Practiced Reliance

 
Jan 27, 2013
Dave Marttunen

Audio / Questions / Leaders

The defeater belief in Acts 4 is clear. There is no resurrection. The contrary evidence is stunning. A lame man (over 40 years) is present, walking and praising God. The gospel links healing, salvation, and life change to one place; the resurrection. Yet, the Sadducee are unmoved. The big point is that no one is argued into Heaven. Faith requires hope. The path forward for the Christian is to present their hope clearly to a culture that has lost hope and believes that the gospel couldn’t possibly be true. The exclusivity of the gospel is breath taking. The demand for allegiance seems unparalleled to a pluralistic culture. We have much to learn from these ‘simple’ followers if we are to win a hearing for the gospel in our day.

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Push Back

 
Jan 20, 2013
Dave Marttunen

Audio / Questions / Leaders

Spiritual warfare is the result of the gospel being shared. There are spiritual forces around us that prefer to keep the brokenness of humanity in place. As the gospel is presented, the spiritual forces react against the
messengers. We must be realistic about spiritual warfare and committed to stand. The gospel gives us hope despite the challenges we will at times face. Today, we will learn that the message of hope in Christ causes inevitable conflict as people are disturbed by it and react to us as messengers. The confidence we have is that despite the conflict, the hope of Christ prevails.

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See and Say

 
Jan 13, 2013
Dave Marttunen

Audio / Questions / Leaders


As we live out our faith in Jesus, believing that the gospel is the power of God that changes us and gives power to change everything else  according to God’s perfect plan, we will have moments to say what we believe. Missions without means is our willingness to trust God to act through us in our city in moments of obvious need. As we pray, God will act, and then we must be prepared to speak about the power that comes from Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our readiness to speak about Jesus requires that we stay prepared. Ambassadors of the gospel are like Boy Scouts; Be Prepared!

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Missions without Means

 
Jan 6, 2013
Dave Marttunen

Audio / Questions / Leaders

The 3rd chapter of Acts describes missions without means. Peter and John cannot give what the man wants; they give him something better. As we believe that the gospel is the power of God, and as we practice our hope that the gospel frees us from sin's bondage, we will discover that we share it more freely, more intentionally, and with surprising result. Our Western view of missions has become money based. It requires training, budgeting, Planning, and years of fund raising. However, there is a more direct route—serve without means. Give Jesus.

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Awake for the First Time

Dec 30, 2012
Kevin Thiessen

Audio

In the movie, The Matrix, there is a poignant line after the main character Neo has just been "unplugged" from the programmed world as his body is adjusting to the actual real world. He asks Morpheus, "Why do my eyes hurt?" to which he receives the reply, "You've never used them before." For many of us the Christmas story is as much a tradition as it is a celebration of God's plan and provision of His only Son. Is it possible that we can become desensitized to this story? To the radical plan of God to redeem and restore His creation ... or the radical mercy and grace that we did not deserve ... or the unbelievable purpose and destiny that we can all have in Christ? Lest apathy or complacency or inaction set in, let's reawaken - maybe for the first time - to the joy of being made alive in Christ!

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Christmas Makes You Deeply Relational

Dec 23, 2012

Dave Marttunen

Audio 

In Christmas, God does more than give us information about himself. He gives himself to us. God arrives on the stage of the world by his birth. It is his birth, death, and resurrection that redefines life, since the
gospel transforms everything. Public and social terms like justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation are defined by the gospel of Jesus. They are personal terms affecting us individually, but their results are social, not private. Our culture sometimes tries to force faith to be private, but it cannot be suppressed since the gospel defines us socially.

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