a glimpse towards Sunday 9.11.15

Do you remember a scene from Bruce Almighty where Jim Carey dares God to smite him? “Smite me, Almighty Smiter,” Bruce screams at God! It’s funny, but it’s also somewhat laced with a tension many have with God.

How can God be loving and accepting, and be so vengeful? With our culture’s bend for tolerance and relativistic morals, isn’t a God of wrath and judgment a bit outdated?

Even a large cross section of a Christian sub-culture wants to define themselves as what they are NOT. What they are most definitely NOT is judgmental. Did you happen to catch the viral BuzzFeed video this week called “I’m Christian But I’m Not…?” Missing in the video was any mention of Jesus, or brokenness, or sin, or of a God who judges our sin. We want a God of love, but many will balk at a God of judgment.

With that said, our text this Sunday (Genesis 6:5-12) is one of great tension. In fact, the story of Noah and the flood is exactly why many reject God. “How could you believe in a such a ruthless God, and why would God allow such evil to begin with?”
Noah and the great flood gets relegated to a small compartment of cute kid’s story, or subjugated by those who can’t reconcile a God of judgment.

I hope you see why our study through Genesis is key to reclaiming the authority of scripture. Will Sunday’s gathering be mean-spirited, scary, beat’em-up, and heavily judgmental? Nope. We’re gonna land on Romans 8:1 … “there’s no condemnation.” But we’ve gotta go through the flood to get there. We’ve gotta go through the cross of Jesus to get there.

It’s gonna be a great, cool, Fall-like Sunday for us to gather and dive into the living and active Word. Our rockin’ band and choir will be leading some great music. Our special time of communion will allow us the opportunity to stand in no condemnation. I’m excited to be teaching again in our “e11even” series through Genesis. You should bring a friend or two to our gatherings at 9 & 11 a.m.

If you’re new, why not consider coming to our Newcomer’s Lunch after the 11 a.m. service. You can register by CLICKING HERE.

Hope your weekend is a great one. I’ll look forward to lifting Jesus high with you as we gather on Sunday.

Blessings,

Weekly Giving | 9.7.15

$47,988.16

Weekly Need $33,000.00