Best. Way. Ever.

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  • Posted by Danny
  • Friday, October 28, 2011

    • 1 Corinthians 2:6-16
    "...But we have the mind of Christ."

    The greatest wisdom ever received may come in the form of a simple question, "So, how's that working for you?"

    Wise Solomon penned it this way (so profound was this observation, that it is included TWICE in exact wording in the 31 chapters of collected proverbs), "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25.

    Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? But you are determined to "reform" your behavior one more time, still believing that if you work hard enough at it you can still get it right? "So how's that working for you?"

    Isolated in your own small world, refusing the risk of connection with brothers and sisters in the Body, appearing alone at your own 'pity party?'" So how's that working for you?"

    Pursuing riches and market success at the expense of your brother or sister, thinking only of personal profit margins with complete disregard for those injured in the process? "So how's that working for you?"

    Burning through one relationship after another, still convinced that true and lasting love can be discovered thru the no-cost, no-commitment philosophy? "So how's that working for you?"

    Convinced that true joy and contentment is simply one purchase away, you find yourself frantically pursuing another house, another car, another boat, another shirt, another video game, or another….  "So how's that working for you?"

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    Grace Point…Scandalous Cross

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  • Posted by Danny
  • Friday, October 21, 2011
    • 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

    Before you will effectively communicate the life-giving message of scandalous grace, you must be actively bearing your cross.

    "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23

    "Of all the systematic killing factories, it was a dilapidated former army barracks near a town in southwest Poland which became the scene of the greatest mass murder in history. The camp complex built at Auschwitz witnessed the deaths of an estimated 1.1 million men, women and children. One million of the dead were Jews."

    If Jesus had said, "…he must take up his Auschwitz chamber daily and follow Me…"

    "During the final stages of World War II, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in a war to date. By executive order, the U.S. dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima on Monday, August 6, 1945, followed by the detonation of "Fat Man" over Nagasaki on August 9. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day. The Hiroshima health department estimates that, of the people who died on the day of the explosion, 60% died from flash or flame burns, 30% from falling debris and 10% from other causes. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In a U.S. estimate of the total immediate and short-term cause of death, 15–20% died from radiation sickness, 20–30% from flash burns, and 50–60% from other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities, most of the dead were civilians."
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    Intentional Strategic Inversion

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  • Posted by Danny
  • Friday, October 14, 2011
    • 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5

    Seems rather upside down, don't you think?

    Want to impress people, get your name out there in the arena of recognition and seize your fair share of the market? Celebrities! Super-stars! Personalities of recognition and reputation! People love big names. People flock to big names. People are drawn to big names. Celebrity endorsement … now THAT's the way to build and sustain a movement!

    But it was not; it is not the Jesus way. He establishes an earth-moving, history-altering movement by carefully focusing not on the "some-bodies" of the world, but by--according to cultural standards--calling to Himself the "no-bodies."

    · "Galilee of the Gentiles" blue collar workers

    · A treasonous tax guy

    · A militant zealot

    · Widows

    · Orphans

    · Certifiable sinners of stained reputation

    · More slaves than slave masters

    · Drunks and swindlers

    · And declaring that the greatest leaders must first prove their character thru the humble tasks of service
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    Foolish Talk to Smart Folks

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  • Posted by Danny
  • Friday, October 7, 2011

    • 1 Cor. 1:18-31

    Note paper is so 20th century!  We felt like we were really with it. Cutting edge. Progressive. Very contemporary.  In an auditorium of over 3,000 people, we sat with our iPads.  We decided to take the risk, amp up the learning curve and go paper-free for a weekend.  We downloaded the ESV's and opened up "Notes," placed our styluses in hand and prepared to soak up some great preaching.  After a quick text message to Pastor MAK, we figured out how to quickly jump from ESV to "Notes" with a simple double click.  We discovered that a tap on the screen opened up note pages in the text and found out we could quickly toggle from text to text. 

    Then it happened, the preacher used the H-E-double hockey sticks word, "Hell!"  I was frantically tapping the screen, taking detailed notes on the message but my spell-corrector would not accept the word H-E-L-L.  It repeatedly changed it to "he'll." Suddenly I am distracted from the message; I muse, instead on why my iPad doesn't want to recognize the word "hell."  Wouldn't you know it?  It also refused to print the word "sinless."  Every time I tapped in the word, the corrector changed it to "winless."  Now both theologically and pragmatically we all know that being "sinless" and being "winless" is not the same thing!

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