What God Has Joined Together: A Study of Grace and Discipleship

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (ESV)
Galatians 5:5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised [...]

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The Jesus Disconnect (5): The Processes of Discipleship

So how does the material in the “rest of the Gospels” come into the Christian life? What are the “processes of Discipleship” we see in the first half of the Gospels that should be integrated into faith in the crucified and risen one.
1. We should start with affirming the perspective we’ve gained. The Kingdom of [...]

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The Jesus Disconnect (2): How does the ministry of Jesus fit into our consideration of Jesus?

How does the ministry of Jesus fit into our consideration of Jesus?
In 1982, I returned to seminary and took a job as youth minister at a church near the seminary. Because of some of my studies in seminary that semester, and because of something I heard Dr. John Piper say in a sermon, I determined [...]

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Twelve Words of Jesus That Would Change Everything….If We Believed Them

Twelve Words of Jesus That Would Change Everything….If We Believed Them, by Dan Edelen
This may not be Dan’s take, but for me, this is a unique way to approach the “Law/Gospel” Issue. These are Jesus’ Kingdom ethics. It’s his amplification of the law, and his picture of what it means to follow him as King.
What’s [...]

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What is Jesus Shaped Spirituality?

The past year and a half has been the most personally tumultuous time I’ve ever experienced as a Christian believer. At one time or another in this past year, I have re-evaluated every area of my Christianity, often with many tears, prayers and hours of reading. Much of this has been in response to the [...]

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Advent With Ted the Loser

This post is inspired by a FoxNews piece updating the situation of disgraced megachurch pastor Ted Haggard. Haggard was a major leader in evangelicalism until he was brought down by evidence of sexual sin and drug use.
Dear Ted,
May I call you Ted? Not “Pastor Ted,” “Reverend Haggard” or any other ministerial name.
You may not feel [...]

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Do You Trust The Abbreviated Jesus?

The other day a strange feeling came over me.
Don’t get me wrong about what I’m about to say here. It was just a feeling. I’m not claiming any powers of discernment or certainty.
I got the distinct feeling there’s something wrong with a lot of people who say they are Jesus-followers/believers.
If you want to supply your [...]

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God doesn’t offer explanations

The problem with theological types- like yours truly- is they think that God has explained himself. In the Bible. In Jonathan Edwards. In the Lutheran Confessions. In the CRCC. In the latest Piper book. In the ESV Study Bible notes. Somewhere.
The fact is God doesn’t explain himself.

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Responding to Greg Gilbert’s Discussion of Gospel, Cross and Kingdom.

Greg Gilbert at 9 Marks, a ministry that has my highest admiration and endorsement, has taken on what seems to be the favorite topic of Calvinists on the web: What is the Gospel?
Gilbert isn’t just spending bandwidth, however. Though he doesn’t exactly give his agenda up front, I’m of the opinion that he’s taking aim [...]

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Reduced to Jesus

From September, 2006 at IM. The reference to soli deo was to a home worship group I was leading at the time.
I get called a lot of names around the blogosphere. Everything from “pomo devil” to “respected blogger.” (Now there’s an oxymoron.) When you’re a “cage phase” blogger (there goes another one) you write long [...]

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