Preface

• There is ample evidence in attempting to influence culture. Christians have jettisoned basic, historic Christian beliefs... How else can you describe a situation in which most church going adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, claim that Jesus sinned, believe that good words will persuade God to forgive their sins, and describe their commitment to Christianity as moderate or even less firm? 

• Our numbers indicate strength, but our shallowness betrays our weakness. 

​

Theology: The sexual life of a nun. 

•  Some of you believe that you cannot discover Truth. If this is true, you have actually discovered a truth. You might as well continue searching for more. And it's not that you just find Truth and you're done. That's such a shallow view of Truth.

• Our goal as people should be to become truer people; the outside of us getting closer to what's actually on the inside of us; living lives of complete authenticity.   

• This idea of dynamic theology will be troubling to some Christians because many feel that the orthodox faith has been delivered in final form and that the job of the church is to regurgitate the Bible rather than explore it and discover it more fully. And if you've been to church lately, you know that Jesus probably isn't so pleased with some of our regurgitations. Even Jesus mentions the fact that He might regurgitate some of our churches out of His mouth (Rev 3:16). So, if you've ever witnessed the type of religious behavior from a Christian that makes you want to puke, Jesus knows just how you feel. 

​

The Bible is more than a place to stash your drugs. 

• Sure, the bible is hard to understand, but we can understand it enough. "It aint those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me - it's parts of the Bible that I do understand". 

• Interpretation is not the idea that you can make the Bible say anything you want. 

• The bible doesn't do what we often do in Christian community - sweep the dirt under the rug. We usually omit the messy parts about historic revivals and Church history and Old testament genocide and all the parts Jesus talks about hell. The bible is not concerned with making God's people look good. It doesn't spoon feed anyone who reads it. It's not afraid of you not getting it. 

• The OT points to what's going to happen 400 years after the book of Malachi is written. The NT points back to the OT saying "see, they told you everything that was going to happen concerning Him" and the two books point back and forth at each other, together with point straight at Jesus. 

​

The Theology of Inspiration vs Perspiration

• God let other people write the Bible with their own words, personalities, limited knowledge of the world and lack of competent secretarial pools to choose from. But God, through His HS communicated Truth He wanted us to know through the people. 

• "Faith is bound to conclude that it is the truth which are inspired and not the word which are merely the vehicles of truth". Inspiration plus perspiration. Dual authorship. In this respect, the Bible is just like Jesus, fully human and fully God.  

​

The reality of God and the problem of self-addressed stamped envelopes. 

• Doubt is somehow virtuous these days. Why so certain about doubt? Unbelief is no longer a sin; it's a hunch. Believers who actually believe are patronized, which is odd because the author of the Gospel of Luke wrote to Theophilus so that he might be certain of his faith. 

• Doubt is such an epidemic in the Church that when preachers hold up their heroes of faith as examples, they have to point to their failures to encourage us rather than their successes. 

• The problem with unbelief isn't an honest question from a spiritual seeker or a struggling believer; it's the persistent disbelief after plenty of evidence offered on God's behalf. 2 Kings 7:19. 

• "why do you believe in God?". I love it when people treat the question like it's this tremendously complicated issue. The answer is simple "I believe in God because I am not an idiot. Actually, that's not true. I believe in God because He has made it easy for idiots to believe in Him". 

• According to God, the subtle hints given in nature alone should be enough to tilt us in the direction of belief in the transcendent. Paul says there's so much proof to God in nature that when we die we'll be without excuse (Rom 1:20). When you look closely at nature, you will certainly see God revealed. As soon as science gives an explanation for how the universe began, it's stepped into theology.

• Just because God stops traffic and someone becomes convinced that He is real doesn't mean they will love Him and demonstrate that love by following and obeying Him. God is looking for demonstrative lovers, not believers. The Church is full of believers and that's part of the problem. Even demons belief. So, if you only have the faith of a demon - you can get by in church. 

• We doubt because we are finite. As humans our knowledge is limited. Christian spirituality is laced with mystery. True. But it's also laced with certainty. 

• Whatever doubts I have about my faith, they are within the context of the Resurrection of Christ. The one thing that I believe with a high degree of certitude.  

​

 The Beginning of Narcissism 

• "Psychoanalysis has not made the analysts themselves better, nobler, or of stronger character." Therapy doesn't even help the therapist. 

• My objection to therapy, once again is the language. This is where therapy fails us - in the naming of our sins. Call it what it is - an uprising of the heart and soul against the God who is good. People suck because they're sinners. 

• They also say things like 'God doesn't see my sin. He sees Jesus in my place.' God sees it, God is not an ostrich, and the atonement isn't a blindfold. 

• God sees sin as equal only in the sense that if you're willing to steal a small thing, then you're probably willing to steal a large thing. The state of the heart is God's concern. All sin is internal before it's external. Murder is just anger communicated really well. 

• People feel safer with a therapist because they pay them Money makes people feel safer than "I won't tell". Confession is good for the soul, but the cash keeps them quiet. 

• The mystery to really feel loved by another human being is that we have to reveal ourselves. The more fully you reveal yourself without hiding behind whatever it is you hide behind, the more fully you will feel loved by that person. If you keep hiding, you will always struggle with the insecurity that he or she or they don't really love you. This is why when we hide our sins, we feel alone. 

• Confession to a therapist or priest is ultimately dissatisfying if not preceded with a confession to Christ. The reason we feel the need to confess to a person is because innately we have the need to confess to God. We need to be forgiven. 

​

My God is bigger than your god. 

• Romans 10:19. Many church leaders feel that the subject of Christ's exclusivity should be avoided altogether. Of all the issues people find most repugnant about Christianity is the idea that Christ is the only way to God. This is seen as narrow, which is quite insightful really, because Jesus said, "Narrow is the road to life" 

• It may be that people hate the message because the messenger and the message are basically the same things. You ARE the message, You're the living gospel. Christians often say" they are not rejecting me, they are rejecting Jesus." No. they are rejecting you, maybe they're rejecting Jesus because of you. 

• I think one of the main reasons why people fear evangelical Christians is because the gospel is offensive. Christ is the only way to God. It's offensive. Telling people they're sinners is not the offensive part. Everyone will admit they're not perfect. Most people will admit they've sinned. Some will even own up to the fact they need a saviour. It's the supremacy of the Cross of Christ where they begin to hedge. 

• An important point to remember is that though His role as the only Savior of humanity is completely exclusive, His invitation to be that Savior is completely inclusive, with a promise that He will turn away no one who comes to Him. 

• It's not that you deny any good that has come from other religions of the world; but as a Christian, it is not only remiss, but it is also downright belittling to a Savior who suffered and died on a cross for our sins when His followers tiptoe around the issue of His supremacy. Let's not belittle the pain and sacrifice that Christ experiences on the cross by being too awfully magnanimous towad other religions. If you cannot find the risen Christ in the context of these religions, then they are keeping people from Christ. 

• The most disturbing aspect of this whole comparative religions issue, though, is that some religions being right is much more frightening than other religions being right. For example, if the Buddha is right, then I've really nothing to worry about as a practicing Christian. As a matter of fact, I can still practice my false religion without a care in the world. However... if Christianity is true, then Buddhists need to take a second look. 

• The Gospel is not polite, it is demanding. "Repent and believe" is not an invitation. 

• So what does God think of those who follow other religions? The verse below is about a tribe that had left God and gone astray. I think it speaks His heart for every missing child, whatever faith tradition they find themselves in. "Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," Jer 31:20

​

Damn Theology (why hell is a good idea) 

• God's love has been redefined so that it is no longer holy. Unfortunately, if you don' love God, He will send you to hell to keep heaven from becoming a bad neighborhood. That's the whole idea of having a relationship with God now. It prepares you for heaven. If you're not prepared, you don't go. 

• It's not salvation from hell, but from sin. Everyone wants to be saved from hell, but not everyone wants to be saved from their sins. A gospel without sin is no gospel at all. 

• Basically, God has given us that much freedom. You're free to date whoever you like and scorn at her at your own discretion. If you want to go to hell, you can. The reason why God gives us such freedom is that for love to truly matter, the object of devotion must be freely chosen. Jesus didn't chase down the rich young man when he walked away. He felt sad about the young man walking away, but He didn't chase after him. 

​

​

A New Kind of Hell

• Jesus came to save people "from their sins". This in turn, will save them from hell because it saves them from greed, lust, envy, lust, bitterness, anger and other conditions of the heart that lead to hell on earth. If you don't get saved from anything in this life, then you don't get saved from anything in the next life. This doesn't mean that meritorious works save you. It just means that true faith affects change in a person's character, which in turn affects his or her decisions. 

• That's hell on earth. When your heart wraps around greed, lust, envy, bitterness, lies and hatred, your heart would actually be more at home in hell. All that God's doing by sending you there is accommodating your needs. 

• But we all start there, as God's enemies. No one is in because they're better. We're in because the invitation is open to everyone. It's all-inclusive. you've been invited to the party, but that doesn't mean you have to attend. 

• Here's what terrifying about dying: facing what you've become after your life is over and the consequences of what your heart reveals about your true love. 

​

​

So Full of Grace, We're Full of...

• The strength of one marriage will encourage weaker marriages, and the fall of a strong marriage will discourage weaker marriages. 

• We say we want community, meaning that we want a bunch of people we can hang with; but we don't want to be responsible for influencing their lives. And we certainly don't want them speaking to our lives. 

• 1 John 2:3-6. John is not saying that you're saved by the commandments of Christ; he's saying that keeping them is evidence that you really are a Christian, a follower of Jesus. This is not about perfection. It's about getting up each day and believing the right things about grace instead of the wrong things. Grace is there to help us in our time of need, not excuse us. 

• Grace means that you get saved in spite of you. When you feel like a lousy human being and you bow your head to pray about being a lousy human being and find that God is there, after all, that's grace. It comes when you know that you have no other means but Christ alone. 

​

​

In Defense of Uptight

• They don't like being called 'religious' because 'religious' is commonly associated with 'hypocrites'

• Not only do we fret over what to call ourselves, but believe it or not, we struggle with what to call you people - pagans, heathens, hedonists, atheists, home builders. We've toyed with terms such as 'unchurched' (a made up word that sounds like a Lutheran who's been deprogrammed), "non-christian" (too much like a Starbucks order - i'll have an iced chai tea non-fat non-christian), "unbeliever" (too political), "unsaved" (too mean), "sinner" (too obvious), "jackass" (too honest). 

• The thing I really like about these religious fundamentalists is that they sincerely want to get the work of the Kingdom done. They want people to come and know Christ. They believe in the urgency of life. They understand the dangers of false beliefs. They don't care if their views are unfashionable or unpopular. They care about the Truth, about making Jesus known. 

• I owe not only my faith my often my continued growth in grace to people like him - people who challenge and provoke me and who are rejected by the evangelical church at large. People who make Christians feel like sinners - unrighteous, unholy, ungodly, things we don't feel nearly often enough. We're not troubled by sins of society anymore. There is no shame. 

​

​

Everybody Likes Jesus

• People think that only religious people are self-righteous. Baby, anyone who doesn't need a Savior is self-righteous. Jesus even said He didn't come for the righteous, for those who feel all right within themselves (Matt 9:13). 

• If we don't have a way of processing our encounters with Christ, besides our own burning in the bosom, we could end up with a Jesus as an imaginary friend, not the real Jesus. The Jesus of experience is meaningless without the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of experience is made your servant without your submission to the words in red. Our experience needs to be interpreted by our theology or we tend to end up with a Jesus-y feel-good mist that demands nothing and offends no one. 

•  You can never look at Christ and exclude either His mercy or His judgment. 

• As we drove away, another man approached Wayne, and I'll bet this guy was a follower of Jesus too. He just had that look about him. Smiling, eager to help, holding a spray bottle. What if Wayne keeps getting bombarded with Christian love? Maybe he'll see Jesus in this experience. 

​

Apocalypse Later 

• Leonard Ravenhill (The Judgement Seat of Christ) www.sermonindex.com

• It's this stupid idea of being afraid of death. Death is not the thing to be feared, God is. The only thing that makes death scary, besides the black hood and sickle, is facing the Judgement Seat of Christ. This viewpoint makes the pastor really important. "Nobody believes that an incompetent pastor can threaten their salvation, but we do believe that an incompetent doctor can threaten our lives" 

• Rev 6:15-16. Basically, the sentiment is, "I'd rather face an avalanche than the risen Christ." A healthy fear of Christ shows a more fully orbed picture of Jesus, because we will all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ where we will have to explain why we were so stupid. 

• Our deaths should be hopeful events, not events that foster ambiguity. "Live your life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral". 

• I keep waiting for a generation that will believe God again. And when they arrive, they will make the rest of us look like a joke. I find that people who truly believe that Christ has ripped open heaven and entered our world do more in this life because they can see into the next. They understand that even the smallest kindness conveyed with the motive of love will not be forgotten in eternity. 

• When you die, I hope people can laugh. I hope you live such a live that after you die people will not only cry when they think of you, but they will also laugh with the kind of laughter that often starts in the bottom of your stomach, then shoots up out of your throat. A joyful laugh, because you did something good with your life. You were a blessing. With Christ in your life, eternity intersected with the now - the kingdom of God was ay hand in your life. 

• I pray that my daughter will live for something more than the burden of a mortgage and material things. That she would be blessed with the burdens of God's heart. To be burdened, to ache for someone, a country, a people - to weep God into the lives of people, that's the blessing of a burden.