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Me Worship
The foolishness caricatured in this video probably needs no comment. It touches on what is perhaps the most common plague of American Evangelicalism: the notion that life (and Church) is all about me – what I like, what I want, etc. God seems to have other ideas. In Isaiah 48.11 God says: For my own sake, for…
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Measuring Up?
Do you ever feel that you have to measure up? Do you wonder sometimes how you are grading out in God’s eyes? I suspect the answer for most people is “Yes”. Our theology may tell us otherwise, but I think most people struggle with this from time to time – especially when we feel emotionally tired and as…
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Prophets, Priests, and Kings
An important concept to explore and implement in the ministry of the local church is the reflection of the Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King. This is known as Tri-Perspectivalism or Multi-Perspectivalism. I have written and spoken a little about this, but I am still far more a student than an expert when it comes…
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Beyond the Sick List
It is one of my peeves. And it seems to be one of the most difficult habits to break church members of. I am referring to the common pracactice of praying the sick list. For some reason it is difficult to get even seasoned Christians to pray for much else. David Powlison takes up this…
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A Shelter in Time of Storm: Meditations on God & Trouble
In this video Paul Tripp offers a true-to-life yet hopeful reflection of Psalm 27.
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6 Words Toward Open Hearts
From Donald Whitney: Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin to weep and their resistance fall. The question is, “How can I…
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Living Missionally in the Mountain Empire
In this video Tim Keller offers some insights about ministry in areas that still largely hold to traditional conservative values. This is helpful to me because the place where I live and serve is still largely characterized this way. While I embrace a missional mindset, how our church lives that out in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia…
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Externally Focused Quest
Most churches have a subtle, perhaps even unspoken, objective. It is driven by the question: “How can we be the best church in our community?” How a church answers that question determines the approach to membership, staffing, budget, etc. In a book I am now reading, Externally Focused Quest, authors Eric Swanson & Rick Rusaw ask…
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Being Sent
This past Sunday I offered a brief exposition of John 17.6-21 & John 20.21, explaining what it means to be “sent” into our community and world in the same way God the Father sent Jesus into our world. These texts demand that we understand, as John Stott says: “Our God is a missionary God.” They…
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Power of the Cross
Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day: Christ on the road to Calvary. Tried by sinful men, Torn and beaten, then Nailed to a cross of wood. CHORUS: This, the pow’r of the cross: Christ became sin for us; Took the blame, bore the wrath— We stand forgiven at the cross. Oh, to…
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How Can We Look Forward to Heaven?
Some time ago someone I encountered posed an interesting question: “How can we look forward to heaven when none of our favorite things are sure to be there?” C. S. Lewis’ offers a breathtaking answer: Let us construct a fable. Let us picture a woman thrown into a dungeon. There she bears and rears a…
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What is God Like?
What is God like? Describe to me the God you say you believe in. In the first chapter of his best selling book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan challenges his readers to ponder who God is. “Who is it that you are praying to?” Chan wants us to ask. I really appreciate that challenge and that…
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Christianity vs The Good Life
My friend Gerald Robison writes: The goal of popular Christianity today is to live “the good life” – not “a good life”. Much of 21st century preaching focuses on the blessings of God. Only in the lives of “others” is hardship, trials, persecution, suffering and martyrdom mentioned. The focus of that popular teching is on the listeners,…
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Embrace Honesty
How do you embrace honesty? Give up what is already painfully obvious Tell the Truth without telling all the truth Embrace the Gospel in your failure to live the gospel – Dan Allender
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