Let’s start with an excerpt from a blog by Tullian Tchividjian, Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. I will springboard off of this piece with my comments. _____________________________________ I am sadd ened when the very pack of people that God has unconditionally saved and continues to sustain by his free grace are the very ones who push back most violently against [...]
Some not so good news for church youth ministries (and parents) – we’re leaving our young people with questionable (putting it mildly) theology. A person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know, Kara Powell, the executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, was recently interviewed for Relevant Magazine. She has written and [...]
Does your life reflect a real or plastic Jesus? From IgniterMedia.com I can relate to both, you? Yet our churches are likely filled with people like the man in the video and we say we rely upon lifestyle evangelism. Friends, I can’t live the Gospel. Thank God my life is not the Gospel. We are [...]
TruthCrossing provides excellent devotional content on YouTube. This clip below is from Art Azurdia, who is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Pastoral Mentoring at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, paid a steep price so we could come to Him. Will you turn to Him or turn [...]
One of our contributors at Caffeinated Thoughts (and here!), David Shedlock, has blogged extensively about Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny event and Restoring Honor rally in Washington, DC. Since Beck promoted this as being non-political, rather a religious revival of sorts I thought it would be appropriate to weigh in on it here. I’ve been pretty [...]
Thank God that He doesn’t expect us to be clean before we come to him. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love [...]
From Paul Tripp, a pastor at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA, writing at Desiring God’s blog made some interesting points about how grace impacts us in our daily walk with Christ: Jason could explain to you what it meant to say that he had been “saved by grace,” and he knew that [...]
John H. Gerstner (1914-1996) was professor of Church History at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He wrote in his book, The Problem of Pleasure: Why Good Things Happen to Bad People, that only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ can divine justice and divine mercy meet. Only the Christian gospel presents….a way in [...]
From Puritan Clergyman and Writer Jeremiah Burroughs (1600-1646): The gospel of Christ in general is this: It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ. More largely it is this: As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left [...]
From The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther (1483-1546): In John 6:44, Christ says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him." This leaves absolutely no room for "free will." The Lord goes on to explain the Father’s drawing, "Every man therefore that has heard, and has [...]
From Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels by Tullian Tchividjian: I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, but after they believe it, they advance to deeper theological waters. Jonah helped me realize that the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths [...]
From Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal by Richard Lovelace: The substitutionary atonement is the heart of the gospel, and it is so because it gives the answer to the problem of guilt, bondage and alienation from God. The earlier this answer can be spelled out in the process of evangelism and [...]
My post yesterday reminded me of the tension that exists between conflicting worldviews and the institutions of Church and State. Chuck Colson in his book God & Government reminds us about the clear and distinct roles that each play. In God’s provision the state is not to seize authority over ecclesiastical or spiritual matters, nor [...]
Some miscellany for the weekend. 46% expect a tax hike during the Obama Administration (count me in that number). Why hasn’t there been any public polling in Iowa Republican primary races? The Resurrection of Christ is a mystery. Things that are not in the U.S. Constitution From Megacity to “Metacity” Has God predetermined everything? Including [...]
Why is it that in search of being “relevant,” the church has often substituted moralism for the drama that unfolds in scripture? Why is it that we focus more on marriages, our purpose, stewardship and countless of other items that wind their way into sermons rather than “the greatest story ever told” – Christ’s incarnation, [...]
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