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.
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
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 →
What does it mean to live a life of radical truth telling? What does it mean for our yes to mean yes and our no to mean no?
It has been a terribly confusing week on the internet, well for me personally anyway, and I suspect for a few others judging by the plethora of “what have we learned articles” that I am unnecessarily adding to, and I am once again really wrestling with how and when to engage issues and how and when to leave them well alone.
We are very quick to point out how we don’t want to be jerks for Jesus, but then we just default to being cowards vaguely associated with Christ. Those aren’t our only two options.
