Simple thoughts on faith, church and discipleship
Faithfulness to God leaks into relationships with people. The way we love God has to spill into the way we treat the people that He has made. The Golden Rule of Jesus isn't hard to understand, but it does prove quite difficult to apply.
A fictional short story from the suburbs.
How much of professional Christian life is geared so that we spend more time complaining about sinners than we spend in genuine compassionate friendship and relationship?
God's people need God's power to fulfill God's purpose.
"And what does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; but, oh, it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil, it makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes. It does not bless tomorrow, and it robs today. For every day has its own burden. Sufficient for each day is the evil which properly belongs to it. Do not add tomorrow's to today's. Do not drag the future into the present. The present has enough to do with its own proper concerns." - Alexander Maclaren
It doesn’t really matter where you are coming from, what matters is where God says you are going. Your past restrictions, because of your sin, don’t have to eliminate you from your inheritance as a son or daughter and from your citizenship in the new Jerusalem.
What is the point of fasting? It reminds us of dependence. It teaches us self-denial. It's part of a lifestyle of devotion. It makes us patient with delay.
What does it mean to pray, "Your Kingdom Come?"
This sermon was preached at the Downtown PM service at The Austin Stone. Audio and video from the sermon are available here. Matthew 5:38-42 – “Cheek Turning, Tunic Giving, Two Mile Going Grace” Intro: Evening, if you have your bibles, Matthew 5:38 is where we will be. Continuing in our study of The Gospel According to... Continue Reading →
