Living Countercultural | Ronn Johnson | Epiphany | February 9, 2020

Continuing from Kati’s beatitudes of the upside-down gospel last week, Ronn Johnson takes us to Paul in Corinth as he walks out the countercultural and Spirit-dependent ways of the Kingdom: I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in human wisdom but in the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5) In Ronn's words, “Paul was repeating, maybe not in word but in action and in thought, the same gospel Jesus brought, that ‘with loud cries and tears, Jesus met the Father.’ Wherever you are – low, defeated, sad – know that Jesus comes to you and says, “Blessed are you; you’re not on Plan B.’” In our weakness, loss, discouragement, God is strong and God is for us.