Life Center

You are God’s friend! Jesus died and rose to make that true! Then, He sends us as His representatives to the world.

April 7-8, 2018

Introduction:

Over the next several weeks, we are going to talk about the reconciling work of Jesus, that He reconciles us to God and to each other, and then sends us as agents of His reconciliation. I’m calling this series, “He is Our Peace,” which is taken from:

Ephesians 2:14 For He is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.

Jesus is our peace. He is our peace with God, and our peace with each other. Jesus breaks down the barriers between us and God, and the walls between us. Both are important:

Peace with God ︎

Peace with each other ︎

Jesus died for both: to reconcile you to God and to each other. The gospel includes both peace with God and peace with each other.

ILL: How many of you want to fly in this plane? (This one is in the air courtesy of Photoshop!) A one-wing plane is doomed! It won’t get off the ground.

And a one-wing gospel won’t go far either. There is a spiritual wing and a social wing on the Jesus-plane! We need both wings.

Love God and love people.

Be reconciled to God; be reconciled to people.

Jesus died for both—to bring us back to God and back to each other. Too often churches focus only on one wing and ignore the other. Some churches only preach reconciliation with God, and ignore the social implications of the gospel—they are trying to fly with one wing. Other churches only preach a social gospel and ignore the spiritual—that we need Jesus to bring us back to God—they are trying to fly with one wing. We need both wings to fly, and the gospel of reconciliation includes both.

I am neck deep in racial reconciliation work in our community, and I’ll tell you why in one word: Jesus. I believe that Jesus is the great reconciler, and as we’ll see today, He sends us into the world as His ambassadors of reconciliation. The gos

All of us have wandered. Jesus came to bring us back to God.

Easter 2018

Introduction

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

The story starts eons ago when God created a good world, and created human beings in His own image to tend the world with Him. Each time God completed a creation cycle, like an artist, He paused to admire what He had made, and He said, “Ohhh…that’s good!” But when He had created us in His image, He admired us, and said, “Now that…that’s very good.” God made you good, and made you for Himself—He made you to live in a relationship with Him. You were made to love God! And when you do, then you are living life as God intended it. And it’s very good.

Such a good start—what happened? The world is so broken—war, poverty, disease and death, oppression and injustice, the Zags losing in the Sweet 16—it’s an ugly, broken mess. What happened? We did. We broke the relationship with God and wandered far away. Our first ancestors rebelled against God—decided they wanted to be their own gods—and left God. And human beings have followed them ever since. All the brokenness in our world—and the brokenness inside each of us—is the result of our rebellion against God, and our distance from Him. And that’s very bad.

So now what? The good news is that God didn’t abandon us, but came to bring us back to Himself! We broke the relationship, but God moved toward us to fix it. We wandered from God, but He came looking for us in Jesus. Jesus came to find us and bring us back to God. He lived a perfect life—the life that none of us could live. And He died a sacrificial death—the death that each of us deserved. He paid our moral debt and took our place, absorbing on the cross the just punishment that was due us. He died with a shout of triumph: It is finished! It is paid in full! And on the third day, God raised Him from the dead. In Jesus, death died. In Jesus, we and all creation are reconciled back to God. Our enmity with God is over—Jesus is our peace. ︎

And our enmity with each other is over too—Jesus is our peace. «︎ He not only reconciles us to God, but to each other, and sends us into the world as inst

Be a person others can imitate! The best way to make a disciple who multiplies is to be one. The best way to help someone follow Jesus is to follow Him yourself and invite them along. “Come with me.”

March 24-25, 2018

They had a deal.

The Lord and Israel had a covenant, and part of the deal was that Israel would not keep the spoils of Jericho, but would devote it to the Lord. Achan broke the covenant, kept some spoils, and the Lord withdrew from them. Consequently, when the Israelites attacked Ai (without the Lord’s presence or blessing), they were soundly defeated, and 36 of them died. The whole nation was put at risk, since the defeat might encourage their enemies to band together, attack and wipe them out. Achan’s sin had deadly consequences for many, and potentially for all.

The penalty for his disobedience and treachery was death.

I am Achan.

I am a covenant breaker. I have disobeyed God many times, and the penalty for that disobedience and treachery is death. (Romans 6:23)

But I’m under a new covenant now—one established by Jesus. He died in my place, so that I can be forgiven. When Achan confessed, he died. When I confess, I’m forgiven because Jesus died.

Achan’s story reminds me of my own treachery, of what I deserve—and of God’s amazing grace to step in Himself and take my punishment. We live under a new covenant made with the blood of Jesus. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.”

We have a deal.

Story: Lori Bradley

Offering

Introduction

Our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus. That’s the Great Commission found in Matthew 28 on your outline. We are to make disciples who make disciples of everyone everywhere. Multiply disciple makers!

Last week we talked about a simple doable way to help people we love find Jesus. We call it Find-Tell-Bring.

Find someone you love.

Tell them what you know.

Bring them with you.

Learn to be a bringer and includer. “Come wit

Our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus, who will then help others find and follow Jesus (ad infinitum). How do we do that?

March 17-18, 2018

Introduction

ILL: You got an apple when you came in—time to get out your apple! Who is this fabled character? Johnny Appleseed. His real name was John Chapman, and he became famous as Johnny Appleseed, the man who wanted everyone to enjoy apples. So what did he do? He didn’t go across America passing out apples. He planted apple trees—actually, he planted nurseries of apple trees. And what do apple trees produce? Apples—and something else: more apple trees, whole orchards of apple trees. Johnny Appleseed understood the X-Factor! He was a multiplier.

The apple in your hand is a multiplier too. Inside your apple are tiny seeds, and each seed could potentially grow into an apple tree that would produce thousands of apples. There are thousands of apples in your hand! But even more, every one of those seeds that can grow into apple trees that not only produce apples, but thousands of other apple trees. There is an orchard in your hand! In fact, there are countless orchards inside the apple in your hand. That’s the X-Factor, the power of multiplication that God built into the world.

You are like that apple. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have seeds inside you, seeds that can grow into other Jesus-followers, seeds that can grow into whole churches full of Jesus-followers. There are Jesus-followers and churches and movements inside you!

Lest you think I’m crazy, Jesus talked about this. He told four stories about seeds in Matthew 13 and Mark 4. The most famous story was about a man who went out to plant his crop, and as he scattered his seed, some fell on the hard ground of the path, some on rocky soil, some on weedy soil, and some on good soil. The first three didn’t produce, but what fell on the good soil multiplied 30, 60, or 100 times over! That seed is the good news of Jesus, and when it lands in your heart and grows, it multiplies into hundreds of other seeds that can be planted in other’s hearts.

Jesus even referred to Himself as a seed that was

Our Big Deal is to create a culture of multiplication.

March 10-11, 2018

Introduction

I love our church! I love what we’re doing with our internships and NWLC! I hope you’ll check that out.

I love our worship! We are blessed with such a great team that leads us well. You help me express my love to God! Thank you!

I love our staff! Didn’t Pastor David do a great job of wrapping up the #MeToo series last Sunday? We have such gifted, devoted leaders here at Life Center. Our future is bright!

I love our Easter services, and we are only three weeks away from Easter! It’s going to be fun! Woohoo! Reference card.

We will offering six identical Easter services on:

March 30, Friday at 7

March 31, Saturday at 4 and 6

April 1, Sunday at 9, 11 and 1.

I hope that many of you will come to one, and serve at another—it takes hundreds of volunteers to pull this off. You can sign up to serve at the Welcome Center, or on our app, or on our website: www.lifecenter.net/easter.

And we hope that all of you will bring a friend with you. Easter is one of those times when people are more open to an invitation to come to church, so be bold and make the invite! Our theme is “Back to God.” Jesus came to find us and bring us back to God. Who do you know that needs to come back to God? Be bold and make the invite—it might change someone’s life! Forever!

We’re also going to be baptizing at all six services. If you haven’t been baptized yet and want to sign up to baptized on Easter, there will be a brief baptism meeting after all three services on the last weekend in March.

Last Sunday, I was on the Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage with four African American leaders from Spokane—this is a picture of two of my friends, Rodney and Lonnie, standing on either side of Representative John Lewis, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where John Lewis was brutally beaten 53 years ago in the first Selma march for voting rights. John Lewis is a civil rights legend—it was an amazing experience to do this trip with him! More stories in weeks to come.</

What would Jesus say to us about #MeToo?

Visit lifecenter.net/metoo for additional resources

What would Jesus say to men about #MeToo?

Visit lifecenter.net/metoo for additional resources

February 24-25, 2018

Introduction:

This is week 2 of a three week series, #MeToo. You’re all aware of this movement that seeks to end abuse, assault and unwanted sexual aggression, and of the many well-known people whose wrongs have come to light. I said last week that I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg. This kind of behavior has been going on so long, and is so widespread that I expect many other well-known people—and countless unknown people—will be outed.

I did some research this week—it was depressing—I share it with you not to depress you, but to make you aware of the extent of the problem. Hard data is difficult to nail down because most abuse—physical or sexual—is not reported. So statistics vary—but it’s ugly no matter how you count it. Estimates for childhood sexual abuse vary from:

That’s sexual abuse; childhood physical abuse or neglect is just as bad.

And domestic or intimate partner violence is epidemic.

What would Jesus say to women about #MeToo?

Visit lifecenter.net/metoo for additional resources

February 17-18, 2018

Introduction

I think you’re all aware of the #MeToo movement that started several months ago when Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of multiple acts of sexual assault. The women who accused him were for the most part familiar names, actresses whom we know and admire. Once the silence was broken, a tidal wave began.

On October 15, actress Alyssa Milano sent out a tweet that said, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘metoo’ as a reply to this tweet.” She woke up the next day to find that more than 30,000 people had used the hashtag #MeToo. She burst into tears. Within 24 hours, it had risen to 12 million.

A couple months later, Time Magazine released its “Person of the Year” issue. The 2017 Person of the Year: the Silence Breakers. It’s a thoughtful and troubling article, with stories that will make you sick, and make you angry. I recommend you read it.

In an earlier article Time cited a recent poll that indicated 48% of women who are currently employed in the U.S. say they have experienced either sexual, verbal or physical harassment in the workplace. That’s almost half—half of the working women in our country! And that doesn’t include millions of women who have experienced abuse at home, or sexual assault on dates and other non-work settings. Or the estimated 300,000 American children who are abducted and sold in the slave trade industry in our country, almost all of them young girls. (I hope you read the article on this in Tuesday’s Spokesman Review.)

What is wrong with us that men feel free to treat women so terribly? Men: take a deep breath. I know that not all men are guilty—many of us are not. Many of us treat women with respect and care. So I’m not tarring all of us with the same brush. And I know that 1 in 6 men were abused as children, and millions of them are struggling as adults to overcome their own abuse. Next week, when we talk about what Jesus would say to men, I’m going to suggest not only that b

If you are a Jesus follower, you are a member of his church and a sent person.

I am a Christian because there is compelling evidence for the faith. The Christian faith rests on the reliability of the Bible and the resurrection of Jesus—there is good evidence for both.

January 27-28, 2018

Introduction:

In this series, Why I am a Christian, I’m giving reasons for my faith. Reason and faith are not opposed to each other; a “reasonable faith” is not an oxymoron.

ILL: My friend Bob is a pilot, and a good one. A couple years ago, I flew with Bob and a couple buddies to Oregon. I had no apprehension about flying with Bob. I knew that he had lots of hours, was a skilled and licensed pilot who took extra precautions for safety sake. I also knew that planes can fly; I’ve seen them fly, and flown in them before. So I trusted my life with Bob, and got on board that plane and flew to Oregon.

I exercised faith, but it was based on sufficient reason. Was it based on absolute certainty? No. Could Bob make a mistake? Could the plane have a mechanical failure? When I boarded the plane, I didn’t have absolute certainty that we would safely get to Oregon and back; but I did have a high probability. I had sufficient reason to believe that we would make it.

Imagine Bob landing his plane somewhere in the bush in another country where planes had never been seen. Bob is a stranger and his plane is a novelty. When he invites someone to fly, if they say yes, it will be an unreasoned leap of faith. Unlike me, they would not have sufficient reason to believe Bob or trust the plane.

Now which kind of faith is it that God expects of us? Does God expect us to ignore the nagging doubts and perplexing questions, and “just believe”? Or does God invite us to examine the evidence and make a reasonable choice to believe. Is Christian faith a leap into the dark, a suspension of intelligence and reason? Or is it more like my flight with Bob? Christian faith is based on compelling and adequate, although not absolutely certain, reasons.

You can be a Christian without leaving your brain at the door. Many brilliant people have found the Christian message satisfying intellectually as well as spiritually. I’v