Finding Our Way

From the transcript...

You know, from the bosom of the Father, the heart of the Father. And you're in me. And this is where I'm almost like taking you. This is where I come from. This is where I'm taking you. I don't know if that's the right way to say it.

He has reconciled, redeemed, restored, revealed the union that he has with us by becoming a man.

Yeah. I like the way Baxter Kruger says it. He stood in Adam's shoes but refused to be Adam.

Yeah. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. In other words, he endured all the temptations that we do.

Yes. But he knew who he was.

Right. A son.

And said no to them all. The Son of the Father.

Yeah. And he did it as us and for us. He included us in what he did.

Yes, he did that when he took on flesh.

Yes. Well, he became an Old Testament picture, our kinsman redeemer.

Yeah. He became related to all of humanity. And then he became the sole representative of us and redeemed us and rescued us.

From the transcript...

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands. Saying the same thing, but he's saying it again. We touched with our hands. We looked with our eyes. We've seen.

But here's what, concerning the Word of Life. And then I read the other passage. He says this:

“In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life.”

The Word of Life.

Then at the end of this passage, it says, “This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”

And then over here, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Those two passages, there's parallels, more themes than I saw when I first started. But man, it's so full.

It is.

Back when I used to use a Bible when I preach—

Well, you use the reader.

Does this thing?

I copy and paste the Scripture into the notes.

Yeah, I like it that way better too.

Pros and cons to both. Pulpit's small. I don't have room for all of it. Because I can cut and paste, I just do that.

Need to get you a Spurgeonic pulpit.

Yeah.

I really like to just preach without notes, and pulpit's what I prefer, but my memory's not good enough for that.

But often when I would preach, I would actually fold.

You watching? Make you cringe.

I'd fold it.

Oh, I've done that before.

No, I ain't gonna learn.

That way I can close it and open it easy.

From the transcript...

I wouldn't argue with that. It's dense, for sure.

Baxter Kruger, Jesus and the Undoing of Adam. I want to read just a little quote:

“Behind creation, figuring as the driving force of all divine activity, as the one thought at the forefront of the divine mind and the preoccupation of the heart of God, was the decision to give human beings a place in the circle of the Trinity.”

That's good. That's the point, and that's probably where I picked it up, ain't gonna lie. I've been reading him so long, it's absorbed in me, not realizing it.

But God was happy within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, enjoying that dance with one another, loving one another, preferring one another, other-centered, self-giving love. But they were enjoying one another so much, they wanted to share themselves with another. And that's when God said, “Let us create man in our own image.”

This is just one of Baxter Kruger's books. He has several, and they're all good.

Yeah. Well, I've read that book. I highly recommend it. There's also YouTube teachings. I think it's a four-part series that Baxter does on The Undoing of Adam.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. In my memory, which could be fuzzy, I think it was video three, but I may be wrong. But it's in one of those videos that Baxter made some comment to the effect that this is how I retell it. This is not how he said it.

When we're preaching a penal substitutionary gospel, which is what I was raised on, “If God would do that to His Son, what would He do to me?” And that behind that gospel is this questioning in our heart: “Can He be trusted if this is how He is?”

And however he said that, and I probably ought to go back and listen to it again. Kind of like I ought to read that book again, listen to those videos again.

But that was a huge point of, in my mind, of yes, this is why.

Because I had come to a place of frustration as a pastor of why people didn't love the Lord like I tried to love the Lord. Why they didn't trust Him like I was trying to trust Him. I had noticed there's this gap.

And then when he said that, I'm like, “Oh, that's what's wrong with the gospel I'm preaching.”

And that's when I began to see it and consciously shift away from that into a better understanding of what Jesus has accomplished.

Who God is.

From the Transcript...

And however he said that, and I probably ought to go back and listen to it again. Kind of like I ought to read that book again, listen to those videos again.

But that was a huge point of, in my mind, of yes, this is why. Because I had come to a place of frustration as a pastor of why people didn't love the Lord like I tried to love the Lord. Why they didn't trust Him like I was trying to trust Him. I had noticed there's this gap.

And then when he said that, I'm like, “Oh, that's what's wrong with the gospel I'm preaching.”

And that's when I began to see it consciously shift away from that into a better understanding of what Jesus has accomplished. Who God is.

Who God is.

All right, so you was reading this this morning?

Yeah, Athanasius on the Incarnation.

The first paragraph. You can read it. See what it says.

“The Word becoming man and His divine appearing in our midst.”

From the transcript...

This is just one of Baxter Kruger's books. He has several, and they're all good.

Yeah. Well, I've read that book. I highly recommend it. There's also YouTube teachings. I think it's a four-part series that Baxter does on The Undoing of Adam.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. In my memory, which could be fuzzy, I think it was video three, but I may be wrong. But it's in one of those videos that Baxter made some comment to the effect that this is how I retell it. This is not how he said it.

When we're preaching a penal substitutionary gospel, which is what I was raised on, “If God would do that to His Son, what would He do to me?” And that behind that gospel is this questioning in our heart:

“Can He be trusted if this is how He is?”

From the transcript...

I wouldn't argue with that. It's dense, for sure.

Baxter Kruger, Jesus and the Undoing of Adam. I want to read just a little quote:

“Behind creation, figuring as the driving force of all divine activity, as the one thought at the forefront of the divine mind and the preoccupation of the heart of God, was the decision to give human beings a place in the circle of the Trinity.”

That's good. That's the point, and that's probably where I picked it up, ain't gonna lie. I've been reading him so long, it's absorbed in me, not realizing it.

But God was happy within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, enjoying that dance with one another, loving one another, preferring one another, other-centered, self-giving love. But they were enjoying one another so much, they wanted to share themselves with another. And that's when God said, “Let us create man in our own image.”

This is just one of Baxter Kruger's books. He has several, and they're all good.

Yeah. Well, I've read that book. I highly recommend it. There's also YouTube teachings. I think it's a four-part series that Baxter does on The Undoing of Adam.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again. In my memory, which could be fuzzy, I think it was video three, but I may be wrong. But it's in one of those videos that Baxter made some comment to the effect that this is how I retell it. This is not how he said it.

When we're preaching a penal substitutionary gospel, which is what I was raised on, “If God would do that to His Son, what would He do to me?” And that behind that gospel is this questioning in our heart: “Can He be trusted if this is how He is?”

And however he said that, and I probably ought to go back and listen to it again. Kind of like I ought to read that book again, listen to those videos again.

But that was a huge point of, in my mind, of yes, this is why.

Because I had come to a place of frustration as a pastor of why people didn't love the Lord like I tried to love the Lord. Why they didn't trust Him like I was trying to trust Him. I had noticed there's this gap.

And then when he said that, I'm like, “Oh, that's what's wrong with the gospel I'm preaching.”

And that's when I began to see it and consciously shift away from that into a better understanding of what Jesus has accomplished.

Who God is.

From the transcript...

So, what's your understanding of salvation? Maybe take two minutes and articulate what it used to be. Then we can talk the rest of the day about what it is.

Yeah, well, I used to have a very, I call it, very narrow view of salvation. And if I try to summarize it, it was: everyone's born a sinner, condemned to hell, eternal conscious torment. That if at some point in your earthly life, you did not repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as your Savior, you would spend an eternity in hell of eternal conscious torment.

Like a bar. Like a, yeah. Eternal. It was that. You were under the judgment of God already. And being saved was belief. I still got two minutes. I'm just kidding.

And then being saved, you know, you believed in Jesus. He saved you from that hell. And then you get to live with him in heaven forever. It wasn't just saying a prayer, though.

From the transcript...

Larry and I talk with Jason Clark on this

Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos. We didn't

get to eat any tacos, but we got to talk. This

week and the next three weeks are that podcast

broken up into three segments so I can air them

here on GAN.

From the transcript...

Larry and I talk with Jason Clark on this

Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos. We didn't

get to eat any tacos, but we got to talk. This

week and the next three weeks are that podcast

broken up into three segments so I can air them

here on GAN.

From the transcript...

Larry and I talk with Jason Clark on this

Podcast, Rethinking God with Tacos. We didn't

get to eat any tacos, but we got to talk. This

week and the next three weeks are that podcast

broken up into three segments so I can air them

here on GAN.