York Alliance Church Message Podcast

How do we as followers of Jesus believe the unbelievable--that Jesus rose from the dead? John gives us a framework to engage this incredible event--through the impact of the resurrection, the testimony of the resurrection, and the concrete evidence. The blessing, however, isn't in the proof but in the faith. A leap of faith is always necessary for apprentices of Jesus.

It's only when we encounter God in the dark places that we can truly embrace the joy that comes with overcoming the darkness. Jesus' resurrection was not just the return of a friend, teacher and companion. It marks victory over sin, death and hell, and brings eternal hope into all of our encounters with darkness.

The life of Jesus can be framed in many ways, one of which is a face-off with death itself. The encounters that Jesus had with death show us that He saw death as an evil intruder into God's good design. However, it was only by facing death head on that He could overcome it.

Hitting "rock bottom" is a term that often gets used for those who are enmeshed in destructive lifestyles that could lead to tragedy, which is a realistic description of all of our lives apart from Jesus. Surrender often happens in layers, but when we finally surrender all we have, we find that pursusing the will of God is actually best for us.

All of us face times when we doubt. Being a disciple is not about never doubting, but it's learning where to go when we do. As we grow in our apprenticeship to Jesus, we recognize that He is the only place we can really go. So even in our doubts, we keep returning to Jesus.

The seeming silence of God is one of the most difficult situations we can face as believers. In one of Jesus' most difficult parables, He calls us to never give up on hearing from God. Persistence in prayer is a direct tie to the quality of our faith.

There are times in life when some aspect of our temporal life becomes so large it is all-consuming. When we encounter God in our sickness, He doesn't minimize our suffering, but He magnifies His glory and Kingdom purposes in the midst of it. Pain and suffering are never easy but, in the Kingdom of God, they also are not ultimate.

The Scriptures clearly played a central role in the life and ministry of Jesus. He didn't just view Scripture as a tool for teaching, an instrument to produce change, or a weapon for spiritual war. Rather, the Scriptures were the way that Jesus interacted with God and with the world around Him. In the same way, if we are to interact with God and the world as Jesus did, we must be people who immerse ourselves in the Scriptures.

In a culture that repeatedly challenges authority, how do we handle the subject of Biblical authority? As we wrestle with our fear of authority, we must also wrestle with the Biblical claim to be authoritative, even though the majority of the Bible is story. We are called to read the Scriptures as an act of trust in Jesus and his way of seeing reality.

We get frustrated when we approach the Bible as a guidebook, a rulebook, or a one-size-fits-all encyclopedia for life in the modern world. The reason for our frustration is that the Bible wasn't designed for that purpose; rather, it was given to us as a library designed for ongoing meditation. The ancient practice of Lectio Divina move us much closer to the way the Bible was designed to be read.