Your neighbor’s dog kills your dog or cat … How do you respond? Your dog kills your neighbor’s dog or cat … How do you respond? Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  (Colossians 3:13) What makes forgiveness so hard? Hurt / grief / pain … Justice … (what makes being forgiven so hard?) Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  (Matthew 18:23-27) 10 thousand talents - 10 thousand bags of gold: one talent is 20 years of wages for a laborer In our economy - $10/hour - $80/day - $400/week - $20,800/year - one talent = $416,000 10,000 talents = $4,160,000,000 (over $4 billion) 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”  (Matthew 18:28-35) 100 denarii - 100 days of wages for laborer - $8,000 Why is forgiveness just? Why is withholding forgiveness so bad? Do I realize how much I have been forgiven? Admit something needs to be forgiven - Admit that I am commanded to forgive Peacemaking - Peacefaking … overlooking an offense vs. peacefaking Return good for evil - do not hold it against them, do not hold the moral high ground, give up righteous victim status Love keeps no record of wrongs --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

Rogue Table Talks

RTT 115 - Forgive One Another

Romans 12 starts with the illustration of the body - which invites us to see each other in the body as important and necessary and worthy of honor ... Then Rom 12 says to outdo one another in showing honor. In order to honor and respect one another we have to see each other as the image bearers and followers of Christ. Every member of the body is to be held in the highest of esteem. What does it mean for Christians who: Are on the other side of the political divide Who are coming from a completely different understanding of culture Who raise their children in a way that is different from you Who … have all other sorts of differences ?? Honor one another - Romans 12:10 Wait for each other 1 Corinthians 11:33 Have equal concern for  1 Corinthians 12:25 Submit to  - Ephesians 5:21 In humility consider others better than yourself - Philippians 2:3 Humility is a great step towards honor. Bear with one another - Ephesians 4:1-6 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 114 - Honor and Bear With One Another

Identity - Who are we? Team sports stories … How do we answer that question? (as individuals only or as individuals within a group)? The problem of our identity in our culture .... How should we answer that question? In Christ … In the Body of Christ … In the Church … the family of God … etc. Those we love - are connected to eternally … John 15 - Love one another … a new commandment ... 1 Peter 2:4-5,9-10 - As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Loving one another should be part of our group identity … May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.  (I Thessalonians 3:12) Dear friends, since God so loved us,w e also ought to love one another. (I John 4:11) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 113 - Love One Another

 Why are Hallmark movies attractive? I trashed them earlier, but was reminded (rightly) that people are attracted to them for a reason.  A non-cynical celebration of love … simple, but attractive … they are made as happily ever after stories - and we were made for that … What are good love stories? Pride and Prejudice Little Women Shrek A Beautiful Mind vs. The Notebook Marriage Story / 100 Days of Summer … What do we want in love stories? “You complete me …” Jerry McGuire Do you remember the conversation - is there a perfect person for me? (Mosaic) The Find Your Boaz/Ruth meme … The risk of love … the sacrifice of love … We want a guarantee …? … and there is the One we are made for Love and Ephesians 5 … Christ and the Church … Christ and faithfulness in love ... Christ and sacrifice in love ... Christ and affection in love ... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 112 - Love in the Big Story

RTT 111 - Redemption in Stories and in our Story What is redemption?  (vs. innocence?) How are we different from the angels? 1 Peter 1:10-12 - Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. We wish we could do it over or wipe it away or that it never happened - but what we get instead is redemption. Angels don’t have anything to wish away - they are innocent - but they don’t really get redemption. Redemption is part of the human story - this Big Story we are in (and angels only play a part in this story - maybe they have one of their own). Redemption isn’t bad to good.  It is bad to redeemed bad. Angels can’t relate, because they were never bad … Redemption in stories Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe … post redemption, he is different (and better) than if he would have never needed it. How? What does redemption give us if we grasp it? What do we lack if we never grasp it? If we think of ourselves as good instead of as redeemed bad, will we ever have true humility? Will we have grace for others? Will we be in a place of forgiveness? Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Torino … think how different the story would be if he was a great guy his whole life … think how much he had to change to sacrifice himself redemptively as he did … You are the tax collector or the Pharisee … Luke 18:9-14 - He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The two sons in the parable … one is redeemed - one thinks he is good - the one who knows he is redeemed is the one we are to emulate. Do we struggle with this? Try to convince ourselves and others that we are good instead of redeemed bad? What does that do to us? We have a story of redemption In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (Eph. 1:7) Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,  (Ps 107:2) That is different from a story of innocence - --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 111 - Redemption and the Big Story

Ladybird The Dark Knight Harry Potter Armageddon Inside Out ... and so on, and so on ... Sacrifice is a key element in so many stories because it is perhaps the key element in our Big Story  John 15:12-14 - This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. Love involves laying down our life - being a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), denying ourselves and picking up our cross ... and so on, and so on ... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 110 - Sacrifice in the Big Story

Stories and the Big Story How do stories in general and movies in particular help us understand and experience true things about the big story we are in? Example - what can we see about good/evil in The Dark Knight? Acts 17:16-34 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 109 - Stories and the Big Story

RTT 108 - Loving Your Neighbor - Seeds and Demons Loving our neighbor - 2 ways to look at it.  (or, most aspects of the Christian life … 2 ways to look at it) And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” 30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:26-32) This view of what the kingdom is like and what kingdom work looks like ... They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.[a] 2 And when Jesus[b] had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” 10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.(Mark 5:1-13) This view of what the kingdom is like and what kingdom work looks like … Translation to loving my neighbor Little by little … at first imperceptible, then visible and impactful Dramatic, big, decisive … Which view are we drawn to? Do we feel that, having “failed” in what seemed like a decisive encounter, the game is over (that Mark 4 process is over also …) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 108 - Loving Your Neighbor - Seeds and Demons

Theme of Alienation … the fall brings alienation  (The following list of alienations from the fall are from Professor Jerram Barrs, Covenant Seminary - all errors mine) God & us Us & God From ourselves From each other Loss of Dominion (from our role) Body & Spirit From creation How that impacts loving our neighbor … Biblical theme of being called out of comfort and into a journey, because our home is elsewhere and our citizenship is elsewhere … all throughout the Bible - Abram / Jacob / Joseph / David / Israel itself / Jesus has nowhere to lay his head / Paul / Apostles … us Now the Lord said[a] to Abram, “Go from your country[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[c] 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak[d] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.(Genesis 12:1-9) This seems like a part of God’s plan - why? Can we do this without a physical relocation? What other kinds of relocations are possible? Is this a necessary part of following? What makes this movement “successful”? What gets in the way of making this movement “successful”? How does this conflict with our expectations? How can the idea of living “successfully” instead of “faithfully” be part of the problem? The story of praying for a neighbor and they move away and you pray sometimes for them if you remember … and that is the end of the story … (no bow to put on it) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#107 - Loving Your Neighbor - Alienation and What Keeps You From Loving Your Neighbor

 What have you grieved? What have you missed? What has encouraged you? What has disappointed you? Where have you found hope? How have you seen God move? How has this impacted your relationship with God or your spiritual growth? How has this impacted your relationship with the church? Calvary people? Where do we go from here? Psalm 130 A song of ascents Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#106 - A Look At The Last Year (or So)

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.(Jeremiah 29:4-7) The other … the us and the them This is our story - we want a different story … For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, vand I will fulfill to you my promise vand bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:8-10) Those giving you a different story - don’t listen to them … this is the deal … For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:11-14) We are to work for the blessing of others now - our ultimate blessing comes later At our physical address - also our digital neighborhood --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

RTT 105 - Love Your Neighbor - For the Welfare of the City

Join Mike and Chad as they discuss how Jesus was neighborly to others. He was out with people? How can we learn to be with our neighbors like Jesus did? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#104 Love Where You Live- Let's Take a Walk

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39) Being a bad neighbor … What is the momentum in our culture toward being a bad neighbor? But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:7 Practical steps to loving your actual neighbors … Chris McKinney - Author, Place for a Purpose Before we talk about how we should neighbor, we first must understand what story we are living in. In our culture, to be a good neighbor is to leave one’s neighbor(s) alone. To be a good neighbor in God’s story is to be someone who moves toward his or her neighbors in love. So we need to move toward them in love, mindful of a culture where, at least on the surface, they want (and expect) to be left alone. Creation: The First Neighborhood In God’s story, we embrace the reality that we are created for relationship with God and others. We don’t leave our neighbors alone, we move toward them. Fall: Neighborly Discord Adam and Eve’s rebellion ushered into their neighborhood a new relational reality of Isolation, fear, and suspicion of both God and neighbors. Redemption: Placed for a Purpose Your address is not an accident, and neither is your neighbor's. Restoration: Neighborhoods Put Right We know where the story is headed and that influences how we live right now. What would change if God answered your prayers for your neighbors and neighborhood? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#103 Love Where You Live - Loving Your Neighbor

 The end of (this part of) the story … The nature of the fascination with the end times in the church … Matthew 24:36-44 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. What do we learn about the return of Jesus here? The different views of the return of Christ Pre-, A-, Post-Millenial Pre-,Mid-,Post-Tribulation The “Left Behind” Theology What is the command? And the reason for the command? (v.44) Matthew 24:45-52 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants[d] and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Metaphor QT Night Manager … The Parable of the Ten Virgins … The Parable of the Talents... These are telling us something we need to know about the return - what is it? Be about the work of transformation, worship, in community, impacting the world ... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#102 Knowing Jesus - Jesus Returns

In addition to discussing their theological author names...Mike and Chad discuss what Jesus is doing here and now.  The ministry of Jesus … something in the past It is finished … but what is finished? What is he doing now? And why does it matter? Simplistic view … God sends the Son, who dies and rises and asks the Father to send the Spirit and the Spirit is now here and the others are gone ... 1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. We don’t know what this means - but it means something in the present now … John 14:3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.. Working on the next part of the story … Preparing the way for us in our future on Earth ... Matthew 16:8 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. He is building the church - with the Holy Spirit … Revelation 1:12-18 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades We are Ambassadors for this distant King who isn’t distant … The work of the Spirit, distinct but not separated from the work of the Son Mystery of the Trinity Worship this living and present God … Book Recommendation - Union with Christ - J. Todd Billings --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roguetabletalks/message

#101 Knowing Jesus - What is Jesus Doing Now?

A place we gather to discuss our message series, culture and how the two intersect.

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Rogue Table Talks

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