A few weeks ago I had an early morning meeting that required me to get up and leave home way before it was light. As I walked out my front door, I noticed for the first time that, not only was the world still shrouded in darkness, but it was also shrouded in fog. This immediately brought back strong memories of the years I lived in California鈥檚 Central Valley where heavy fog at certain times of the year was commonplace. And most of those memories were not pleasant.A few weeks ago I had an early morning meeting that required me to get up and leave home way before it was light. As I walked out my front door, I noticed for the first time that, not only was the world still shrouded in darkness, but it was also shrouded in fog. This immediately brought back strong memories of the years I lived in California鈥檚 Central Valley where heavy fog at certain times of the year was commonplace. And most of those memories were not pleasant.
Over the past three years I have had the privilege of serving as a part-time pastor in a local church here in Southern California. Though I鈥檝e been in ministry for several years and have even spent significant time in ministry overseas, these past few years have constituted a re-education in the gospel. Here is what I mean: 鈥淭he gospel鈥 is a phrase that Christians often use without fully understanding its significance. We speak the language of the gospel, but we rarely apply the gospel to every aspect of our lives. Yet this is exactly what God wants for us. The gospel is nothing less than 鈥渢he power of God鈥 (Rom. 1:16). In Colossians 1:6, the apostle Paul commends the Colossian church because the gospel has been 鈥渂earing fruit and growing...among [them] since the day [they] heard it.鈥 The apostle Peter teaches that a lack of ongoing transformation in our lives comes from forgetting what God has done for us in the gospel (2 Peter 1:3鈥9). If we are to grow into maturity in Christ, we must deepen and enlarge our understanding of the gospel as the way God transforms us.
Recuerdo que el pastor de la iglesia donde crec铆 repet铆a constantemente esta frase 鈥渆l amor es un producto de la voluntad鈥. Estas palabras se convirtieron en una expresi贸n com煤n en la iglesia y se mencionaban constantemente en diferentes contextos. Me parece que lo que el pastor quer铆a comunicar era que la acci贸n de amar est谩 basada principalmente en una decisi贸n y no solamente en emociones. Nuestras emociones cambian, pero cuando decidimos amar a Dios y a nuestro pr贸jimo independientemente de nuestro estado de 谩nimo entonces estamos as铆 cumpliendo la ley de Cristo. Estoy de acuerdo con la idea general, pero creo que el amor va mucho m谩s all谩 de nuestra voluntad. El amor se centra en la persona de Dios y nosotros tenemos el gran privilegio de participar y demostrar el amor divino.
This post is for people who are praying seriously about the possibility of serving overseas in long-term cross-cultural missions. It may help you assess where you presently stand in terms of 鈥渞eadiness鈥 for such a ministry assignment.
Jesus prayed for His church to form a kind of angled mirror, bonded together with the kind of love that directs the world鈥檚 gaze upward to behold the Triune God of love (Jn. 17:11-24). Are we reflecting the Triune God clearly, or do our churches often form more of a cracked mirror, fragmented shards with animosities and apathies caked like mud, refracting little light from above? Dr. Williams explores one reason we may often fail to reflect the Trinity, namely, the lack of a robust doctrine of "the anti-Trinity."
Hell. I don't think about this subject often, so you can imagine my surprise when I found such moving thoughts on hell from an author I regard: John Bunyan.
As we near the outset of a new academic semester, I thought this comment from John Frame was a fitting word of encouragement for Talbot faculty and students alike concerning the nature of our engagement with God鈥檚 word.
How did this world we live in get to be such a crazy place? And will 2013 be as crazy as 2012? Will it be filled with fiscal cliffs, slaughter of innocents, and nations bombing other nations? It started in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tempted Eve and Adam and they yielded.
One of the top pop songs of 2012 was Carly Rae Jepsen鈥檚 鈥淐all Me Maybe.鈥 Its catchy tune worked its way into millions of ears and stayed there; it was a classic 鈥渆ar worm.鈥 Even those of us who don鈥檛 listen to pop music were vexed by how difficult it was to get this song out of our thoughts.
I recently discovered something about Nehemiah that I had never noticed before. There are lots of hints in the biblical book that bears his name that Nehemiah was a person who lived with an ongoing awareness of the presence of the Lord, and who highly valued the importance of communion with God.
The Christmas story is about Jesus being born into the family of Mary and Joseph. Have you ever considered what other options there were for which type of family Jesus could have been born into? We could explore these possibilities by asking, 鈥淲hat early life experiences do we think could best prepare Jesus for his later public ministry?鈥 Let me suggest a context for this kind of musing. Imagine you were invited to observe that special planning session in eternity past when the Godhead considered creating this world and mapping out a plan for our redemption. Of course this couldn鈥檛 happen, but pretend this divine session was like one of our committee meetings. The topic on 鈥渢oday鈥檚鈥 agenda is 鈥淲hat is the best early life experience preparation for Jesus to be formed for his distinctive divine-human role as Messiah and Savior of the world?鈥
The custom of giving gifts at Christmas probably began when wise men arrived from the east with lavish gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the newborn King. These important, wealthy and educated men had traveled far with camels and servants to find and worship the newborn King of the Jews. But there were not three of them.
Con Campbell鈥檚 new book, Paul and Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012, 479 pages, $34.99 softcover) is one of the most important books I鈥檝e read in a long time. I predict that scholars and serious students of the Bible will be referring to this book for years to come. The reason is simple: Campbell has meticulously and even-handedly taken one of the Apostle Paul鈥檚 central themes, union with Christ, and has painstakingly examined it both through an exegetical and a theological lens.
The colors and smells of fall have arrived, even here in southern California. Red, yellow, gold and peach-colored roses, fresh from my garden, are tucked into a round pumpkin. Homemade pumpkin bread, smelling of cinnamon and ginger is fresh from the oven and ready to be tucked into our mouths. Thanksgiving is almost here.
鈥淏ueno, pero Dios sigue estando en su trono鈥 es una frase que he escuchado bastante veces en los 煤ltimos d铆as. Los que la pronuncian generalmente lo hacen con un tono de resignaci贸n al ver que las cosas no se han dado como inicialmente esperaban. Me da la impresi贸n que recuerdan que Dios est谩 en control de las circunstancias solamente como un premio de consolaci贸n al ver que su candidato perdi贸 las elecciones o enfrentan otras decepciones en la vida. Tristemente en estos casos, estas personas se olvidan que nuestro Dios siempre es victorioso, siempre est谩 en control y que nada ni nadie obstruye su soberan铆a sobre todo. Dios no deber铆a ser el premio de consolaci贸n de los perdedores sino el premio mayor de todos los d铆as sin importar lo que est茅 sucediendo a nuestro alrededor.
Life can be busy. This just seems to be a reality of life. And especially within the Christian world, busyness sometimes seems to translate into godliness. I have known this to be true in my own life. I have the privilege to teach each week at the seminary and interact with students and colleagues regarding very important eternal matters. I also served as the lead pastor of a church on a 鈥減art-time鈥 basis. I鈥檓 married with two little boys who were always wanting daddy鈥檚 time. And I was finishing my dissertation for my doctorate. Just a little busy!
How would you like to be going into exile? Leaving all you have known鈥攜our home, your beautiful yard and fields, your places of repose and safety, your income earning ability? Two of my friends are going into exile this fall. One, the pastor of a church, is being exiled by leaders who had a different 鈥榲ision鈥 for the church than he had. Never mind that he had served there faithfully for over a dozen years鈥攜es, he had preached the Word, and yes, he had visited the sick鈥攂ut, well, it wasn鈥檛 enough. He is facing the exile of not having a job, not knowing the future and not being able to see what God has ahead for him.
El Esp铆ritu Santo es esencial para la vida y ense帽anza cristiana. De hecho, no creo exagerar al afirmar que sin la ayuda y poder del Esp铆ritu Santo todos nuestros esfuerzos tanto para agradar a Dios como para ense帽ar a otros a hacerlo carecen de sentido y, por lo tanto, los resultados son insignificantes. Desgraciadamente, en muchas ocasiones el Esp铆ritu Santo es olvidado, minimizado o incluso relevado a solamente una teor铆a teol贸gica que creemos porque se encuentra en la Biblia, pero que no tiene ninguna relevancia en nuestra vida diaria. De hecho, llegu茅 a escuchar a un profesor de un seminario afirmar que muchos cristianos de forma pr谩ctica creen que la santa trinidad est谩 compuesta por el Padre, el Hijo y las Santas Escrituras. De esta manera, la presencia del Esp铆ritu Santo es totalmente olvidada.
Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays. Somehow I seem to be lacking the creativity gene necessary to enjoy thinking up and assembling an ingenious costume. For me that process is not enjoyable; it is a laborious chore. It wasn鈥檛 always that way. Of course, as a young child, we don鈥檛 have much of a choice about whether we dress up for Halloween or what we wear. Our parents make those choices, and their primary criterion for a costume seems to be cuteness. And how hard is it to make a little child look cute?
Recently I found myself thinking back to an article in Christianity Today by Philip Yancey in which he profiled the late Catholic theologian Henri Nouwen. Nouwen, a prolific and well-known spiritual writer, had taught at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard before leaving academia to be a priest in residence for a community for the disabled in Toronto called Daybreak. On the surface, Nouwen鈥檚 decision might seem impulsive and irrational. After all, he left teaching at some of America鈥檚 premier universities to devote his time to people who did not have the ability to appreciate his tremendous intellectual gifts, who in fact could barely understand the most basic aspects of faith. But despite his academic success, Nouwen left those prestigious academic institutions because he felt that the busy schedule and intense competition were suffocating his spiritual life.
After a Talbot chapel some time ago, in which we struggled with three or four 'glitches' in the program, my dear colleague Dennis Gaines leaned over and said to me, "I call these things weeds". Yes, weeds...those little irritations that prevent our best efforts from being the gems of perfection we designed them to be.
A few weeks ago during the Scripture reading in church I was captivated by one of the verses read. It captured my thoughts to such an extent that I had a difficult time concentrating on the sermon. The words of the verse resonated in a deep place in my heart. The verse was John 14:5. In verses 1-3, Jesus is talking about going to prepare a place for the disciples in his Father鈥檚 house, a place where they will always be with him. Verse 5 is Thomas鈥檚 response to Jesus鈥 words in verse 4 where Jesus says, 鈥淎nd you know where I am going and how to get there鈥 (NLT). In his candid frustration, Thomas bursts out with this reaction: 鈥溾楴o, we don鈥檛 know, Lord,鈥 Thomas said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?鈥欌
Jack Wilson had always enjoyed being in the open air where he could stretch his lungs and move his twenty-five year-old limbs freely. Today, however, Jack imagined he was in the fourteenth century while he pedaled the five miles to his school when a brown Buick slammed into his bicycle from behind. The impact threw him ten feet towards the gutter where he pulled his face to his knees and protectively clutched his head, unaware of the blood. Then Jack was out.
黑料历史