“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”

This is an incredible verse. It seems to me like Paul is saying, “We talk about lots of things and I write all kinds of things in these letters that I write you. But listen…this is the most important thing….”

I think it’s awesome. For Paul, the “most important” thing is that the scriptures said that Jesus would come and die and be raised again for our sins. AND THAT HAPPENED.

It was basically an event.

The scriptures said that there would be AN EVENT. And that event happened.

Christ is not dead. He is risen. It happened.

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

This is tough. Look at your life and ask, “What am I doing that, unless God is real and God comes though, will fall flat on its face?” I know for me I really had think for a while….and I am still thinking. People looked at Nehemiah and the Jews and they saw God. That’s what we should be. People should look at us and see God. (Matthew 5:16)

I think a lot of people would struggle to answer that question and I’m certainly not getting on anyone’s case about it. The thing is, I think most people would say, “Look, if God would just show me or tell me what he wants me to do…if it was just clear…I would do it.” Abraham’s call, while on one hand really uncertain and dangerous, was on the other hand kind of clear. God said “Get up and go” and he went. God told Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach; really clearly. So I think most people just sit around and wonder ,”what am I supposed to be doing?”

Which leads to another question..are we anywhere close enough to Jesus that we would hear him tell us to do something anyway?

Setlist for the week was:

Forever Reign – Hillsong

We Believe – Visio Dei

In Christ Alone

Give Me Faith/Oh Come Let Us Adore Him/In Christ Alone – Elevation/Visio Dei

Band for the week was:

Brent Francese – drums

John Enzor – bass

Amaree Davis – violin

Marty Linn – keys

Katie Pritchett – vox

Patrick Downing acoustic guitar + vox

People are flawed. No person is going to be a perfect authority. The authority in your life will inevitably fail in some way. So the temptation is to not trust authority and to rebell against it. But you have trust that God is control. He knows that people are flawed and he knows that human authority is flawed.

In Jesus’ time, God knew the Sanhedrin (Jewish Authority) was flawed. God knew the Roman authorities were flawed. The trials of Jesus were a mockery of justice. But at the end of the day, who was it who sent Jesus to the cross – it was God, his father. God used the messed up forms of human authority to accomplish his purposes.

The ultimate point is this: God uses imperfect authority, perfectly. 

So trust your leaders. Pray for them. Know that they know the standards by which they will be judged and they are constantly seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that they might be used more perfectly.

Setlist for the week was: 

Hosanna – Brenton Brown

Lead Me to the Cross – Hillsong

Lord I Need You – Tomlin

How He Loves – McMillan

Forever Reign – Hillsong

Band for the week was:

Jason Gore – acoustic guitar + vox

Julie Watkins – vox

Brent Francese – drums

Scott Wenger – bass

Alex Dellapenta – electric guitar + vox

Ben Davis – electric guitar + vox

*Note – we try to switch things up a good bit at Visio Dei. It’s true that we have lots of rock and roll musicians, so we play a lot of rock and roll. BUT, The body of Christ is not a completely uniform bunch of people. We are pretty eclectic bunch. 1) we have people on the team are really skilled in other types/feels of music and 2) we have people not on the team who really respond to other types of music. So we try not to cram the body of Christ into one little rock and roll box. THAT SAID, if you know some of our players, then from looking at that list above, this week was pretty rock and roll….

It’s incredible stuff. You should listen to it.

There is so much to learn from the book of Nehemiah and a lot of things to be learned from the man himself. See he was a Jew. He was a prisoner. He was a nobody. But he bloomed where he was planted. He sought the welfare of the city where God had put him. He became cupbearer to the king; no small job. I think for all intents and purposes, he was comfortable. But he allowed his heart to be broken by the status of Jerusalem. And the disrepair of the city. And the status of the temple of God. And the “lostness” of the people of God.

It’s challenging for me. I live in Raleigh, NC; a place that is routinely mentioned as one of the best places to live in the America, which means its one of the best places to live in the world. I think it’s fair to say that we are pretty comfortable here. But do I allow my heart to be broken by the things that break God’s heart?

This place needs the gospel. Do I act like that’s true? Do I believe that Christ is reconciling us to himself. And do I believe that he has given me the ministry of reconciliation to spread the good news that others can be reconciled to him too?

Challenging…

Band for the week was:

John Enzor – bass

Brent Francese – drums

Jon Pritchett – elec guitar

Aaron Chappell – elec guitar

Rebecca Schlieman – vox

Patrick Downing – acoustic guitar + vox

Setlist for the week was:

All to Us – Tomlin

In Christ Alone – Visio Dei Arrg

Nothing but the Blood – Redman – Visio Dei Arrg

From the Inside Out – Hillsong

We Believe – Visio Dei

“We were created continuously outpouring. Note that I did not say we were created to be continuous outpourers. Nor can I dare imply that we were created to worship. This would suggest that God is an incomplete person whose need for something outside himself (worship) completes his sense of himself. It might not even be safe to say that we were created for worship, because the inference can be drawn that worship is a capacity that can be separated out and eventually relegated to one of several categories of being. I believe it is strategically important, therefore, to say that we were created continuously outpouring—we were created in that condition, at that instant, imago Dei.”

Jason delivered a message about the necessity of community using Genesis 1 and 1 Peter chapter 2. The short of it is, we are made in the image of a communal God. He always has and always will exist in perfect communion with himself (trinity). And that communal God has always been about having a people; a holy people; a holy nation. The gospel demands that, if we are to live out the gospel rightly, we must live in community; and this is only possible THROUGH the gospel.

Band for the week was:

John Enzor – bass

Jon Pritchett – mandolin

Alex Dellapenta – acoustic guitar + vox

Rebecca Schlieman – vox

Patrick Downing – acoustic guitar + vox

Kendal Quinn – djembe + perc

Set list for the week was:

Always – Kristian Stanfill

Lord Almighty – Kristian Stanfill

Stronger – Hillsong

We Believe – Visio Dei – I was very excited about this new song. It was written in the middle of last week specifically for our church and specifically for this message. It’s fantastic when a song so clearly falls out of what we are studying and going through as a church.

So give this a read…..

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

English Standard Version (ESV)