Restitutio

Have you heard about Esther’s courage?  She had the audacity to stand for God in an incredibly dark time.  Though the Persian Empire had decreed the genocide of her people, she could have easily remained in the closet about her ethnicity and enjoyed the comforts of the palace.  Nonetheless, she would not stand idly by, but courageously trusted in God and risked her life to petition the king for the lives of her people.  Even if you already know the story of Queen Esther, it’s worth your time to consider how her example can encourage you to stand up for God in your own context.   Notes: Act 1: Queen Vashti disobeys Ahasuerus Esther 1.15-20 Act 2: The Search for a New Queen Esther 2.17 Act 3: Haman’ Plot Esther 3.8-14 Act 4: Esther Takes a Stand Esther 4.11, 13-14, 16; 5.13-14 Act 5: Mordecai Exalted Esther 6.3-11 Act 6: Haman’s Demise Esther 7.2-6, 8-9 Act 7: The Jews Delivered Esther 8.15-17 What is one area in your life where fear is holding you back? What is one change you would make in your life if you had the courage of Esther? Do you think God would back you up if you made this change?

What does the bible teach about forgiveness?  Is it optional or mandatory?  Are Christians allowed to hold grudges?  Do we only have to forgive if someone apologizes?  Join us as we discuss four reasons why you should forgive: (1) if we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us; (2) forgiving others makes sense in light of how much God forgave us; (3) forgiveness offers an opportunity to testify; (4) forgiving is better for your health.  Forgiving others is simple but far from easy.  Even so, it’s something we need to become good at doing.

Richard Hays, Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, explains the incredible effect Jesus’ resurrection has on theology and practice.  His lecture divides into two parts: (1) a proper New Testament understanding of the resurrection requires a robust affirmation of the resurrection of the body and (2) resurrection of the body is a sign of God’s power invading creation and therefore preaching resurrection requires embodying resurrection ethics as well.

This is now our third and last episode in our series on work.  We’ve talked about the Christian work ethic and honorable work (i.e., what sorts of jobs Christians should shoot for as well as avoid) and now today we are talking about work’s opposite: rest.  This is a really important topic to consider.  Listen in to the discussion with Sean Finnegan, Rose Rider, and Sean Kelly as we talk about the crazy pace of American life today as well as why we need to take breaks each day, each week, and each year.  What is the Sabbath?  Should Christians keep the Sabbath?  How can we lead balanced lives?  

What do you believe about hospitality?  The scriptures lay out three major kinds: (1) hospitality to the saints; (2) hospitality to the needy; (3) hospitality to the unbeliever.  As it turns out showing hospitality is an important Christian practice, even if it takes courage to invite others into our houses.  In our present age, hospitality just might be the secret the church has been looking for to reach out to others with God’s grace and love.  For example, when a pastor invited over Rosaria Butterfield, a lesbian, feminist, vegetarian, English professor, she was able to begin seeing through the negative hype about bible-believing Christians and started on a journey that ultimately led to her conversion.

Picking up where we left off last week, we continue discussing the Christian work ethic and, in particular, delve into Max Weber’s “Protestant work ethic” hypothesis.  Next Rose shares about her own career path, including graduating with a 4.0 in graphic design and her two year struggle to find a career job.  After that, we looked at three criteria for honorable work: Does your job require you to sin? Are you contributing to something that causes harm? Is it dishonest work? If you can say, “No,” to each of these, then you’re in good shape.  However, considering that the most common jobs in America are retail salespersons, cashiers, food preparers, and office clerks, all of which pay well under the mean wage, how should a Christian feel about such work?  We talk about how we have to be careful to find our identity in Christ rather than in our job, no matter how well or poorly it pays.  Drawing on the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi we talked about ideal jobs that produce enjoyment, enable a team mindset, and better our world.  Last of all, we addressed how we as Christians should think about unemployment.

This is now the third in a series of messages related to monotheism.  Having established that the Father of Jesus is the only true God (John 17.3), we must be careful not denigrate or demote Jesus in any way.  He is the perfect one who lived without sin and courageously faced death on behalf of all of us.  In this message, John Cortright shares what the scriptures say about talking with Jesus.  His full notes are available online here.

What is the Christian work ethic?  What does the bible say about work?  Join Rose Rider, Sean Finnegan, and Daniel Fitzsimmons for an honest conversation about how the biblical understanding of work challenges us.  Leaning on Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, as well as the epistles of Paul, they share how work is God’s gift to us, that we should take pleasure in it, and that we should work hard regardless of who’s watching.

by Sean Finnegan The Shema has been the core creed of Judaism from the time of Moses to today.  It stands as an immovable witness to God’s identity as well as our proper relation to him.  Even though Jesus confessed the Shema, most Christians today aren’t familiar with it.  This is because after the New Testament age, under the influence of Greek philosophy Christian thinking metastasized into Trinitarian dogma, scorning its native Hebrew context in the process.  Eventually, “Yahweh” became “Lord” and “one” became “three in one” and the church became estranged from the bible’s legacy of unitarianism.  This led to persecuting Jews and Christian monotheists.  Listen in to this message about the Shema to find out how to stay true to the bible’s teaching about God’s identity. Notes:   Deuteronomy 6:4 This verse begins the passage known as “the Shema.” Shema Yisrael, Yahweh eloheinu, Yahweh echad Hear, O Israel: Yahweh [is] our God, Yahweh [is] one Deuteronomy 6:5 Not only is God one, but we are to love Him with everything we have, including all our heart, all our soul, and all our might. These are more than just words on a page for Jews. It’s what they die for, what they live for. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Jews say the Shema each morning and night in obedience to this command. The Shema is not a silent belief but something spoken aloud daily. Deuteronomy 6:8 For prayer, Jews wear tefillin, small black leather boxes with scrolls in them. Deuteronomy 6:9 On Jewish homes all around the world you can find mezuzah, small decorative cases hung on their door posts containing scrolls. Deuteronomy 6:10-15 Sadly, Israel did forget God’s commands, and they did worship other gods, which resulted in their exile from the Promised Land. However, after they returned, they remembered. How do we process this as Christians? We must look to Christ and see what he said about this idea. Did he accept it, reject it, or change it? Mark 12:28-34 Jesus and the scribe completely agree on who God is. “He is one, and there is no one else besides him.” Jesus knows the Shema and endorses it. What about you?

Who determines truth?  Is there such a thing as objective truth or are all claims subjective in nature?  Join Rose Rider, Daniel Fitzsimmons, and Sean Finnegan as they discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly about relativism before bringing in a biblical perspective to help you think through this critical issue.