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John Message 8
New Life from God through Jesus
John 5:18-5:48
Recently I had a conversation with one of the guys who attends Peace and among the things that John and I have in common is that we both have suffered a life-threatening illness … in his case, a stroke caused by a hole in his heart that he had since birth but never knew about. We talked about how our respective experiences have heightened our appreciation for the gift of life. Yet I also realize that this kind of awareness and gratitude will help but does not necessarily guarantee that John and I will live our lives to their fullest. It’s what almost every person wants in his or her heart of hearts … to not just exist but to truly live. But in American society today there is great confusion on this issue. Who is to say what is truly a good life? While we can say with some certainty that living the “high life” will not result from drinking a particular beer, given the vast array of individual differences, who is to say what the path is to the good and rich life?
John Message 7
Signs of Life for the Hurting
John 4:43-5:18
We live in a world full of signs (series of slides). Sometimes we suspect that it’s not just occasional drivers who are under the influence of something … but sign-makers as well. Sometimes it’s a serious flaw in assumptions … like expecting illiterate people to read the signs. Sometimes we can find a logical and humorous connection in seemingly unrelated items (celebrating a “shotgun wedding” seems logical to me). Sometimes there is a bit of biting humor in the signs. And then finally some signs make perfect sense even though on the surface they are nonsense.
John Message 6
New Life for an Outsider
John 4:1-42
Crossing Lines
I don’t care what the lines are … racial, ethnic, economic, religious, political … it takes courage to step over the lines and engage with others. It doesn’t mean that our differences go away or that we necessarily see the world the same, but it gives opportunity for relationship and conversation … and these can and often do bear fruit.
John Message 5
New Life for an Insider
John 3:1-21
Often times, we think of what I will call “fandom” as primarily a matter of heritage and location. So if you grew up in say Ashwaubenon, WI (next door to Lambeau field), I’d anticipate that you would be a Packer fan. If you grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, I’d understand you being a Viking fan. If you grew up in Ypsilante, Michigan, I’d both understand and sympathize in your being a Lion fan. Now if you grew up in Ashwaubenon and you were rooting for Bret Favre last Sunday, then I’d consider you … despicable … (just kidding, sort of).
The Unpredictable, Uncontrollable Spirit
One intriguing tidbit in John 3 that won’t make this weekend’s message are these words from Jesus: “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [John 3:7-8 (NIV)]
John Message 4
John 2:13-25
Crashing the Party (with Passion)
Conservative, Liberal, or Radical?
John Message 3
The Life of the Party (with Abundance)
John 2:1-11
I have never been to an archeological dig although I have seen paleontologists at work at a site with lots of dinosaur bones and I suspect the work is similar … pain-staking labor as the excavators go so carefully layer by layer seeking to discover and not in the process destroy artifacts and evidence. I don’t think that I have the patience to do that kind of work … but I can appreciate the sense of excitement as researchers begin uncovering the next layer of history, not quite sure of what they will find. Since ancient cities usually kept building on top of the previous eras ruins (forming what in the Middle East are called tels … hills or mound), to go deeper to go backwards in time. An example in Israel of such a tel is the site of Megiddo, 26 layers of the ruins of an ancient city in a strategic location. Archeologists have discovered there the remains of a Christian church dating from Roman times. They have uncovered a 54 square meter large mosaic with a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to “the God Jesus Christ.” How cool is that!
John Message 2
A Dream Come True
John 1:17-51
John Message 1
For those of you who want a first or second look at this past weekend’s message … here it is:
[show clip from the original Star Wars movie of opening prologue (episode 4)] It’s arguably the most famous movie prologue of my generation. Many movies I’ve watched over the years have been very much forgettable. But not so the first Star Wars installment (episode 4) which I saw as in Madison as a college student (some of you didn’t know the movie was that old!). Star Wars had a level of special effects visuals that we’d never seen before, all tied to an epic story that has captured the American imagination for now three decades.
