Transformative Faith: Living Devotionally in Community

We have cultivated an understanding of the devotional life, uh which leaves life out of it, right so we have a devotional life but we don't have a life of devotion, right uh we have a prayer life, not much but a little one but what we need is a praying life, and that's where real spiritual growth. [00:49:44]

Think of your church as a place where that's what's going on is people are learning how to put into practice the things that Jesus said. Once you do that then of course you're talking about whole life, because you're not going to just do that on Sunday. Sunday will be sort of where you come back to gather with those who love you. [00:86:72]

What we have learned to do is to try to motivate people by guilt but guilt is not constructive because it is always something that has a negative uh impact on the individual so what they come out knowing is, I ought to do this I ought to do that I ought to do the other, but it doesn't help him find out how. [00:138:72]

Once you understand that, like most people understand for example why it's a good thing to share with your friends and neighbors where a good deal in stocks or refrigerators or things of that size, they don't have a problem with this and it's because they see this as an act of friendship and love, and so for something like witnessing. [00:177:12]

Giving is a primary step in life in the kingdom of God but most people don't know that, they don't understand that it is participating in what God is doing for good uh in their surroundings not church but not just church, and for that matter why is it good for the church, I mean that then gets you into the positive issue. [00:232:319]

Primarily it is to form a community of love, where all the bad habits that we gain in a world apart from God are broken, and we are convinced that we can trust love, um and that's one reason why our churches don't always run smoothly so we can find out that you can and you don't have to fall back into all the devices. [00:265:28]

Redemption means to buy us back from the position we have fallen to in rejecting the simple the supremacy of God in our lives, and so the total process is one of restoring us to God's intention for us in creation, and that basically is that under him, we should live as people who are creative all good under him. [00:462:4]

The full story of redemption is the story of incarnation, and in the process of incarnation there are many things that Jesus does one is he establishes his place in ordinary human history by being born and raised and living as a businessman or an independent contractor if you wish and then as a rabbi a teacher. [00:525:68]

Dominion primarily means governance, it means to have in other words a kingdom, and every human person has a kingdom and to be responsible to it, they have to live under God, and the great temptation is to step out of that and have a kingdom of your own and so the great threat to God's kingdom in my life is my kingdom. [00:697:44]

Jesus's message was repent for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand, and how it changes you is you learn to trust Jesus Christ and live in his kingdom and that means to bring your whole life and everything you do into a position of dependence on him, and of course the issue of forgiveness of sins has to be dealt with. [00:809:839]

The picture of the New Testament is that salvation is eternal life and that's not something that starts after you die, it's eternity has been running for quite some time, and now we get to take our life into that here and now, that's a learning process that occurs as we are disciples of Jesus we learn more and more how to do that. [00:862:24]

In the fullness of time he came and what he did was tied to the fullness of time in God's plan of human history and eternity, so that's what we have to see to understand that it will help us to remember that Jesus is the redemption our relationship to him is what redeems us that's one of faith and trust. [00:906:079]