Letters to the Cross

This Sunday at Christ Memorial Temple we will be kicking off our Easter Sermon series called Letters to the Cross. Over the next five Sundays, we will be examining the doctrines of the Cross and how it applies to us today.

Week One: Substitutionary Atonement
Week Two: Justification
Week Three: Redemption and Reconciliation
Week Four: Propitiation and Expiation
Week Five: Victory

Week One Introduction:

It was 2000 years ago… What does the cross have to do with me?
Christianity is in danger of losing the cross. We have become commercialized and institutionalized to the level where the cross and Calvary are deemed irrelevant in the best cases and irreverent in the worst cases. Long gone are the ideas of suffering and hardship- to be associated within the Christian lifestyle. Instead we hire and desire preachers and chruches that preach a new age version of the power of positive thinking or victory and eternal security, but we rarely get around to talking about the price that was paid for us to enjoy these benefits.

Especially we Christians, the ones who label ourselves Pentecostal, are guilty of reducing the cross to a seasonal fable. (God forbid! an Easter ploy to boast church attendance.) We are guilty of screaming Pentecost Sunday at the top of our lungs while Good Friday becomes a whimper. We beat the drums of doctrine in Acts chapter two, but nary a squeak about John chapter 19. Our reality reveals that we have founded a religion that arrived at truth backward. The way we go about our religion is at times a threat to producing a Christianity without the Cross.

Acts 2:38 was not a part of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. HE DID NOT PREACH IT! Instead he preached a sermon about the death, burial, a resurrection of Jesus, "That same Jesus, whom ye crucified…" (Acts 2:36)
When the people heard the preaching of the cross… they were convicted (pricked) in their heart and wanted to know what to do to be saved…
Acts 2:38 is the altar call, not the sermon.
We want a revival of Acts 2 proportions, but we will never achieve it without the timeless preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ.

We have no Holy Ghost without the cross.
We have no Pentecost without Good Friday
We have no salvation without Jesus.

People don’t want preaching about the cross because it is a violent shameful story.
People don’t want preaching about the cross because it strikes a nerve of guilt in their own lives and hearts.
People don’t want preaching about the cross because the cross is offensive.

The cross was an offense. It’s a true story about murdering an innocent men. It's the story about how WE (not the Jews, not the Romans) killed God.

Lord of the Second Chance

Preview for this Sunday Service- John 20
(Our Campus Church has been studying the Gospel of John for the past two semesters)

In the 20th chapter, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John), records the early morning hours of the first Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In our lesson, we will explore together the purpose of Jesus plan of redemption. We will discover that Jesus returned from death so that we also could be resurrected to a new life, new passion, new purpose.

We will examine how Jesus is the Lord of the second chance, granting reprieve to every character in the 20th chapter.

To John- a new relationship
To Peter- a new mercy
To Mary Magdalene- a new life
To Thomas- a new belief
To Us- a new way of salvation

As always we will discover Jesus, Who He was, Who He is, and What His plan has been from the beginning for us and our lives.

Please Join us this week at 1pm (2-21-2010) in the Krannert Auditorium on the Purdue University Campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Heavy Hangs the Head that Wears the Crown

Preview for this Sunday Service- John Chapter 19
(Our Campus Church has been studying the Gospel of John for the past two semesters)

In the 19th chapter, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John), records the final hours leading up to and including the murder of Jesus Christ.

In the lesson we will explore the link between Jesus death and the prophecies of Isaiah and Zachariah- discovering who Jesus is- the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

We will discover that Jesus was God King hiding in the flesh. Sitting upon the throne of a cross, that Paul would later describe in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 as 'Folly' to the world's wisdom and knowledge.'

We will discover Jesus, Who He was, Who He is, and What His plan has been from the beginning for us and our lives.

Please Join us this week at 1pm (2-21-2010) in the Krannert Auditorium on the Purdue University Campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.

A Super Disappointment?

In the spirit and style of my favorite Football columnist, Sports Illustrated's Peter King, here are my Top 10 'I thinks' from a disappointed Colts fan.

1- I think the Saints won this Super Bowl because they were the better team. I don't buy the excuse that the Colts played poorly... the Saints just played better.

2- I think the Colts greatest strength also happens to be their greatest weakness- Reliance on timing and precision offense. This strategy is indefensible in 95% of Colts games... it's the 5% that knock out the Colts rhythm- Unfortunately it seems to happen in the playoffs.

3- I think Peyton Manning is a machine! He is undoubtedly the smartest quarterback in the game- The only problem is Peyton as the calculating machine makes the rest of the league is mere humans, and humans are often more resilient. (Peyton threw the pick-6 because the numbers said it would work not because the player was open) Every week Peyton is studying the rest of the league... every week the rest of the league is studying Peyton. 1 vs. 100 eventually the odds catch up- They did last night.

4- I think the Colts decision to avoid perfection, however ridiculous and misguided, had NOTHING to do with last night's loss. The Saints also rested their players and won. And I do not buy the argument that the Colts would have played harder with a chance at perfection. If a team cannot get motivated to win the Super Bowl- odds are they wouldn't be playing in the game to begin with.

5- I think that last night's game was filled with irony at its finest. The Colts should have employed a strategy that most teams use against them... keep Brees off the field -aka RUN THE BALL MORE. On the flip side, the Saints beat the Colts using a bend but don't break defense the Colts have become known for the last few years.

6- I think Drew Brees just punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame and we should get used to hearing his name in conversations including Manning and Brady.

7- I think New Orleans deserved a title for living 40+ years in the cellar of Pro Football NOT for having gone through Hurricane Katrina. That 'logic' is akin to Pat Robertson's idiotic idea that God sent the storm to wipe out the voodoo in reverse. Just because an idea has an opposite conclusion doesn't mean it is operating under alternate premise, in this case very mystical. Give the Saints players credit for the win... not a storm that happened 5 years ago.

8- I think it was a much easier pill to swallow- loosing to the Saints- than losing to Brett 'Bigger than the Game' Favre. Guys like Favre and Clemens make me sick. Drew Brees makes me feel inspired. Enough said.

9- I think that Jim Caldwell became a better coach for losing this game, than if he would have won it. Now he moves outside of Dungy's shadow and Dungy's team. Classy to the end. Sean Payton, on the other hand, became a great coach for winning. If he would have lost, he would still be thought of as a great schemer.

10- I think the Focus on the Family ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother was blown way out of proportion. If the pro choice crowd would have kept mum it would have been 30 seconds of free speech. Instead THEY made it headline news.

Finally, I want to take a line to mock the San Diego Chargers. Who have not won or participated in a Super Bowl since 94. Although GM A.J. Smith would never admit it- they took a step down when they parted with Hall of Famer Drew Brees for cocky Phillip Rivers. Now they are loosing LT, the best player (including Fouts) to ever don the lightning bolt. Maybe it is less the presence of Marty Shottenheimer and Norv Turner and more the lack of Drew Brees that is keeping your team from the Super Bowl Charger Fan?

I am disappointed... but the future is bright for the Indianapolis Colts... until next season- Boiler Up.

Alfred P. Twitter

This is a short thought spurned from an interesting conversation with Dave Loyd...

Alfred P. Nobel was famous before he was famous.

We primarily know of Alfred today by the award named after him- an award, recently made famous to Americans, which was given to much maligned and celebrated figure, President Barack Obama. This award is 'usually' given to recipients based on multiple fields of study and research, yet always under the guise of the promotion of peace. But, as irony would have it, the highest award of peace is named after the inventor of dynamite, a creation that would take the life of many 20th century soldiers and citizens.

Irony is a funny fellow and the purest form of comedy indeed.

Like the infamous League of Nations in its beleaguered attempt to eradicate war only to lead to the largest, catastrophic war to date (WW2) OR the discovery of nuclear fusion leading to the capacity to eliminate humanity from the face of the earth, irony often smiles on the face of fortune and the best intentions.

Dynamite was the single greatest factor of American westward expansion, but try singing its praises in the trenches of World War One. Historical accounts record that Alfred Nobel was so disgusted with the application of his invention that it spurred him to create his now infamous award.

Peace... Peace... But there is no Peace.

Today, like never before, the world community is in the business of proclaiming peace. And why shouldn't they? The consensus would argue that their is no redeeming quality for war and that its promulgators like Edward Lutwak 'Give War a Chance' are tyrannical and heartless. The global community, not to mention the global economy, is built on ideal of peace.

How are we to succeed where all others failed? The answer is a resounding scream that echoes through every avenue of electronic media: technology and communication.

Technology can only go so far... before the robots rise up against us ... but technology coupled with information, this is the atom bomb invention of the postmodern era- only with no supposed dark side.

The internet + social networking = the marriage made in media heaven. Peace at last.


I realize the irony of lambasting technology by using the same technology, but did i not say irony is a funny fellow? When in Rome...

The Twitter Bomb that fell on America

When I first heard of the social networking website called Twitter, my initial reaction was 'How ridiculous!' Now, admittedly, I use it multiple times daily but at first the idea of a site based on your current status alone seem worthless at best, vain and narcissistic at worst. Little did we know then, just a few short months ago how twitter would change the landscape of worldwide communication and politics.

Twitter soon became so much more than a mere status update... it became a multimedia tool that development into a mini-blog news magnet. Twitter can go where a media van and Ron Burgundy could only dream about, evidence so aptly in the recent Iranian election. Major news corporations, like CNN, have moved quickly to incorporate these positive aspects of twitter and facebook into their productions.

It seems I was wrong about Twitter being worthless... or was I? It seems were have nothing to fear now that the dawn of high tech communication age is upon us... do we?

We have nothing to fear but ourselves

With the advent of information, one would think the human race to be gaining knowledge and getting smarter. Not true argues Mark Bauerlein- in fact just the opposite. Studies routinely prove that school test scores are down globally while, access to global media and the Internet increase exponentially. People are still learning... it is what they are learning that matters most. People are still communicating, but it is what they are communicating that will tell whether Twitter and other technology will be a catalyst of expansion or be the demise of our civilization.

Psychologist and sociologist are starting to catch on to a trend which reveals a lack of civic duty among the youth of today (Americans are Bowling Alone) and the promotion of self satisfaction through all avenues of social media. In short, few can name their congressman, but a plurality can identify current celebrity relationship status.

We will live and die not by the invention of technology, but by how we use it and apply it to our lives. Twitter and sites like it could be the invention that allows us to expand and explore the depths of communication and resources as never before, or it can be the bomb that destroys the will, dreams, and aspirations of human ingenuity through amusement and entertainment.

You'll know when Conservatives get up in arms because the latest Democratic President gets awarded the Biz Stone (founder of Twitter) Knowledge Prize.

Then again... what do I know? Tweet me your ideas.



The three books that shaped the proceeding opinion most heavily -I recommend them all!

1- The Dumbest Generation
2- Generation Me
3- Amusing Ourselves to Death