Resurrection 14a Have You Got 'It'? You Betcha!

What makes a person appealing? What about them draws attention? You hear someone say, 'They've got it.' What is 'it'? When you start trying to explain about 'it' the result is usually a pause because the non-verbal has overtaken the verbal. But one thing is for sure, the 'it' is real. Judges watching people perform on stage are looking for a performance-'it' that will cause them to say “They're really good. They've got 'it', which means…

Resurrection 14 Fever! Do You Have a Fever?

Folks, it's all about you. In a political season when the heat is turned up there's a virus that spreads across the land and fever results. The rhetoric flies about like bees around a disturbed hive, and it is so easy to be distracted by it all. But disciples of Jesus have a double calling in spite of the fever—-first, to look up and then to look around you. If you got the meaning of the medium being the message and that Jesus is the…

Resurrection 13a Trump: Medium or Message?

While I was thinking about the emergence of one boisterous candidate, the 'Trump phenomenon,' on our present political landscape, I was reminded of a Canadian professor of English named Marshall McLuhan. He was considered the major prophet in communication theory in the '60's. His books radicalized (and still do)the teaching about the impact of media on society. One person called him “The High Priest of Pop Culture.” He coined the phrases…

Resurrection 12 Consistency, A Sign of the Resurrection Life

If you want to get a feel for the resurrected life of Jesus, get into His parables. When He says for instance, “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” it is His parables that get us started. In the first one we covered, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it became obvious that Jesus was a man of the heart who saw the hearts of all mankind in need. Beaten down by robbers and passed over by the religious establishment there were no…

Resurrection 11a Politics and Headlights

Last year my car's headlights were dimming due to the pounding they get from driving through years of sand, dust and air pressure. I went to the car dealer and they put the headlight lenses through a cleaning process. They shone bright again. Our personal headlight is our relationship with the Lord Jesus. What can happen to His light in us is that it can dim if we let the cultural wars wear down the lenses He made in us to let Him shine…

Resurrection 11 Passion, Are We Breathing Spiritually?

It's been reported in the media that a certain quarterback has turned 40. Will he or will he not retire? He's too old to keep on playing. What's interesting is the context in which we view people. In sports you are decrepit when you reach middle age. Now think of business. You really are just getting under way when you're 40. In politics 40 is too young to be mature enough to be in office. Pick any profession and its context…

Resurrection 10 On the Move

One of my vacation jobs while I was in college was being a lifeguard in New England. A man, who owned a unique country lake beach with rental boats, canoes, a skating rink, a restaurant and game arcade, would come to Gainesville, Florida in the Winter and hire students to work for him in the Summer. I actually did both cooking and lifeguarding. He was always on the move from the boats and beach to the rink and restaurant. Night and day he would check each…

Resurrection 9a OK, So You Want to Be a Disciple

Since we have felt the attitudinal thrust of the Sermon on the Mount we need to follow Jesus coming off the mountain and applying His attitude in the valley of human turmoil (Matt.8:1-17). How did He live out His teaching about attitude when confronted by human needs? He had three immediate encounters, one with a leper, the second a centurion and the third a disciple's mother. Each had deep personal need but each also represented a…

Resurrection 9 Forging Ahead to Claim the Resurrected Life

To start with, we need to review. We have been given three basic life rights---the right to be a child of God, the right to a new identity, a disciple of Jesus and the right to an eternal spiritual Counselor, the Holy Spirit.

First, when we believe and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord we are images of God being given the right to a new personal and relational identity---children of God the Father. That is the most basic…

Faith in God or Faith in Man? (Resurrection 8 Continued)

So we see the uncompromising difference between secular rights and spiritual rights---self-declared importance as opposed to humble service to God. Secular rights are based on this principle: “Because I exist, the world owes me!” Spiritual rights start with this principle: “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only (Mt.4:30)!” If you view the political situation across the world, these two positions frame the battle between…

Resurrection 8 The Bill of Rights and Beyond

If you watch TV crime shows you know that when a police officer apprehends a suspect he is required to say the Miranda ruling, “You have the right to be silent, whatever you say can be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and if you can't afford one, one will provided for you. Do you understand your rights?” Those refer to your secular rights. There are of course other rights, known as the Bill…

Resurrection 7a A Late Gift

Have you opened all your Christmas gifts? In the flurry of last minute wrapping I forgot one of my gifts for Mary. I discovered it a week or so later when someone riding in the back saw it stuffed under the front seat. It was one of those 'kick-yourself' moments. Sometimes I think we are like that about the gifts God has given us. We stuff them away and forget about them.

For me, part of the Lenten exercise is to return to the basic truths we hold as…

Resurrection 7 Who Am I Really?

One of the old Twilight Zone TV episodes was about a man who was irritated by everyone he saw and wished that everyone would be like him. His wish came true and wherever he went, whether it was on a subway or a restaurant or just walking on the street, everyone looked and acted exactly like him. He saw himself in everyone. He found the reason he was so irritated with others was because he was irritated with himself so he wished everything to be like it…

Resurrection 6a Our New Identity

In one of my studies early on I came across the case of a psychiatrist who was faced with a woman in his hospital wing who was out of control. She kept shouting over and over again, “I am the 17th cousin of Queen Elizabeth.” He walked up to her, paused, looked intently into her eyes and said, “It must be terrible not to know who you are.” In that moment she looked at him, calmed down and he began helping her grapple with her greatest fear. That…

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…