Mastering the Art of Living

It seems most of my friends are struggling with their faith. They’re Mad at God or church or a specific person, or just confused by the bible, or just don't buy the whole deal. It's a struggle for me because I'm ready to go. One of my good friends made a comment the other night that churches just want to get you saved and then don't care about what you become afterwards. I disagree with the generalization, but often American Evangelical churches will be focused on getting people in and not helping them grow. I think that's a mistake, because I'm learning faith is less about what you believe and more about what you do.
It made me think of my favorite Rob Bell sermon series, Mastering the Art of Living. It's a 15 sermon series from 2004, based on John 10:10 and the idea that Jesus came so that we could live the best possible life. Jesus taught the disciples, and in turn us, how to live the best possible way. The picture he paints is a martial arts student becoming a black belt by closely watching and imitating everything his master does.
Anyway, Debbie had asked me to make her some CDs of Rob Bell sermons for her to listen to in the car, so I copied this series. Since she listened to them, I decided to revisit the series. I thought a good way to help me remember what I learned was to write the title or theme of the sermon with a few of the key Bible passages (since Bell generally uses many passages in each sermon). Sermon #10 is my favorite, followed by #2. #11 is a mess of a sermon, but end up having a great point (and relevant to my first point). You can download the sermon series here.

1. Being present (in the present) Matthew 6:34


2. Rhythm: Why we need the Sabbath Exodus 20:8-11, Mark 6:30-31


3. Harnessing Desire: Here’s something you'll really love Matthew 13:44-46, Ephesians 4:28


4. Do Christians have all the answers? John 8:31


5. (be)Incarnation – God loves to show up dressed as people John 13:34-35, 1 Corinthians 12:27


6. He is Here: Waking up to the presence of God John 5:17, Genesis 28:11-19


7. Learning to Surrender: What happens when God fails? John11:1-6


8. Loving ourselves (so we can love God and others) Matthew 22:36-40 Genesis 27:15-41


9. Weak is the new strong Matthew 5:5


10. All things are yours 1 Corinthians 3:21-23


11. Religion is a shadow of the truth we're after John 14:6-7, Colossians 2:8


12. Living in Tune (Community and generosity) Acts 2:42-47, John 17:23; Romans 12:16


13. Celebrating Symbols Genesis 28:16-19; Matthew 26:26-29


14. God is bigger than your bucket Luke 9:49-50


15. Grace pays the bill Luke 15

The next series I want to review is Jesus Wants to Save Christians. (Google is great – isn’t the picture I found awesome!)