Wiregrass Church
Talking Points - Kingdom First
The unity and diversity of the early church shocked and intrigued the ancient world. Our unity and diversity should similarly intrigue our world.
Locations & Times
Wiregrass Church
900 W Main St, Dothan, AL 36301, USA
Sunday 9:30 AM
Fundamental Attribution Error
Fundamental Attribution Error
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“He’s late!”
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He’s lazy and irresponsible.
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“He’s late!”
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He’s lazy and irresponsible.
Fundamental Attribution Error
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“You're late!”
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“You're late!”
Fundamental Attribution Error
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What kind of person she is
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Social and environmental factors
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What kind of person she is
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Social and environmental factors
Mature, emotionally intelligent, curious, empathetic people, they don't fall for that. But political rhetoric feeds this.
When we choose to carry someone's burden…
When we choose to carry someone's burden, what divides us diminishes.
When we choose to carry someone's burden, what unites us surfaces.
This is how the church began and this is how the world changed.
The issue that every single Jesus follower has to wrestle to the ground is this:
Are we willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter?
Are we willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter?
We do the world a huge disfavor when we wrap our political ideologies with the teaching of Jesus.
Jesus did not come to be a footnote to a political platform.
Jesus is the King who came to reverse the order of things.
We cannot be first and foremost party people.
We must be Kingdom people who are willing to influence our parties.
When forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, you still have to call out the evil.
Culturally Disruptive Unity
Classes of people whose circles rarely overlapped came together voluntarily and regularly to worship the crucified God.
Why would they come together to worship the crucified God? Because the message of Jesus was so clear. “I've come to establish a new kind of kingdom and everyone is invited to participate in it.”
What is self-evident to us, was not self-evident in the first and second century. But because of the message of Jesus and the power of the church and the power of the cross, what was just disgusting has become self-evident to us because of Christianity.
What Jesus did for the status of women and the seeds that he sowed in terms of the status of women, it's extraordinary.
This isn't a tweak. This is a wholesale change. This is a new paradigm. This is the upside-down Kingdom of God.
We are stewards of God's kingdom in our communities, in our nation, and in our World.
Here is what Pliny the younger discovered about the Christian community 45 years after the Apostle Paul was executed by Rome:
“…the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn…”
– Pliny the Younger
“…the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn…”
– Pliny the Younger
“…and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime…”
– Pliny the Younger
– Pliny the Younger
“…but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so.”
– Pliny the Younger
– Pliny the Younger
This was so counter-cultural in a culture that worships strength, in a culture that worshiped warfare, in a culture that worshiped conquest and victory.
Appalling
Appealing
"Christianity achieved the well-nigh impossible. The Christian doctrine elevated the individual soul, placing slave and master…”
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
“…and commoner and nobleman alike on the same metaphysical footing, rendering them equal before God and the law.”
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
“The implicit transcendent worth of each and every soul established itself against impossible odds.”
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
– Jordan B. Peterson – 12 Rules for Life
Contagious
Nazarene Sect
A Crucified Rabbi
Love your enemy and love one another.
We dare not be divided over party lines knowing that one day those parties will be over.
Their culturally disruptive unity shocked the world.
And eventually, their message would change the world.
And eventually, their message would change the world.
The Law of Christ
We may never agree politically but we can love unconditionally because we'll gain a better understanding of each other.
Listen
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Learn
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Love
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Learn
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Love
If we get this right, perhaps we will leave our nation a little bit less divided. After all, one is the win.
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