?

So what do we do about it? As the saying goes, “Awareness is the first step to transformation.” During this Lenten season, you don’t have to give up the DVR (or whatever your distraction - sports - facebook - whatever), but maybe it would be a really excellent time to think about priorities. What is really important? Are your friends and neighbors and church family more important than your entertainment?

At this week’s Quest gathering, we’ll be discussing what it means to die to being busy and what it means to start living for others. And maybe joining us on Sunday would be a great first step.

Blessings!

Pastor Ed

-------------

Series Title: DYING2LIVE

Message Title: live4others | die2fences

Main Passages: Mark 12:31, Matthew 11:30

Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• What’s your biggest distraction from living for others?
• If you’re not getting your emotional, spiritual, and physical support from your church family, where are you getting it? If you are, share some examples.
• Do your upbringing and experience support living for others or for self? Explain.
• What’s the difference between being responsible TO someone and FOR someone?