Hey Siri, Is Jesus The Only Way?

How can you claim that Jesus is the only way? All major religions (even atheism) make an exclusive claim. Christianity is the most inclusive and easiest religion because you don't have to do anything except accept the gift. Acts 2:21, Rom 10:13, Jn 3:16. (Life boat example)

The main areas that at Jesus apart from every other religious leader:

1. His purpose. Jesus' purpose was completely different than every other leader's purpose. Lk 19:10, Mt 20:28 Jesus is the only religious leader that provided a viable solution to sin. Jn 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Rom 10:1-2 How good is good enough? There's no standard we can meet to be good enough.

2. His prophecies fulfilled. Jesus is the only religious leader that had fulfilled prophecy. He fulfilled over 250 prophecies.

3. His power. Jesus displayed power in a way that no other religious leader did. 1 Cor 15:13-15, Rev 1:17-18. No other religious leader can claim life after death. 2 Cor 4:4.

Hey Siri, Why is there suffering in this world?

Truth:

1. God has a purpose for your pain. Even when you are hurting, God is still working. Jas 1:2-4. God will use your pain to advance his Kingdom.

2. God is present in your pain. Isa 41:10. Sometimes God uses pain to show us what we need - Him and Him alone.

3. There is power from our pain. 

Welcome Home: Celebrate the Father's Love for us

Lk 15

1. This story is about us. Isa 53:6 "We all like sheep have gone astray."

2. We must all come to our senses. We need to run to our Father.

3. This story is about a Prodigal God. Prodigal means having or giving on a radical, lavish scale. In this story, the one who gives on a radical, lavish scale is the Father. The Father ran toward the son to protect him, because the culture's response would have been to stop the son and keep him from coming to the father. The Father kept the son from getting what he did deserve, and have him grace which he didn't deserve.

4. Our relationship with God is based upon identity, not following rules. God loves us because we are his children, we need to love him as our Father no matter what.

5. There's no such thing as cheap grace. Grace doesn't mean we can do whatever we want. Lk 23:32-33. 

6. If you don't like celebrations, you won't like Heaven. Lk 15:10. Heaven will have good food, loud music, dancing, and Jesus! 

Welcome Home: A Party You Don't Deserve

Lk 15:1-24
We serve a God who loves to give people what they don't deserve. ♥️
Ways that we see the radical love of God:
1. The Father looks for the mess. v20 The father was searching for his son even after the son was gone for a long time.
2. The Father runs toward the mess. v20 God chooses to become undignified for us to restore dignity back to us because he loves us. 2 Cor 5:21. God's love for us is scandalous.
3. The Father embraces the mess. v20
4. The Father celebrates the mess. v22-24 He celebrates us just the way we are, even though we don't deserve it. Praise God!

Welcome Home: Return to the Father

Lk 15
1. Pride always pulls us away from the Father. "Pride is the complete anti-God state of mind." C.S. Lewis
- when our view of God gets distorted, consequently, so does what is important in our life. Pride is the root of every sin.
2. Pride always keeps us away from the Father. Due to his pride, the son did not return to his father right away when he realized he messed up. Sin always over promises and under delivers.
3. Humility always draws us into the Father. Awakening>honesty>action=lasting transformation.
-Awakening: How many alarms do I snooze through and ignore?
- Honesty: be honest about my mistakes and my sin. Lk 15:18-19 Take full responsibility.
- Action: take action. Lk 15:20. The depth of our relationship with God is largely dependent on the depth of our humility before God. Rom 10:9

Where are you right now with God??

Chasing Carrots: Chasing Religion

Religion: an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.
Empty religion: following the beliefs, ceremonies and rules without knowing God.
Hypocrite: person who pretends to have morals or beliefs that they don't actually possess.

Mt 21:23-32, “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’   “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. v 28‭-‬30

1. Empty religion does not impress God. The second son gave the right answer, but didn't follow through, he represents empty religion. Isa 1:11-15 They took what should've been a beautiful thing and made it into a ritual. Mt 15:7-8
2. Empty religion is a dangerous substitute for a relationship with God. The first son represents relationship, he changed his heart and mind and followed his father's instructions. 
3. God wants a relationship with us, not empty religion from us. Empty religion trusts in our work, not in God's work. Chase a relationship with Jesus. Jn 14:6; Eph 2:8-9.

How do you know God? Mt 21:32 Repent from your sin and believe in Jesus Christ.
Repent: turn from your sin. Jesus hung out with sinners, and most often it changed them forever.
Believe: understand that there is a God who loved us and sent his son to live a perfect life, take our sin and die on the cross, and rise again and ascend into heaven.

Chasing Carrots: Chasing Pleasure

Eccl 2:1-11 v1 "I said to my heart..."  v11 "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

Why do we chase after pleasure?
1. It's fun for a while.
2. It temporarily numbs us from reality, responsibilities and pain.
3. Instant gratification. Chasing a meaningful relationship with Jesus and those around you is hard because it takes a lifetime.

The problem is that chasing pleasure makes it all about us.

Eccl 3:10-11 Our hearts were made for a relationship with God and for eternity. Ps 16:11