TEACHING
APRIL 16, 2023
10:30 AM (+ kids!) FIVE SHIFTS OF TRUE REVIVAL + REFORMATION A reformation is a period of recalibration and course-correction. Any community around for as long as the church will experience inevitable drift over time. Yet the Spirit has worked again and again throughout history to draw the church back toward its center. Key moments come when particular ideas and practices are rethought and core truths are rediscovered. Rapid cultural and technological change, clergy scandals, church divisions, and political turmoil have resulted in a period where “deconstruction” is the buzzword. Many Christians find themselves rethinking their faith, and many outside the church dismiss Christianity as having nothing true or relevant left to say to the world. THIS SUNDAY: Shift 3: A New Relationship with Power Matthew 5:38-46 Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit calls us to approach evil in a new way. Evil is overcome through the power of suffering love. The question we must ask is: With everyone clamoring to get their way at the expense of others, what would it look like for the church to model a radically different and altogether beautiful kind of power, and in the process, pointing people to a radically different and altogether beautiful God?
The Problem
Digger Deeper Digging Out Final Word Changing Your Kingdom/Conversion God, I have sinned by turning away from you and trying to run my own life. I am sorry for the things I have done wrong. I am shaped by the powers of greed, lust, and violence that bring chaos to the world. (Take a few moments to ask His forgiveness for anything particular that is on your conscience.) Forgive my sin and let me start anew. Thank you Father, for your son, Jesus, who defeated Satan and brought the kingdom of God to reality. Jesus, thank you for Your death on the cross for me so I can be forgiven, saved from my past and set free to live fully alive. God, please give me the gift of your Holy Spirit. I receive that gift and His power to live like Jesus—loving the enemy, sharing possessions, serving others, caring for creation and speaking the Good News of your salvation. I turn from and renounce Satan and the powers of evil of this world. I commit myself to the church as the body of Christ. I give my allegiance to Jesus his way of forgiveness above every other loyalty. Thank you Lord Jesus for living with me forever by Your Spirit. – Amen! Name: _____________________________ Date:_________ Welcome to a relationship with Jesus! This is the most important decision you can make. –Pastor Shel Jesus Collective + Baptist Sources : Greg Boyd (lead writer), Lead Pastor Woodland Hills Church, PhD Princeton Theological Seminary; Leanne Friesen, Pastor Mount Hamilton Baptist Church (www.mhbc.ca), and Executive Minister Elect Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec (contributor); Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, by David P. Gushee, Glen H. Stassen. For Reflection and DiscussionReread core texts: Rom 12:14-18,20-21; Matthew 5:38-46; Eph 2: 13-18, 5:1-2; Matt 26:51-52; Jn 18:10;
1. Since God is all wise, all of God’s instruction must be considered wise. In this light, discuss why it might be wise for us to never resort to violence, even when our lives or the lives of loved ones might be at stake. 2. Discuss the way a commitment to non-violence impacts your view of the military, politics, the police force, capital punishment, the modern food industry, the fossil fuel industry, etc…. 3. What for you is most challenging about the thought of practicing enemy-love as Jesus teaches it? 4. Who are your “enemies” right now, and what might it look like to love them with your prayers, thoughts, or actions? |