• Uncategorized

    Flesh is Accused, But the Spirit Reigneth

    June 15, 2010 /

    Earlier today I stumbled upon some old journals from years ago and was blessed by the reminders they contained. So I thought I’d share them with you: You’re trying to do for yourself what Christ already did for you—–trying to clean up your life. From Martin Luther’s Introduction to His Commentary on Galatians: “Two kinds of righteousness, active and passive, to the end that manners and faith, works and grace, policy and religion, should not be confounded, or take the one for the other. Both are necessary; but must be kept within their bounds; Christian righteousness appertaineth to the new man, and the righteousness of the law appertaineth to the…

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  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Avoiding Church Conflict—And Avoiding a Real-Life Massacre

    June 12, 2010 /

      Whenever I teach the Peacemaker Ministries’ Slippery Slope of Conflict: I try to remember Dave Edling’s and Ken Sande’s (repeated!) teaching to me and say something to the effect of: “The face of the church would change if Christians would follow one simple step when someone offends them: rather than talking about the other person, they go and (gently! humbly!) talk to the other person.” It’s so true. Many times, we can clear up a miscommunication, realize that we misunderstood or misinterpreted a situation, or simply be moved with compassion towards a person once we understand what he or she is going through. (“I had no idea you had just…

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  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    Mishandling Twenty-something Men in the Church

    June 11, 2010 /

    Challies.com linked to a very brief article that is worth your time: Mishandling Twentysomethings (by Anthony Bradley) Let me tempt you with just a snippet: “Most churches have no idea what to do with spiritually mature men in their 20s, so they wrongly direct them to seminary or to a ministry with kids, hoping these guys will rub off on the youth and keep them coming to church and out of trouble. The consequences of this mishandling have been dire …   I am pained, for example, by the number of guys directed to seminary or formal ministry who never should have been because church communities were confused about what…

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  • Uncategorized

    Support DesiringGod.org

    June 9, 2010 /

    TakeYourVitaminZ linked to this need over at DesiringGod.org and I’ve emailed Fred to ask if we can give: The 1% Campaign DesiringGod.org is one of the websites that I recommend  quite often because of the depth of its resources. To me, this request for financial support is not out of line. If you use their site, I hope you’ll consider this.  

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  • Relationships & Peacemaking

    Things We Could Never Do On Our Own

    June 7, 2010 /

    If you haven’t read Ken Sande’s book, The Peacemaker (or if you haven’t re-read it in awhile), I encourage you to do so! It is such a wonderful book. I re-read it last week and was tremendously blessed, challenged, and encouraged. Let me tempt you with a snippet: “When someone mistreats or opposes us, our instinctive reaction is to justify ourselves and do everything we can to get our way. This selfish attitude usually leads to impulsive decisions that only make matters worse.   The gospel of Jesus Christ provides the way out of this downward spiral. When we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, our blinding…

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  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    Community of Jesus (HT: Tim Keller)

    June 3, 2010 /

    Yesterday’s sermon-while-walking-Lilikoi was fantastic! If you’d like to understand better what it means to (and doesn’t mean) to turn the other cheek; why it can be just as UNLOVING to NOT confront someone  as it is to confront them gracelessly and harshly; and many other important topics related to community, I encourage you to check this out: The Community of Jesus (by Tim Keller)  

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