Category Archives: Spirituality

One of these days is NOT like the other…

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In the fourth sermon of our Etched series, we come across the 4th commandment:  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…

{Listen if you want}

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Of the 7 days we get each week, clearly, one of these days is not like the others.

We discovered that this commandment is rooted in God’s call on our lives for rich relationships – with Him and with others.  So, to fully love God and to fully love others, we MUST set aside some dedicated time for these relationships.   A sabbath day is meant to Provide Refreshment, Protect our Priorities and Point to our Redemption.  All of this helps us build relationships with God and others.

But a lingering question exists which didn’t get answered in the sermon.  I thought I would take a minute to address it.  Why do Christians not practice a sabbath on Saturday any more?  Did Jesus rewrite this commandment to be for Sunday?  Well…kinda, but not really.

By the time Jesus got on the scene, the Jewish people were scattered throughout the world, and weren’t following the 4th commandment properly anyway.  So, when Jesus rose from the grave on a Sunday…the followers of Jesus found this to be a great time to reinstate the principles of Sabbath on the first day of the week.

Throughout the book of Acts, we see the church gathered for worship on Sunday.  The Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1) was on a Sunday, which is also the day that Christ ‘launched’ his church.    (See also Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2)

But the point is not THE day.  Jesus said in Mark 2:27:  “The Sabbath was made for man…NOT man for the Sabbath”.  In other words, follow the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.  Find the underlying reasons that God wrote this commandment, then chase after that with all your heart.

That’s why Paul urged the church at Colossae to be flexible:  “No one is to act as your judge in regard to…a Sabbath day” (Colossians 2:16).  Some religious systems have turned this commandment into legalism, and have forgotten the point.  I like the way scholar John Eadie says it:

“The new religion [Christianity] is too free and exuberant to be trained down to ‘times and seasons’ like its tame and rudimental predecessor [Judaism]. Its feast is daily, for every day is holy; its moon never wanes, and its serene tranquility is an unbroken Sabbath.”

The point of Sabbath is to celebrate and recalibrate.  We celebrate God for who He is and what He does.  And we recalibrate ourselves relationally, physically and spiritually.

Enjoy and practice the Sabbath – and do it with the people you love.  Rest.  Rejoice.  Play.  Worship.  Read.  Converse.  Feast.  Recreate.

Remember: One of these days is not like the other.

Etched: Whats’ Written on Your Heart?

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What's Written on Your Heart

What's Written on Your Heart

This week we began our series “Etched”, which is a fresh look at the most well known social law system in history: The Ten Commandments.   (Exodus 20:1-17) {Listen if  you want} 

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The 10 Commandments aren’t meant to break our backs with rules, but to break our hearts for relationships. If we were to identify one ‘big idea’ for these set of commandments it would look like this: “Together…let’s enjoy our REAL, RELATIONAL, REDEEMER.”

The 10 Commandments are designed to help us enjoy God…together, with other people. So, the first 4 are vertical – they teach us how to fully enjoy (love) God. The last 6 are horizontal – they teach us how to enjoy (love) others.

Remember…the Ten Commandments were written by a REAL God, who has loyally pursued a RELATIONSHIP with us, and has even gone to great extents to REDEEM us from our sins. With that as a back drop, God has every right to demand from us these ten basic pinciples for life in community.

But, here’s the brutal truth: if we don’t like God…we definitely won’t like His commandments. We will never receive the message of the Ten Commandments until we first fall in love with the God who spoke them!

This week, I challenge you to put the Ten Commandments to memory. ETCH THEM ON YOUR HEART and learn to ENJOY your REAL, RELATIONAL REDEEMER!

For further study of the Ten Commandments, here are some great books I encourage you to buy:

Servant Leadership

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Have you ever noticed how much we criticize power unless it’s ours? Usually we criticize what we really want. And what we really want is power. I want it, but I don’t want you to have it.

Power is intoxicating, isn’t it? We want it. We crave it. But we don’t know how to really get it. So, as with many of our other unmet desires, we resort to being chronically frustrated, angry, depressed or a myriad of other unhealthy emotions.

So, how do we break free – and still get what we want? Continue reading →

Silence & Solitude

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Listen to my message about this subject:

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Off.  Turn it off.

Noise.  Noise.  Noise.  I wish I had more of it, don’t you?  More technological noise to distract my hands.  More entertainment noise to distract my mind.   More digital noise to distract my ears.  More visual noise to distract my eyes.  That’s what we need…more noise. Continue reading →

Common Sense and Creation: Can They Co-Exist?

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Where did we come from? A cosmic explosion? An evolutionary process? Or, are we the result of intelligent design?

The Bible says that God created us. But, is that really plausible scientifically? Listen to this talk with an open mind as I examine whether the Genesis account is really possible.

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Generosity

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What does it mean to be generous and why should I care?

  • Generosity is SACRIFICE that changes our STATUS QUO
  • Generosity reminds us of the truth:
    WE ARE RICH, compared to 90% of the world’s population
  • We will not take our wealth with us when we die…so we should invest it in helping people have eternal life

Listen to my sermon about this:

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