The Unstoppable Kingdom.

When Jesus came to earth, he was on a mission. He said that he “came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10). And Jesus’ mission couldn’t be thwarted - by spiritual opposition, by weak disciples, or even by betrayal, and death. King Jesus was establishing his eternal kingdom. As Christians we are servants to Jesus’ kingdom mission. But what does that look like? And how can we join Jesus in that kingdom mission?

That’s the core of what we’ll be looking at this Spring in Matthew’s gospel. We can’t cover every single passage, but we’ll attempt to watch Jesus engage his mission and in so doing learn what is means for us to follow along with him. But, in particular, we are looking at it from our perspective as one community, Grace+Peace Church. We live in a particular time, particular place, and our church has a particular sense of itself. So, we want to link Jesus’ Unstoppable Mission to our core values:

• Delighting int he Gospel

• Worshipping in Word, Sacrament, and Spirit

• Belonging with One Another

• Connected in our Community

• Sacrificing for our World

January 8, 2023

We’re starting our spring sermon series in Matthew 8. We’re looking at a selection of passages that highlight Jesus’ kingdom ministry. Some passages will be Jesus’ teaching, some miracles, some leading his disciples. Each passage will point to the dynamic involved in all of us as a church following Jesus’ mission.

If you want to watch more about the centrality of the Temple in the Bible, check out this VIDEO from the Bible Project.

January 15, 2023

I spent time exploring the themes of this article on the glories and difficulties adoptive families face.

I also may have sang this…Maybe.

January 22, 2023

To find out more about Bill Russell, you can look no further than the incomparable sports writer Bill Simmons. There’s a wonderful interview HERE.

I mentioned that I’ve had many of our leaders read Jack Miller’s Outgrowing the Ingrown Church. It’s a dated, but really encouraging read.

I also mentioned the role we all have as extending the healing ministry of Jesus in all the areas we live, work, learn, and play. I specifically mentioned hospitals, law enforcement, educators, among others. Here’s a great resource for those who labor to see their work directed by the Lord and deeply honoring to him. Check out Worship for Workers.

January 29, 2023

HERE is a wonderful thread from a Roman Catholic scholar named Harrison Garlick who traces the theme of the waters of chaos through the Bible. His thread spurred on my thinking on this. As with all things, I don’t know about his theology generally, but this thread was pretty good.

HERE is the Pew study I mentioned on Parenting in America. It’s pretty fascinating, it may come up again!

Finally, this is the full quote from CS Lewis: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

If you really want to get your juices going…HERE is the video of John Piper’s sermon at the Passion Conference in 2000. It’s really wonderful.

February 5, 2023

This the Twitter account for Vaskange, the digital artist who creates infinite zoom art. It’s wonderful.

I repeatedly referenced Dane Ortland’s book, Gentle and Lowly today. We have copes on the book table, but you can purchase your own copy HERE.

Here is the full Ghandi quote I mentioned:

It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate Son of God, that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life…my reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world…I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the Cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept.

Here is a similar quote from Napoleon Bonaparte:

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.

If you struggle with the exclusive claims of Jesus, I can recommend nothing better than a sermon by Alister Begg dedicated to this topic. You can watch it HERE.

Finally, if you want to read the full section of the Narnia story with Aslan and Lucy, you can read it HERE.

February 12, 2023

February 19, 2023

If you want to see the state of religion in America, check out this recently published study from the State of Theology.

Here' is the essay by Cole Huffman from the Mockingbird website called “XL Grace”.