Tyrone McMorris – That Difficult Place – March 28th, 2010
From the multi-part series “The Book of Acts”
Just got done looking at Acts 5:17-22 at church on Sunday. This is a great story about how the apostles get thrown back in jail. Then in the middle of the night an angel of the lord comes in and busts them loose from prison. I visualize this angel like a Mission Impossible type of angel. Coming from the ceiling and getting around the guards and sensors to open the door for the apostles to be free.
They are let out and told to now share this ‘message of life’ back at the temple. This message of life is a message of freedom. A message of once being bound by chains and now you are set free. A message that you were once stuck in a stinky, damp, rodent filled, dark prison and now you are in the light.
Christ said He came to release the captives and set free those that were oppressed. (Luke 4:18) Christ comes just like that angel did and opens the prison gates and unlocks the chains. Now we are called as free people to share this message of life with others. The problem is (as I see it) that we might be outside of the prison but we still hold onto the chains.
Chains of anger
Chains of abuse
Chains of bad relationships
Chains of legalism
Chains of addiction
When Christ sets us free we need to leave the chains back in the prison. I know we are familiar with those chains and we don’t think we can do life without them. But chains don’t look appealing to those that we are trying to share a message of life with. So many times Christ opens the door of freedom for us and just stay in our filthy prison embracing our chains.
Those that are in Christ are free. I pray we not only leave the prison of sin and death but we drop the chains on the way out.
Why Taco Palm Sunday? No there is not any hidden scripture about Carne Asada. I just could think of no better way to celebrate the life of Christ then in community with friends around a spread of tacos. I think if Jesus lived today he would want this as his last meal.
You see Jesus entered the town of his death some 2000 years ago. The people waved their palm branches and laid their coats on the road as the King rode into town. This was a week of teaching.. a week of confronting…a week of putting the final pieces of the puzzle together. This was the week of his death.
But it was also a week of celebration. Celebrating the life he lived..celebrating years of community and friendship..remembering the great things that took place..looking back, but also looking forward.
This Palm Sunday lets celebrate what Jesus has done in our lives as we partake in communion together around the table full of tacos. Gather with us at 10:30 and start the week of Easter off right with a little hot sauce.
Joseph Fehlen – Message of Life – March 21st, 2010
From the multi-part series “The Book of Acts”
Acts chapter five starts out with a bang. A couple brings some money into the church and the next thing you know they are dead. I think that sounds like a perfect fundraising idea.. ’come on down and donate money to our cause and you just might die!’ Perfect. Or the Sunday School version goes something like this… Kids, a couple lied so God killed them. Even better!
Wow this story about Ananias and Sapphira is a serious buzz killer. Dr. Luke just got done telling us the stories of miraculous healings, rescues, sacrificial giving and how the church is at an all time spiritual high. Then like a slap to the face two well meaning nice followers that gave lots of money are dead. What is up with this?
Then I realized this wasn’t some simple misunderstanding of a couple. This was a calculated effort of two people to experience the spiritual realm through natural means. They would have just encountered the great joy of Barnabas when he gave all the proceeds of the sale of his property. I would speculate that they wanted what he had and they thought they had the financial resources to make that happen.
But the fact is you can’t manufacturer the spiritual realm through natural means. No matter how hard you work up a sweat or how hard you study or how much you give you can’t push God’s hand in your favor through your own efforts. This story didn’t have much to do with money or telling a lie and everything to do with how the spiritual world is real and is not a game to be played through human means.
The foundation of our faith is happening here in chapter five. Just like a cancer to the body this idea that you could buy spiritual rewards through human efforts needed to be removed. If you try to have spiritual results by natural means you get problems… hopefully it isn’t death. (oh by the way it never says God killed them. I wonder what did?)
