Sunday, August 2, 2009

Jesus' Complete Guide for the Christian Life (1)

I began a new sermon series on 8/2/09.
Here's a link to the first message, entitled Jesus' Revolutionary Kingdom

The following passages might add to the discussion:
Matthew 11:4-5; Isaiah 61:1-2

3 comments:

Patty Slater said...

Dan - I want to say how much I was inspired by your message today. I too have had a time of thinking "I have arrived" only to find out I didn't have a clue, and then feeling like I was less of a Christian than others who seem to "get it". I am looking forward to the next few weeks of this study. I think it is so appropriate for me and for the church body as a whole right now...the process of letting go of the ways of the past and embracing the things Jesus intended for us to focus on.

Mark said...

It was a cool discussion. I hope to be as bold as Jesus is, in regards to how he goes out on a limb and against the flow in efforts to point to what is pleasing to God. I have the tendency to do what other's like and what I'm good at, as opposed to finding God's glory in everything I do. Certainly challenging. I'm looking forward to devling into what Jesus said next, while he spoke at the mount.

Dan White said...

I was told by a good friend, who listened to Sunday's message, that when he heard me announce the series title, he was concerned that this message was going to be a 3 step process concerning how to get what you want from life as a Christian.
I'll admit, the idea was to peak interest with such a title. To be sure, Jesus doesn't speak to any and every life situation that you might encounter, but in this passage he does, through a handful of situational illustrations, elevate the standard from a list of contingent rules (this was the approach of Old Testament) to a set of attitudes about life (this is the approach of the NT).
In doing this, Jesus shows us how our righteousness can transcend that of the Scribes & Pharisees (the religious elite of Jesus' day). For the Scribes & Pharisees, according to the record of the gospels, righteousness was, essentially, physical--perform these rituals, mimic these behaviors and you'll be righteous. For the members of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus was ushering in, righteousness must be born out of a desire to honor God with our heart, soul, & strength (physical self)(see Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5).

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