January 3 2009 Sermon by Pastor Dana  
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January 3 2010 Sermon – Greatest Commandment.mp3 (9197 KB)

"Love the LORD your God with your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind…"
How?

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Invitation

"Come, follow me."

What?

" I will make you fishers of people."

Challenge

"Go, make disciples."

How?

"I am with you always."

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A phrase I often hear is "I don't believe in organized religion, but I am a spiritual person." "Spirituality" has replaced "Religion" in as a term to speak of people's belief systems.

In one way this is fine by me as I think the word, "religion" is too often confused. Technically, "Religion" is a set of beliefs one uses to filter life decisions, and then one follows certain behavioral patterns and rituals as a result. In this case, whatever is most important to you becomes your "religion." Not many people understand this.

Anything from "global warming" to the "Los Angeles Dodgers" can become a "religion" for a person.

As a Christian I don't follow Christianity as a religion. I follow Jesus.

I don't have faith in Christianity. I have faith in Jesus.

Christianity is the delivery system I follow to connect me to Jesus.

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Went on the inaugural “LA Gang Tour” today with my son, Greg, and our friends. Just google, “LA Gang Tours” to see what it is about. Quite an international media event with reporters from all over the world. An awesome entrepreneurial event by some gracious and inspiring guys! Here is a clip from the one place they let us film, an amazing grafitti art park! I also commented on this tour in the LA Times article, but haven’t seen it appear, yet…

 

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As we have seen in the relativity of post modern thought in the previous posts, one result is there is no sense of right and wrong. Nothing can pass as moral knowledge if values are based on things like culture and language. In fact, moral knowledge is not even taught anymore, at least not here.

"Moral knowledge "is no longer made available to the public as knowledge by the institutions of knowledge in our social and political system (Willard)."

What is "legal" appears to replace what is "right" or "good" at the university and government level and this has infiltrated everyday life. All talk is about "rights" today, not about "responsibility."

Bob Marley didn't sing,

"Get up, stand up: stand up for your responsibilities!"

after all, now, did he…

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#2 All religions are true.

One of the interesting conclusions that occurs in post modern thought if "there is no truth," is a corresponding assumption that all religions are true. I am necessarily speaking in generalities, as certainly there will be those who would self-define as "post modern" who don't hold this view. For those who do, however it places them in a peculiar position.

"If any belief is true, that by itself excludes the truth of any belief contrary or contradictory to it." (Willard) For example, in Christian faith, "Jesus is Lord" is one of the earliest faith confessions. In Islam,Jesus is an honored prophet, but certainly, not God. In fact, to say, "Jesus is Lord," the most basic faith statement of a Christian, would be serious blasphemy for a Muslim. Not a different opinion but a vital contradiction at the very heart of each faith.

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www.lifehouse.la- my team
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download podcasts at "Christcast" or "Dana Hanson" on iTunes

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There are a variety of ways to understand post modern thought. I will make some observations in my next five posts.

One of the common observations one can make today in a post modern value system is "Truth is relative." No one is in a position to say one person is right and another person is wrong. This is not a logical point of view because one is making a truth statement by saying, "There are no absolute truths." There are no absolute truths except for the fact that I know there are no absolute truths.

In post modern thought there is no problem with this teaching because logic itself is suspect.

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Sermon 27 December 2009 Simeon by Pastor Dana  
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Sermon 27 December 2009 Simeon.mp3 (9311 KB)

When Simeon gives his prophecy and blessing at the Jerusalem Temple, this is no insignificant event in human history…

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Sermon Christmas Eve 2009 Person Of Peace by Pastor Dana  
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Christmas Eve 2009.mp3 (4615 KB)

Why would you want someone else to hear the good news of Jesus? It is about life now.

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I read this blog about the ineffectiveness of fear mongering. I am going to test how many times I am expected to focus on something that has an absolutely remote chance of negatively affecting my life.

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