The Tabernacle

Culture increasingly believes that truth is relative and "everyone is entitled to their opinion." Although this may be true for personal preferences, it cannot be true for truth-claims about God, faith and moral standards. What the Bible says matters more than my opinion.

Immediately following the moment of redemption in Peter's life on the beach, Jesus tells him he will die the same way He did (John 21). This moment was immediately followed with Jesus telling Peter of what was to come for his life. Death. So then we see in 1 Peter that he is directly telling the christians don't be surprised this is happening to us, rather embrace it, and rejoice we are sharing in Christ's suffering. We have lost this mentality in the western church. If it's not easy we don't want it. That's not what the Bible teaches us. This has lead to us being an apathetic generation of believers.

Jesus promised that life would bring troubles. Sometimes the pain and stress of those troubles are so overwhelming that they lead us to believe silly things like, "God won't give you more than you can handle." But that is wrong, dead wrong.

In the last of our series on Resurrection, Ben takes us through the final four verses of Ephesians and encourages to receive the hope, and then share the hope.

All of life is a fight. The war began in the Garden and mankind has had to battle ever since. We have to fight to live, make a living, stay healthy, keep a marriage, protect and raise a family. We fight to make it at home, in school, in our jobs, in relationships, politics, and sometimes literally. But Christ resurrects our fight and promises victory.

We all have a job to do, to submit ourselves to God first, to one another second, and finally to the role and responsibility we’ve been assigned. Submission means yielding my need to be in control (worship), and is actively loving God and people. Christians are called to be different, and that includes the humility of submission, which is the way of Jesus.

God resurrects our marriage. The word submission is not popular in our culture, but when we look at Christ as our example, it is a beautiful process.

Without Christ we walk life's journey as dead men, seeking only to fulfill our flesh. But the Gospel resurrects our walk, unleashing us to live differently as we believe and follow Jesus.

Before receiving Christ we walk in the old way that leads to death. But the truth of the Gospel resurrects our minds, as we learn to “put on” Jesus and walk like him in the new way.

God’s blessing, grace and power towards us demands a response. Christ took responsibility for our sin on the cross, and we are responsible to grow up in faith, and live worthy lives in response. Chapter 4 turns the corner from doctrine to application.

God has no limits, and is able to do more than limited humans could ever ask or imagine. We tend to limit God with shallow prayers because we don't grasp who God is and what He wants to do in us. In Christ, our limits are resurrected.

God has the power to resurrect any story, even the story of COVID-19. Suffering is given meaning and purpose when we work with God and give Him control of our stories, so He can resurrect them for His glory.

A sense of belonging is a primary human need and Jesus doesn't leave us alone and isolated. Being "in Christ" means we are part of something greater than ourselves. Because of Jesus we now belong to a tribe called the Church.

God has a purpose for every person. The astounding grace of God resurrects dead lives for good works, and makes Christianity unique and superior among all other religions. Sadly, many Christians don't understand grace, and waste time trying to earn God's favor, instead of freely responding to what He's freely given.

A resurrected perspective comes from God-given wisdom, revelation in knowledge, and having the eyes of our hearts enlightened. It is also transformative as we believe with certainty in the hope, riches, and power of God towards us (v17-19). This new perspective is only made possible because of Christ's physical resurrection, and by knowing God personally and intimately. Knowing God that way only comes by spending time with him, and surrendering our perspective to his. It is then that my perspective becomes his perspective.

In Christ, God has resurrected our identity and given us a new way to live. We no longer live with guilt, shame, fear, purposeless, hopeless and desperate for love and acceptance. Our identity is now His identity, because we have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgive, and lavished with love - with a future inheritance that is sealed.

Raster marks the date that Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, the most important event in History. If the Resurrection was a lie then Christianity is dead and a colossal waste of time. If the Resurrection is true, then Jesus is God, the Gospel is true, and there is hope for our future and our lives right now.

God invites people into relationship and transforms them with his love. Transformed people invite others to meet God, and when these people band together they form a church - and that’s when real momentum is developed. When everyone takes responsibility for that kind of culture, we build momentum and reach more and more people for Christ.

God invites all of us into relationship because He loves us. Last week we looked at the wheel of discipleship: Seekers - Believers - Followers - Laborers. Part of God’s invitation is to become his invitation. 2nd Corinthians 5 gives us a picture of what a laborer looks like. Laborers are courageous from an eternal perspective, actively seek to persuade others, are motivated by love, believe in changed lives, and understand that they are ambassadors for Christ. Essentially laborers are God’s invitation. We invite with both actions and with words. Our actions should point to Jesus, and we must be prepared to open our mouths and do the same.

The great story of the Gospel is that God invites all people into relationship with Him through faith, and deeper in relationship through obedience. The main point of the message is for people to see clearly where they are on the path, and to accept God's invitation to make the next move.