Chuck Colson to Speak to Chicagoland Leaders

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Catalyst 'Bonfire' Gathering A Conversation with Chuck Colson Friday, February 6th @ 8:30am Make plans now to join other catalytic leaders as we welcome special guest Chuck Colson. This will be an unprecedented time to hear from a national leader who invests face-to-face with local pastors and leaders. Mr. Colson will engage us in a time of reflection on topics impacting our culture, the Church, and the change that is all around us. There is no charge for this gathering, and registration information will be available soon via the Catalyst website. Location: The Chapel 1200 American Way Libertyville, Illinois 60048

When We Pray Dependence on God Through Prayer Saturday, January 17th @ 9am What if prayer was the key ingredient to shaping our Kingdom strategy in 2009? We read in Acts 13 that the Church first prayed and fasted, then they placed their hands on the leaders and sent them off! Please invite your pastor and key church leaders to join us at When We Pray so we can experience true change together! Location: Lakeland Evangelical Free Church 440 N. Hunt Club Road Gurnee, IL 60031

Other Local Conferences A Life Worth Following January 24th, Park Community Church, Chicago re:Focus Pastors Conference May 18-21, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago * Use code "Catalyst" to receive a special discount

Call or email us with events, stories, and ministry information you'd like to see posted in the Catalyst eNews letter. (info@catalystweb.org)

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Chicago Journalist's Post-Christmas Message

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HELP WANTED: WISE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE 21^ST CENTURY

Patrick Kampert

Well, Christmas is over. Maybe you’re bummed out that it’s over. You had a real time of blessing with the Lord and with your family, and there’s a bit of a post-holiday letdown. Or, maybe you’re relieved it’s over. You survived another holiday with your dysfunctional family, and now you can exhale. But after you exhale, be ready to receive, because maybe you haven’t unwrapped an important gift from God yet.

You know, Christmas may not be our most important holiday – that would be Easter – but it’s significant enough that we shouldn’t say it’s over just yet. Because it’s not. Not if you haven’t exchanged gifts with your Creator yet.

Two thousand years or so ago, Christmas wasn’t over yet. Just ask the wise men, ask the Magi. Christmas lasted a long time for them. We don’t know exactly when their journey started – the biblical text isn’t clear on that – but there’s a good chance their trip last many weeks, not just a few days.

They were following a star that sprang up out of nowhere and lasted long enough for them to follow it halfway across the civilized world in the year 2 or 4 or 6 B.C. – the death of one of the King Herods leads to some disagreement about just what year it was. And that star was so significant that people still talk about it – and look for it – to this very day.

Just a few weeks ago, in early December, the Chicago Tribune had an astronomy chart in the paper. It seems that this year, less than a month ago, Venus and Jupiter held a meeting in the sky with a crescent moon. If you went outside and used the Tribune’s graphic as a guide, you could witness this very bright celestial conference. Here’s what the paper said about this:

“Some historians think that a planetary conjunction like this in 2 B.C. may be the source of the star of Bethlehem story related in the Bible.”

So the star that the wise men saw is still making news today in our sophisticated, scientific age. Now, I don’t know if Venus and Jupiter getting together is what the wise men – and the people of 2008 – saw. It’s possible. It’s also possible that the God who created this universe and a trillion stars is definitely capable of creating some special effects that make “Star Wars” look like a toddler’s first drawing. Some men pass out cigars or candy when their child is born. So, when the Son of God was born – a one-time miracle in history – it’s certainly possible that God the Father thought a little celebration was in order. And He had the keys to the fireworks factory.

In the Christmas story, you can find all sorts of inspiration and lessons from the various people who were part of this incredible moment. From Mary, you can gain some insight about purity, about humility, about doing the right thing even if everyone, including your family, doesn’t understand.

From Joseph, we get a reminder on some of the key things our pastor Tim Mengler has been teaching us. Humility, definitely. And listening for God. What is He trying to say to you? Joseph certainly listened. Over and over, he listened. God spoke to him in a dream urging him not to dump Mary because she was pregnant out of wedlock. Later, Joseph listened when God warned him to take Mary and the baby to Egypt so they would be safe. And later, an angel spoke to him – again in a dream – to say it was safe to move back to Nazareth.

And what about the wise men? They seem like very minor supporting characters in this piece of history. And yet, I think in a way we should be able to relate to them (and the shepherds) more than most of the other people we encounter in the first two chapters of Matthew.

So for a moment, let’s get rid of some of the cultural clutter that’s piled up around the wise men like a dollar store full of fools’ gold, phony frankincense, and imitation myrrh.

First, we have to admit that out nativity sets are faulty – and the fact that they were made in China has nothing to do with it. In the real Nativity, the wise men were probably still on their journey on the day Jesus was born. They probably didn’t make it by the second day. Or the third or the fourth or the fifth. In fact, some theologians speculate that the wise men didn’t see Jesus face to face until he was about 2 years old.

Look at the text in Matthew 2:11: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped him.”

I don’t remember being born in a house or even an inn, do you? So they’re not in the cave, not in the stable anymore. They’re in a house.

So the wise men didn’t make it to the manger. Neither did we, so we have something in common with them. So who were these guys anyway? Well, they were Magi. Some of the historical evidence is hazy on this, but you could say they were a cross between astronomers, scientists, and astrologers. Now, I know what some of you might be thinking: “That doesn’t sound very ‘Christian.’ “ Heck, it doesn’t even sound very Jewish. And it shouldn’t, because the wise men were Gentiles. And so are most of us in this room. If you’re a follower of Christ, God has graciously grafted you into His tree of life. Heck, most of us weren’t even raised in true Christian homes.

But God uses a lot of improbable people throughout history. Remember, the first people to get the birth announcement about Jesus were the shepherds. They were considered so low-class that they didn’t even stay in the town itself. They lived outside the town. God used someone who persecuted Christians named Saul, a coward named Peter, and a hooker named Rahab. That should remind us that He can and will use us too if we let him.

So who else were these wise men? Well, they probably weren’t kings. They were probably very influential in their home country; they were scholars and they were rich. They were on a very long, very expensive journey. But unless a king was fighting a war, he wouldn’t be so unwise as to leave his kingdom for a long period of time, because he probably wouldn’t have much of a kingdom left when he got back. So, kings? No, they’d need a Burger King crown to be considered kings.

We also don’t know how many wise men there were. Could be 3. Could be 2. Could be 20. The Bible is silent on this, even if the Christmas songs are not. The figure of “We Three Kings” probably comes from the three types of gifts that the wise men brought – gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gifts were certainly God’s provision for a family that didn’t have a lot of money. In fact, the odds are good that these gifts helped finance the family’s escape to Egypt and their living expenses when Herod came looking for the baby king.

All these gifts had significance. The gold was for royalty. This was the newborn king, after all. The other two were quite prophetic, though. Frankincense was usually tied in with worship in the Bible. When you have some time, check out Exodus 30, Leviticus 2 and Nehemiah 13 to see illustrations of this. And myrrh was linked to suffering. Jesus was offered a mixture of myrrh and vinegar on the cross, and myrrh was one of the things Nicodemus brought with him to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. The other interesting thing about frankincense and myrrh also was indicative of Jesus’ destiny. They’re very fragrant, but you have to crush them to get the aroma. You pierce the skin or the bark of the plant. In fact, the resin from myrrh is white when it’s inside the plant, but when it’s exposed to the air, it turns red. Sort of reminds you of human blood, doesn’t it?

Now, you may not think you have much money compared to these wise men. You may not think you have very much in common with them. You may not even think you’re very wise. But I’ll let you in on a little secret – the wise men weren’t always so wise. In fact, they were a little clueless and foolish at times. I don’t know about you, but I can certainly relate to that!

Contrary to how we often remember the traditional story, the wise men did not make a beeline for Bethlehem when they saw the star in the East. What? Where does it say that? In the Bible. Look at the first two verses of Matthew, Chapter 2:

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him.”

They came to Jerusalem. They had to ask where Jesus was. They didn’t know where to find him.

It’s very possible that the star had disappeared temporarily at that point. We do know that later, after they got instructions from Herod and the chief priests and scribes, they headed to Bethlehem and the star led them to the exact spot where Jesus was living. They may have also gotten a little confused because Bethlehem is only 10 miles from Jerusalem. And if the star was bright enough to light their way for 2,000 miles, it was probably pretty bright around Jerusalem, not just Bethlehem.

But they probably headed to Jerusalem because it was the capital, and any self-respecting king would be found there. Except, Herod was a bloodthirsty guy who didn’t know anything about this baby king. And he certainly wasn’t going to turn over his throne without a fight.

The wise men were a little clueless because they didn’t know the Bible. They didn’t know where to look for Jesus. I certainly need to know where to find Jesus a little better – how about you? The Bible is where Herod has the chief priests and scribes look to find a road map for the wise men.

Now, we have the benefit of hindsight because we know how the story ends. It ends in the slaughter of a bunch of toddlers in Bethlehem by an angry king. But it must be said that the wise men were a little clueless because Jerusalem was the last place and King Herod was the last person they should have gone to. If ever there was a good time for men not to ask for directions, this was it!

OK, we’ve established that the wise men were all too human. Just like us. But what were their good points? What qualities did they have that we should want to emulate, that we should even dare to pray, “Lord, make me like the wise men.”

Here are four key areas. And we’ll start with the flip side of the wise men’s detour to Jerusalem:

Wise men and women are bold in their faith. When the wise men came to Jerusalem, everybody knew it. It wasn’t three men and a baby; it wasn’t three men and a donkey or even a camel. This was a big entourage. When the wise men arrive in Jerusalem, and they start asking around for this new king, Matthew 2:3 says that “when Herod the King heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

So why were they troubled? It couldn’t have just been the size of the caravan. There’s no indication they brought troops with weapons with them. No, Herod and the city were troubled by the fact that these people were searching for the new king and had come to worship him. Apparently, the people of the city liked the current arrangement with Herod just fine. They were ticked off that these guys claimed that the Messiah had been born.

Does your faith ever get you into trouble? I’m not saying we should go looking for trouble or come up with some contrived gimmick to call attention to ourselves. But does your openness with your faith ever cause a stir? Every time I speak or write, I’m preaching to myself – and that certainly includes this topic. But sometimes even those of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus for a long time have to beware of getting too comfortable. God says we are aliens and strangers in this world. Don’t sink too many roots in your creature comforts, just in your traveling companions.

Let’s look at another quality that makes the wise men worthy of imitating.

Wise men and women count the cost, and give their all. Can we go back to the wealth of the wise men for a minute? Yes, they had money. More than we have. Yes, they gave Jesus and his family extravagant gifts. But think about the journey itself. They brought many people with them. Think about the planning that had to go into that. The provisions for the people and the animals. This was no scenic, stroll in the park. Traveling was dangerous. They would be gone for a long time. Would they find their home and their possessions secure when they returned?

So, they may have been giving their all. And before they recruited the people to go with them, before they purchased the supplies, before they started following that star, they had to ask themselves a question. They had a decision to make. Was it worth it? Was it worth everything they had to find this Jesus and follow him?

Let me tell you a more recent story, from the year 2007. Our friends Dave and Kelli are missionaries to Hindus and Muslims, both here in Chicago and overseas. Last year, they were in the United Arab Emirates. There are many foreign workers there. Dave was asked to speak at the first-ever prayer meeting and Bible study for a group of workers from India who are Christians.

So they get to the compound where the workers live, and some Arab guys in their late teens or early 20s – who don’t like foreigners or Christians – start mocking and insulting the Indian believers. They ignored it, and kept walking, heads down, because they knew their position in that society. Then the young men noticed that everyone was carrying Bibles. That really set them off.

Dave and Kelli and the Indian Christians managed to get inside the compound and close the gate. Then the young men started throwing rocks at the gate. The meeting took place in a small house, if you can call it that, about 12 feet by 12 feet. There was one small window and one door.

The Indian believers started singing, and they heard the gate crash open. The jeering and the insults got louder. They sang some more, and the persecution continued. Dave started speaking, but Kelli had a hard time paying attention. You see, there have been similar attacks where the locals will toss gasoline bombs through the window into small gatherings like that, then block the door so no one inside can get out alive. Just because the people inside dare to follow Jesus.

That didn’t happen this time. The Arab landlord showed up and told the bad guys to clear out. Dave and Kelli got a taste of how many Christians throughout the world live. You see, you really have to count the cost as you choose to follow this king born in a manger. There was more going on in that manger than meets the eye. And the baby who was born there grew up to be a man who said things like, “So, therefore, any of who does not renounce all that has cannot be my disciple.”

While you chew on that for a minute, here’s a third good thing about the wise men.

Wise men and women in the 21^st century walk in community. The wise men didn’t pull a Clint Eastwood like in the new “Gran Torino” movie or in the spaghetti westerns. They didn’t do a “Terminator” or a “Rambo” and go solo. They traveled as a group. I’m sure it wasn’t easy doing a 4,000-mile round-trip when you don’t have seats in business class. Try doing it in the Middle East on foot. The animals smelled, the people smelled, and some of them may actually have had different ideas about which way to go than the wise men. And when God warned the wise men in a dream to head back home by a different route – to avoid Herod at all costs – that meant a big detour, perhaps south to Hebron so they could carve a wide path around Jerusalem without their large traveling party being seen. Now, do you think there may have been some complaining about the extra miles?

Here in the U.S., our story picks up 1,700 years later. We declared our independence from England in 1776. And independence has been a major character trait – and sometimes a major character flaw – in most of us ever since. Between text messages and Facebook and Twitter, we can be more connected than ever before – without the messiness of actually having to interact with each other. We don’t have to deal with physical hardship and smells too much, but we are more aware of our emotional and psychological state than any people who ever lived. And that can keep us apart.

Except we’re not happy in that state either. A recent study by Harvard University showed that we are more isolated than we’ve ever been, and we have fewer people to turn to when times get tough. And consider this – there’s a psychologist right here in our own backyard, John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago. In the research he’s done for his new book, he proves that our need for social connection, our need for other people, is hard-wired into our brains.

Now, who do you think put it there? And why did he put it there? Gordon Dalbey, the author of a book called “Healing the Masculine Soul,” says simply that “The wolf loves the lone sheep.” We are easy prey for the enemy of our souls when we isolate ourselves. I know it’s not easy sometimes, because we all have wounds from being betrayed when we opened ourselves to others. But we need to keep pressing on, to pray for protection, and to risk getting to know each other.

We need each other because, like the wise men, our journey is not easy. Community is not easy either, but it is highly valued by Jesus. We need to value it, and practice it intentionally. Look around for a second. Look to each side of you, look in back of you, look in front of you. Jesus said, this is your family.

You can probably guess the last thing we should like about the wise men:

Wise men and women fall down and worship Jesus. When the magi reached their goal, when they found Jesus, Matthew 2:11 says, “They fell down and worshipped him.” I don’t know about your Christmas decorations, but our nativity set got that wrong too. One guy is kneeling, another is kind of genuflecting, and the third one is standing stiff as a board, or a piece of porcelain, as the case may be!

My posture isn’t always the greatest either. And that’s not just when we’re singing a song and my voice is quiet and my hands are in my pockets. Worship is everything you do every minute of the day. But Jesus is a God of second chances. He gave the wise men a second chance when they lost sight of the star, when they had to stop for directions. Matthew 2:9 says, “Behold, the star they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”

The star went before them. That means that Jesus led them directly to himself. He does that every day, including today, beckoning us all to follow him.

And when the wise men got the second chance, did you catch their reaction? They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Now, doesn’t that sound a little redundant? Perhaps. But it’s also emphatic. It tells us just how grateful they were. They were ready to celebrate! Why?

Because Jesus gave the greatest gift of any Christmas to all of us who will accept it: eternal life, and the promise that the Holy Spirit will live inside us while we’re on this earth.

The wise men may not have been kings, but all of us who follow Jesus are princes and princesses. You may not feel like royalty, you may not think you look like royalty. But you are. You’ve been adopted by the King of Kings. Ephesians 3:6 says we are children and heirs of God, who share in his glory – as well as his suffering. Don’t forget that last part.

So be bold and come to Jesus. Count the cost and give Jesus your all. Walk in community. Fall down and worship Him. Give him the gift of yourself. He already gave His life for you. If you haven’t yet, unwrap the gift of salvation today. Think about what gift you’d like to give Him, and what gift you’d like to receive from Him, because the Bible says that God delights in giving good gifts to his children.

===> Check out http://www.BlessYourBlock.org for a creative strategy to get your congregation out of their seats and into the streets ...
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Urban Pastor's Postmodern Spin on Apologetics

	The Reason for God Belief in an Age of Skepticism Timothy Keller Dutton, 2008, 293 pp., ISBN 978-0-525-95049-3 To purchase this book click here.

Tim Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. The church began in 1989, has 6000 regular attendees, and has spawned more than a dozen daughter churches. See www.redeemer.com. Tim's book is a well reasoned apologetic that grants dignity and respect to all people, regardless of their theological, cultural, political and personal perspectives. The first part of the book examines seven major objections to faith. The second part describes evidence for God and Christianity. This is an excellent book to give to thoughtful skeptics.

"The world is polarizing over religion. It is getting both more religious and less religious at the same time." (x) "Both skeptics and believers feel their existence is threatened because both secular skepticism and religious faith are on the rise in significant, powerful ways." (xiv)

People are opting for a nonreligious life, for a non-institutional, personally constructed spirituality, or for orthodox, high-commitment religious groups…. Therefore the population is paradoxically growing both more religious and less religious at once." (xv)

"Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts--not only their own but their friends' and neighbors'." "Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive." (xvii)

"Skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs." "The reason you doubt Christianity's Belief A is because you hold unprovable Belief B. Every doubt, therefore, is based on a leap of faith." (xvii)

"My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs--you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared." (xviii)

Part I. The Leap of Doubt

1. There can't be just one true religion

Exclusivity is a big issue. Believing one has the truth can easily lead to stereotyping, caricaturizing, and demonizing others which can spiral down to oppression, abuse or violence. (4)

"What is religion then? It is a set of beliefs that explain what life is all about, who we are, and the most important things that human beings should spend their time doing." (15)

"Broadly understood, faith in some view of the world and human nature informs everyone's life. Everyone lives and operates out of some narrative identity, whether it is thought out and reflected upon or not." (15)

"It is common to say that 'fundamentalism' leads to violence, yet as we have seen, all of us have fundamental, unprovable faith-commitments that we think are superior to those of others." (19) "Which set of unavoidably exclusive beliefs will lead us to humble, peace-loving behavior?" (20) Christians have within their belief system the strongest possible resource for practicing sacrificial service, generosity, and peace-making. At the very heart of their view of reality is a man who died for his enemies, praying for their forgiveness. Reflection on this can only lead to a radically different way of dealing with those who were different from them." (20)

2. How could a good God allow suffering?

Some say suffering proves there is no loving, all powerful God. In other words, "If our minds can't plumb the depths of the universe for good answers to suffering, well, then, there can't be any! This is blind faith of a high order." (23) "Many assume that if there were good reasons for the existence of evil, they would be accessible to our minds,…but why should that be the case? (24)

"With time and perspective most of us can see good reasons for at least some of the tragedy and pain that occurs in life. Why couldn't it be possible that, from God's vantage point, there are good reasons for all of them?" (25)

"Lewis recognized that modern objections to God are based on a sense of fair play and justice. People, we believe, ought not to suffer, be excluded, die of hunger or oppression. But the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection depends on death, destruction, and violence of the strong against the weak--these things are all perfectly natural. On what basis, then, does the atheist judge the natural world to be horribly wrong, unfair, and unjust?" (26)

"If we ask the question: 'Why does God allow evil and suffering to continue?' and we look at the cross of Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we now know what the answer isn't. It can't be that he doesn't love us. … God takes our misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it on himself. [on the cross]." (30) "Embracing the Christian doctrines of the incarnation and Cross brings profound consolation in the face of suffering." (33)

3. Christianity is a straitjacket.

"Many say that all truth-claims are power plays. When you claim to have the truth, you are trying to get power and control over other people." (37) "If you say all truth-claims are power plays, then so is your statement." (38) "All denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind…" (38, quoting G. K. Chesterton)

"In many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions." "Instead of insisting on freedom to create spiritual reality, shouldn't we be seeking to discover it and disciplining ourselves to live according to it? (46-7)

4. The Church is responsible for so much injustice.

There are three issues to consider: the behavior or character flaws of Christians, the issue of war and violence, and fanaticism. (52)

It is argued that religion tends to make cultural differences into a cosmic battle. However, Communist, Russian, Chinese, and Cambodian regimes of the 20^th century rejected all organized religion yet produced massive violence against their own peoples. When the idea of God is gone, a society will make something else the transcendent ideal. (55)

"In Jesus's and the prophets' critique, self-righteous religion is always marked by insensitivity to issues of social justice, while true faith is marked by profound concern for the poor and marginalized." (60) "The shortcomings of the church can be understood historically as the imperfect adoption and practice of the principles of the Christian gospel." (61) "To give up Christian standard would be to leave us with no basis for the criticism." (62)

5. How can a loving God send people to Hell?

"In our culture, divine judgment is one of Christianity's most offensive doctrines." (69) There are a number of hidden beliefs inside this critique.

"In ancient times it was understood that there was a transcendent moral order…built into the fabric of the universe." Violation of this order brought consequences. One had to learn to live in conformity with this reality. Modernity, presented the natural world as ultimate reality and we could mold it to fit our desires. We now think we can control the spiritual world too. It seems unfair that there should be a God who would punish us. We believe in our personal rights! "Not all of humanity has accepted modernity's view of things." "Why should Western cultural sensibilities be the final court?" (71-2)

"God's wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer…which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being." (73, quoting Becky Pippert) "He is angry at evil and injustice because it is destroying its peace and integrity." (73)

"The biblical picture is that sin separates us from the presence of God, which is the source of all joy and indeed of all love, wisdom, or good things of any sort." "if we were to lose his presence totally, that would be hell--the loss of our capability for giving or receiving love or joy." (76) "Hell, then, is the trajectory of a soul, living a self-absorbed, self-centered life, going on and on forever." (77) "In short, hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity." (78)

"It is not a question of God 'sending us' to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE Hell unless it is nipped in the bud." (79, quoting C.S. Lewis)

6. Science has disproved Christianity

"Must we choose between thinking scientifically and belief in God?" (850

"It is one thing to say that science is only equipped to test for natural causes and cannot speak to any others. It is quite another to insist that science proves that no other causes could possibly exist." (85)

In the statement, "miracles can't happen," there is a premise that "there can't be a God who does miracles." (86)

It is one thing to say that I will look for my car keys under the streetlamp because the light is better there. It is another thing to say that the car keys cannot be elsewhere because I can't see there!

7. You can't take the Bible literally

What people mean is that the Bible is not entirely trustworthy because some parts…are scientifically impossible, historically unreliable, and culturally regressive." (99-100)

"I find more people now especially upset by what they call the outmoded and regressive teaching of the Bible. It seems to support slavery and the subjugation of women. These positions appear so outrageous to contemporary people that they have trouble accepting any other parts of the Bible's message." (109) "Many of the texts people find so offensive can be cleared up with a decent commentary that puts the issue into historical context." (110) "Some texts do not teach what they at first appear to teach." (111)

For many, "their problem with some texts might be based on an unexamined belief in the superiority of their historical moment over all others. We must not universalize our time any more than we should universalize our culture." "To reject the Bible as regressive is to assume that you have now arrived at the ultimate historic moment, from which all that is regressive and progressive can be discerned. That belief is surely as narrow and exclusive as the view in the Bible you regard as offensive." (111)

"To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible's teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God he wouldn't have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?" (112)

In addition, we should distinguish between the major themes and message of the Bible and its less primary teachings. …consider the Bible's teaching in their proper order." (112) "It is therefore important to consider the Bible's core claims about who Jesus is and whether he rose from the dead before you reject it for its less central and more controversial teachings." (113)

Intermission

"Underlying all doubts about Christianity are alternate beliefs, unprovable assumptions about the nature of things." (115)

The second part of the book exercises a "critical rationality" that "assumes that there are some arguments that many or even most rational people will find convincing…. It assumes that some systems of belief are more reasonable than others…." But, of course, these do not eliminate all counter arguments. (120)

"When a Russian cosmonaut returned from space and reported that he had not found God,…this was like Hamlet going into the attic of his castle looking for Shakespeare. If there is a God, he wouldn't be another object in the universe that could be put in a lab and analyzed with empirical methods. He would relate to us the way a playwright relates to the characters in his play. We (characters) might be able to know quite a lot about the playwright, but only to the degree the author chooses to put information about himself in the play." (122)

"In the Christian view, however, the ultimate evidence for the existence of God is Jesus Christ himself." 'He wrote himself into the play as the main character in history…." (123)

Part 2. The Reasons for Faith

8. The Clues of God

There are no incontrovertible proofs for God. But when we looked at them as clues, "cumulatively, the clues of God had a lot of force to them."

The Big Bang is a clue. That the cosmos is fine-tuned for life is a clue. The regularity of nature is a clue. Beauty is a clue.

"…the very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that someone was able to begin it. And it seems to me that had to outside of nature." (129, quoting Francis Collins, The Language of God.)

Richard Dawkins says there may be trillions of universes and some of them may be fine-tuned to sustain life. "Although organic life could have just happened without a Creator, does it make sense to live as if that infinitely remote chance is true?" (132) [I don't think it is scientifically possible for life to have happened. dlm]

"Evolutionists say that if God makes sense to us, it is not because he is really there, it's only because that belief helped us survive and so we are hardwired for it. However, if we can't trust our belief-forming faculties to tell us the truth about God, why should we trust them to tell us the truth about…evolutionary science?" Or any scientific theory at all? (138)

9. The knowledge of God

Keller demonstrates that deep within us we already know there is God.

"The secular, young adults I have known have a very finely honed sense of right and wrong. There are many things happening in the world that evoke their moral outrage." (144) "…but unlike people in other times and places, they don't have any visible basis for why they find some things to be evil and other things good. It's almost like their moral intuitions are free-floating in midair…." (145)

"I think people in our culture know unavoidably that there is a God, but they are repressing what they know." (146)

If there is no creator God then there is no sound rationale for moral obligation or human rights. Who says so? In fact, nature itself is terribly violent.

"If a premise ('There is no God') leads to a conclusion you know isn't true ('Napalming babies is culturally relative') then why not change the premise?"

10. The problem of sin

"Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him." (162) The primary way to define sin is "the making of good things into ultimate things. It is seeking to establish a sense of self by making something else more central to your significance, purpose, and happiness than your relationship to God." (162)

"Every person is desperately seeking…'cosmic significance.'" "Our need for worth is so powerful that whatever we base our identity and value on we essentially 'deify.' We will look to it with all the passion and intensity of worship and devotion, even if we think of ourselves as highly irreligious." (163, citing Ernest Becker)

"…sin destroys us personally. Identity apart from God is inherently unstable. Without God, our sense of worth may seem solid on the surface, but it never is--it can desert you in a moment." (164) "There is no way to avoid this insecurity outside of God." "An identity not based on God also leads inevitably to deep forms of addiction."

"Building our lives on something besides God not only hurts us if we don't get the desires of our hearts, but also if we do." (166) "…if you don't live for Jesus you will live for something else." (172)

11. Religion and the Gospel

12. The (True) Story of the Cross

"Why would Jesus have to die?" is a very frequent question. (187) If someone damages you, you can get revenge--which goes on and on--or you can forgive. But someone pays for the damage. To forgive is a form of suffering. You have both the damage and you forgo revenge. It hurts. Someone pays.

"Forgiveness means bearing the cost instead of making the wrongdoer do it, so you can reach out in love to seek your enemy's renewal and change. Forgiveness means absorbing the debt of the sin yourself. Everyone who forgives great evil goes through a death into resurrection, and experiences nails, blood, sweat, and tears." "Everyone who forgives someone bears the other's sins."

God himself absorbed the pain. "This is a God who becomes human and offers his own lifeblood in order to honor moral justice and merciful love so that someday he can destroy all evil without destroying us." (192) "There was a debt to be paid--God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born--God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering." (193)

13. The reality of the resurrection

"If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead." (202)

"The only way anyone embraced the resurrection back then was by letting the evidence challenge and change their worldview, their view of what was possible. They had just as much trouble with the claims of the resurrection as you, yet the evidence--both of the eyewitness accounts and the changed lives of Christ's followers--was overwhelming." (211)

14. The dance of God

"I have been arguing that the Christian understanding of where we came from, what's wrong with us, and how it can be fixed has greater power to explain what we see and experience than does any other competing account." (213)

"If God is triune, then loving relationships in community are the 'great fountain…at the center of reality.'" (216)

God calls us to glorify, praise, and serve him. "And the only way we, who have been created in his image, can have this same joy, is if we center our entire lives around him instead of ourselves." (218)

To purchase this book click here.

David

David Mays

The MissionExchange (formerly EFMA)

DMays@TheMissionExchange.org

www.TheMissionExchange.org

www.davidmays.org

Helping leaders fulfill their roles in the Great Commission

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Have a "New" Year thorugh Prayer

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Start The Year in Prayer!
Debbie Stackhouse

"Grant, Lord, that the Church may be marked by prayerfulness, that we may learn to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" (Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 2:7)

Join us on Saturday, January 17th at 9am for our quarterly When We Pray gathering. Strategically consider using this all-county event as your church leadership's first steps in 2009!

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Citywide Fellowship Calls for Prayer

Greetings!

ESTHER PRAYER GATHERING FOR OUR NATION

Since the election a number of us have had a strong prophetic sense that there is a need to call for an Esther Prayer gathering for our nation before the electoral college meets on December 15th. With this is mind, we are calling a prayer gathering for this coming Monday, Dec. 8th at The Prayer Furnace 3541 N. Elston Ave. Chicago, at 7:30pm. Please join us as we intercede for our nation and our national leaders at this critical time. Please see attachment for more information.

CTF MONTHLY MEETING

Our next monthly Transformation Fellowship meeting will be Saturday Dec. 13th at 9:00am. The meeting will be hosted by Pastor Otis Davis at Repairer of the Breach Ministries 2034 W. 51st St. Chicago. Please join us for worship, prayer, testimonies and fellowship as we continue to work together for transforming revival in the Chicagoland region.

Our website is up and running, please take a look at www.transformchicago.org.

God Bless You,
Joe Manahan
-----------------------------

Subject: A Spring Call to Fasting, Feasting and Focused Travailing Prayer!

Many of us have been prompted afresh to travail in individual and united strategic prayer for Chicagoland for more than ten years. Some have joined together for joint efforts at caring for the needy and raising the proclamation level by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have been working toward developing a renewed life style focused on "Prayer, Care and Share!"

We believe it is time to call Spirit-led Apostolic type Pastors, Ministry Leaders, Market Place Ministers, Networkers, Intercessors, Evangelists and Prophets to join together to seek the face of God for break-through over Chicagoland. Many local and national events have placed significant focus on Chicago… ie: President Elect Obama, 2016 Olympic bids, Collar Communities City Reaching activities, Chicagoland Gatekeep ers and more.

We believe that God is calling us to come together Sunday March 22 at 7PM till Thursday night March 26 at 7PM at Riverwoods Christian Center in St. Charles, IL. It is an urgent time to Fast to better hear God, Feast on His presence and Focus our travailing prayer.

We believe that Pastor John Mulinde from Kampala, Uganda, East Africa has a unique call on his life to facilitate such a four day season. John and his partner, Pastor Mark Daniels, from Kissimmee, FL have been used of God to see break-through in various Ugandan and US Cities. They have a ministry called World Trumpet Mission. www.worldtrumpet.com 407-846-8300

The Master Objective of the Four Day Focus is:
"Calling networkers and intercessors together for 4 days of impartation and travailing prayer in order to receive specific strategies from the Father leading to transforming revival for the Chicagoland region."

Please prayerfully consider blocking out the four days and four nights to join us in this strategic focus to be instructed by God for His vision and passion for Chicagoland. It is time for desperate hearts to seek the 'Light' of Christ to break through in greater ways.

More details about costs and arrangements will be forth coming. For now 'Mark your Calendar' and RSVP to let us know of your interest to attend.

Bless you,
Rev. Tony Danhelka – Riverwoods Christian Center/ Love Fox Valley
Rev. Ron Juran - Kingdom Life House of Prayer
Rev. Joe Manahan - Chicagoland Transformation Fellowship
Fr. Dimitri Sala - Franciscan Evangelist... OFM

PS Mark your calendar and phone or email me to let us know of your interest in attending.
tonydanhelka@sbcglobal.net 630-263-2222

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Olympic Sized Outreach?

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Will Chicago Get the Bid for the 2016 Olympics?



Over 2000 churches in Chicago are being asked to partner strategically in a project to be coordinated with the 2016 Olympic Summer Games. We will know the decision regarding the Olympics and Chicago in October of 2009 when the announcement is made in Denmark. However, we have been presented an opportunity to come together as the churches of Chicago in a citywide initiative asking God for this major evangelistic outreach. And we have been given the time to do the hard work of preparation and prayer to make this outreach effective.

We know God is working all the time around us and when we are in prayer, seeking His direction on our lives, we can align ourselves with what He is already doing. No greater joy can be experienced in the life of His people when they are in the center of His will and when we see lost people make a life-changing decision for Jesus.

We are looking for creative support, which will empower a new experience for evangelism over the next years. Any projects we undertake must be diverse in approach to unify the multi-cultural heritage we enjoy in Chicago. Language and culture must be respected for the people from the many nations of the world, which are found in this city.

What Will Happen

Some estimates are that the Olympics in Chicago will draw 30-million visitors to the city. Airlines are applying for new routes to Olympic participants' countries expecting a swell of business. The 20,000 participants and 16,000 press will begin arriving weeks before the Olympic Games to prepare for events. The city is spending millions to get the games.

Chicago's infrastructure will increase as to the number of taxicabs, service employees and construction. All of the many stakeholders who will want to be part of the events will add to the numbers. The buzz on the street is already growing and will become everyday conversation.

We are seeing a rise in the use of public transportation as gas prices skyrocket, and that usage will only grow as the prospect of an Olympic torch is raised in Chicago. More trains and faster trains are on the drawing board to cinch the city bid.

With about 100,000 available hotel rooms, Chicago will fall short and we will have an opportunity to offer short-term housing in homes and churches for visitors to the city. What an opportunity to share your faith.

No Centralized Campaign

Dwight Moody held many small meetings during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair in three zones; north, south and west of the Chicago River. Metro Chicago has now grown to a size greater than 4000 square miles and participation would be expected from Gary to Kankakee and from Rockford to Milwaukee.

People from 200 language groups will be coming to Chicago for the games. Chicago is the only candidate which is representative of these language groups and has the primary infrastructure in place to accommodate the activities. Our diversity is singular in the world.

One thing we have learned is that the geography of the city is difficult. Major evangelistic revival meetings with a 'big name speaker' will not be the model for this outreach in Chicago.

www.PrayTheLoop.Info

PrayTheLoop is a cooperative initiative, which will reach into the secular culture and demonstrate our love for each other, the city and for sharing the Good News. Lay people will be led by their pastors to pray. "What unspeakable grace to pray to God in intercession for the needs of a city and the world!" Evangelism is not church growth and is not just the work of professionals. Growth is an important priority in each congregation but now, can we move out of the building and share the greatest story ever told with those who have never heard.

Only 5% of young people will every step inside of a Christian church. Sunday morning attendance in evangelical churches today has flat lined and in many denominations, the growth pattern is negative. The fact is that if we assume that we will reach the growing population in the world through the church, we are mistaken.

Now we must pray and prepare. Moody Church has been praying since 2007 for ' the event of the century.' Many churches and groups have been meeting for prayer for years, 'weeping over the city.' There are already prayer groups praying for the Olympics in churches and businesses all over Chicago.

What Does It Look Like

Our efforts will include a global web presence, which would attract interest from around the world. The website would focus on the Olympic interest and tell the stories of Christian athletes in many languages. Chicago churches would be linked with other churches, colleges and evangelism websites around the world.

Technology will be quite different in 2016. Eight years is like a 100 of the years of the past. Young people will use texting and 'always-on' communication rather than email. Social networking will be common, and we will no longer be bound to a stationary computer. All of the wonders of the Internet will be available in our hands and perhaps as part of our peripheral vision as wireless comes of age. 'Push technology' by zip code and perhaps even by neighborhood will re-created marketing. You can now look at your house and your neighbors through the use of Google street view. RFID tags will be everywhere.

MOBS will come together for prayer and for instant communications; sites will link those who support evangelism and Christian ministry; the norm will be online resources, on-demand video and direct communication. Print-On-Demand materials will be common as traditional printed matter and media will continue to fade.

Reverse the Flow

The most promising potential benefit of the entire outreach is to reverse the flow of ministry so that it bubbles up from below and does not depend on a flow down from the top.

The sad fact is that only a small fraction of believers are active in ministry and most members of churches have no interest in becoming involved at all. The good news is that a large percentage would say yes, if someone would ask them to serve. The role of leadership is to empower people. Spiritual leadership introduces people to a saving knowledge of Jesus and the infilling of the power of the Holy Spirit. Far to many remain 'parked in the pews' because they are never released to share that message with others.

If God's people can capture the vision of what He is already doing in Chicago churches and individual lives, we can be empowered to live lives that are changed. God is faithful in all that we are willing to give him. What we hold back and refuse to give to God is what drags us down.

In spite of the opposition we face today, God is confirming His church and empowering His people to make evangelism their lifestyle. We should use this opportunity to demonstrate respect for others who serve the Lord and build up each other's dignity as we share the truth of the gospel.

I am looking for churches that connect with this vision and join us at the table from the beginning. In order to have wide support of the outreach idea, each participating church will need to make the decision to become involved in the prayer initiative and allow the Holy Spirit to guide the level of effort to which the church is called.

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Urban Plunge into Chicago's Neighborhoods

. SCUPE’s CityVoices
A resource of the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education

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Seminary Students Explore Chicago’s Changing Neighborhoods

SCUPE held a “Seeing the City through Prophetic Imagination” community tour weekend for seminary students on Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd. Designed to introduce students to SCUPE’s Graduate Theological Urban Studies program and the wonders of the city. The two-day event also sought to introduce students to the challenge of community development at the neighborhood level. Students explored different community development models as they visited the Cabrini-Green and Auburn-Gresham neighborhoods, two different African American communities.

Cabrini-Green is a pubic housing area that is being redeveloped by outsiders who are economically displacing residents by the high cost of the new housing that is being built there, while Auburn-Gresham is a middle class neighborhood that being developed from the inside-out by residents living in the area with help from congregations like the Faith Community of St. Sabina, Catholic church leading the way.

Overall, 16 Master of Divinity students participated in the urban community exploration weekend. Students came from Western Theological Seminary (Holland, MI), Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and Luther Seminary (St. Paul, MN). The seminary students gathered at the Walter Payton High School parking lot on a chilly Saturday morning and walked to nearby Cabrini-Green. Their community guide, Cynthia Stewart, a community activist and educator, who wrote her graduate thesis on the comparisons of community transformation between the top-down approach in Cabrini Green and the bottom-up faith-based approach of the Auburn Gresham community. She was informative, personable and very well connected with the churches in both communities. Dave Frenchak and Carol Ann McGibbon of SCUPE, also joined the group on their journey and helped to guide student reflections.

After touring Cabrini, the students visited with Rev. Chuck Infelt, pastor of Holy Family Lutheran Church, a local church located in the Cabrini Green neighborhood. Pastor Infelt gave a great historical overview of the community’s change from a high-crime, low-income, public housing to a quickly changing high-income, townhouse and homeownership-based ($300,000 and up) community. Students were exposed to each community’s history, as well as solid sociological, political, and theological analysis as they walked through the two neighborhoods.

The group began with Cabrini-Green in the morning and then traveled south by public transportation to Auburn-Gresham, where they dined at the Perfect Peace Café, an economic development project of St. Sabina Church. After a tour of the housing, senior complex, school and church, students returned to SCUPE for Chicago deep dish pizza and a time of theological reflection on the experience. Students were inspired by the community development work in Auburn-Gresham and several students expressed interest in learning more about urban ministry and SCUPE’s programs. Sunday morning, students had the choice of worshipping at one of several SCUPE internship sites - Bethel Lutheran Church, Fourth Presbyterian, the Faith Community of St. Sabina, New Life Community Church, LaVillita Community Church, Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church, and Trinity United Church of Christ. The weekend ended with lunch and a final debriefing before they headed home. The experience was such a good one that SCUPE will plan another community tour in the spring.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT CROSS-CULTURAL MINISTRY?
CONTACT US AT: URBANMIN@SCUPE.COM OR 312-725-1200.

********************
Thanks for Reading SCUPE’s CityVoices!

For further information about SCUPE, or CityVoices newsletter, contact:
SCUPE’s CityVoices, 200 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 502, Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 726-1200 phone / (312) 726-0425 fax
roger@scupe.comHome Page

Copyright 2008 SCUPE, Chicago, Illinois

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Share the Faith on CTA Platforms

..

Chicago Transit Authority Affirms Right to Preach on Platforms

CHICAGO, November 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Mauck & Baker, LLC, and the Thomas More Society in Chicago have announced that they reached an out-of-court settlement after joining forces to preserve the constitutional right of Moody Bible student Matthew Rivera and his classmates to share the message of Jesus on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train platforms.

In July, Rivera was told by a CTA security guard that he could not preach at a subway platform without a permit. He was told he would need to pay a $10 fee, wear a badge and do his preaching in a small designated area where he may or may not have an audience.

Rather than risk arrest, Rivera stopped talking about God and offering people reading material. Another Moody student with Rivera was also evangelizing on the platform. He was told that his Texas driver’s license was not acceptable identification to obtain a permit and that he would need an Illinois license or ID card to be licensed.

Mauck & Baker attorney John Mauck exchanged communications with Eugene Munin, the CTA's first deputy general counsel, seeking a peaceful accommodation. Mauck convinced Munin to send a letter confirming that preaching is allowed on the platforms and not subject to licensure. The attorney emphasized that it is important to be able to preach where people congregate and that the First Amendment protects preaching.

In the end Munin acquiesced and provided a letter that states that “preaching” does not constitute “oration” (which requires licensure under a CTA ordinance), thereby confirming that Rivera and those who wish to spread the truth of the Gospel will be able to continue to preach without fear of arrest.

Rivera, Moody Bible Institute students, Jews for Jesus and other groups who wish to evangelize should now carry both the letter from the CTA and a supplemental letter from Mauck & Baker with them, said Mauck, which will ensure that there are no further incidents.

“Our objective,” said the attorney, “is always to preserve and extend the freedom to communicate the great message of God’s love rather than litigate. This experience with the CTA demonstrates that sometimes good communication and good will on both sides can avoid costly and time consuming court battles.”

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Do we have a prayer for Chicago, 2016?

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A lot of people I have spoken with about a new model for evangelism in Chicago have expressed concerns that Chicago has not been chosen yet for the Olympics. Some know in their heart that we don't need another experience like Say Yes Chicago. Many other objections exist.

Today I read a story which can be found at the very end of an article by Walt Kallestad published by Fuller Theological Seminary. He writes about one of his parishioners:

'One parishioner named Lee told me his grandson was dying and asked me to go pray for him in the hospital. “I could do that,” I said, “but so could you.” We walked over to the altar where I gave him a small vial of oil. “Take this with you to the hospital and put a drop on his forehead. Pray that God will heal him.”

I didn’t go to the hospital to pray for Lee’s grandson, Lee did. Instead of controlling the ministry, I held Lee accountable and gave him the tools he needed to be a priest to his own family. “Grandpa is going to pray for you,” he said. The boy watched as his grandfather’s trembling hands took the lid off the vial, and listened as he said, “I pray in Jesus’ name that you heal my grandson.” Then he placed a drop of oil on the boy’s forehead. Thirty-six hours later, his grandson returned home.'

There is much more to the article if you have the time to read it. Here is the link.
http://documents.fuller.edu/news/pubs/tnn/2008_Fall/2_entertainment_to_worship.asp

Churches have become boring and irrelevant, he says. We can whoop it up and put on the glitz...and if we build it, they may come...for a while. But will lives be changed. Of all those born in the next decade...perhaps 2-billion, world-wide, fewer than 5% will ever darken the door of any church. We will need to go out into a very unfriendly world to share the story of God's grace and mercy...and His healing power.

We have 8-years to Pray and to Plan and to Prepare and to Participate. God give us the strength we need to do His will.

Thanks and kind regards,

Mark Anderson
Lifegate Capital, Box 11, St Charles, IL 60174
630 587 6620 / www.PrayTheLoop.Info

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