Beauty Beyond…

We shall be like Him!

(because He is risen) 

 An old spiritual asks the question:

“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

The answer: “Yes. I was there. We were all there.”

“Knowing” the Power of His Resurrection

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection… (Phil. 3:10)

Here’s the good news: we will. We will know RESURRECTION POWER . And all that was once good and beautiful and has been lost or destroyed will be made new. I invite you to think expansively about this. Acts 3 speaks of “times of refreshing” and “the restoration of all things.”

Refreshing. Restoration. All things. How can we be sure?

Because of Christ’s victory over the curse that came upon all creation at The Fall. He defeated death by living the perfect life, dying the perfect death, preaching the Good News of salvation to even those who had died before Him and were held captive in death, setting them free to live in the glory of His presence, and promising the same liberation from the curse for all who call upon His Name.

That was a long sentence. I earnestly believe that when it comes to the power of the Resurrection and what it promises and portends, we could begin writing a sentence about all that will be refreshed and restored through Christ and the sentence would literally go on and on and on without end.

Easter is that big a deal, that magnificent, that overwhelming. Again, think expansively. Think about all that has been good in your life, good gifts from God, and consider that every loss will be recovered, never to be lost again. Maybe it’s a spouse, a relative, a friend. Maybe it’s a beagle puppy. Maybe it’s the ability to run and jump. Maybe it’s faith without fear.

He is risen; He is risen, indeed! Happy Easter.

News & Announcements:

• Special Prayer Walk @ Salem4Youth: Wed., April 11, 6:30We’ll leave from the church about 5:45
• The first four letters in Salem? SALE
  For all the right reasons, we are being invited to be part of the auction @ Salem on April 14. Clear the decks! In fact, if you’ve ever wanted to have a horse, this is your opportunity. Buy one at the auction and they’ll board it for you at a very reasonable rate! If enough of you buy a horse, we can start a church polo team!
  Or…
  If you have valuable items (art, antiques, jewelry, e.g.) which you’d like to donate to the auction, please let Pastor Dave or Kent Robson know.
• Softball Season Starts Soon … See Stuart

The Shape of Beauty

 An old spiritual asks the question:
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”
The answer: “Yes. I was there. We were all there.”

Interest Rates @ All Time High

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

- Charles Wesley, 1738

This timeless hymn asks one of the most pertinent and penetrating questions any spiritual seeker can ask: “How can it be?” That question has been asked – and answered – billions of times over the centuries. The answer is in this verse: “Amazing love!” proven in the substitution of the innocent for the guilty.

Perfectly innocent. Entirely guilty. Switched on the cross. I peel off, He climbs up and is nailed fast to the rough wood.

Paul warns the Corinthians that the message of the cross just doesn’t make sense to those who don’t/won’t believe.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (I Cor. 1:18)

As Christians, we kick around a lot of ideas and notions about many things. We wonder at the mysteries; we invoke hopeful formulas and formulate hopeful invocations; and if we’re honest, we must admit that we even question some of the solutions to that which seemed mysterious. But this, this substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross, this we believe and assert as the most beautiful act of love the universe has ever seen. This is the reversal of the dark curse. This we must have.

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
• Special Prayer Walk @ Salem4Youth: Wed., April 11, 6:30
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer March – Emergency Department
• SUSA 2012 and the coming Basque Invasion – ask Bob V. for the current plan of attack.
• The first four letters in Salem? SALE
  For all the right reasons, we are being invited to be part of the auction
  @ Salem on April 14. Clear the decks!
• Maundy Thursday Service of Communion and Prayer
  Thursday @ 7:00
• Easter Service
  Sunday, April 8 @ 10:30

Beauty in Action

The Beatitudes:

Insights that Change the World and Bring the Kingdom of God

“And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…”
Matthew 5:2

Do you remember this?

What if you learned that some of the fellows with guns and masks are no longer Muslim terrorists, but Christ Followers? How did that happen?

New Tribes Missionaries Abducted In Philippines

May 28, 2001|By Gary Taylor, Sentinel Staff Writer

SANFORD — Two missionaries from the Sanford-based New Tribes Mission were among a group of about 20 people kidnapped Sunday in the Philippines.

Martin and Gracia Burnham work in some of the country’s most remote areas, but they were abducted while visiting a resort to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary.

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer March –Emergency Department
• Time for a Tuneup for Married Couples? Or maybe a Test Drive for Dating Couples?
  A Weekend to Remember
  March 30-April 1 @ The Marriott Uptown Normal
  Derek and Abigail leading the charge; see them; scholarships available!
• SUSA 2012 and the coming Basque Invasion – ask Bob V. for the current plan of attack.
• The first four letters in Salem? SALE
  For all the right reasons, we are being invited to be part of the auction
  @ Salem on April 14. Clear the decks!

Beauty Personified

“… without the incarnation, Christianity isn’t even a very good story, and most sadly, it means nothing.
‘Be nice to one another’ is not a message that can give my life meaning, assure me of love beyond brokenness, and break open the dark doors of death with the key of hope. The incarnation is an essential part of Jesus-shaped spirituality.”
Michael Spencer

Here’s a Joyful Challenge:

Below are some profound insights on The Incarnation. For each one, please find a verse/passage from Scripture to support the insight. If you do this, feel free to share your findings with me.

• He became what we are that he might make us what he is.
  Athanasius
• God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.
  C.S. Lewis
• The mystery of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.
  Martin Luther
• The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.
  C.S. Lewis
• As far as the Incarnation is concerned, I believe firmly in it. I believe that God did lean down to become Man in order that we could reach up to Him, and that the drama which embodies that Incarnation, the drama described in the Creed, took place.
  Malcolm Muggeridge
• Nowhere is salvation conceived of as a flight from history as in Greek thought; it is always the coming of God to man in history. Man does not ascend to God; God descends to man.
  George Eldon Ladd
• If Christ is only man, then I am an idoloter. If he is very God, then the man who denies it is a blasphemer. There can be no union between those who hold his deity and those who deny it.
  G. Campbell Morgan
• Infinite, and yet an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.
  Spurgeon

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer March –Emergency Department
• Time for a Tuneup for Married Couples? Or maybe a Test Drive for Dating Couples?
  A Weekend to Remember
  March 30-April 1 @ The Marriott Uptown Normal
  Derek and Abigail leading the charge; see them; scholarships available!
• Join the growing group that’s a “growing group;” ask Bruce how the garden grows… and then ask him what you and family and friends can do to grow through gardening. Spring is coming…
• SUSA 2012 and the coming Basque Invasion – ask Bob V. for the current plan of attack.
• “A joyful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22)
  Doug Faulkner used to sell drugs (legally).
  He’s now selling tickets to laughter. See him.

Beauty of Being Chosen

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9

When Everyday was a Bad Hair Day…

Actually, I’m being a little too harsh on our noble friend and brother, Jonathan Edwards. People would pay big bucks to have these rows of curls today. Regardless of his hair style, Edwards remains one of America’s greatest intellects and the church’s most profound theologians. His intense appreciation for the beauty of God instructs us. Enjoy:

“The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.”

“As God delights in his own beauty, he must necessarily delight in the creature’s holiness which is a conformity to and participation of it, as truly as [the] brightness of a jewel, held in the sun’s beams, is a participation or derivation of the sun’s brightness, though immensely less in degree.”

“He that sees beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world, which is the fullness of all things, without which all the world is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing.”

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer March –Emergency Department
• Time for a Tuneup for Married Couples? Or maybe a Test Drive for Dating Couples?
  A Weekend to Remember
  March 30-April 1 @ The Marriott Uptown Normal
  Derek and Abigail leading the charge; see them
• Join the growing group that’s a “growing group;” ask Bruce how the garden grows… and then ask him what you and family and friends can do to grow through gardening. Spring is coming…
• SUSA 2012 and the coming Basque Invasion – ask Bob V. for the current plan of attack

Beauty Besmirched

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food… she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband… and he ate.” Genesis 3:6

The Root Word of “Imagination”

That something is not right is painfully obvious, obvious because there is pain. In the beginning there was paradise and as John Milton has so timelessly recorded, paradise was lost. Here’s today’s consideration: in the “losing,” what kind of dents, wounds, changes were/are experienced by the “image” bearers regarding that image itself.

As we discussed last week, Beauty gave birth to Beauty in all creation, but in a distinct and special manner with mankind. When mankind fell, our beauty was “besmirched.” Our reputation/bearing/mien took a hit. Our ability to create in keeping with the Creator was not eliminated, but it was damaged. Here’s an encouraging realization concerning the loss: it won’t last forever.

Use your imagination to imagine your imagination liberated from the power of the Fall. An amazingly exciting prospect awaits Christ’s Redeemed People as He restores that which has been lost.

We’re going to kick around some crazy notions today, crazy wonderful!

There is such a thing as a free lunch

Informational lunch offered right after church today by Urbana Theological Seminary. Classes being offered for credit towards a degree and/or less intense options for personal growth and edification. Some sections held in Bloomington-Normal. If you are longing to go deeper and learn more about Christ and His Kingdom, have lunch, listen, and ask questions of Dr. Joe Thomas. Families welcome. Could be the beginning of a great adventure.

News & Announcements:

• Prayer gathering this Wednesday: 7:00 @ the church
• Advocate Bromenn Partners in Prayer March –Emergency Department
• Time for a Tuneup for Married Couples? Or maybe a Test Drive for Dating Couples?
  A Weekend to Remember
  March 30-April 1 @ The Marriott Uptown Normal
  Derek and Abigail leading the charge; see them
• Ask Bruce how the garden grows… and then ask him what you and family and friends can do to grow through gardening. He’s the Captain of the ship this year! Spring is coming…
• SUSA 2012 and the coming Basque Invasion – ask Bob V. for the current plan of attack

Next week:

Chosen: Beauty with Promise & Purpose