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The God Who Seeks | Week 2

John 4:1-26

How and where God is to be worshiped, who and what was acceptable to him was the argument of her day. To both Samaritans and Jews God was the product of years of indoctrination, protocol and prejudice. All of this worked for a while, until God asked a woman of ill repute for a drink. In this encounter, the God of her youth began to die and a new one – an other who was seeking her, who belonged to no one and so he belonged to everyone – was rising in front of her. Suddenly, her worship as no longer about precedence, protocol and prejudice. It was all about spirit and truth, for those are the qualities that the real God seeks.

Jesus the Death of Death | Week 7

“One of the great themes throughout the Bible is the struggle between life and death: “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly,” (Jn. 10:10). This struggle culminates in life of Jesus as death reaches out to claim him (Good Friday) and in the process dies itself (Easter). This is the message of Easter – “the last enemy to be defeated is death” (1 Cor. 15:26) – and it is played out every day in this world through our lives.”

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Steve DeNeff April 21, 2019

Jesus and the Improbable Reign of God | Week 6

In Jesus’ day, as in ours, there were lots of expectations, social and political, swirling around the coming of Israel’s King. But what rode into Jerusalem that day was something else – something uninvited and underwhelming – such that everyone missed it. We still do. Now as then, even those shouting “Hosanna” seem oblivious to the subtle correction of Jesus to our expectations: “Our king comes to us righteous and having salvation . . . (but) riding on a donkey,” (Zech. 9:9; Jn. 12:15). The message is clear, and maybe we’ll see it “only after Jesus is glorified,” (Jn 12:16). Jesus is the savior of the world and he is able to do this from a minority position. Even today God enters the imperial city . . . riding on a donkey.

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Steve DeNeff April 14, 2019

Jesus and the Furious Love of God | Week 5

It is common, today, to hear religious people say that God is love. Isn’t that what the Bible says? But has anyone wondered what His love is capable of? Have they wondered if there are not, perhaps, sides to it that we have not seen and will not accept? These two stories, told on the way to Jerusalem, reveal how loyal and furious is the love of God, such that we do not want to be on the wrong side of it. Apparently this can happen even to those safe inside the “temple” system. Can it happen to us? If so, how should this inform the God we worship? What God have we worshiped that, perhaps, should die on the road to Jerusalem?

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Steve DeNeff April 7, 2019

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