Langdon Palmer

What happens after we die ? Is that just the end, or is there an after life ? Are Heaven and Hell myths or reality ? If they are real, how could an all loving, all powerful God allow anyone to be in Hell ? What we believe about eternity will drive the priorities and stance we take towards our lives here and now. Today we jump into difficult waters and try to get some grasp of eternity. We draw from multiple scriptures and the picture painted in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce (in chapters 9, 13 and 14) to try to understand what awaits us on the other side of death.

Do we have control over our fate ? If God is completely in control and has already decided how everything is going to work out, do we really have choice, do we really have free will ? Do we make choices, or do our choices make us, or does God make both, or all of the above ? These are not idle, speculative questions. How we answer them, what we really believe, will effect how we live our lives, it will have a profound impact on our futures and who we become. Join us as we delve into the deep waters of Free will, predestination, and the beautiful revelation of scripture of the God who loves us!

What will be your legacy ? We only get one shot at this life, and when your is done, what do you hope people will say about you and how you lived ? Today we look at two very different people who ended up with two very different legacies. We join C.S. Lewis as he encounters the Dwarf and Sarah Smith. And we turn to the book of Colossians Chapter 1 to find the kind of life that leaves an eternal legacy.

Why do smart people do stupid things ? Why are we constantly shooting ourselves in the foot ? Why are bad habits so hard to break ? Why do some people get better and better at their craft while others get worse and worse ? In one of the most vivid scenes in the book ‘The Great Divorce’ C.S. Lewis shows us the radical difference between the lives of those who rule their desires and the lives of those whose desires rule them. And just to be total nerds, we connect this story to recent discoveries in brain science! It turns out that modern research confirms that the ancient wisdom of the scriptures is not only true, it actually works! Join us as we come to the place where we are willing to confront The Red Lizard.

What’s the difference between wanting the best for someone and being a control freak ? What do truly healthy relationships look like ? Do you have a relationship right now that you would like to improve ? Today we look at two examples of really bad relationships to help us see more clearly what good relationships can be like. We start with a hilarious video from Tory Kinne for one extreme and then a character in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce for the other. We then look at practical advise from the scriptures that can help us create relationships that age well – that get better with time! While we focus on romantic relationships this morning, most of these principles can be applied to any relationship in your life. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQgDwA0BNU for the Tory Kinne video The Notes Sheet for this sermon is available as a PDF above.

We often tell ourselves “I need to get more organized!” It might be true, but perhaps the more important question is this – what is my life organized around ? What organizes me ? Today we look at three people who organized their lives around very different things and how those choices changed their destiny. We look at the Grumbling Woman and the Artist that C.S. Lewis depicts in the Great Divorce, and we compare them to the Psalmist who wrote Psalm 131. Come join us for a fun but convicting look at how NOT to live your life!

When you think about it, few things paralyze, cripple, and stunt a person’s soul more than… shame. Today we join C.S. Lewis as he shows us “The Embarrassed Woman” so we can understand how to pride, guilt, and shame go together. There is a huge difference between healthy guilt and debilitating shame. It is the difference between the road to hope and the road to despair. This is a challenging podcast, but what we can discover on the other side of shame is is a way of living where we never have to listen to shame again !

Do I lean towards Optimism, Do I lean towards Pessimism, Or do I lean on Jesus? Today we discover that two very common sense approaches to life actually keep us from seeing the Kingdom of God. We take a look at two characters in the Great Divorce, Ikey the Business Man and the Hard-bitten man in order to avoid two dead-end streets. We end with the incredible words of Isaiah 61:10 which show us the way to live which is life indeed!

How do you know if a spiritual leader is leading you closer to God or farther away ? Today we come to the story of the Bishop in C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. We begin with a dramatic reading from the book. Join us as we dig in to 1 Timothy 3:1-17 to learn not only what a false teacher looks like but also what a great spiritual leader looks like.

Have you ever met people who have a litany ? A litany of all the reasons why they are OK and why all their problems are somebody else’s fault ? It’s not just other people – all of us are tempted to be full of excuses, finding ways to tell ourselves that we are right, that we are righteous. This tendency cuts us off from the very life of freedom and grace that God wants for us. Join us today as we meet the person C.S. Lewis calls “The Big Man” who was full of excuses and out of grace. And we discover that there is a way to live out of excuses and into grace!

Are you facing any choices in your life right now ? Have you noticed recurring streams of thought – on going conversations you have with yourself about yourself or about others that you know are no good ? Today we begin our sermon series on the Great Divorce when C.S. Lewis comes on stage and shares with us a piece from his Introduction. Lewis shows us how our choices and streams of thought are connected. We look at Proverbs 16 and Romans 13:12-14 to understand Lewis’ premise – streams of thought lead to streams of choices which shape who we become and where we end up. For more resources see http://levpres.org/the-great-divorce/

The New Year can be a great time to think about where we are, where we want to be, and most importantly, who we want to be in the year ahead. Erwin McManus’s new book, The Last Arrow, is a challenge to live life well and live life large – to the glory of God. Join us as we take a look at what it means to be willing to step out into your future with God.

If the Holy Spirit of the living God were to come to you (in the middle of everything you are facing in your life right now), and ask you a question… what would it be ? Stop and think about it for a moment. Is God asking you a question right now ? Today we look at the stories of Elizabeth and Simeon – two ordinary people who were able to recognize the presence of the Messiah. It was the Holy Spirit of God within them that allowed them to perceive his presence beneath the surface of things. The same can be true for you!

It is one thing to read an old book and there find sayings from a long dead author that you find very meaningful. It is quite another thing to believe that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God speaks in the present tense to you through the ancient words of scripture. Does this actually happen ? Is it bad theology to think it does ? Were the first Christians right in believing that the Old Testament contains prophesies that predicted the coming of the Messiah, and further, that there were so many pointing to Jesus that it would be almost impossible to fake it ? Join us today as we jump into the deep end and examine how the Holy Spirit makes “the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

What if our natural curiosity, our desire to know the truth about Science, Nature, Philosophy, Art … is a gift from God, meant to lead us to the source of all those things – The maker of Heaven and Earth. The Advent Story reveals that the Holy Spirit of God is at work in those far away and far from God, in ways we can’t begin to understand. Join us as we find the very Jewish gospel of Matthew telling us how pagan astrologers from Babylon ended up perceiving what all kinds of “religious” people failed to see.

Thanksgiving – or the practice of giving thanks – turns out to be far more essential for our happiness than we realize. It also forms the foundation of the life of faith. And the book of James builds upon that foundation of faith and asks “OK, if I really have placed my faith in Jesus, then how should I live ?” This Thanksgiving weekend, we go back to the basics of the gospel then discover that James builds a three legged stool for the life of faith upon it. He gives us three practices for how to live here and now in this world while connected to God and eternity at the same time.

On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it turns out that the truth Martin Luther re-discovered is exactly what we need in our own lives today. Join us as we dig into the book of James and the teaching of Paul and discover that rather than contradicting each other, James and Paul warn us of two different ways to live our lives in a a Cul de Sac and thus reveal to us the narrow way to freedom, truth and satiety found in Jesus!

This morning we start with two questions: #1 -What is the bible really? #2 Could a simple image from a comic book from the 1930’s change the way you see the world ? This morning we look at the scriptures the way James saw them so we can understand why he calls them a mirror. It turns out that the bible acts like a mirror in three ways – it collects and reflects God’s message so that we can see it, it gives us a clear reflection of our sin, and it also reflects who we are in Christ. Many of us struggle to be able to see that third reflection – a portrait of who we are and who we are becoming. But once you do, it changes everything. Join us for this, our second podcast as we work through the Book of James.

In Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings”, a band of friends sets out together, and encourage each other towards virtue and courage. In the same way, real Christianity could be called “The Fellowship of the King“, because we too are called to encourage each other towards virtue and courage – for we have been adopted into the the household of the one true King. And we have been sent out to be about His business. The book of James was written for those willing to take such a journey. It is one of the most practical and challenging books of the New Testament. This Fall, join us on an immersive eight week adventure through the Book of James. We will find that he calls upon us to Seize the Day – to live it with fierce joy for God.

In the last of our Vital Signs series, we ask how am I doing Spiritually really ? We look at four gauges from Acts, and three messages we need to hear from God. But first we learn why our Pastor cut the tip off his finger last week.