Light of the Nations' Foursquare Church in Denver Podcast

Jesus centered His ministry around the town of Capernaum which was located along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

This story is taking place in Jesus' home. Maybe 1000 people packed into his house. So many that you couldn't even get near the door. Some men, we don't know how many but it must have been at least four, brought a sick and paralytic man to see Jesus. These men were not the man's family but more likely Essenes. The Essenes were a religious group in that area at that time that were known for helping people in need. There were so many people in the house that they could not bring their friend in. So they found a way. We need to be like them! They went up on the roof and cut a hole and lowered the man through.

They must have been good friends to do all of that and bring him to see Jesus. We should bring friends to see Jesus on Easter!

When Jesus saw the faith of the men, He healed the man. He said to the man, "Son, your sins are fogiven." This is the only man that Jesus ever called "son".

What kind of sins did this man have? Bad enough that his family must have abandoned him and his only friends were these Essenes. Bad enough to make him paralyzed and sick.

We need to be the kind of church where people come and receive the love of God and healing. Sometimes we need to carry them in! Let's do that!

The Father is preparing a great feast in heaven. Who is invited? Everybody! "Watu Wote!" But who will be there? Only those who accept the invitation.

Some people want to have their own party on their own terms. But there is only one way to go in. By the Father's invitation.

In this story there s another older brother. He paid the debt for the younger brother so that he could come back. That brother is Jesus. He has paid the debt for all of us to come to the party

What does heaven look like? Angels with harps? A giant church service that goes on forever? A huge multitude surrounding the throne? Jesus gives us an image of a party! What is special about the party? The food? The house? No! It is the hosts! They make it fun!

How can we be changed from our sinful ways so that we can get into the party?

We need the Father's love. The Father loves us SO MUCH that he wants us in. It isn't our repentance that brings us back. It is the Father's love for us! He loves us so much that He is always reaching out to us wanting to bring us back in. As soon as you start to turn back to Him, He is running back to us!

We don't know what heaven is like. But we know that the Father is there. We know that Jesus is there. And we know that someday we will be there.

We should be telling others about heaven all the time. This is because we want them to be there also. Sharing this good news does not diminish what is there for us. It increases it! What a wonderful thing to share. The more you share, the more there is!

The church is a body. Every body has three parts, flesh, soul and spirit. So the church functions in three diminsions also, body, sould and spirit.

Our worship has an object - God. If you want your worship to be right, you must understand the object of your worship. You must have knowledge of the object of your worship.

God is not material nor is He a psychological object. He is a spirit.

God is not a doctrine.

God is not a bible.

God is not a theory.

God is not a material thing.

God is not something you can see or touch.

God is not an idea.

God can not be sensed by any art of your body.

When something is a spirit, what do you use to contact it? Your spirit!

The problem we have in church is that we leave our spirit at home. In order to connect with God you must use your spirit. Stop using your mind. A double minded person cannot receive anything from God.

When true worshipers worship, the walls of Jericho come tumbling down!

When we study the parable of the two sons one big surprise we may come up with is how similar the two sons really are:

Both reject the father,

both are interested only in their own agenda and not their love for their father

~the father reaches out to both of them

What does our church consist of? Will I be attracting younger brothers or are we full of elder brothers?

Part two of the story is why he is telling the story because it was the Pharisees who complained -> “this guy welcomes sinners & eats with them!!

The other brother is furious with the compassion of the father in bringing him back. Putting on the robe and the ring is now telling me that he is getting back his portion of inheritance. The diminished portion - the portion that the older brother had coming to him!!!

Does not treat father with respect.

Joyless fear-based compliance. Look at what I have done. I have earned more than you’re allowing me.

All these years I have been slaving for you. It is all duty there is no love

Why should we be honest?

It’s good for business

it wins respect it’s good for you

What happens when being honest is bad for you?

What happens when being dishonest is extremely beneficial for you

There is a radical self-centeredness of our hearts. Being a Christian with wrong motivation is one of the worst things there is. The elder brother is only being moral and good for his own benefit. He might be kind to others and helpful to the poor but only to benefit himself…

The story of carrot

Both brothers actually end up being very similar… Both brothers are estranged from the heart of the father; both brothers want what they want and for the father to do with they want

One rebels from the father by being extremely bad the other one rebels against the father by being extremely good. Doing everything right so he can demand what he feels he deserves.

They both are lost sons. Neither one loves the father just for who he is. Each one wants only what he wants from the father

Even though the elder son is so incredibly rude to his father in his rage. The father still responds with pleading and kindness and earnestness to please come and join the feast. And the whole audience is listening carefully to find out how this will end. Will the older brother turn and change his mind and go in? Will he turn and walk away? And suddenly the story ends.

And suddenly we are left with this wondering feeling. What is going to happen? What is the elder son going to do? Is he going to soften and respond to his father’s love or is he going to stay angry and walk away? We are waiting to find out, but the story is over and it is then that we need to realize Jesus is talking about you and me. How are we going to respond to the love of the Father for us?

2 conclusions:

1. examine your own hearts for elder brother tendencies. We need to make a daily practice of repenting from our elder brother

2. rejoice at the return of the younger brother

3. Love our Father for who he is!

Many lifelong Christian believers feel they understand the basics of the Christian faith quite well and don’t think they need a primer. Nevertheless, one of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do.

conclusion: The abundance of His love for us leads to our being able to act out of abundance in generosity and love acceptance and forgiveness for others.

Culture wars.

Democratic vs. Republicans

Liberals vs. Conservatives

Whose side is Jesus on? Joshua to the angel: whose side are you on? Ours or the enemy…??

When we study the parable of the two sons one big surprise we may come up with is how similar the two sons really are:

Both reject the father,

both are interested only in their own agenda and not their love for their father

~the father reaches out to both of them

What does our church consist of? Will I be attracting younger brothers or are we full of elder brothers?

The lost younger brother

This younger brother is asking his father to tear his life apart… And the great surprise is that he does. (The Father surprises us at all stages here.) And He bears the agony.

The son comes to himself

The son’s plan to work as a hired hand. Apologies are not enough. I want to pay off debt.

The father sees the son returning and runs to meet him. The son starts his speech but the father interrupts. Then the father throws a huge party! The whole village is involved… (American’s don’t really have a clue how this goes’)

God’s love can pardon or restore any sinful person. There is no sin God’s grace and Love cannot match and exceed.

There is more that God has to give that we have the capacity to receive. The theme for this year is the abundance of God. Sometimes we close down how much God has to give us for a variety of reasons. Mostly due to our thoughts about what we deserve.

God came to give me abundant life. Psalms 16:11 says “You lead me in the path of life.” The path of life is the path that God wants to give to us. The path of life is how God preserves our life and it shows us that there is another way, the path of death. Choose life!

God gives us a path that leads to pleasure. If you choose a path of pleasure, however, it can lead to death. What God gives is the pleasure of being with Him. Not pleasure for pleasure’s sake.

Timothy Keller – The Prodigal God

When I became a new believer, I found that I had new leadership in my life. I wasn’t looking for it and didn’t even think about it. But as I studied more about Jesus I found myself thinking about things from the perspective of “What would Jesus do?” As I learned more about Him, I started thinking about Doing what Jesus did. I couldn’t perform miracles and I couldn’t walk on water. If you are interested in doing what Jesus did, it means everything He did. Not just the miracles. How He lived His life. How He thought about His life. How He thinks about the world. About enemies. What are His priorities? If you are going to be a follower of Jesus, His priorities should be your priorities.

Matthew had two names. A Jewish name and a Greek name. He was a tax collector and he worked for Rome. Jesus said “Follow me” and Levi/Matthew did. He left everything. Then Levi has a party for Jesus at his house. Lots of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were there too. They asked a question of the disciples. Why are you eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?

Levi/Matthew’s caste was tax collector. It was more than a job. Levi was defined by his caste, his vocation and his moral standing (sinner). The house was filled with sinners. They were religious but they were sinners. Non-believers don’t think about sin. Only religious people think about their sins and therefore only religious people are called sinners. He was outside his caste. Why was Jesus hanging out with these people?

It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. This is a universal principle. This is the purpose of His ministry.

The call to follow Jesus does not discriminate and does not require cleaning up first. Jesus did not pray the sinner’s prayer with Matthew. Didn’t water baptize him or anything else. Matthew was not required to give any explanation for his previous life. He only had to do three things: hear Jesus, understand what Jesus was saying and then he had to say yes and obey. This was the beginning of following.

There are a lot of people who want to follow Jesus but don’t know where to begin. The church sometimes make religion the start of following. But there are people who want to start following Jesus before they start going to church or without thinking about religion. How do we cooperate or serve that?

The response to follow Jesus is a lot like going fishing. One new follower suggests that there are others nearby. Sinners hang out with sinners. Unfortunately, Christians avoid hanging out with sinners.

Doctors can’t heal from a distance. They have to get close. Doctors have chosen to spend their career with sick people. This applies to different castes, cultures, etc.

So we have to get close also. Sinners are everywhere. We need to reach out to them. Jesus was a friend of sinners. He was accused of being that! We can learn from that. We have to find ways of not losing connections with non-believers or new believers.

How might God use us in a world of sinning people? How might he use us in the sinners He has brought into our individual lives?

Presented in English and Swahili.

A Preview of some future discussions regarding communion. This is a very important topic that has some real consequences. Fortunately, the Bible has good instruction on the topic.

Presented in English and Swahili.

Abundance means you have more than enough. The Lord wants us to think we have more than enough. Thinking this way changes how you deal with people and problems.

Jesus said if you have two coats, give one away!

My father is a rich king who owns everything. If he wants me to give things away, I should not give only a little bit. This is true for both money and time. Did Jesus ever say he was too busy to help someone? No! He always had time.

This psalm speaks to how we are to live life.

Don’t be careless with your money or your time and just give it away wildly. Instead give it away as directed by the Lord to help others and further His plans.

Presented in English and Swahili.

Pastor Andy discusses stroke and the consequences and proper response.

The Church we have today is the result of our works.

The world is in the church. Therefore the church has become a waiting room for hell. All sorts of behavior that is in the world is also in the church.

We need to do something about this or surely we will perish.

God can fix the problem but he won’t without our request. God will never do anything if we don’t allow him.

Regular Rain comes from the Goodness of God and is available to everyone regardless of their faith or lack thereof. This includes blessings, miracles and prosperity.

Holy Spirit Rain comes from faith and is only available to believers. It is our right and we need to claim it. We don’t claim our right because we are in confusion. Sins, etc., we are so mixed up.

We need to clean the church. (Your life and my life.)