Connecting the Dots with Dr. Lanker

The story of the church is an Epic. Where do you fit in in the story?

Ephesians 2:1-7We are so bound and determined to make our lives work that our natural tendency is to shut God out and just work harder. But God couldn't  leave us in that state of rebellion. So He came to His creation, to bring us home. Whether we can make it there is the question.

Throughout chapter 1 Paul has been building the point that the church is full of:·      A bunch of unqualified people are brought into God's family·      Given a new identity and more responsibility than they deserve·      Filled to overflowing with God's gifts and His Spirit·      Who still can't grasp why God planned to choose usSo he  prays that we would be enlightened by the Holy Spirit  to grasp:·      God's hope in calling us·      His value in choosing us, and ·      His power at work in usPaul pulls all of this together in this episode by illustrating what God's plan combined with His power can accomplish- in His Son and in His Church.

Paul prays that the Church will know why God has called - them. They they are so valuable to God's eternal work. And just how powerfully God could work through their simple obedience. It's a lot to grasp and a lot to put into practice, but imagine if those of us in the Church actually did!

Ephesians 1:13-14 - The Church accomplishes its purpose simply by trusting the work of the Triune God more than our paradigms.

We often think of predestination as a profound assurance that we get to go to heaven when we die. Paul wants us to know that it is so much more. As we better understand God's reasons for choosing us we are better prepared to enjoy Him and bring Him glory- forever. 

God is blessing itself.  He calls us to His Church and in so doing calls us to a goodness that has no boundaries.  Discover how God's blessings are designed to invade every part of our lives through our simple connection to the Church.

If the Church is God's plan then how perfect does it need to be? We enter into the Church with expectations of what it's supposed to and what it's not.

Ever been frustrated with the Church? Join us as we explore the book of Ephesians to no only understand why, but how the Church could be radically different.

In summary, Genesis 15:6 should be seen as the premise on which the covenant is ratified. Because Abram takes God at his word, God credits him with a legacy on the basis of the “rightness” of this faith. He accomplishes this by formally establishing the covenant with him. Recognized righteousness becomes the basis for blessing- Walton From God's first conversation with Abram when he was 75 until his death at the age of 175, there are eight recorded conversations between God and Abram—eight times in a hundred years, and sometimes with decades of silence in between! And rarely were the conversations about those things that we often long to hear from God about It is important for us to realize that God has no obligation or time table as how He will live up to our expectations of how he will work in history or in our lives.

Abram and Sarai try to bring YHWH's promised child to fruition through the use of Sarai's servant Hagar. This was completely normal and allowable in the ancient world, but it did not fulfill YHWH's desire. Instead of condemning Abram or casting out Ishmael, the Angel of the Lord promises that God would bless Ishmael. Why and how is what we'll explore in this episode. 

 God reveals himself through a vision to Abram that not only will He provide him an heir through actual childbirth, but that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. God informs Abram that He is the one who moved his family from Ur.  As assurance that Abram will possess the land, He instructs Abram to take a bunch  of animals and kill them in a “divided” arrangement. God Himself passes through the torn animals as a smoking oven and flaming torch & promises all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates  (the entire/known world at that time). 

As soon as Abram makes it to Canaan a famine drives him to Egypt. So Abram tries to manipulate the situation so he stays safe. God saves him from himself and in so doing prepares him to save the lives of those that are settled around him in Canaan. Through all this Abram learns  an important lesson: that God does His best work when we want  His blessings, not those that come from the people around us. 

If you wanted to change the course of history, who would you pick? God chose to make an unbreakable covenant to work with a man who was at the end of his life and had no chance of passing on the job. Why? Because without choices like that we would never know the true God. So God called Abram for something bigger than He could have ever imagined.  

1: Establishes and maintains order2: Shares His power and purposes3: Enters into our sin to bring redemption4: Protects us even in our rebellion5: Sets boundaries on our rebellion6: Is emotionally moved by how hard it is for us to learn from our mistakes7: Not only provides second chances, but renewed purpose8: God of Covenant with all His creation9: Will not be manipulated10: Is most concerned with making His name great, making Himself known 

Going all the way back to the Tower of Babel we made grand plans to do great things. Most of the time it's all centered around making our name great. So God enters in order to save us from ourselves and redirect us to our true purpose.

What are the first words God tells Noah after the flood? This is our purpose to bring God the most glory and us the most joy.

In an attempt to put an end to the rampant sin, God chooses to destroy everything- except Noah's family and all the animals they can fit in the ark. Why them? What does this tell us about the people that God chooses to do His work of redemption with?

Why does God allow things to get so out of hand?And again, the answer must go back to the foundational issues. If humans were designed to be corruptible, sin must be a possibility. If sin is a possibility, oppression will exist, eventually on a large scale. If God were to wipe out the possibility of oppressive tyrants, he would have to wipe out sin; and to wipe out sin, he would have to eliminate corruptibility. If God were to eliminate corruptibility, we would be nothing but robots. That has not been his design.  God’s procedure throughout these early chapters is generally not to eliminate the problem totally, but to isolate, limit, or restrict it in some way.

Not only does God meet Adam and Eve with grace and redemption after their rebellion, He allows them to live. With the infection of sin growing will it spread? How quickly and will the choices of others be similar. Ch. 4 and 5 follow the unfolding disaster, begging the question, of why the God of order would allow this rebellion to grow. 

By the third chapter in Genesis the whole “good” creation falls apart after mankind’s choice to rebel. Looking into God’s response tells us a lot about Him.

God has no gender, but without our genders we can't see God. When God made man and woman He did it to display His glory. Like the same coin has two sides, we are both needed to show His full value.

We all know the creation story. In fact, we regularly debate what it tells about the creation of the world. But what if the story of creation has more to say about our Creative God than it does about evolution or creationism?

God being in control is the best thing that could ever happen in our world. But it is at that moment of realization that we are most prone to mess it all up. That's because our natural instinct is make God's Kingdom come, rather than simply working under His control, so that God can bring about His Kingdom in His time and in His way. That's why He taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven . . ." And when we understand the model of that prayer, we're in the best place to really see it happen.

Innumerable songs, books and sermons have been written to talk about the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ. Many share the explicit thought that Satan will do anything to cut people off from this great message. Unfortunately, Jesus says that the deceiver is more interested in keeping humanity from another message. In fact, he’s been so good at it, most people have never even heard this message. It’s time they did!

The message of the Kingdom isn't just something that Jesus decided to make the center point of his preaching. It is the center point of the entire biblical story. That's why he and his followers spent so much time talking about it. And so should we.

The answer is pretty simple, if we simply apply what we've learned throughout this series: words matter. So when we simply look into the meaning and usage of the word, euvangelion, the answer to, "what is the gospel?" becomes clear. Unfortunately, most of us won't find our answer in that definition.

Having explored, defined and reformed the foundations of the Christian faith we have come to some startling conclusions. Their implications are far reaching. So much so that we need to wrestle with a key story which does not seem to fit well with where we've landed. So we'll need to look in depth at the story of the Thief on the Cross in order to test our conclusions against a real life example. The results will be astounding.

This scene which is recorded almost identically in Matthew and Luke is well known, but not well understood? In fact, this was the story that transformed my whole view of Christianity. We'll look at it in depth and hopefully it will help you to see the faith from a new and fuller perspective as well.

Can someone be saved, have eternal life in heaven, enter the Kingdom and not be a disciple? We hopefully understand what each term means from a Scriptural standpoint. So now we can come to the final answer full of life-changing implications.

It's great that we understand what discipleship in the ancient world looked like - especially for Jesus' first disciples. But what does that mean for us? Would that impact how the Church does discipleship? If so, how?

What happens when God's people begin to simply do what He tells them to do? A quick run through history shows that our obedience is much like a mustard seed. It starts small, but the long-term impacts have completely changed the world we live in.

If discipleship to Jesus is central to the Christian faith, what does it actually entail. We'll look at Jesus' discipleship of his first followers to gain a deeper understanding of their experience. From that we'll develop some implications for our current practice.

If you're on the edge, someone offering to show you how to fix the situation is the greatest gift you could ever receive. So it is with the Kingdom of God. But it is only those who stay committed to its success and obedient to its King that reap its greatest reward.

Discipleship is not something that Jesus invented. It has a rich history which Jesus intentionally built from in order to make the biggest impact on this world. Until we understand what aspects he thought were important to hold onto, we'll never understand the uniquenesses that He wanted to make a part of our human experience.

When we think of Heaven, it's often a place where life will be all that we imagine. But Heaven is more than a place, it's the realm of existence that is eternally ruled by God. So God's desires determine what Heaven is like- not our hopes and dreams. If we can't accept that this is where it will all end, then we won't be able to live in it now.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not just an idea, it's a place. And once we grasp that Heaven is ruled by God we will be able to understand the eternal Kingdom of God.

Two most disparate thoughts are used to describe God’s people - slave & rulers. Listen as we follow Genesis to Revelation to see why God calls us to both.

Eternal life in Heaven is meant to be lived- today and tomorrow. But what would that practically look like? We'll go from Genesis to Revelation to answer that question.

Where Is God? Where is Heaven? What Is Heaven? All these questions will be answered in this podcast.

Eternal life in heaven happens when we are connected with the eternally present source of life, God. Listen to hear how we experience eternal life now.

Growing up many of us were taught that when we die we enter eternal life. But that's not what scripture says eternal life is. Listen to find out how we experience this eternal life and when it starts.

The deliverance and healing offered to all of creation through God's grace changes everything. Unfortunately it is often only a grand thought. What would our lives look like if we really lived into the greatness of this salvation?

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. What exactly does that mean? How do we do that in practical ways?

God has paid a huge price for you and me. Because of that we became His special possession, His cherished children. Just like any adoption, it changes everything. What does it mean to have a new identity? How do we live into that?

God's work of salvation in the present is all about being holy. But how are we going to be holy like God is holy? What does it take and how long will it take to get there?

How exactly were we saved? When does that happen? What are the results?

How do we experience justification? Do we have to do anything or is that all God's responsibility?