JR. Forasteros - January 7, 2018
Are You All In?
As Epiphany begins, we ask the question, “What does it look like for God to live with us?” Paul’s encounter with the Ephesians in the book of Acts demonstrates that it’s possible to be a Christian but missing out on the life God has called us to. Baptism reminds us that God has not only saved us from our sin, but also saved us for his work of restoration in the world. What does it look like for you to be all-in?
From Series: "Ask Better Questions"
Does it seem these days that people don't ask good questions? Questions come with barbs all over them, or are asked in such a way that the answer is already obvious. God coming into the world raises some big questions about how we live in the wake of his coming. But we need to ask the right questions. This series will explore the questions asked of Paul by the Christians in Corinth. We'll get at the questions behind their questions, to the good news for all of us - even here at the dawn of the 21st century. Jesus has come into the world, and nothing has been the same since.
More Messages From JR. Forasteros...
Powered by Series Engine
Can we talk about exorcising the devil? (It’s going to get weird, but not in the way you think.)
Last summer, self-proclaimed Neo-Nazis staged at march in Charlottesville, WV. It was a watershed moment for many white Americans. For some reason, the fact that in 2017, hundreds of torch-bearing Neo Nazis could assemble and march was the proof that finally convinced many of us of what our fellow citizens of color had been saying for generations: America has never solved our race problem.
But the reality was that, though many of us were finally ready to admit we had a serious problem, no one seemed to know what to do about it. The evil of systemic racism just seemed too big, and there were so many opinions – everything from ‘burn it all down and start over’ to ‘maybe just go back to ignoring it and hope it will go away’.
The reaction to Charlottesville followed the same pattern as pretty much every other major conflict in recent memory, from school shootings to what to do about the Dreamers to even what news sources are trustworthy. A few of us write major opinion pieces (or find one we like) and share it on social medial, sparking a war of words waged in the comments following. The rest of us just sort of step away from social media for a few days and watch cat videos until the hubbub dies down.
Deep down, we’re all painfully aware that we as individuals aren’t actually going to do much of anything to solve these problems.
Even if our opinion on this particular issue is 100% right (and let’s be real: which of us can honestly claim that?!), we’re not presidents, congress persons or even state reps. We’re regular, everyday people without much influence outside our immediate circles.
And these evils seem so overwhelming, so big, so impossible they’re the one place we’re willing to say are “demonic”. Even for the more skeptical among us, it’s not hard to believe there’s something insidious behind school shootings, racial oppression and our general sense of insecurity. It would explain our feeling of powerlessness, our sense of being small cogs in a big machine that’s bent on doing us harm.
Let’s explore the Satanic roots of big, systemic evil. And more importantly, we’re going to see how this Satanic evil has been cast out, how it’s being cast out today and how we can cast it out wherever we find it.
God’s way to defeat the big evils in the world is through small acts of faithful sacrifice.
