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Fearless: Risen (Matt. 28:1-20 Chris Altrock – April 16, 2017

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As the conclusion to our series called “Fearless,” a series that has taken us all the way through the gospel of Matthew, we are focusing on Matthew’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. It is found in Matt. 28. Please turn to that text in your Bible.

Many writers in the New Testament tell us about Jesus’ resurrection. What Matthew tells us about it is surprising. He reveals this: Jesus’ resurrection is intended to impact our life before death not just after death. Other writers in the New Testament will talk of how Jesus’ resurrection impacts our life after death, how, since Jesus was raised, we too will be raised, how, since Jesus defeated death, we too can defeat death. But that’s not what interests Matthew. And since we’ve been listening to Matthew since last December, we’ll let Matthew  tell us what’s important about the resurrection. And according to Matthew, the resurrection impacts our life before we die not just after we die.Read More »Fearless: Risen (Matt. 28:1-20 Chris Altrock – April 16, 2017

Fearless: Praying (Matt. 26:36-56) Chris Altrock – March 26, 2017

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Nobody Ever Taught Me How

In the movie “Gravity,” astronaut Matt Kowalski is in charge of the Space Shuttle Explorer. Its mission is to repair the Hubble Telescope. The repair will be done by specialist Ryan Stone. Mission Control aborts the mission, warning that a Russian missile has hit a satellite, causing a chain reaction and now there is a storm of debris charging toward the pair of astronauts. As a result of the debris strike, both Stone and Kowalski must make their way to the International Space Station. At one point Kowalski makes the decision to untether himself from Stone to prevent both of them from dying. Isolated and coming to grips with the fact that she too may die in space, Stone has the following conversation with God: 

“I’m gonna die, aren’t I God?… I’m really scared. Nobody will mourn for me; no one will pray for my soul. Will you mourn for me? Will you pray for me? Or is it too late? I mean, I’d pray for myself but I’ve never prayed in my life. Nobody ever taught me how. Nobody ever taught me how.”

We need prayer every day. But there are moments in our lives when things are at their worst, when things are at their darkest, when we need prayer like we’ve never needed it before. And how tragic it would be to reach one of those crisis moments and not really know how to pray.Read More »Fearless: Praying (Matt. 26:36-56) Chris Altrock – March 26, 2017

Fearless: Unclean (Matt. 8:1-4) Chris Altrock – February 5, 2017

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Some Die Alone

In January of 2016 NPR reported on a Mike Pojman. He is the assistant headmaster at Roxbury Latin Boys School in Boston.[1] Pojman engages his senior high students in a program which connects them with people who have died alone.

The story focused on six senior high students from Roxbury who volunteered to be pallbearers for a man who died alone, and for whom no next of kin was found.[2]  He was being buried in a grave with no tombstone. The students, dressed in jackets and ties, carried the plain wooden coffin, and took part in a short memorial. They read together, as a group, these words:

“Dear Lord, thank you for opening our hearts and minds to this corporal work of mercy. We are here to bear witness to the life and passing of Nicholas Miller. He died alone with no family to comfort him. But today we are his family, we are here as his sons…”

After the ceremony the students laid flowers. Then they piled back into the van, driving back to school in time for their next lesson.

“It’s the right thing to do,” says funeral director Robert Lawler. “You know, you can’t leave these poor people lying there forever.”

It’s a touching story. It reminds us that some people die alone. And it raises a question: How far would someone go to stand with those who are alone? It’s one thing to stand with those who die alone. It’s another to stand with those who live alone.Read More »Fearless: Unclean (Matt. 8:1-4) Chris Altrock – February 5, 2017

Blaze: Dig Deep (Matt. 7:24-27) Chris Altrock – January 29, 2017

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David’s Rock

3 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. (Ps. 62:3-4 ESV)

These words were written by a man named David. It was a hard time in David’s life. There were some nasty people in his life at this time. And to describe how they made him feel, David uses the image of an army with a battering ram. That’s how nasty these people were. Can you see them? They are shouting. They have their hands raised. They have this battering ram.

And then there’s David. David describes himself as a “leaning wall, a tottering fence.” He’s like a house or a castle. And these nasty people have been attacking him; so hard and so effectively that David’s walls are leaning in. These people have been beating against those walls. Again and again. And now, they are just about to topple over. Can you see them? These nasty people just need one more good run at David and the walls of his life are going to fall all the way in. And it’s going to bring the whole house, the whole castle, David’s whole life, down with a great fall.

Phew! That sounds like a tough season in life, doesn’t it? I wonder if you can relate.Read More »Blaze: Dig Deep (Matt. 7:24-27) Chris Altrock – January 29, 2017