Yearly Archives: 2008

Learning to Love at Christmas

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When I think of love and of Christmas I am tempted to say, “If you want your Christmas to be meaningful, then let’s enter into loving relationships,” but that would be incomplete. Loving people doesn’t just make Christmas meaningful. It makes life meaningful – even rewarding. However, in order to love as you’re wired to love, you have to enter into a loving relationship with God. You do that through Jesus.

The Bible says that Jesus is the way to God. That’s not politically correct. But the Bible indicates that it’s true. Jesus calls himself the gate. He says he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Peter says there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. You can know God’s love by receiving Christ as your Savior. Then you can begin to love others from the overflow of Jesus’ love.

The audio below teaches us about different kinds of love and explains how to show the love we should, not just at Christmas, but all-year-round.

Learning to Love at Christmas [ 28:03 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Baby Jesus — all-grown-up…

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In a sermon from Matthew 10, Skye Jethani warns us against looking at the Bethlehem manger and thinking only about this innocent, helpless, sweet baby, tender and mild, laying down his sweet head.  He is no such thing.  Jesus said in that text that he did not come to bring peace but a sword.

He did not come to give us the warm fuzzies, but to demand our allegiance. He came to die on the cross to pay for our sins. He came to draw you to himself so you could be forgiven. He demands that we give him first place in our lives and worship nothing else — be it family or ourselves.

One of the greatest thinkers of the past century, C. S. Lewis, said it well in his book, Mere Christianity.

Christ says: Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you. I’ve not come to torment your natural self but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth or crown it or stop it but have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires that you think are innocent as well as the ones you think are wicked, the whole outfit. And I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself. My own will shall become yours.

The all-grown-up Jesus wants your all.  You can’t negotiate with him.  You can’t bargain with him. He doesn’t offer a full-serving for some, and lunch-sized portions for the rest.

He has come to dethrone everything that we might illegitimatly place at the center of our lives.  This message speaks of this all-grown-up Jesus in greater detail.

The Radical Jesus -- all-grown-up [ 27:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Steelers and the Power of Hope

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If you follow the NFL, you know that just a few years ago, the Steelers were the last seed in the post-season. They barely made it into the playoffs.  In fact, some sports networks had actually proclaimed they were mathematically eliminated. They weren’t eliminated, but few gave them any hope.

Being the sixth seed in a playoff system where a loss means elimination puts you at a big disadvantage. First – you have to play more games to advance through the rankings. Second – you have to play the harder team as you go. Third – you have to play all your games away, eliminating home-field advantage. The Steelers did that.

On January 8, they beat their division rivals and leaders, the Cincinnati Bengals 31-17 at Paul Brown Stadium. Was there any hope that they could move forward?

On January 15 they played Tony Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts – a team that had humbled them earlier that year. Thinking they had the game sewed up, the Steelers were shocked when Bettis fumbled the ball giving life to the Colts. But after the tackle, the most accurate kicker to ever play in the NFL missed a field goal in the closing moments of the game to allow the Steelers to advance. Who could have hoped that would have happened?

Next it was off to Denver, where more than 76 thousand fans watched the Steelers force turnover after turnover, doubling the points scored by the Broncos. Who would have any hope that the Steelers could win the Super Bowl?

Finally the day came. The Steelers were in the Super Bowl. From last place among the contenders, to playing for the number one slot. No one gave them any hope of being there. But they were there and they won. They won Super Bowl XL.

How did they do that? Skill, yes. Luck, yes. Passion, yes. Coaching, yes. But there is one ingredient that went into that Super Bowl run that you seldom hear of.

That ingredient is hope.

Without hope, they would have lost in Cincinnati. Without hope, Ben Roethlisberger wouldn’t have even tried the tackle that saved the touchdown on Bettis’ fumble. Without hope, Hines Ward would have headed to the locker room after costing Pittsburgh a touchdown in Denver. Hope is that invisible force that runs in the background and keeps people moving.

I believe that one of the most underrated powers in the world is the power of hope. And the Bible agrees. The audio below speaks of the power of hope in our lives.

The Power of Hope [ 34:17 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download