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Topic: Salvation
Sehnsucht
In the story of the Prodigal Son, the son leaves home and experiences intensely that something is missing. Eventually he comes to his senses and goes home to his father. Greg connected this desire that the son felt to the German word sehnsucht which is a powerful form of longing that we all feel at times in our lives. Read More
Zacchaeus
Repentance and salvation are understood best in the story of someone’s life. Zacchaeus is a great example of radical repentance and a clear pronouncement of salvation by Jesus.
Take Off Your Grave Clothes
Easter is about Jesus’ resurrection and the faith of the church in that resurrection. Jesus’ claims to be God were unambiguous but didn’t always receive the same response. Read More
The Narrow Door
Jesus taught that the way to salvation is narrow, but what exactly does that mean? Who gets saved? How does someone get saved? These are big questions, and the answers will surprise many people – even some who have attended church their entire lives. Discover what Jesus meant when he called us to enter the “narrow door.” Read More
The Fire God
God is a FIRE. To all who are open to him, God’s presence is a fire of love, salvation, healing and purification. To all who are not, God’s presence is experienced as a fire of destruction. Jesus reminds and warns us to build our lives on him; depending upon where our hearts are, God’s fiery and holy love either saves and purifies us, or it destroys. Read More
Taking Out the Trash
What does it mean to “get saved?” Many people (especially people in the United States) see salvation as a one time event and the result of “believing” certain things about God. While belief is important, salvation encompasses much more than that. The salvation that God offers is a continual personal transformation where the trash of our old lives is replaced by the beauty of God’s Kingdom. Read More
Taking Back the House
In Luke 11, Jesus talks about this world as a “house” that Satan guards. As Kingdom people, what do we do with that? If we look to Jesus, he simply tells us to take back the house. And how exactly do we do that? We don’t adopt the patterns of Satan and try to overcome violence with violence. Looking again to Jesus, he shows us that the only thing that can overpower evil, and that is self-sacrificial love. Only love can conquer evil; only light can dispel darkness. Read More
Puppets and Dresses
Is the good news of Jesus Christ really as good in your mind as it was in the mind of Jesus? God’s dream for humanity is far more amazing than most of us realize. He wants to “marry” us, to invite us into his family and walk in radical love with us. Read More
Ready to Receive
There were many people following Jesus in the first century. They heard his preaching, observed his actions of love to the outcasts, and even witnessed his miracles. However, Jesus did not fit people’s expectations of how a Messiah should act. He did not conform to preciously established paradigms shaped by the culture of the time. These cultural blinders impacted people’s ability to receive what Jesus was saying. Read More
The Growing Giant Jesus
An important reality about being a follower of Jesus is that you are always a part of something that is larger than yourself. This is because followers of Jesus are in the Body of Christ, a collection of people who have completely dedicated themselves to the Kingdom of God. Not only is there interdependence between the people who make up the body, but there is also our link to the Head of the body, Jesus himself. What this means is that the way that we see Jesus and his ministry will affect how we see ourselves as well as our mission in the world. Read More
