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The Religion of Religion

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:30:51 +0000

San Diego is a very beautiful and diverse city. We have some of the world’s nicest beaches, zoos, parks, and museums. Our whether is perfect 364 days of the year. We have a huge navy, marine, and coast guard military presence. We have four major universities: UCSD, USD, SDSU, and PLNU. And we are one of the top vacation spots in the country.

San Diego is also a melting pot of religions. There are several Jewish synagogues, Islamic worship centers, a bunch of Catholic and protestant churches, a major Bahá’í center, a Taoist sanctuary, a brilliantly white Mormon temple, we’ve got Hare Krishna temples, Buddhist temples, and we’ve even got a new age self-realization temple up in Encinitas. Those are just the official religions, without even considering all the fringe spiritualists around from Tarot Card readers to Psychics to crystal channelers…who get together for readings, sayonces and special book readings.

Considering this strong religious presence combined with the very outdoorsy nature of most the people who live in San Diego makes it a very spiritually minded and spiritually conscious city. It is no wonder that the most popluar idea around about religion here is that each one is sort of touching one part of an elephant…some have a got a leg, some a trunk, some a tail…we all got a piece of the elephant its just that most of us don’t know we’re holding on to an elephant.

But what is religion? Is there a common principle of religion, a religion of religion? An elephant or a fundamental equalness? If so, is that present within Christianity? Is there actually any merit to the claim of Mahatma Gandhi that, “all religions are fundamentally equal.”

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Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 10)

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:30:01 +0000

This is the tenth week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 10, this week, addresses the themes of God’s calling, the priesthood of believers, the nature and necessity of mission, and The Resolved Church’s strategy in San Diego. This sermon was originally preached November 23rd, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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Your Walk With God is a Community Project: Paul Tripp in San Diego

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:05:02 +0000

Author and speaker Paul David Tripp is here in San Diego this weekend doing a conference called, “Your Walk With God is a Community Project.” Paul Tripp wrote, “Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands” and “How People Change” which many of you have read and been blessed by, including myself. Paul Tripp is a pastor and professor at CCEF, WTS, and SBTS

To watch a brief video about the conference CLICK HERE

For conference details GO HERE

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The Good Book

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:04:32 +0000

This last Sunday one of the main verses in our sermon study was Romans 15:4. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragment of the Scriptures we might have hope.” So I thought it would be appropriate for us to spend some time thinking further about the nature of the Bible this week in my Pastoral journal entry. An important practice for those of us living here in San Diego is to be aware of what the various views are in our culture regarding the Bible so that we will best know how communicate the gospel.

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Nov. 21st - Harvest Gospel Night

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:04:08 +0000

This Friday Pastor Duane Smets will be speaking at the “Fall Quarter Gospel Night” event of Harvest Christian Fellowship at UCSD. The title of his sermon “Religion and the Good News”. All are welcome. For more information go to http://www.harvestsd.com

WHAT: “Religion and the Good News” - Harvest Gospel Night
WHEN: Friday, Nov 21st, 7:15PM
WHERE: Center 119

What makes the Christian Gospel so different from other religions? What makes any news good and why we need good news in a world full of bad news? What makes bad news bad and are we just doomed to bad news and how can we be saved from it? Can the power of God given through belief in Jesus really be the answer to everything? These questions and more will be addressed this Friday!

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Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 9)

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:03:23 +0000

This is the ninth week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 9, this week, is the third part of “The Principle of Preference” and works with Romans 15:4-13 addressing how the Scriptures are an aid us and point to Jesus, how we are to endeavor to be in harmony in Jesus’ church, and how the principle of giving up our personal preferences relates to mission. This sermon was originally preached November 16th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Gospel of Rock

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:43:14 +0000

So the cover story of Rolling Stone this week is about the band AC/DC and it titled, “The Gospel of Rock & Roll.” The article basically is about how awesome AC/DC is, how they’ve been cranking it out for 35 years and how everyone should go buy their latest album, “Black Ice.” What interested me most about the article was the use of the word “gospel” and the use of it as an adjective. What does that mean and why is it significant?

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Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 8)

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:42:29 +0000

This is the eighth week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 8, this week, is titled “The Principle of Preference” and works with Romans 14:13-15:3 addressing how walk to relationally walk through a disagreement with a fellow Chrsitian. This sermon was originally preached November 9th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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New Books

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:31:11 +0000

So since it’s almost been a year since I’ve done one…it’s time for another new books entry. I’ll highlight some new things that are out…some I am currently reading, some I just finished reading, as well as some books I want to read. Reading goes hand in hand with being a Christian for this simple reason, God chose to reveal himself through words which he intended to be collected together into a book we call the Bible. The Bible is the primary means God has given for us to know him and grow in our faith. Reading other books alongside the Bible is a great aid in helping us be spiritually minded, gospel driven, Bible believing, Jesus loving Christians. So here’s some suggestions from Pastor Duane…

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Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ (Part 7)

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:28:14 +0000

This is the seventh week of our fall sermon series, “Viva La Vida Christus: Living the Life of Christ” dealing with Romans 12-16. Part 7, this week, is titled “Meat, the Weak, and our Living Lord” and works with Romans 14:1-12 addressing how there can be differences among us who are Christians and how we need to avoid judging and despising one another. This sermon was originally preached November 2nd, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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