Resurrection 6 Being Fixer Uppers

One thing we want to keep before us about Scripture: it's not written by people who are giving their impression of what God is saying. It's God giving His impression of what has happened to His Creation and how to fix it. It is what He is inspiring the writers to say. God is using 100% of the writer's faith and personality to express 100% of Himself; “All Scripture is God-breathed...(1 Tim.3:16).” Just as God created 100% of the universe to express…

Resurrection 5 Starting the New Life

One of my favorite shows on TV is Fixer Upper. A couple in Waco, Texas have a home remodeling business where they take old houses and give them a new look, a new identity. They interview the buyers and get a feel for their hopes and tell them what can be done with the old house. The first thing they do is inspect the foundation. Then they survey the rest of the structure to make sure the project can be done.

The husband gathers a crew to…

Resurrection 4 Being and Getting It Right

If we want to get feel for the life of the resurrected Jesus we have to begin where Jesus began and why; His baptism and what He said about it. John the Baptist prophesied Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt.3:11). He used the image of wheat and chaff. Wheat being the proof of spiritual life and chaff the anti-spiritual. When Jesus came to the Jordan John was reluctant to baptize Jesus but Jesus was making a statement about…

Resurrection, Faith in Action!

In our first session we dealt with knowing our spiritual latitude and longitude, our vertical and horizontal reality as individuals. As sinners we were born with a consciousness only of the horizontal. The vertical dimension was all speculation that ultimately ended up relying on whatever the culture defined as good as opposed to bad.

In our second session we delved into the meaning, history and reason for the Resurrection. Along comes Jesus slam…

Understanding the Resurrection

Three factors mark this most dramatic event in man's history, Its Meaning, Its History and Its Function. Each of us is the place God has directed His presence to be experienced. Our mind, heart and spirit are created in His image to know His will, have a mutual relationship with Him and relationally share Him with others. But the devil and sin intervened to throw us off His spiritual track. To recover us and restore us He sent His Son Jesus. It is His…

After You Fix Your Spiritual Position, Then What?

We've been talking about our spiritual location and how to get a fix on it but what about after you get that fix? What do you do next? First, we'll review the location finding and then we'll move into the action we take after we know where we are.

Again, finding your physical location is knowing the intersecting point of your latitude and longitude. That takes time, the right instruments and knowing how to use them. But your…

Having placed everything in the context of location the passage that really speaks to what our response as disciples should be is this one:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory…

What Is Your Longitude and Latitude?

Navigation on the ocean depends on knowing your location and a measuring instrument like a sextant is used to determine our latitude (horizontal lines) and longitude (vertical lines). Where those lines cross is our position. It certainly is important to know your physical location whether you are on the sea, the land or in the air. But there are also other locations. As the real estate agent says, “Location, location, location” which points to a…