Gateway Fellowship

For many believers, the cross has been explained as Jesus dying to pay God a debt we owed for our sins. Is this explanation how the early church fathers understood the cross?

“Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Phil 4:6-7 MSG)

God is typically more interested in the inward journey than any outward performances.

A friend came to me recently with all kinds of questions and about the Bible.

This one is about gratitude.

A conversation about being and becoming.

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." (Romans 12:11)

“You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”(Psalm 30:11)

"As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them." (Luke 24:15)

God establishes physical altars in the world, but a spiritual altar in each heart where we bring things and give them up as worship to God.

David's plea for deliverance in Psalm 30:9 appeals to a glorious presumption: how much God would lose if he lost him."God, if you let this thing take me, you're gonna miss me."It's this bedrock certainty of God's love that he brings with him out of the pit, out of sheol, and into the redemption that ensues.

I made a case that our attachment style affects all our relationship, including our relationship to God. And we can change. And that Scriptural prayers model some very healthy convictions regarding attachment. We started with Psalm 5.Secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganized...

Grounded in God in the midst of troubles...

Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings, From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly enemies, who surround me. (Psalm 17:8-9 NAS)

Our Father in heaven,Reveal who you are.Set the world right;Do what’s best—    as above, so below.Keep us alive with three square meals.Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.You’re in charge!You can do anything you want!You’re ablaze in beauty!Yes. Yes. Yes.Smile to Father, Son, and SpiritSmile to yourself.Smile to someone else.I’m home. I’ve arrived.There’s nowhere I need to go, and nothing I need to do.I’m home. I’ve arrived.I have nothing to earn, nothing to prove, and nothing to pay back.I have nothing to earn because you just love me.I have nothing to prove because you already approve of me.I have nothing to pay back because you cancelled all my debts.What remains? Enjoying You…enjoying me.I’m home. I’ve arrived.The veil is torn. There’s no distance or separation.I’m in You and You’re in me, here and now, and forever.Jesus made me one with the Father, so I’m home.You’re my home, so everywhere I am, I’m home.I’m home. I’ve arrived.I’m a blessing. You didn’t have me, and you didn’t like it, so you made me, and you made me exactly how you wanted me to be. I have the body, the voice, the personality, the sense of humor, the walk, and the laugh you wanted me to have. I make you happy just by being me.I’m a blessing.I’m a blessing and every day I’m a gift You give yourself to enjoy.I’m a blessing and every day I’m a gift you give me to enjoy.I’m a blessing and every day I’m a gift You give others to enjoy.I’m a blessing.I’m a blessed man.My future is bright.And my best days are ahead of me.You’re working it out.You’re working it out.You’re working it out.Everything we’ve done wrongEverything that’s gone wrongYou’re working it out, for our good, as we love you. (Rom 8:28)Satan meant it for harm,but You are turning it for our thrivingand the saving of many lives. (Gen 50:20)You’re working it out.With you as our Shepherd, Jesus,our hearts will be light, our steps will be easy.You’re making us steady, resilient, and serene.Everything is temporary, but You remain.Today I meet pain tenderly — without resistance.I don’t avoid, repress, or deny. I let it come, I greet it kindly, and I let it go.Today I meet pleasure gratefully — without grasping.I let it come, greet it joyfully, and I let it go.And when pain and pleasure have passed, I shall remain.Everything is temporary, but You remain and I shall remain.Sunlight is love.Air is love.Gravity is love.All plant life is love.All animal life is love.Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch — all love.Existence itself is love.All things are from, in, and for Him who is Love,and I am in Him who is Love.

Carl led in the Lord's Supper and taught about encouragement.

Occasionally at a Wednesday Whiteboard I give a brief biography and some highlights of people I've been reading...

Psalm 4:4 When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Selah

An exploration of the question to see how different worldviews answer this, including how the people of Gateway answered.

Psalm 115:2-32 Why do the nations say,    “Where is their God?”3 Our God is in heaven;    he does whatever pleases him.Psalm 116:68aYou are good, and what you do is good.

This talk takes the words of Jesus directed against the hypocrisy of the scribes and pharisees in Matthew 23 and turns them into healthy, positive goals for us to pursue.Yes, it's a 16 point sermon.

Three ways Christianity is utterly unique among world religions, plus a point about apples.

Stan encouraged us to speak life and to be there for each other with encouragement when needed.

This one's about Jesus becoming -- and remaining -- a full human, and some implications of that."And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (Jn 1:14)

Jesus often told people that. "This happened because you believed." How do we grow in the faith Jesus walked in?

This talk is about our task as leaders to engage people in a way that invites them to excercise their own faith and collaborate with the Spirit, not just "minister to" them.It's based on the way Jesus engaged the two blind men who chased him down and demanded a meeting in Matthew 9:27ff.

We took time to pray over individuals today. Here's the audio of that if anyone's interested.

Jesus said it isn't the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. And he didn't come to call good folks, but broken people. This is why we've called the church a kind of hospital for souls...

Carl on Matthew 13.

"And Isaac redug the wells of his father Abraham..." (Genesis 26).

This talk is about the motive underneath all other human pursuits.Section 1: Data on HappinessSection 2: A few philosophers (and a mathematician)Section 3: A castrated medieval theologian on happinessConclusion: How Christianity is completely unique.

Does God expect blind faith? Are faith and reason opposed to each other?

We discussed some fascinating quotes from this Stoic Roman Emperor who sought to live a virtuous life. Much of his advice to himself can be helpfully applied to us in our life lived with and for Jesus.

Hope for the broken based on Jesus' words in Matthew 5.

We're made in the image of our Creator, who is creative (Gen 1) and who designed us to be creative (Gen 2).Here's the thesis: To be creative we must allow ourselves the luxury and the discomfort of boredom.The algorythms disrupt this God-given impulse, turning us into consumers.

Tonight we dug deeper into the theme of how we are meant to let go and let God, and what we are meant to hold onto instead of what we naturally do.This was a Wednesday Whiteboard chat.

Some questions and answers after one of my annual week of counseling short term missions students.

Carl Chupp taught Wednesday Whiteboard. :)

We're in a battle, but the true enemy is never a human.

Hurt enough - realize need for changeLearn enough - realize change is possibleReceive enough - able to change

"I don't know," can be scary, but if we want to take the posture of a learner, it's essential.

This Wednesday Whiteboard session was about how we are a part of a much larger story of God's covenant with family lineage, not just individuals.We ended by making some declarations and doing some good spiritual work breaking agreements and making agreements with gospel truths.

Joseph of Arimathea laid him in his tomb.

"Be merciful to those who doubt." Jude 1:22

Based on a variety of scriptures, what can we postulate about the afterlife?

Johnathan Quatela's ministry is to serve those who serve the state of Delaware through governmental leadership.He likes to say, "Government is God's idea. Politics is what happens when people insert their own agendas into it."

This is a reflection on the nature of faith. It tries to work out some implications of what James says in chapter 2 of his letter when he tells us, "Oh you say you believe in one God? Well guess what? The demons believe, but they tremble."Real faith isn't about what we claim to agree with, but what we stake our lives on. This truth cuts two ways:1. If we say we believe, maybe we're wrong.2. If we say we don't believe, maybe we're wrong.

Jay talked about the process God allows us to take to make mistakes, learn, and find our way, with God involved and orchestrating things in a way we couldn't anticipate. God does this because he knows us, knows what we need, and loves us deeply.

This gospel chat is from Ephesians chapter 1.

Mark 6:46 “He went up on the mountain to pray.”Where are your meeting places? What role does beauty play in your prayers? What are your habits?