The Bible, especially the New Testament, goes to great lengths to give us a picture of Jesus that is both historically accurate and theologically intentional. The intentionality covers a wide range, but for this study, we mean that God's word expresses both the Divinity and the humanity of Jesus without hesitation. Now, humans being attributed divinity was not that uncommon in Jesus' day. Caesar Agustus was (at least self-professed) seen as the "son of god", claiming that his father had ascended to the right hand of Zeus.What sets the story of Jesus apart, is that it was primarily written by Jewish, monotheistic authors, for whom their was always and only, One God. Yet, without hesitation, they clearly and intentionally reveal Jesus to us with abundant humanity and abundant Divinity. Why? What reason would they have in working hard to make sure we know that Jesus, is "Immanuel, God with us"?Mystery? Madness? Mythology? Majesty?

I want you to envision a huge domino chain. It is very complex with all kinds of twists, sizes, turns, highs, lows, small gaps, big gaps and it is taking hundreds and hundreds of years to complete. Now imagine you tip the most important domino. Which one would you tip. Most people would say the first one, as tipping any others, may leave the ones in the opposite direction of the one you tipped, left standing. Of course you could say the last one, but then it would be the first one and this conversation would get all philosophical, which isn't the point.As a Christ-follower, most people would say that Jesus' life, death and resurrection is the first domino and therefore, the most important. But, what if there are other dominos that precede the domino of Jesus? What if who Jesus is and how he lived, were derived from something else? Wouldn't that be important too? Think about it!

As the title suggests, this recording is long because it also contains the infant baptism & dedication.If you could change the worst thing about your life, would you? What about the worst thing you can think about in the world? Would you change that if you could? What about the little things that kind of eat away at your life and don't really cause a lot of problems, but you know they aren't good? Would you change them too? Sooooo, why don't we?Don't you think that if we could have changed what's wrong with our world/ourselves we would have? After all this time of human history, do you a really think that a solution is just around the corner? If you do, then the idea of redemption is just not going to be a big deal for you. But, if you are like me, and you know that you would lay down your life to change things for people you love (if it would work), the story of redemption is going to be like music to your ears!!!.

Different church communities have different values or vision statements or purposes. Most of them center around the great commission in Matt. 28 and the great commandment in Matt. 22. Even though they are expressed different ways with the emphasis put on one or the other (or both), most of us recognize that loving God, loving our neighbor and seeking to encourage a life of following Jesus, are all pretty central to the purposes of the "ekklesia".So, why does Mosaic exist? How do we understand our unique purpose for being on this earth at this time and in this place? Our "WHY" is really captured in the desire to live according to a rhythm (a way of life). This is what makes us, us, and is probably how you will know if you have found your tribe.

When the nation of Israel first set out to communicate the revelation of God's creation, there was intentionality to what they wanted their people (and now us) to learn about the God they were called to follow. What set YHWH apart from the other god's that were being worshipped? In the creation account, what do we learn about that nature of the relationship that He wanted with humans? What do we learn about God, from the humans that were created in "God's own image"?These things all demonstrate that God had an intention and mission in creating the world and humans in the way that He did. Or you might say it a little different, "In God's design, is also God's destiny for this world."

The creation story from Genesis 1 & 2 elicits an amazing amount of controversy and question. Some take it literally, while others read it as a Jewish view on what took place at the beginning of time, but not a literal account.Whichever viewpoint you take, the account of God's activity in creation and how it is communicated to us in the Bible, calls us to some very important understandings about God, his character, his creation and the resulting call on our lives.

Before.After.Before.After.Do you have a picture in your mind of the before and afters of your life? Was there a life before Jesus that you remember well? Was there transformation after Jesus found you, that has marked your life?In order to understand Paul's intense concern with the churches in Galatia, we may need to connect, at an emotional level, with our own before and after pictures. If you can do this, you could get really excited about the freedom that Christ has made available. Heck, you may just go do something crazy!

There are so many implications to living as one that has been brought into the family and is given the full rights of "sonship". Unfortunately, it is difficult for some of us to live that out. Without even knowing why, we so easily slip into life as a servant of God, rather than a child of God.Whether it is how we pray, or why we serve, or our attitude towards God or how we view ourselves and others, knowing and living as a child of God is key to moving away from a performance-based relationship and into a love-motivated life!

At the heart of the gospel is the absolute centrality of the finished work of Jesus. In Paul's classic defense of this "essence", he pushes back on the Judaizers (and some well known Apostles) and their emphasis on obedience to the law. Is it really that important? Does a little "law" really make any difference? Aren't rules and systems helpful and necessary to keep people on the staight and narrow? Makes sense, don't you think? Not if you're Paul. He will have none of it!

Why A Summer Book Study in Galatians?Well apart from the obvious reasons that it is God's word and profitable for teaching, correction, training in righteousness, etc... and the fact that ancient wisdom provides a tremendous source of contemporary wisdom, why else?Galatians provides us with some unique learning opportunities in very pertinent areas. Paul (the author), finds himself needing to admonish the churches in the Galatian region to reflect on the Gospel they heard preached and not to be quick to let "another gospel" enter the picture. It's easy for us to read a book of the NT and feel like we know what the true gospel is and what to stay away from. But, what if a prominent Christian leader came into our midst and brought a variation of the Gospel (as we have understood it), that sounded really close to what we have known, with just some slight variations? Would we know the difference? The danger? The potential outcome? What if that person were someone as well known as the Apostle Peter in Paul's day? What would we do then?I have used the illustration of a rocket launch for a number of reasons. When a rocket takes off, the people at NASA don't just point it in the right direction and then wait to see if it reaches its target. If the target is somewhere like the moon, a single degree off, at takeoff, would likely result in missing the target by miles and miles at the destination point.Sometimes our lives are the same. Small things allowed into our lives today can result in arriving a destination that we never anticipated reaching. We may, if things go un-checked, look back 10, 15, 20 years later and ask the question, "how did I get here?"Galatians brings "mid-course" corrections from two angles. One from the side of allowing any system or legalism to take the place of the work of the Spirit in our lives. The other, from the side of allowing freedoms that may eventually become bondage into our lives. Sometimes (most of the time), what we allow into our lives today may not have any significant immediate results, but left un-checked, we may find ourselvee looking back and wondering how the heck we go to the point we are.