York Alliance Church Message Podcast

Matthew's cross narrative begins with two contrasting pictures of worship: one is extravagant and deeply humble and the other seems cheap and marked by pride. How do we respond to the deity of Jesus? How will handle the downward journey to the cross? Matthew's message is not just that Jesus is enough, but that Jesus is everything.

Discipleship will always be a failed enterprise if we rely on our own abilities. However, Jesus doesn't just leave us with a model to follow--He remains in us through the power of His Spirit. When we understand this realiity, the proclamation of the Kingdom isn't primarily about evangelizing potential converts, but discipleship to all people as we moment by moment consider the invitation of Jesus.

More than just tolerating us, Jesus actually likes us! The holy God, thorughout the Scriptures, chose to be with His sinful people. We are equally called to be present to a broken world. It is in this act of becoming one of us that Jesus is able to deal once and for all with the sin problem that separates us from Him. When we become "one of" a community, we earn the right to truly proclaim the One who become one of us.

One of the practices in the life of Jesus was the ready proclamation of the Kingdom of God. As His apprentices, how do we tell others about the Kingdom, particularly as the world values inclusion and tolerance more highly than truth and authority? Jesus calls His disciples to this practice with some clear guidelines and a powerful motivation--both of which are still vitally important today.

The heart of Jesus for the world is simple, clear, and easy to understand. In a world in which Christianity is often seen as narrow-minded and divisive, the message of the Kingdom begins with a simple declaration: God is FOR you, and Jesus loves you.

The calling of an apprentice is to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what He did. Jesus described His way of life as an ongoing and vital connection to His Father, and we have the opportunity to do that as well. When we join God in the work that He's doing in the world, we find that we are joining Him in the incredible works that He's doing in the world.

Learning to hear from God is one of the most basic and vital practices of what it means to be in relationship with God, which is foundationally expressed in prayer. God is longing to reveal His heart to us for our own lives, for those around us, and for our world.

Intercession is more than a laundry list of prayer requests: it is birthed out of a deep desire to see God radically move in the world around us. This means that we are seeking God's will and ways first, and then applying His heart to our world. While our intercession doesn't always bring us the answers we want, we can be assured that God hears our prayer, and that His response is always good.

Prayer is not just a verbal dialogue with God, but rather, we are able to engage God with our imagination, during times of silence, and even in sharing experiences with Him. Prayer is not about "saying prayers" but rather about doing whatever we can to deepen our friendship with God and walk with Him on a daily basis.

Fasting isn't holy or even spiritually helpful on it's own. Fasting should move beyond simply choosing not to eat into an identification with the poor, the broken, and the hurting of our world. Just as humanity is connected together through meals, choosing to lack is a way that we identify with and even serve the broken, hurting, and hungry around us.