Romans 2&3… Trust… and Obey.

As we started out the class, we sang TRUST AND OBEY that glorious old hymn; but isn’t that what it’s all about? We trust in faith and then in a life that should be marked with joyful obedience we go out and do that faith and put it to work! Faith without works is… not any good to anyone, right? But… by GRACE are we saved, not by works lest any of us should feel the need to brag. See you can’t have one without the other.

Romans 1… Amazing Grace & Faith… Amazing Works!

I was never much into Paul. Getting clobbered with doctrine and confusing veiled comments about his “thorn in his side”… BUT, I’m changing. Ever since coming to St. Paul UMC in Abilene, it’s been Paul and I. Not sure he has been a thorn in my side, but he does like to jab me. Everything I teach, seems to touch on Paul. Grace, amazing grace that can save a wretch like me. As I dive from Acts into Romans follow along with me and discover what I am discovering that this early Roman Jewish tentmaker was a fragile, imperfect human being… just like me.

Acts 16-18… I Just Spent 6 Months in a Leaky Boat!!

Hey, remember SPLIT ENZ big hit… “I JUST SPENT 6 MONTHS IN A LEAKY BOAT”? They had nothing on Paul. All those months at sea! A leaky boat was probably the least of his worries. Yet he endured. He suffered for the cause of The Gospel and so that I suppose I might be sitting here typing this blog and teaching these lessons!

Acts 13-15… Seeds planted, church grows… now what?

As we continue to make our way through the Book of Acts, we see this early band of believers in “the way”, the “new Kingdom” beginning to grow. Seeds planted are taking root, but what will happen? What will be next for this early fledgling movement we know as the Church…

Acts 9-11ish… The Great MOTHER Church is Born

I told one of our class members I was going to somehow tie MOTHERS DAY into the book of Acts… This may end up being historical! I prayed a lot about it and with a bit of stretching of Scripture… I think I might have pulled something off. Readers can judge for themselves.

Our Senior Pastor came in to the class and I forgot to turn on the recorder… but here’s what I did manage to record. A happy and blessed Mothers Day to all who may listen. Know that the MOTHER Church is about just that, the instinctual response of the church, that should be to care and to nurture those who walk through our doors. For millenia it has been the selfless acts of love and service of our women that has been the mortar that has built the church.

Teaching and preaching is all well and good but what comes after… Love. Selfless love and service. Modeled by the early church, lived out by amazing women everyday.

THINGS MOM TOLD US…

Never judge a book by its cover… Acts 9:13-15

Everything can be fixed with a good meal… 9:19, 10:10

A wicker basket will always come in handy 9:25

When you get up, make your bed 9:34

The GOLDEN RULE… 9:36

Just because someone seems different than you doesn’t mean they’re bad… Acts 10

you’ll always feel better after a bath 10:47

A soft answer turns away wrath Acts 11:4 onwards

Always be proud of your name..  Acts 11:26

It’s never the “dads house” you go play at… ;o) 12:12

Acts 6-8… The Church… PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED For

As the church begins to grow we see through the examples of its earliest members the wholehearted belief that Christ was PRESENT with them through his spirit… JUST AS HE HAD PROMISED!!

KNOWING he was with them meant being ACCOUNTED for daily in their response to the world and their community. It even meant how they responded to the church lawyers of the day, the Pharisees and the “legalistic” career politicians, the Saducees.

Hmmm…

Acts 3-5, The Seeds Begin to Grow… AND TAKE ROOT!

What did Jesus say… scatter the seed. Some falls on rocks. Some on thorny ground. Some lands where the soil is shallow. Some lands on fertile topsoil. The early church was like that wasn’t it? The 2015 church is like that isn’t it? BUT the seeds start to grow AND take root as we move into Acts. Preparing us for what is to come. He could’ve called 10,000 Angels to control the world and set himself free, but he died alone for you and for me AND NOW instead of bringing in the angelic force he goes back to the same formula WOMEN, fishermen, tax collectors…

The revelation of God starts with eons of “knowing God is out there… somewhere”. It moves for 3 short years into God dwelling amongst us in the dusty backwater of Judea, the keys to the Kingdom entrusted to… well probably not the most reliable gang in town, BUT God has a plan. Now he dwells amongst us by the power of His Holy Spirit. Though that same spirit, the impossible becomes possible and the message, the same message 2000 years later TAKES ROOT!

Acts 1 & 2 The Seeds Begin to Grow…

As we move away from Easter Sunday and into those early early days when it could have all gone so differently… the seeds begin to grow. Easter Sunday now becomes… EASTER IN ACTION! Without that, these blog posts wouldn’t exist and we would all probably be Jewish or worshipping pagan deities would be my guess…

Luke and Acts aren’t separate. When taken together you can see how cohesive the message is, and how Luke was trying to weave together the guidebook for early Christians. 2000 years later the guidebook is just as relevant.

Book of Luke Ch. 22-24 Easter Sunday, Were you there… I was.

I have been teaching from the Book of Luke… yes that book of Luke. I am a believer that the author wrote Luke/Acts, as a sort of handbook for the early Christian church and that they need to be regarded as one document. Sort of a 2 volume set designed to do the same thing… bolster faith, at a time when having said faith was not exactly considered the best decision you could make in terms of daily subsistence in a pretty rough place, the 1st and early 2nd Century CE, Judeo-Roman world. My class has asked that I would post my lessons online. I also will include some of my other discussions as well. For some of you this might be a whaaat??? moment. Since when did the crazy oil and gas/politics/arts/centrist guy start ruminating on the Gospels…

I have decided that a bunch of this is stuff that probably is what I should have been writing about, could have been writing about and probably if I was honest wanted to write about.

I hope you find what I have to say helpful or interesting or thought provoking in some way. If not then maybe it will be entertaining for you. Please feel free to comment, discuss, disagree, challenge, share with others. If it in any way helps you or others you can let me know. You know it is like the diner that says “if you like our service tell others, if not keep it to yourself” ;o)

Blessings on you!

Chris Tesarski

Palm Sunday… Luke 19-21 A Cross BEFORE a Crown.

The Kingdom of God… isn’t about just doing “enough” to get by. Palm Sunday is the joyous reminder of how much and how great a gift we’ve been given. Jesus wants us to look for a return on that investment. Burying our gifts and “talents” and “showing up” aren’t what he asks of us. We seem to have a misguided concept of hundreds of thousands of people carpeting dusty Jerusalem with palm branches and pastel colored robed children running down the streets singing songs… chances are his FOLLOWERS tried to organize a parade. HOPEFULLY to draw as many people to the cause as possible. HOPEFULLY to usher in the KINGDOM, the CROWN! But Jesus’ kingdom wasn’t and isn’t of THIS WORLD or of that day in Jerusalem, he knew a CROSS lay ahead. The FOLLOWERS and the bandwagon Passover visitors and handfuls of people that turned out to welcome him that knew of his teaching and knew of his WORKS, would be faced with life altering decisions a week later. A CROSS HAD TO PRECEDE THE CROWN. Now what would they do? Follow on, despite the cost, and despite the CROSS or turn and flee? Or “just believe” and keep it to themselves. Time would tell and the return on the investment Jesus made into THEIR life would be soon known. The fact I’m even teaching this and blogging it tells you what many truly did with the truth of the kingdom. They went ALL IN on their investment, and here we are. They knew that the CROSS was necessary for the CROWN of the Kingdom of God.