THE CHRIST INSTITUTES Reclaiming a Consequential Christology Fostering Christ Awakening Movements

THE CHRIST INSTITUTESReclaiming a Consequential ChristologyFostering Christ Awakening Movements

Before we begin Session I…

Praise. Prelude. Passage. Prayer.

PreludeEvery dimension of the supremacy of Christ, magnifies the grandeur of the love of Christ.

Living under His reign, we abide inside His heart.Every facet of who He is – all we’re about to explore

of who He is to us, for us, over us, before us,within us, through us and upon us –serves to enlarge our understanding

of the profound truth of Scripture that says:“GOD IS LOVE!”

PassageEphesians 3 – I pray that out of his glorious riches the Father may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know His love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Prayer(in unison)

Father – We give You these hours together. Awaken us as never before. Awaken us to the width, length, height and depth of the love of your Son. Awaken us to His love for You, and His love for us. Awaken us for Your sake. Awaken us for your praise.

In this Institute, open our eyes. Let us see the wonders of the One who continues to pour out His love – to us, for us, over us, before us, within us, through us and upon us. We’re willing and ready.

May the supremacy of Christ – displayed in the passion of Christ, be matched by our worship of Christ – displayed by our pursuit of Christ.

Christ is all! AMEN

“saturation transformation”

“immersion conversion”

“inundation reformation”

“Supremacy Intimacy”

A top TCI goal: To experience greater intimacy with Christ by exploring the spectacular supremacy of

Christ

Philippians 3I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly]… [Amplified Bible]

A top TCI goal: To experience greater intimacy with Christ by exploring the spectacular supremacy of

Christ

The Christ Institutes

TWO MAIN THEMES

The Christ InstitutesReclaiming a Consequential Christology

Fostering Christ Awakening Movements

Selah!

Session I: Introducing TCI

Session I -- Introducing TCI

The Christ, the Crisis, and the

Christ Awakening

3 reasons to engage with The Christ Institute:

The spectacular supremacy of the Christ

The spectacular supremacy of the ChristThe sobering Crisis inside the Church

3 reasons to engage with The Christ Institute:The spectacular supremacy of the Christ

The sobering Crisis inside the ChurchThe surging hope for a Christ Awakening

Heads up!

Heads up!This first “exhortation” is an extended

session.

Heads up!But it will be worth your endurance!

It lays the foundation for all the others.

The spectacular supremacy of the ChristThe sobering Crisis inside the Church

The surging hope for a Christ Awakening

“People don’t know what they wantuntil you show them.”

Christians don’t know how much their hearts truly long for more of God’s Son – until you show them

how much of His spectacular supremacy they have not yet seen.

“We need King Jesus Glasses”

These glasses help us see more clearly in TWO directions:

(1) See more clearly the spectacular supremacy Jesus

These glasses help us see more clearly in TWO directions:

(1) See more clearly the spectacular supremacy Jesus

(2) See more clearly all the rest of life through the reality of the spectacular supremacy of Jesus

Selah!

Karl Barth“Show me your Christology

and I’ll tell you who you are.”

What you believe about GOD’S SON

is the single most important thinganyone could ever know

about YOU.

“Do you really have a son?”

“What do you think about the Son God has?”

If I gave you 3 minutes to talk to me about who Jesus Christ is, would you be able to fill

all 3 minutes?

The topic of Jesus has the most books in the Library of Congress.

Plus, there are 1500 new books added every year

“IS” not “was”

“Who do you say that I AM?”

How many of us need to find ourselves some

King Jesus Glasses?

Christ is

Christ is supreme

Christ is supreme and reigning

Christ is supreme and reigning…

right now!

Ephesians 4

Notice that the Scripture says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

Ephesians 4

…with His supremacy

Ephesians 4

…with His sovereignty

Ephesians 4

…with His majesty

Ephesians 4

…with His majesty

…with His activity

Why is Psalm 110 the most often quoted or referenced Old Testament passage by the New Testament writers –

even quoted by Jesus to validate His claim of supremacy?

Psalm 110

The LORD says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

Christ is reigning NOW!

• What He will be Lord of ultimately He is Lord of right now.

• All the majesty He will ultimately display is the majesty that is His right now.

• All the promises He will one day fulfill are His inheritance right now.

• All the purposes of God He will one day bring to consummation are summed up in Him right now.

How many of us need to find ourselves some

King Jesus Glasses?

Colossians 1:18-20

And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the

beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in

heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the

cross.

Selah!

Why are so many Christian today not wearing their

King Jesus Glasses?

What may be the most widely neglected

doctrinein the Church today?

The defining events of Jesus’ work for our salvation

INCARNATIONRIGHTEOUS LIFE

MIRACLES

TEACHINGSCRUCIFIXION

RESURRECTION

COMMISSION

The defining events of Jesus’ work for our salvation

INCARNATIONRIGHTEOUS LIFE

MIRACLES

TEACHINGSCRUCIFIXION

RESURRECTION

COMMISSION

ASCENSION

Without the ASCENSIONeverything else would have been null and void!

We would have no hope unless at some point the Father had said something like

this to Jesus :

“My dearly beloved Son.

I am totally satisfied with all you have accomplished.

It is sufficient for the salvation of the

nations. Come now, sit at My right hand and reign over the

universe as Your everlasting

inheritance.”

This is why 500 times the NT calls Jesus ”The Christ” = “The Anointed One”

This is why 500 times the NT calls Him ”The Christ” = “The Anointed One”

Jesus is the one person in the universe with whom the Father is totally pleased.

This is why 500 times the NT calls Him ”The Christ” = “The Anointed One”

Therefore…God has anointed – appointed, lifted up, set apart, decreed – His Son to be in the position of highest honor, crowned with the ultimate authority to bring to fulfillment everything He has purposed and promised for all peoples on earth and all ages to come.

Consequently, right now God is moving everything,

everywhere

“Christ-ward”

Colossians 3 So, if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life

with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life — even though invisible to spectators — is with Christ in God. He is your life. (The Message)

Paul is calling us to put on our

King Jesus Glasses!

We need to look beyond

the centrality of Christ…We need to fix our vision much more on

the supremacy of Christ

The CENTRALITY of Christ expresses

His right to be kept at the center

of who we are,

where we are headed,

what we are doing

and how we are blessed.

The SUPREMACY of Christ expresses so much more.

It is all about His right to keep us at the center of

who HE is, where HE is headed,what HE is doing,

and how HE is blessed.

“God loves youand has a wonderful plan for your life.”

“God loves His Son and has a wonderful plan for Him,

to sum up everything under His feet as Lord, things in Heaven and things on earth….

and He loves you and me enough to give us a place in it!

“May all the Hindus in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Muslims in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Buddhist in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Jews in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Hindus in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Muslims in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Buddhist in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“May all the Jews in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

“And…may all the CHRISTIANS in the world know that Jesus Christ is Lord!”

In other words, we need to pray that more and more Christians would discover and wear

King Jesus Glasses

Or, pray that more of us would set upKing Jesus CHAIRS!

Selah!

The Seven Dimensions of the Spectacular Supremacy of God’s

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

WITHIN us

THROUGH us

UPON us

Son!TO us

FOR us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

WITHIN us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

WITHIN us

THROUGH us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

WITHIN us

THROUGH us

UPON us

Son!TO us

FOR us

OVER us

BEFORE us

WITHIN us

THROUGH us

UPON us

“Consequential Christology”

Selah!

What happens when too many Christians in any generation fail to wear their

King Jesus Glasses?

You end up with a major

Consider this question:

What might bethe greatest crisis

inside the Church todaythat would require, as our only hope,

a Christ-awakening movementin our lives, our churches

and our generation?

There are a lot of crises INSIDE our Churches

80% of congregations are stagnant or dying

40% of Christian men are addicted to pornography

80% of evangelical youth are leaving the Church

80% of pastors wrestle with melancholy

What may be the greatest crisis of all?

----------------------------------What crisis may be at the rootof most other crises we face

Inside our churches and ministries?

The growing, sobering

Crisis of

Christology

80% of Christians fear intimacy with Christ

James Edwards (George Fox University)

“The Church has become uncertain of Jesus, even uncomfortable with Him. Church history is sadly replete with a tendency to forsake Christ. The Church has a long history of discomfort with Christ – maneuvering Christ to the margins of our churches.”

John R.W. StottThe Incomparable Christ

The fact is that down the centuries of the Christian era hundreds of different Jesuses have been on offer in the world’s religious supermarkets…The church has displayed a remarkable ingenuity in adapting, shaping and presenting its own images of Christ.

All through the GospelsHe was in the world, the world was there through him,and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him.– John 1(The Message)

All through the GospelsThey were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid…Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further. Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown…” – Mark 6 (The Message)

All through the Gospels

At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a Meal?” ... Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.” After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. – John 6 (The Message)

Acts 3

You handed him over to be killed.... You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.... “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders... Repent, then, and turn to God...”

2 Corinthians 11I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

2 Corinthians 10For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Revelation 22 – You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You have lost your first love. Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me…

----------------------------

“first” = “supreme”(see Colossians 1:18)

Revelation 33 – Since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth...Look! I stand outside the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

Consider the church in Colosse

Colossians 1 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be

seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels — everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

He was supreme in the beginning and — leading the resurrection parade — he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.

Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe — people and things, animals and atoms — get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. (The Message)

2 John 9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in

the teaching of the Christ

does not have God. But whoever continues in

the teaching of the Christ

has both the Father and the Son.

From a prolific church planter on the West Coast:

“The diminishing influence of the American Church on American society is not simply because fewer people are going to church, but rather fewer people are going to church because of the diminishing influence of CHRIST upon the Church itself.”

In the Evangelical church today we have created a pantheon of “Jesuses” – from which

wepick the “Jesus” we need at any given moment.

Moralistic, therapeutic Deismwith Christ at the fringes

Crisis of

Christology

Simply Jesus

Part of the difficulty is that Jesus was and is much, much more than people imagine. Not just people in general, but by practicing Christians, the churches themselves...The Jesus we might discover if we really looked! — is larger, more disturbing, more urgent than we — than the church! — had ever imagined.

Simply Jesus

We have successfully managed to avoid the huge, world-shaking challenge of Jesus’ central claim and achievement. It is we, the churches, who have reduced the Kingdom of God to private piety, the victory of the cross to comfort for the conscience, and Easter itself to a happy, escapist ending after a sad, dark tale.

Simply Jesus

We’re looking for a builder to construct the home we thought we wanted, but he is the architect, coming with a new plan that will give us everything we need, but within quite a new framework.”

Simply Jesus

He is the king, all right, but he has come to redefine kingship itself around his own work, his own mission, his own fate…We want a “religious” leader, not a king! We want someone to save our souls, not rule our world! What we want is someone to implement the policies we already embrace…

Simply Jesus

But if Christians don’t get Jesus right, what chance is there that other people will bother much with him…”

Bishop N.T. Wright

Crisis of

Christology

Test it for yourself!Take a 3-week “Listening Tour”

1) How often did you hear the name of Jesus mentioned at all as believers talked to one another?

Test it for yourself!Take a 3-week “Listening Tour”

1) How often did you hear the name of Jesus mentioned at all as believers talked to one another?

2) If so, did you ever hear one Christian share new insights they’ve uncovered about the greatness and glory of Jesus in order to encourage a fellow believer in their walk with Jesus?

Romans 10“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message,

and the message is heard

through the word about

the Christ.”

From pastor/theologian John Piper

“There is no standing still in the Christian life. Either we are advancing toward salvation, or we are drifting away to destruction. Drifting is mortal danger (Hebrews 2:1). If we do not point our people to the inexhaustible riches of Christ so as to stir them up to go forward into more of God, then we encourage drifting downstream where they will make shipwreck of their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:19)

Crisis of

Christology

In today’s Churchis Jesus truly perceived as our

Monarch?

Or, for all practical purposes has He become

more like our

Mascot?

In reality, Jesus is Mascot, Coach and Quarterback combined.In fact, He’s the entire Team.He’s every Play that gets run.

He’s every Touchdown that’s made.He’s every Game won – every Victory secured.

And for the rest of eternity HE is the one who gets written upfor the whole universe to read and celebrate!!

Consequential Christology

Selah!

The sobering Crisis inside the Church

The surging hope for a Christ Awakening

So, what IS a

Christ Awakening!

“What you will see before you is merely a picture of things to come.”

That moment was a snapshot of a

Christ Awakening!

So, how should we define a

Christ Awakening?

RenewalRevival

ReformationRestoration

Revitalization

Certainly it involves

Revelation!

2 Corinthians 4:6For the God who said

“Let light shine out of darkness” has shown into our hearts

to give us the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God

in the face Of Christ.

“You sparkled, You burned,You scattered my blindness.

You cried, You shouted,You shattered my deafness.

You shed forth Your fragranceand I drew in my breath.

Now my soul pants for You alone.”

Augustine

That is a snapshot of a

Christ Awakening

East Jersey State Prison–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

As famous for Christ

as Wall Street is for money,as Pittsburgh is for steel,

as McDonald’s is for hamburgers!

That is a snapshot of a

Christ Awakening

Selah!

Ephesians 5

Light makes everything clear. That is why it is said,

“Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead. Then Christ will shine on you.”

Isaiah 60Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight. God's bright glory has risen for you.The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness,But God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you.Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness.

(The Message)

Romans 13The hour has come for you to wake up from

your sleep. Our full salvation is closer now than it was when we first believed in Christ…So let us get rid of the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light.

Let us act as we should, like people living in the daytime… put on the Lord Jesus Christ as your clothing.

Revelation 3These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Wake up! and strengthen what remains and is about to die…

Luke 9 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when

they became fully awake, they saw his glory…

Jonathan Edwards“God has had it much on His heart, from all eternity,

to glorify His dear and only Son. Universal dominion is pledged to Christ.

Even so, there are special seasons God appoints to that end, where He comes forth with omnipotent power to fulfill this promise and oath to His Son.

These seasons are times of remarkable outpourings of His Spirit. They prove the reality of Christ’s Kingdom to a skeptical world and serve to extend its bounds.”

“Manifest Presence of Christ”

Here’s my definition of a

Christ Awakening

Christ AwakeningWhen God’s Spirit

Christ Awakening When God’s Spirit uses God’s Word

Christ AwakeningWhen God’s Spirit uses God’s Word

to reintroduce God’s people

to reintroduce God’s people to God’s Son

to reintroduce God’s people to God’s Son for ALL He is

“Kellogg’s Corn Flakes:Taste them again, for the first time!”

“Jesus Christ…Meet Him again,

for the first time!”

to reintroduce God’s people to God’s Son for ALL He is

As we prayed through Ephesians – which is a portrait of the supremacy of God’s Son and a blueprint for the advance of His Kingdom –I experienced my own CHRIST

AWAKENING!

to re-introduce God’s people to God’s Son for ALL He is

A Christ Awakening helps us look beyond

the centrality of Christ…It fixes our vision much more firmly on

A Christ Awakening puts us and keeps us at the center of

who HE is, where HE is headed,what HE is doing,

and how HE is blessed.

My view of the work of Christ was severely limited. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe the right truth.

I simply didn’t understand how far-reaching and all-inclusive the work of Christ really was.

When I discovered the universal and cosmic nature of the work of Christ,

it was like being born again, again. I was given a key

to a Christian way of viewing the whole world, a key that unlocked the door

to a rich storehouse of spiritual treasures, treasures that I am still handling in sheer amazement.

–Robert Webber, Majestic Tapestry

An email from VermontHi, David! Just wanted to say thank you for your teachings at the recent CHRIST SUMMIT. Many times people leave an event like that and it becomes a thing of the past. But I bought CDs of your talks. I’m listening to them over and over. The LORD is still speaking to me through them.

And I have a new found desire to become consumed with Jesus every day. It is amazing how waking up every morning I feel like I’m being “reborn”. This new focus on Christ has clearly changed my life. I have a burning excitement that I have never had before.

Death Valley!!

Selah!

Session 1 – Christ, Crisis, Christ AwakeningsSession 2 – Awake to who Christ is TO usSession 3 – Awake to who Christ is FOR usSession 4 – Awake to who Christ is OVER usSession 5 – Awake to who Christ is BEFORE usSession 6 – Awake to who Christ is WITHIN usSession 7 – Awake to who Christ is THROUGH usSession 8 – Awake to who Christ is UPON usSession 9 – Responding to His Spectacular

Supremacy

The Christ Institutes

Snapshots and Starter-thoughts

Ephesians 3

• …this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (NIV)

• …enabled me to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ. (Phillips)

• …the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available in Christ. (NLT)

Before today, how would you have described the Person of Christ to someone who knew very little about Him?

(You have 60 seconds!)

What might be one major change a “Christ Awakening” could bring to your church? Or to you personally? What precisely do you see happening?

The Christ InstitutesReclaiming a Consequential ChristologyFostering Christ Awakening Movements

THE CHRIST INSTITUTES Reclaiming a Consequential Christology Fostering Christ Awakening Movements

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