Archives For Bible Teaching

Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity

October 27, 2008 — 2 Comments

The Trinity is a difficult concept to explain.  We use the words of this title to try and explain what we can’t truly comprehend.  Our church bears this same name, First Trinity.

I was reading an article by Andy Stanley about community recently.  He reminded me of a verse I love, but with a new twist.  Here it is:

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. … “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John 17:11, 20-21

Jesus prayed for the disciples and he prayed for us too.  And what did he pray?  That they may be one, even as we are one. We?  Jesus prays that we would have the same sort of community that the Trinity enjoys.  And what is that community like?  Andy suggests the following:

This is the type of community that Jesus is praying would be among us.  Enjoying, encouraging, supporting, loving, deferring to and glorifying (see definition #1) one another.  We aren’t perfect at this, but we seem to have some of this community happening among us at First Trinity now.  It seems to be something that makes us unique among area Lutheran churches.  Where have you seen these aspects of community among us?

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Cornerstone Recap: Lord’s Prayer 2

October 16, 2008 — Leave a comment

We start part 3 of the Lord’s Prayer tonight at Cornerstone.  Which means I should probably post the recap from part 2 before this evening!  The key points from the lesson:

  • Your Kingdom Come
    • Romans 14:17 |  God’s Kingdom is marked by the presence of the Spirit.
    • 1 Peter 2:12 |  The Spirit is a witness to others as we live our lives in God-pleasing ways.
    • Isaiah 55:11 |  God’s Kingdom comes no matter what, because His Word accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent.
  • Your Will Be Done
    • John 6:40 |  God acts out of love for us, desiring to save people.
    • 1 Timothy 2:4 |  God wants to save all people, not just the good ones.  This means God loves/loved Osama Bin Laden, Hitler, Saddam Hussein and more.
    • Romans 16:20 |  God’s Will frustrates Satan, ultimately triumphing over the plans of the devil.

And here’s the audio from Lord’s Prayer 2:

[Audio http://www.firsttrinity.com/cornerstone/audio/LP02%20-%20Audio.mp3]

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Cornerstone Recap: Lord’s Prayer 1

September 19, 2008 — Leave a comment

We spent last night orienting to a new year of Cornerstone.  Last year we had a full class period with no lesson to get acclimated.  It seemed to long.  This year we tried to just fit it in to the normal class time with a few modifications.  There wasn’t enough time.  I think next year we’ll try doing a 2-hour first class.  We’ll see.

Introduced the topic of prayer before getting into the Lord’s Prayer specifically.  The key points from the lesson:

  • Revelation 22:8-9 | The angel tells John to Worship God alone.  It’s a good reminder that we should also pray to God alone.  Not to the saints, not to angels, but only God because He’s the only one that can hear and answer our prayers.
  • Romans 8:26 | The Holy Spirit prays with us.  Great news for when we don’t know what to pray.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 | Pray a lot.  Find opportunities to pray throughout the day.  Maybe it’s between classes, whenever you look outside, before meals, whatever.  Look for those opportunities to pray to God.
  • Matthew 6:5-8 | It’s what on the inside that matters.  We don’t pray to be noticed by others.  It’s ok to pray in public, but we need to do it from a pure heart.
  • Matthew 6:9-13 | Here’s where we get the Lord’s Prayer from.  Don’t know what to pray?  Pray this!
  • Luke 11:11-13 | Just as earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, so our Heavenly Father does the same.  God gives good.  He’s unlike our earthly fathers in that He never fails, forgets or hurts us.  God gives good.  Jaclyn had a great question on this point.  She was reading a book in English class and the boy in the story was being abused by his mother.  For six years he prayed to God for help and for six years saw nothing.  If God gives good, where was He for this boy?  Great question!  I love when students make connections to real life from what we discuss at Cornerstone.  It’s part of being relevant to today.  I told her that sometimes God lets bad things happen to us to prepare us for ministry and to draw us closer to Him.  Sometimes we don’t see what the good in this situation is until much later in life.  Sometimes, we never understand the good because God is something completely and utterly different.  His ways are not our ways.
  • Jeremiah 23:28 | One of the ways that we “hallow” God’s name is speaking His Word faithfully.  We don’t ignore parts or change it.
  • Matthew 5:16 | Another way we “hallow” God’s name is when we serve and care for others, pointing them back to the Father.
  • Romans 3:23-24 | We “hollow” God’s name when our actions don’t match our words regarding what God says about how we should live.

Overall, a fun night.  Here’s the audio file from the evening:

[Audio http://www.firsttrinity.com/cornerstone/audio/LP01%20-%20Audio.mp3]

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Love Out Loud Part 2

August 25, 2008 — Leave a comment

The sermon from this weekend, including the video, is now available online.  Check it out if you missed it.

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Love Out Loud Multiplies

August 21, 2008 — 2 Comments

I mentioned in the sermon this past week that Love Out Loud Multiplies.  Check out a story over at Church Marketing Sucks about a church that multiplied its talents.

Sounds like big returns from some small investments.

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Love Out Loud Online

August 18, 2008 — Leave a comment

If you missed the sermon from this weekend, it’s now online.  Looking forward to next week’s conclusion.  Don’t forget to bring your rocks!

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Multiplies Indeed

August 17, 2008 — Leave a comment

Loved getting to spend some time with my church family this morning, bring God’s Word to them as we explored the Love Out Loud theme from Workcamp.  The 3rd point was Love Out Loud Multiplies.  At least one of our youth who participated in Workcamp connected with the sermon and posted to his Facebook:

Akanimo Facebook

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rooted

August 12, 2008 — 1 Comment

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17b-19

I’m excited to be kicking off our new year with a great new Bible study for our Crossroads youth.  Here are some highlights:

  • Studying Philippians in 9 sessions
  • Meeting in homes
  • Teaching students how to study the Bible.  What is a study Bible?  How is it helpful?  Where do we go for other resources?  What’s the big deal with all these translations?  Are commentaries helpful?
  • Students prepare work ahead of time by reading and answering some guiding questions in their journal.
  • Interactive.  There’s no teacher, just a facilitator and the group.
  • We’ll be praying together.

I’m looking at Sunday afternoon/evening for this class, but I’m not locked in to that completely yet.  My question for High School Parents:

  • When is the best time to meet on Sundays that would be the least strain on the family unit?  (ie, right after church, just before dinner, after dinner, etc.)
  • Is there a better day to meet?
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Sunday School, Take 2

July 31, 2008 — 7 Comments

I mentioned before that there were lots of great options to choose from for the Crossroads Sunday School this coming year.  Not final yet, but here’s where it stands now:

There are some gaps for holidays and retreats that are already scheduled, plus some padding in case something unexpected comes up.  Gospel Journey is a DVD-based curriculum that will cover the weeks leading up to and immediately after the arrival of our little girl, hopefully giving me more time to be at home and learn first-hand about being a daddy.

I reserve the right to change my mind, but here’s what I’m thinking for this year.  I also have about 5 more series ready to go, so maybe I’ll start planning for next year now.  :)

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In Case of Rapture, This Blog Will Be Unmanned

June 24, 2008 — 4 Comments

Have you seen that bumper sticker?  It’s actually about their car, but you get the idea.  I think Christians look weird when they use cute little phrases like that one on bumper stickers or T-shirts.  And now we’ve just become even weirder.  As proof, I give you: You’ve Been Left Behind.

For $40/year, they’ll allow you to host some files and prepare up to 62 emails that will be sent to your friends 6 days after the rapture occurs.  Seriously.  Even if I believed the rapture to be true, is this even a good idea?  Don’t you think it would be better to talk to those people, you know, before it happens?  And unless the email I receive as a non-raptured person explains why you didn’t bother to tell me about this stuff before it happened, I’m not sure I’d care what you have to say.

As Lutherans, we don’t believe the rapture will occur.  I understand why people think that it will, I just don’t think they are interpreting the Scriptures correctly.  It was popularized by the books, but that doesn’t make it right.  For years, though, I struggled with how to correctly interpret the passages the rapture-believing Christian cite.  Eventually, I found an article that just made sense for me in the Lutheran Witness.

Of course, I have the same problem with this debate as I do with the Creation/Evolution one.  We can argue and argue about who’s right and who’s wrong forever.  There won’t be hard “proof” until Christians disappear or Jesus returns for all the world to see.  Discussion is good, but let’s not lose sight of the real goal: sharing Christ with others as if Jesus were coming tonight.

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