Below are Shannon's notes from today's sermon:
Counter cultural christianity
10,000 different bird species, 20,000 butterflies, fingerprints and dna
Jaded, cynical world that wants division, labels
Labels are easy, give broad definitions. Easy to dismiss or reject.
“results are not typical”
Jesus was not categorized or labeled. Not “typical”
Palm Sunday Expectations
John 12: 12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna![d]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”[f]
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
But Jesus was not typical:
King – pauper
Savior by death – not battlefield
Resurrected – not revered
Conqueror of death!
Jesus was Counter Cultural
Jesus and the Roman Centurion Matthew 8:5-12
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus and the Canaanite woman Matthew 15: 21-28
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Jesus and Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-7
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Jesus was an individual, unlike any other. And he recognized that in us as well.
The world’s labels are not important. What is important is a personal, one on one relationship with Jesus.
God calls us individually.
1 Cor 12 :12-14
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
John 6:44
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 10:3
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
God knows us individually
Jeremiah 17:10
“I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
John 2:25
25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Psalm 139:1-5
1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
God loves us individually
Matthew 10:29-31
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[a] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Romans 8: 38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God gave his son for us individually
John 10:28-29
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[a]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 17:13-19
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
God loves us as individuals, wants us as individuals, and claims us as his own. There are no “typical” Christians. God created variety for a reason. Understanding that we have a God who knows us and loves us anyway, through acceptance of Jesus the Holy Spirit indwells us individually, God listens to your individual prayers, and cares for our hearts.
The absolute truth that allows us to be confident is this:
John 14:16
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
As a follower of Christ I believe:
That God created everything, and he is still involved in his creation
That God loves me so much that he sent his son just for me to conquer the death that I deserve, to give me life everlasting that he wants for me.
That through Jesus, I can be reunited with God.
That by following all the commands of Jesus, I can fulfill the purpose that God has for me in this life.
That my God is with me always.
Be an individual. Be yourself. The individual and the self that God created you to be.
Counter cultural christianity
10,000 different bird species, 20,000 butterflies, fingerprints and dna
Jaded, cynical world that wants division, labels
Labels are easy, give broad definitions. Easy to dismiss or reject.
“results are not typical”
Jesus was not categorized or labeled. Not “typical”
Palm Sunday Expectations
John 12: 12-19
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna![d]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”[f]
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
But Jesus was not typical:
King – pauper
Savior by death – not battlefield
Resurrected – not revered
Conqueror of death!
Jesus was Counter Cultural
Jesus and the Roman Centurion Matthew 8:5-12
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus and the Canaanite woman Matthew 15: 21-28
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Jesus and Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-7
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Jesus was an individual, unlike any other. And he recognized that in us as well.
The world’s labels are not important. What is important is a personal, one on one relationship with Jesus.
God calls us individually.
1 Cor 12 :12-14
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
John 6:44
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 10:3
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
God knows us individually
Jeremiah 17:10
“I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
John 2:25
25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Psalm 139:1-5
1 You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
God loves us individually
Matthew 10:29-31
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[a] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Romans 8: 38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God gave his son for us individually
John 10:28-29
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[a]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 17:13-19
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
God loves us as individuals, wants us as individuals, and claims us as his own. There are no “typical” Christians. God created variety for a reason. Understanding that we have a God who knows us and loves us anyway, through acceptance of Jesus the Holy Spirit indwells us individually, God listens to your individual prayers, and cares for our hearts.
The absolute truth that allows us to be confident is this:
John 14:16
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
As a follower of Christ I believe:
That God created everything, and he is still involved in his creation
That God loves me so much that he sent his son just for me to conquer the death that I deserve, to give me life everlasting that he wants for me.
That through Jesus, I can be reunited with God.
That by following all the commands of Jesus, I can fulfill the purpose that God has for me in this life.
That my God is with me always.
Be an individual. Be yourself. The individual and the self that God created you to be.
RSS Feed
