Hudson Taylor in his Old Age

In his old age, he lost his health and became very weak. He wrote a letter to a friend that said "I am so weak I can no longer work. I am so weak I can no longer study. I am so weak I can no longer read my Bible. I can't even pray. I can only lie still in the arms of God like a little child in trust."

It's OK when God Withholds and Things Don't Go the Way You Want

God would give you everything you ask for if you knew everything that God knows.

If we have the perspective that God has, if we can see the end at the beginning, if we could see all hearts, if we knew everything that is to know and all the contingencies, then what God gives us is what we would ask for. Thus, God will always answer your prayers if you know everything that God knows.

Existential Expression and Emotional Experiences of the Christian Life (Acts 13)

• What is your life like/experience as a Christian?
• What do you feel daily as a Christ follower?
• What is your mind's/life's utmost preoccupation?
• What consumes and occupies your thoughts and your plans?
• Does what I believe about Christ translate into my daily experience?
  

Outline. Existential Expression and Emotional Experiences of the Christian Life (Paul's 1st Missionary Journey):

1. Set apart and sent out by the Holy Spirit (Ac 13:2-4; Jn 20:21).
2. Synagogue preaching (Ac 13:5, 14; 14:1; etc).
3. Sincere and intelligent proconsul Sergius Paulus (Ac 13:7, 12).
4. Saul, also called Paul (Ac 13:9).
5. Sorcerer Bar-Jesus/Elymas cursed (Ac 13:10-11).
6. Sadness with John leaving the team (Ac 13:13).
7. Survey summary and synopsis of salvation history (Ac 13:16-22).
8. Savior Jesus (Ac 13:23-37). The sermon's focus: "...they asked Pilate to have him executed. But God raised him from the dead" (Ac 13:28, 30).
• If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.
  
• While God may not protect you from every bad thing that might, has, or could happen to you- ultimately, through the resurrection, you are safe.
• Christ's miracles were not the suspension of the natural order but the restoration of the natural order. They were a reminder of what once was prior to the fall and a preview of what will eventually be a universal reality once again--a world of peace and justice.
• Ultimately, the gospel is offensive because the cross stands against all schemes of self-salvation.
• The resurrection of Christ means everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for once being broken and lost.
9. Sins forgiven (Ac 13:38-39). Without a knowledge of our extreme sin, payment of the cross seems trivial and does not electrify or transform.
10. Severe warning (Ac 13:40-41). The sermon's conclusion.
11. Speak further about the gospel (Ac 13:42-44).
12. Speaking against Paul (Ac 13:44-46).
13. Salvation to the ends of the earth (Ac 13:47).
14. Surprised by joy (Ac 13:48-49).
15. Stirring up persecution (Ac 13:50).
16. Shaking the dust off their feet (Ac 13:51).
17. Spiritual joy (Ac 13:52; 5:41).
• "Only a heart filled with overflowing joy will want to share the source of that joy with everyone they meet. If you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it a secret? Worship propels us into the world to serve and love." Tim Keller.
• "Mission begins with an explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot be suppressed. It must be told. Who can be silent about such a fact." Leslie Newbigin.

"When Jesus crucified and risen is not proclaimed, a beige and unthreatening Catholicism emerges, a thought system that is, at best, an echo of the environing culture." Barron.

Agents of Divine Mercy - Bishop Barron Sunday Sermon

The Main Problem and the Only Solution

The Beauty of Hope - Fr. John Riccardo

Pay Attention to the Root of the Tree, not the Fruit (AW Tozer)

"Our fathers looked well to the root of the tree and were willing to wait with patience for the fruit to appear. We demand the fruit immediately even though the root may be weak and knobby or missing altogether. So we'll imitate their fruit without accepting their theology or inconveniencing ourselves too greatly by adopting their all-or-nothing attitude toward religion." A.W. Tozer.

Discovering the Gospel in Joshua – Tim Keller

Discovering the Gospel in Judges – Tim Keller

Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection, Tim Keller, 2021

• Why is it that "my head believes," but "my heart is not moved"?

Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit and is a mixture of reason [truth] and experience, intellect and emotion, the rational and the existential, the theological and the practical, the head and the heart. Thus, faith is not solely a matter of intellectual assent to certain theological propositions, but also involves the experiential and practical aspects of life.

Only in the cross is divinity and humanity reconciled. With the church there will always be attrition and retention.

• What is the difference between relative hope in human agency and infallible hope in God? 210-211.
• Christian hope means that I stop betting my life and happiness on human agency and rest in God alone.
• If you know--and keep remembering--that resurrection happened and is coming, you won't ever be in utter darkness. 215-216. Epilogue (Ps 118:22-23).

Love Jesus Purely without Self-Interest or Self-Love (Thomas Kempis)

"Jesus has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few cross-bearers. Many desire His consolation, but few His tribulation. Many will sit down with Him at the table, but few will share His fast. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few will suffer for Him. Many will follow Him to the breaking of the bread, but few will drink the bitter cup of His Passion. Many revere His miracles, but few follow the shame of His cross. Many love Jesus when all goes well with them, and praise Him when He does them a favor; but if Jesus conceals Himself and leaves them for a little while, they fall to complaining or become depressed. They who love Jesus purely for Himself and not for their own sake bless Him in all trouble and anguish as well as in time of consolation. Even if He never sent them consolation, they would still praise Him and give thanks. Oh how powerful is the pure love of Jesus, when not mixed with self-interest or self-love!"—Thomas à Kempis.

All the Way Down (Philippians 2:6-11) Palm Sunday Sermon 4/2/2023