Are You Smarter Than a Religionist Part 1

March 29, 2009 AM
Dave Marttunen

Religionists will tell you that God loves us more when we do the right things. They will tell you that you can get closer to God if you do some things and don’t do other things. They claim that God will love you less if you break the rules and God will love you more if you keep the rules. Religionists will even tell you the rules: that you can’t drink alcoholic
drinks - ever, that you can’t work on a Sunday, or eat in a restaurant, and that birthdays, Christmas and Easter are pagan festivals that you must not celebrate. Religion is rule keeping. Religion has not understood grace. Religion is
a graceless effort to keep rules so that God will like us. Jesus changes all of this for us. He tells us plainly that he has ended the need to keep rules to find favor with God. He also tells us that his family, like any family, has house rules. The rules Jesus gives us—Love God fully, and love others like yourselves—is where he starts. But even these rules are not the basis for belonging to his family; they are the guidelines that keep the family living well. Religion steals joy, inspires the fear of what other people think and takes our attention off God, who loves us and died to redeem us.

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Don't Look Back

March 22, 2009 PM
David Dawson

As Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, he knew that he was going to the cross for us. As he made us his top priority, he calls us to follow him and not look back.

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No Reason to Leave

March 22, 2009 AM
Dave Marttunen

The risk of window shopping can be that it appeals to our wants and unsettles our haves...We might not even be
intending to shop, but there it is; the latest want to have. New clothes, toys, adventures, relationships, even religion.
It promises big satisfaction until we compare the advertised benefits to what we already have. Advertising is seen as false when it promises us less than what we already have.

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How to Grow Wise in the Christian Life

March 15, 2009 AM
Dave Marttunen

The fine print on any contract is where we find trouble. To what have we agreed? Paul reminds us what our relationship with Christ means. Trusting Christ implies more than taking a gift, it means we begin a walk that takes us somewhere. Jesus loves us where he finds us, and loves us so much that he won’t leave us where he finds us, he leads us into the full purpose of God. Today, Pastor Dave Marttunen continues with part 2 in his five part series on Colossians 2. This morning’s message is titled, “How to grow Wise in the Christian Life.”

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The Coming Departure

March 8, 2009 PM
David Dawson

As we approach resurrection Sunday, we will walk with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem as he set himself to go to the cross. We will consider a few waypoints in the book of Luke beginning tonight with the transfiguration. In many ways this was the begging of Christ's road to the cross. As Jesus is presented to a few of the disciples in a more glorious way, we overhear him talking about his coming departure in Jerusalem. Let us anticipate with Christ what he is to face in Jerusalem.

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Christ the Source of our Wisdom

March 8, 2009 AM
Dave Marttunen

One of the potentially tragic marks of confident Christians is arrogance. It is a fine line that separates our confidence in Christ from a repelling superiority. Being with Christ can be a fuel for some to display a “better than the rest” attitude, which works against the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us and against the very gospel Jesus embodied through his life and death. Having Christ at the core of our lives and ministries will result in two magnetic demonstrations of grace. The first is a rebounding confidence in Jesus and the second is a compelling love for the family of faith. Today, Pastor Dave Marttunen begins a five part series based on Colossians 2 entitled “Wise-Up”. This morning’s talk is “Christ the
Source of Uur Wisdom”.

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