Culturally Contextualized or Historically Connected?
This John MacArthur's critique of a very crucial paragraph in one of the newest church planting books. Now personally like anything, I think the book itself is good, and like many other things needs to be sifted through. But MacArthur does give a good hard look at the "new generation" church planting.
Not Radical Individualism
This is Darrin Patrick's reply to John MacArthur's critical statement about some of his paragraphs in his book on Church Planting. I thought the reply gives us a good modern day example of how to men can differ the non-essentials but still honor one another in the Lord.
What Pastors Miss About the Bible (or Why I Wrote Reverberation) - Jonathan Leeman
This seems to be a promising resources for those of us in the ministry context, because we must always remember that we need to continually keep growing.
Teach Me To Pray
This one is probably one of my favorites this week.
How To Write a Theological Paper
Yeah I know this seems like a book worm type article, but for those who are even thinking of writing, this is a great read.
As always there were others but these seemed to really be some good reads. Enjoy!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Doubt...defeated at Calvary
Doubt, is probably a word that sometimes brings to mind various definitions. Personally, it is the idea of always doubting how something was handled, for example did the Bible study go well enough or were the right words said. For those who are around me long enough or have been around me know this has been something I have fought. From the outset one can see what is happening, no longer is their reliance on the Spirit of God working in us to bring us more fully into the righteousness of Christ, instead it become a self-reliance mentality that can eat away at the joy the Lord has for us in whatever ministry or place He may have us. One may be wondering of course, "I thought we were already given the righteousness of Christ?". That is true, in the eyes of God there is a sense in which we are already sanctified by being given a righteousness not of our own, but of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Yet the other side to that reality is that we wake up every morning, still in this sinful flesh that wishes to wage war on our spiritual lives. Therefore, there is a progressive sanctification that is taking place daily, and this where every believer lives in some level every day.
I have to battle my doubts of "performance" with something that is greater than anything my conscience can muster up. Because in all reality it is my conscience feeding from the flesh when these forms of doubt creep in. But it is through progressive sanctification that I can overcome these doubts, again not by my own effort, but by allowing the Spirit to work in my life daily. One key element though that I know has become a huge reality for me, and is often times thrust to the side as a fore thought, is living every day in light of the Calvary or the Cross of Christ. I think often in our spiritual walks we have a tendency to move on from the Cross thinking that means we are growing spiritually. In reality we are moving ourselves further and further away from the very thing that will crush all those self-reliant mentalities and also kill the flesh daily. It is no wonder that in Romans 8:13 Paul tells us to mortify or "put to death" the flesh. Because Paul knows that the moment we remove our eyes from the Cross on to some other reliance in our christian walk, doubts and other human tendencies easily creep in, thus allowing for self-condemnation and self-loathing to take place. What is the key to keeping these things down, and progressively being sanctified every day? It is the idea of living every day, every hour, every minute, every second, and every breath in light of the Cross of Christ. For there is where are true righteousness is. Not in ourselves, but in the fact that through t he cross of Christ all the wonderful promises God wishes to bestow upon His children are given through the cross, not apart from it. That includes at the forefront the righteousness of Christ and all that comes with that. Being freed from the bondage of sin, no longer a slave to self-doubt or self-condemnation. Instead, remembering Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Am I saying we should not mourn over sin in our lives? No, not at all but what I am saying is that if we are living everyday in light of the Cross, then the moment we sin we take it to the cross and remember it was nailed there no longer to have dominion over us, but instead by the power of Spirit we can now have the strength to overcome any sin or stronghold that is in our life.
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross." - Colossians 2:13-14
May we never move past this great truth of the gospel, and may we always keep ours daily fixed upon the Cross of Jesus Christ.
To the praise of His Glory!
I have to battle my doubts of "performance" with something that is greater than anything my conscience can muster up. Because in all reality it is my conscience feeding from the flesh when these forms of doubt creep in. But it is through progressive sanctification that I can overcome these doubts, again not by my own effort, but by allowing the Spirit to work in my life daily. One key element though that I know has become a huge reality for me, and is often times thrust to the side as a fore thought, is living every day in light of the Calvary or the Cross of Christ. I think often in our spiritual walks we have a tendency to move on from the Cross thinking that means we are growing spiritually. In reality we are moving ourselves further and further away from the very thing that will crush all those self-reliant mentalities and also kill the flesh daily. It is no wonder that in Romans 8:13 Paul tells us to mortify or "put to death" the flesh. Because Paul knows that the moment we remove our eyes from the Cross on to some other reliance in our christian walk, doubts and other human tendencies easily creep in, thus allowing for self-condemnation and self-loathing to take place. What is the key to keeping these things down, and progressively being sanctified every day? It is the idea of living every day, every hour, every minute, every second, and every breath in light of the Cross of Christ. For there is where are true righteousness is. Not in ourselves, but in the fact that through t he cross of Christ all the wonderful promises God wishes to bestow upon His children are given through the cross, not apart from it. That includes at the forefront the righteousness of Christ and all that comes with that. Being freed from the bondage of sin, no longer a slave to self-doubt or self-condemnation. Instead, remembering Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Am I saying we should not mourn over sin in our lives? No, not at all but what I am saying is that if we are living everyday in light of the Cross, then the moment we sin we take it to the cross and remember it was nailed there no longer to have dominion over us, but instead by the power of Spirit we can now have the strength to overcome any sin or stronghold that is in our life.
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross." - Colossians 2:13-14
May we never move past this great truth of the gospel, and may we always keep ours daily fixed upon the Cross of Jesus Christ.
To the praise of His Glory!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Partnership in the Gospel
Philippians 1:5 - "Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."
Think about that for a moment, are we partnering in the gospel? Could this be said of us that from the first day we were justified (from our point of view), that we have persevered to continue in the proclaiming the gospel. I know from personally experience I can say, no. Sadly, but true. Often, times I have fallen off the band wagon more times than I care to count, and gotten distracted by other things that looked okay (and were not necessarily wrong), but they easily distracted me from partnering in the gospel. So today, I simply want to do a double check and make sure I have nothing hindering me from being a part of this great opportunity the Lord has given to His church, the proclamation of the Gospel. But you know the flip side of this is very reassuring as well, that when I do fall off the band wagon, or get a bit detoured, I know that God's Word is true in what it says such as the following verse (1:6) - "For this reason, knowing that He (Lord) who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ."
You see every effort I muster up will fall short of meeting the goals set before me, but if I place myself in the hands of the Master, and allow Him to work in me through His Spirit there is no limit to what could happen. Personally, this really hits home, because well, I was there several months back. Looking back even then, the Lord was still working because on August 14, 2000, God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the convicting and regenerating power of the Holy Spirit began a good work in me, and yeah over these past 11 years there have been some hard trials and struggles, but I know that they are all being used to mold me and shape me, by the hands of the potter. So today, I suppose I just ask you as you read this, examine yourself and ask:
Think about that for a moment, are we partnering in the gospel? Could this be said of us that from the first day we were justified (from our point of view), that we have persevered to continue in the proclaiming the gospel. I know from personally experience I can say, no. Sadly, but true. Often, times I have fallen off the band wagon more times than I care to count, and gotten distracted by other things that looked okay (and were not necessarily wrong), but they easily distracted me from partnering in the gospel. So today, I simply want to do a double check and make sure I have nothing hindering me from being a part of this great opportunity the Lord has given to His church, the proclamation of the Gospel. But you know the flip side of this is very reassuring as well, that when I do fall off the band wagon, or get a bit detoured, I know that God's Word is true in what it says such as the following verse (1:6) - "For this reason, knowing that He (Lord) who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ."
You see every effort I muster up will fall short of meeting the goals set before me, but if I place myself in the hands of the Master, and allow Him to work in me through His Spirit there is no limit to what could happen. Personally, this really hits home, because well, I was there several months back. Looking back even then, the Lord was still working because on August 14, 2000, God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the convicting and regenerating power of the Holy Spirit began a good work in me, and yeah over these past 11 years there have been some hard trials and struggles, but I know that they are all being used to mold me and shape me, by the hands of the potter. So today, I suppose I just ask you as you read this, examine yourself and ask:
- Are you partnering in the gospel like the Lord wants you to?
- Are you resting in the fact that the Lord has begun a good work you and He WILL complete it?
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