LifeCoach4God

Emergency Numbers in The Bible

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” – Exodus 33:14b

When in SORROW, call John 14

When people FAIL you, call Psalm 27

When you have SINNED, call Psalm 51

When you WORRY, call Matthew 6:19-34

When you are in DANGER, call Psalm 91

When God seems FAR AWAY, call Psalm 139

When your FAITH needs stirring, call Hebrews 11

When you are LONELY and FEARFUL, call Psalm 23

When you grow BITTER and CRITICAL, call 1 Corinthians 13

When you feel DOWN and OUT, call Romans 8:18-39

When you want REST and PEACE, call Matthew 11:25-30

When the WORLD seems BIGGER than God, call Psalm 90

When you want Christian ASSURANCE, call Romans 8:1-30

When you leave home for LABOR or TRAVEL, call Psalm 121

When your PRAYERS grow narrow or SELFISH, call Psalm 67

When you want COURAGE for a task, call Joshua 1

When you think of INVESTMENTS and RETURNS, call Mark 10

How to get along with DIFFICULT people, call Romans 12

For great INVENTION/OPPORTUNITY, call Isaiah 55

For Paul’s secret to HAPPINESS, call Colossians 3:12-17

For a SUMMARY OF CHRISTIANITY, call 1 Corinthians 5:15-19

If you are DEPRESSED, call Psalm 27

If you want to be FRUITFUL, call John 15

If your FINANCIALLY BROKE, call Psalm 37

If your are LOSING CONFIDENCE in PEOPLE, call 1 Corinthians 13

If people seem UNKIND, call John 15

If your are DISCOURAGED about your WORK, call Psalm 126

If you find the world growing SMALL, and you GREAT, call Psalm 19

Keller & Clowney: Preaching Christ in a Post-Modern World

Some of the most helpful resources on preaching Christ from all of Scripture that you will ever find. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Faith In Motion

I love sharing God’s word through preaching. Since I’m moving to preaching every week, as we launch The Exchange Community in Jackson, Mo, I thought It would be good to reexamine my preaching and how I interpret and display God’s word. I remembered a friend of mine shared, a number of years back, that Tim Killer and Edmond Clowney team taught a class at Reformed Theological Seminary on Preaching Christ in a Post-Modern World. As I started to listen through these teachings, I desired to share them with other church planters, preachers, and pastors that may not be aware of their existence. Even if you don’t fit in these categories, this is an excellent resource to understand and share scripture.

Free Resources:

Audio from itunes

Course Material in PDF These notes were extremely difficult to find. I believe they are notes from this course as it was later modified. They do not…

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The Value of Discipleship in Groups

More books and conferences under the banner of disciple-making are available now than ever before. As a result, believers are contemplating the implications of the Great Commission for their lives. With a better understanding of discipleship come questions of how to replicate the process. One important facet is how many people should be discipled together. The size of your discipleship group should be considered before approaching potential group members.

I have found that the most effective discipleship groups, what we call D-Groups, are gender-exclusive. Men should meet with men, and women should meet with women. Some topics and personal problems should not be discussed in a mixed group. While it is wonderful for couples to study God’s Word and grow spiritually together, the crucial dynamic of a D-Group is compromised when couples are involved, particularly in the areas of transparency and accountability.

FIVE REASONS TO DISCIPLE IN GROUPS

While the Bible never prescribes a particular model for discipling others, Jesus invested in groups of varying sizes.[1] Larger groups learned from his teachings and miracles, while his closest followers benefited from personal discipleship and specific instruction. While one-on-one discipling is valid and has it purposes, I want you to consider five reasons to meet in a group of three to five instead of privately with one.

1. Avoid the Ping-Pong Match

First, a group of two can be like a ping-pong match: you, the leader, are responsible to keep the ball in play. “Mike, how was your day?” “Good,” responds Mike. The leader probes deeper by asking, “Any insights from your Scripture reading this week?” “I enjoyed it,” Mike briefly replies. The conversation progresses only as the mentor engages the mentee. The pressure to lead is lessened when others in the group join in on the spiritual journey.

2. One-on-One can be Challenging to Reproduce

Second, a one-on-one model can be challenging to reproduce because the person in whom you are investing has a tendency to look at you in the same manner that Timothy looked at the Apostle Paul. Mentees, after a year or two in a discipling relationship, have said to me, “I could never do with another person what you did with me.” Yet a group takes a journey together. It is worth noting that group members usually don’t feel ready to begin their own groups. Neither did the disciples. But Jesus left them with no choice. Remember, the discipling relationship is not complete until the mentee becomes a mentor, the player becomes a coach.

3. Group of Two Tends to Become a Counseling Session

Third, a group of two tends to become a counseling session, where you spend the majority of your time solving personal problems. Biblical wisdom for personal issues is certainly a part of the discipling relationship, but therapeutic advice every week must not define the group.

4. Jesus Discipled in Groups

Fourth, as mentioned earlier, Jesus utilized the group model. While he spent time investing in a group of twelve, he used teachable moments to shape three—Peter, James, and John—in a unique way. With the exception of Judas, all twelve faithfully followed the Lord, even to the point of death. But these three were the key leaders in the early years of the church.

Solomon, a financial genius and the Warren Buffett of his day, advocated the diversification of assets twenty-five hundred years before Wall Street existed (Eccl. 11:1-2). Wise people invest in a variety of stocks, bonds, and commodities. Jesus, too, believed in diversified investing and modeled it in his discipleship example. Joel Rosenberg and T.E. Koshy pose a thought-provoking question:

What if for three years Jesus had discipled only Judas? Despite his best efforts, Jesus would have wound up with no one to carry on his legacy and his message when he returned to the Father. Jesus didn’t invest in just one man. He invested in a group of men from a wide range of backgrounds, including fishermen, a tax collector, and a Zealot (a political revolutionary).[2]

Jesus poured himself into twelve men, and taught us the importance of the group in disciple-making. Yes, there are times when a one-on-one mentoring relationship is beneficial, but in the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, it is not the norm.

Paul, in similar fashion, used his missionary journeys to train others. He rarely if ever traveled alone, always including Barnabas, Silas, John Mark, Timothy, and others as gospel co-workers. When Paul charged Timothy in his final letter, he stated, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:1-2). Notice that Paul says, “Entrust to faithful men”—plural—“who will teach others.” Throughout his ministry, Paul modeled this practice.

5. Built-in Accountability

Finally, a group of three to five provides a built-in accountability system, as well as encouragement from others. In my first D-Group, two of the three men involved came prepared with a Bible-reading journal I had asked them to complete. But one, a skeptic of the system’s value, failed to make any entry. Prior to joining the D-Group, his excuse for not reading the Bible was, “It’s difficult to understand.” Using the other two men to motivate him, I countered, “Can you just try journaling for the next five days? Right now, you have no evidence to prove that it doesn’t work. By trying it, you will know if it works for you or not.” The next week, he arrived with a smile on his face, saying, “Let me share what I heard from God through his Word this week.” Watching the excitement of the others challenged him to contribute to the group, and to his own spiritual development.

What has been your experience in a discipleship group? Does size matter? If so, how?

About Robby Gallaty:

Robby Gallaty (@Rgallaty) is the Senior Pastor of Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN and founder of Replicate Ministries. For more information on discipleship, you can visit replicateministries.org.

[1]The gospels record Jesus ministering in 5 group sizes: the crowd (multitudes), the committed (the 72 in Luke 10), the cell (the twelve disciples), the core (Peter, James, and John), and the close-up encounters (one-on-one). Making disciples cannot be restricted to a particular group meeting; however, a regular gathering time is practically necessary for accountability.

[2] Joel C. Rosenberg and T. E. Koshy, The Invested Life (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2012), 87-88.

*Article adapted from http://www.9marks.org/blog/why-disciple-groups – August 16, 2013

Book Review on William Lane Craig’s and Joseph E. Gorra’s A Reasonable Response

“A Great Application of 1 Peter 3:15”: Book Review by David P. Craig

One of the most famous verses in the Bible used in the field of apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (ESV). In apologetics when a person “defends” the faith of Christianity it’s easy to get “defensive” when arguing with someone of another opinion. The beauty of this book is that Craig and Gorra are able to give the finest evidences for the Christian faith and answer the biggest objections to Christianity and do so while “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).

Craig and Gorra are not only a gifted apologists, but loving evangelists and truly demonstrate how the gospel can be the center piece of all evidence with reference to offensive evidences as well as defending attacks on the Christian faith.

The six sections of this helpful book in answering difficult questions are as follows: (1) Questions on Knowing and Believing What Is Real – questions such as: Does Knowledge require certainty?; What is the criterion for a good argument?; Is there such a thing as objective truth?; and Is the price of biblical errancy too high to pay? (2) Questions About God – such as: Is a Maximally Great Being Possible?; Is Trinity Monotheism Orthodox?; and In What Sense Is God a “Simple Being”? (3) Questions about Origins and the Meaning of Life – like the following: Must the Cause of the Universe Be Personal?; Is there a contradiction in God’s creation of time?; Is life absurd without God?; and Is Scientism Self-refuting? (4) Questions about the Afterlife and Evil – like: Does creation benefit the lost?; Do the damned in Hell accrue further punishment?; and Was the slaughter of the Canaanites an act of “Divine Genocide”? (5) Questions about Jesus Christ and Being His Disciple: What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God?; Can one justifiably infer Jesus’ resurrection on the basis of the empirical evidence?; and What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God? (6) Questions about Issues of Christian Practice – such as: Do we live in a Postmodern Society?; How might we think about a Christian marrying a non-Christian?; and “Can someone be a “Christian Homosexual?”

Also of immense help are the three appendixes which include: (1) Tips on using the book for small group study; (2) Fostering question-asking and answer-seeking environments; (3) Civility guidelines for (online) “third places.”

Perhaps nobody will agree with 100% of the answers given, or be totally convinced of all the evidence or answers provided. However, anyone reading this book will benefit richly from it. The myriad of questions addressed by both believers and non-believers are answered cogently and practically. I will return to this book again and again as a virtual encyclopedia of great answers to great questions on the Christian faith. You will learn from these seasoned apologists how to “always be prepared to make a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” and you will be guided in how to do this “with gentleness and respect.”

Tim Keller on Five Practices of The Missional Church

THE MISSIONAL CHURCH

The rapid decline of Christendom since the end of WWII has instituted an even greater need for “missional” churches to engage the surrounding community and retell the culture’s stories through the context of the gospel.

THE NEED FOR A MISSIONAL CHURCH

In the West for nearly a thousand years, the relationship of European Christian churches to the broader culture was a relationship known as “Christendom.” The institutions of society “Christianized” people and stigmatized non-Christian belief and behavior. Though people were Christianized by the culture, they were not necessarily regenerated or converted with the gospel. The church’s job was then to challenge persons into a vital, living relation with Christ.

There were great advantages and yet great disadvantages to Christendom. The advantage was a common language for public moral discourse with which society could discuss what was “good.” The disadvantage was that Christian morality without gospel-changed hearts often led to cruelty and hypocrisy. Think of how the small town in Christendom treated the unwed mother, for example. Also, under Christendom the church often was silent against the ruling classes’ abuses of the weak. For these reasons and others, the church in Europe and North America has been losing its privileged place as the arbiter of public morality since at least the mid- nineteenth century. The decline of Christendom has accelerated greatly since the end of World War II.

British missionary Lesslie Newbigin went to India around 1950. There he was involved with a church in a very non-Christian culture. When he returned to England some thirty years later, he discovered that the Western church now found itself in a non-Christian society as well, but it had not adapted to its new situation. Though public institutions and the popular culture of Europe and North America no longer Christianized people, the church still ran its ministries assuming that a stream of Christianized, traditional/moral people would simply show up at worship services. Some churches certainly carried out evangelism as one ministry among many, but the church in the West had not become completely missional—adapting and reformulating absolutely everything it did in worship, discipleship, community, and service so as to be engaged with the non-Christian society around it. It had not developed a missiology of Western culture, the way it had done with other nonbelieving cultures.

One of the reasons much of the evangelical church in the United States has not experienced the same precipitous decline as the Protestant churches of Europe and Canada is because in the United States there is still a heartland with remnants of the old Christendom society. There the informal public culture, though not the formal public institutions, still stigmatizes non-Christian beliefs and behavior. There is a “fundamental schism in American cultural, political, and economic life. There’s the quicker-growing, economically vibrant . . . morally relativist, urban-oriented, culturally adventuresome, sexually polymorphous, and ethnically diverse nation. . . .

And there’s the small-town, nuclear-family, religiously oriented, white-centric other America, [with] . . . its diminishing cultural and economic force. . . . [T]wo countries” (Michael Wolf, “The Party LIne,” New York, February 26, 2001: 19). In conservative regions, it is still possible to see people professing faith and the church growing without becoming missional. Most traditional evangelical churches can win to Christ only people who are temperamentally traditional and conservative. As Wolff notes, however, this

is a shrinking market, and eventually evangelical churches ensconced in the declining, remaining enclaves of Christendom will have to learn how to become missional. If they do not, they will decline or die.

We don’t simply need evangelistic churches; rather, we need missional churches.

THE PRACTICES OF A MISSIONAL CHURCH

(1) SPEAK IN THE VERNACULAR

In Christendom there is little difference between the language inside and outside of the church; technical biblical terms are well-known inside and outside church life. Documents of the early U.S. Congress, for ex- ample, are riddled with allusions to and references from the Bible. In a missional church, however, these terms must be explained.

The missional church:

+ avoids “tribal” language, stylized prayer language, unnecessarily pious evangelical jargon, and archaic lan- guage that seeks to set a spiritual tone.

+ avoids “we-they” language, disdainful jokes that mock people of different politics and beliefs, and dismis- sive, disrespectful comments about those who differ with us.

+ avoids sentimental, pompous, “inspirational” talk.

+ avoidstalkingasifnonbelievingpeoplewerenotpresent.Ifyouspeakanddiscourseasifyourwholeneigh- borhood were present (and not just scattered Christians), eventually more and more of your neighbors will find their way in or be invited.

Unless all of the above is the outflow of a truly humble-bold, gospel-changed heart, it is all just marketing and spin.

(2) ENTER AND RETELL THE CULTURE’S STORIES WITH THE GOSPEL

In Christendom it is possible to simply exhort Christianized people to do what they know they should. There is little or no real engagement, listening, or persuasion. Often, along with exhortation there is a heavy reliance on guilt to motivate behavior change. In a missional church, the preaching and communication always as- sume the presence of skeptical people and consequently engage their stories.

+ To enter the culture’s stories means to show sympathy toward and deep acquaintance with the literature, music, theater, and other arts expressing the existing culture’s hopes, dreams, heroic narratives, and fears.

+ To retell the culture’s stories is to show how only in Christ can we have freedom without slavery, and em- brace of the other without injustice. The older culture’s story called on people to be a good father/mother, son/daughter, and to live a decent, merciful, good life. Now the culture’s story calls people (a) to be free and self-created and authentic (note the theme of freedom from oppression); and (b) to make the world safe for everyone else to be the same (theme of inclusion of the “other”; justice).

(3) THEOLOGICALLY TRAIN LAYPEOPLE FOR PUBLIC LIFE AND VOCATION

In Christendom you can afford to train people solely in prayer, Bible study, and evangelism—private world skills— because they are not facing radically non-Christian values in their public life. In a missional church, the laity needs theological education to “think Christianly” about everything and to work with Christian distinctiveness. They need to know three things: (a) which cultural practices manifest common grace and are to be embraced, (b) which practices are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected, and (c) which practices can be adapted/revised.

+ In a missional situation, the renewing and transformation of the culture through the work of laypeople with distinctively Christian vocations must be lifted up as real kingdom work and ministry, along with the traditional ministry of the Word.

+ Christians will have to use the gospel to demonstrate true, biblical love and tolerance in the public square toward those with whom we deeply differ. This tolerance should equal or exceed that which groups with opposing views show toward Christians. The charge of intolerance is perhaps the main “defeater” of the gospel in the non-Christian West.

(4) CREATE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY THAT IS COUNTERCULTURAL AND COUNTERINTUITIVE

In Christendom, “fellowship” is basically just a set of nurturing relationships, support, and accountability. In a missional church, however, Christian community must go beyond that to embody a counterculture, showing the world how radically different a Christian society is with regard to sex, money, and power.

+ In sex. We avoid both the secular society’s idolization of sex and traditional society’s fear of sex. We also exhibit love rather than hostility or fear toward those whose sexual life-patterns are different from ours.

+ In money. We promote a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, and the economically and physically weak.

+ In power. We are committed to power sharing and relationship building among races and classes that are alienated outside of the body of Christ. A missional church must be deeply and practically committed to deeds of compassion and social justice and deeply and practically committed to evangelism and conversion.

(5) PRACTICE CHRISTIAN UNITY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ON THE LOCAL LEVEL

In Christendom, when “everyone was a Christian,” it was perhaps necessary for a church to define itself over against other churches—that is, to gain an identity you had to say, “We are not like that church over there or those Christians over here.” Today, however, it is much more illuminating and helpful for a church to define itself over against “the world”—the values of the non-Christian culture.

+ It is very important that we do not spend our time bashing and criticizing other kinds of churches. That criticalness simply plays into the common “defeater” that Christians are all intolerant.

+ While we have to align ourselves in denominations that share many of our distinctives, at the local level we should cooperate with, reach out to, and support the other congregations and churches in our area. This will raise many thorny issues, of course, but our bias should be in the direction of cooperation.

A CASE STUDY

This concept of the missional church goes beyond any program; the practices described here have to be present in every area of the church.

For example, what makes a small group missional? A missional small group is not necessarily one that is do- ing some kind of specific evangelism program (though that is to be encouraged). Rather, (1) if its members love and talk positively about the city/neighborhood, (2) if they speak in language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms and phrases, nor with disdainful and embattled verbiage, (3) if in their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture, (4) if they are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature, art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and critically, (5) if they exhibit deep concern for the poor, generosity with their money, purity and respect with regard to the opposite sex, and humility toward people of other races and cultures, and (6) if they do not bash other Christians and churches—then seekers and nonbelieving people will be invited and will come and stay as they explore spiritual issues.

We encourage you to use and share this material freely—but please don’t charge money for it, change the wording, or remove the copyright information.

About Tim Keller:

In 1989 Dr. Timothy J. Keller, his wife and three young sons moved to New York City to begin Redeemer Presbyterian Church. In 20 years it has grown to meeting for five services at three sites with a weekly attendance of over 5,000. Redeemer is notable not only for winning skeptical New Yorkers to faith, but also for partnering with other churches to do both mercy ministry and church planting. Redeemer City to City is working to help establish hundreds of new multi-ethnic congregations throughout the city and other global cities in the next decades.

Dr. Tim Keller is the author of several phenomenal Christo-centric books including:

Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It (co-authored with Greg Forster and Collin Hanson (February or March, 2014).

Encounters with Jesus:Unexpected Answers to Life’s Biggest Questions. New York, Dutton (November 2013).

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. New York, Dutton (October 2013).

Judges For You (God’s Word For You Series). The Good Book Company (August 6, 2013).

Galatians For You (God’s Word For You Series). The Good Book Company (February 11, 2013).

Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World. New York, Penguin Publishing, November, 2012.

Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, September, 2012.

The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness. New York: 10 Publishing, April 2012.

Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just. New York: Riverhead Trade, August, 2012.

The Gospel As Center: Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices (editor and contributor). Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God. New York, Dutton, 2011.

King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus (Retitled: Jesus the KIng: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God). New York, Dutton, 2011.

Gospel in Life Study Guide: Grace Changes Everything. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2010.

The Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York, Dutton, 2009.

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Priorities of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters. New York, Riverhead Trade, 2009.

Heralds of the King: Christ Centered Sermons in the Tradition of Edmund P. Clowney (contributor). Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009.

The Prodigal God. New York, Dutton, 2008.

Worship By The Book (contributor). Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1997.

A Journey From Atheism to Jesus

This is a beautiful story of Jordan Monge, a Harvard University student, and her journey from atheism to Christ.

I read the Qur’an and Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion. I went through The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible and looked up Christian rebuttals to apparent contradictions. But nothing compared to the rich tradition of Christian intellect.

The Atheist's Dilemma

The Atheist’s Dilemma

By Jordan Monge

I don’t know when I first became a skeptic. It must have been around age 4, when my mother found me arguing with another child at a birthday party: “But how do you know what the Bible says is true?” By age 11, my atheism was so widely known in my middle school that a Christian boy threatened to come to my house and “shoot all the atheists.” My Christian friends in high school avoided talking to me about religion because they anticipated that I would tear down their poorly constructed arguments. And I did.

As I set off in 2008 to begin my freshman year studying government at Harvard (whose motto isVeritas, “Truth”), I could never have expected the change that awaited me.

It was a brisk November when I met John Joseph Porter. Our conversations initially revolved around conservative politics, but soon gravitated toward religion. He wrote an essay for theIchthus, Harvard’s Christian journal, defending God’s existence. I critiqued it. On campus, we’d argue into the wee hours; when apart, we’d take our arguments to e-mail. Never before had I met a Christian who could respond to my most basic philosophical questions: How does one understand the Bible’s contradictions? Could an omnipotent God make a stone he could not lift? What about the Euthyphro dilemma: Is something good because God declared it so, or does God merely identify the good? To someone like me, with no Christian background, resorting to an answer like “It takes faith” could only be intellectual cowardice. Joseph didn’t do that.

The Cross no longer seemed a grotesque symbol of divine sadism, but a remarkable act of love. Christianity began to look less strangely mythical and more cosmically beautiful.

And he did something else: He prodded me on how inconsistent I was as an atheist who nonetheless believed in right and wrong as objective, universal categories. Defenseless, I decided to take a seminar on meta-ethics. After all, atheists had been developing ethical systems for 200-some years. In what I now see as providential, my atheist professor assigned a paper by C. S. Lewis that resolved the Euthyphro dilemma, declaring, “God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God.”

Joseph also pushed me on the origins of the universe. I had always believed in the Big Bang. But I was blissfully unaware that the man who first proposed it, Georges Lemaître, was a Catholic priest. And I’d happily ignored the rabbit trail of a problem of what caused the Big Bang, and what caused that cause, and so on.

By Valentine’s Day, I began to believe in God. There was no intellectual shame in being a deist, after all, as I joined the respectable ranks of Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers.

I wouldn’t stay a deist for long. A Catholic friend gave me J. Budziszewski’s book Ask Me Anything, which included the Christian teaching that “love is a commitment of the will to the true good of the other person.” This theme—of love as sacrifice for true good—struck me. The Cross no longer seemed a grotesque symbol of divine sadism, but a remarkable act of love. And Christianity began to look less strangely mythical and more cosmically beautiful.

At the same time, I had begun to read through the Bible and was confronted by my sin. I was painfully arrogant and prone to fits of rage. I was unforgiving and unwaveringly selfish. I passed sexual boundaries that I’d promised I wouldn’t. The fact that I had failed to adhere to my own ethical standards filled me with deep regret. Yet I could do nothing to right these wrongs. The Cross no longer looked merely like a symbol of love, but like the answer to an incurable need. When I read the Crucifixion scene in the Book of John for the first time, I wept.

NO WALK IN THE PARK

But beauty and need do not make something true. I longed for the Bible to be true, but the intellectual evidence was still insufficient.

So I plunged headlong into apologetics, devouring debates and books from many perspectives. I read the Qur’an and Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion. I went through The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible and looked up Christian rebuttals to apparent contradictions. But nothing compared to the rich tradition of Christian intellect. I’d argued with my peers, but I’d never investigated the works of the masters: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Pascal, and Lewis. When I finally did, the only reasonable course of action was to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But my head and my heart suddenly switched places. Though I began to know the evidence for the Scriptures, my head full of answers, I began to feel distant from the story that had brought me to tears a month prior. When reading through the Passion narrative on retreat on Cape Cod in the spring, I remained utterly unmoved. I went out to pray.

I walked to a pond surrounded by trees and began praying by the water’s edge. I felt disconnected from God, from the friends I’d begun to hold dear, from my body itself. I begged God to make it all click, as a test for me to know that he was there. After an hour with no progress, I started to walk.

Following the pond to a stream, I began climbing through the surrounding thicket to see if I could reach the ocean a little ways down. I kept pausing, thinking, Do I want to go back? I left all my stuff behind. But each time, I renewed my steps, believing that I couldn’t quit until I’d made it to the end. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I just gave up and went back to where I’d started. I had some sense of direction of where I needed to go, but I didn’t know how to get there.

I climbed over branches and under bushes, sometimes going in the opposite direction for a while when the bramble grew too thick. I treaded lightly through marshes only to have the mud swallow my leg up to the knee. After pulling myself out, I started walking through the stream, since I figured I couldn’t get any dirtier, and the ground seemed to be most trustworthy along the middle of the river where the water had worn the path. So I followed it until the last light of day was waning.

I quickly realized that my journey through the briar patch was an apt metaphor. I’m trying to get somewhere, but I’m not sure how to get there. There’s no clear path, so I must proceed by trusting my instincts. I might even go off in the opposite direction for a little while. In the end, I may arrive right back where I started. But that’s okay too, because I’ll get there with a clearer head and everything will be waiting for me when I’m done. It won’t be easy. Sometimes I’ll get mired in the mud, or caught up in thorns. But I’ll make it through, though not without a few cuts.

If I wanted to continue forward in this investigation, I couldn’t let it be just an intellectual journey. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). I could know the truth only if I pursued obedience first.

I’d been waiting for my head and my heart to be in agreement. By the end of the church retreat, they weren’t completely in sync. Many days they still aren’t. But I realized that the unity could come later. If my heart had agreed at one point, and my head agreed now, then my heart would follow. I couldn’t let a malfunctioning heart delay the logical course of action, the obedience required by true faith.

I committed my life to Christ by being baptized on Easter Sunday, 2009.

This walk has proved to be quite a journey. I’ve struggled with depression. I would yell, scream, cry at this God whom I had begun to love but didn’t always like. But never once did I have to sacrifice my intellect for my faith, and he blessed me most keenly through my doubt. God revealed himself through Scripture, prayer, friendships, and the Christian tradition whenever I pursued him faithfully. I cannot say for certain where the journey ends, but I have committed to follow the way of Christ wherever it may lead. When confronted with the overwhelming body of evidence I encountered, when facing down the living God, it was the only rational course of action.

I came to Harvard seeking Veritas. Instead, he found me.

Source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html

Book Review on Tim Keller’s: The Father and Son

“The Value of Christ’s Ascension” Book Review by David P. Craig

Most Christians can tell you the value of the incarnation, atonement, or resurrection of Christ. However, on the other hand most Christians would be hard pressed to offer much insight to the practical values related to Christ’s ascension.

In this essay Keller explains how Jesus in His ascension provides great value to His subjects as the reigning Prophet, Priest, and King. In between His resurrection and His return to earth – Christ is currently alive and well and currently reigning in the present.

Keller discusses what the ascension means for us theologically and practically.

Theologically Christ’s ascension means that Jesus’ ascension is not simply Jesus’ return from earth to Heaven, but it is a “new enthronement for Jesus, bringing a new relationship with us and with the whole world.” Jesus as King is currently actively engaged in His mediatorial work throughout the earth. Jesus is directing a “cosmic transition plan–one that will bring about the new heavens and a new earth.”

Practically, Christ’s ascension means three things: (1) Jesus is available to us now twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for intimate communication and loving fellowship. Keller writes: “Because Christ is ascended we can know his presence, actually speaking to us, actually teaching us, actually pouring out his love out into our hearts–through the Holy Spirit”; (2) Jesus is the Ultimate Sovereign Authority over the universe. Keller explains, “Jesus controls all things for the church, and therefore you can face the world with peace in your heart…To say that Jesus is making everything work together for your good means that not only are bad things a part of his plan but also little things”; (3) The ascension of Christ means that Jesus guarantees that we can know that we are forgiven, accepted and delighted in by God the Father.

Keller’s short essay is theologically rich, preeminently encouraging, and extremely practical. This short read will give you an appreciation for the practical ramifications of Jesus’ ascension, but more importantly it will cause you to worship Him on the spot for ascending to Heaven for your benefit and His glory.

Friday Humor: Men Be Careful When Dealing With Your Wife’s Age!

Series: Friday Humor # 23

Craig’s wife bought a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger.

After a lengthy sitting before the mirror applying the “miracle” products, she asked, “Darling, honestly, what age would you say I am?”

Looking over her carefully, Craig replied, “Judging from your skin, twenty one; your hair, twenty three; and your figure, twenty five.”

“Oh, you flatterer!” she gushed.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Craig interrupted.

“I haven’t added them up yet.”

10 Principles of Discipleship

1. Discipleship is about a Relationship

Michael Wilkins has defined a disciple of Jesus as one who “has come to Jesus for eternal life, has claimed Jesus as Savior and God, and has embarked upon the life of following Jesus.”[1] His very presence in my life and his promise to never leave nor forsake me, encourages me to daily follow Him. At the heart of following Him is this undeserved relationship I have with Him.

2. Discipleship is enabled and empowered by the work of the Holy Spirit who transforms us into the image of Christ.

The Holy Spirit indwells and fills believers (Eph. 5:18), guides us into all truth (John 16:13), brings forth fruit in our lives (Gal. 5:22-23) and empowers us for ministry in the church and in the world.[2] The Spirit is God’s presence in us (Rom. 8:11) to confirm that we are indeed children of God (Rom. 8:16) and to convict us of sin for the continuing process of conforming us into the image of Christ. Understanding the role of the Holy Spirit encourages the response of submission to His sanctifying work.

3. Discipleship is grounded and guided by the Word of God

The Bible is our authority in all areas of life. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Consistent nourishment is a vital component of one’s spiritual growth (Psalm 1, John 15).

4. Discipleship is nurtured in community

Community with other believers is a vital part of our growth as disciples. We were made to be in fellowship with one another. Thus the imagery of the body of Christ portrays how vitally linked we are to one another. In such community we are able to fulfill the command of loving one another and with this community then to love the world.

5. Discipleship is a continuing process of being transformed from the inside-out

“The ultimate goal of the believer’s life is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Ro 8:29).”[3] Jesus described a radical way of life in the sermon on the mount. In a world in which righteousness was very much regarded by one’s outward actions, Jesus emphasized the transformation of the heart.

6. Discipleship produces spiritual fruit

As the Holy Spirit works to transform the individual and change is made from the inside-out, the characteristics of God become evident in the believer’s life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

7. Disciples of Christ who are in the process of inward transformation, yield to the Spirit’s leading in service and mission.

Spiritual formation is both about the inward change of heart and the outward manifestation of that changed heart. Christ modeled the life of service for His disciples and commands us to serve in humility and love while proclaiming His truth in a lost world.

8. Disciples are called to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings

As we live in a sin-cursed world, we bear the effects of sin on a daily basis. With the presence of Christ and the promise of future hope with Him, we are able to endure the pain and even be transformed in the process. Paul writes of this truth in 2 Cor. 4:17: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” God invites us to suffer for His sake, for living to honor Christ in a world that is hostile toward Him. In this, we share in his sufferings and bring glory to Him.

9. Disciples Must Count the Cost

Following Christ as His disciple means letting go of one’s own will and seeking the will of God in all things (Luke 9:23). Nothing must take the place of Jesus as the “focus of allegiance,” as Wilkins explains.[4]

10. Discipleship is a Life-long Journey

In my own life, describing my faith and discipleship in terms of the journey metaphor has been vitally important on many different levels. As I come to different forks in the road, or experience difficult trials, knowing that Jesus is my trustworthy Master and Leader, is my sole comfort and motivation to continue in this journey of faith. We must continue to realize and endeavor to endure the trials of faith that come with renewed commitment to following Christ on a daily basis.

[1] Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 40.

[2] Michael Glerup, “The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Formation,” in The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation, ed. Alan Andrews (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2010), 251.

[3] Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 133.

[4] Michael J. Wilkins, An Outline Study Guide to “Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship,” 69.

*Article above adapted from http://www.thetwocities.com/practical-theology/discipleship-2/discipleship-principles/ Posted by Jeannette Hagen – February 25, 2013

About the Author:

Jeanette Hagan is currently a PhD candidate in New Testament at the University of Durham. Studying under John M.G. Barclay, she is writing her thesis on the relationship between Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith and the continuing participation a believer experiences in the death, resurrection and life of Christ. Previously, she studied English literature for her B.A. at Biola University while being in the first graduating class of the Torrey Honors Institute. In 2011 she completed her M.A. in New Testament at Talbot School of Theology. Her passion is training and equipping disciples to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. She has served in a variety of ministry capacities. Highlights include: organizing summer camps and humanitarian efforts for orphans in Ukraine and Russia, traveling 5 continents sharing the Gospel, helping to facilitate for theological and practical ministry training for believers around the world, and serving in a church plant in Whittier, CA. In her free time she enjoys reading, being outdoors in a variety of recreational capacities, playing piano, and mostly just spending quality time with family and friends.

Are You Bitter or Better?

Neal Jeffrey: A Case Study

One of my favorite people, and certainly one of America’s One finest communicators, is Neal Jeffrey. Neal, as quarterback, led the Baylor Bears football team to the Southwest Conference championship in 1974. Today, he addresses many youth groups as well as adult businesspeople. He is truly one of the most humorous, sincere, and capable speakers I’ve ever heard. The interesting thing is that Neal is a stutterer. However, he has chosen to make stuttering an asset, not a problem. Now think about what you just read. A very successful quarterback and public speaker who stutters doesn’t compute in the minds of most people. Neal Jeffrey has taken a negative and turned it into a positive. After speaking a few minutes, he tells audiences that in case they hadn’t noticed, he stutters. Then with a big smile, he says, “Sometimes I do get hung up a little bit. But don’t worry. I guarantee you something’s coming!” The audience invariably responds enthusiastically Neal is the classic example of an outstanding individual who chose to make an obstacle an asset. The obstacle has forced Neal to be more creative and to do more reading, research, and studying so he can most effectively turn that liability into an asset. Result: He got better, not bitter. He is better not in spite of his stutter, but because of his stutter. Neal has reached and is reaching goal after goal in all areas of his life. I believe that you can do the same thing. When (not if) troubles and problems come your way, remember that the only way to the mountaintop is through the valley. All of us have liabilities that can hold us back or propel us forward. In most cases, the choice is ours. So, take your obstacles or liabilities, recognize and evaluate them, and then find a way to turn them into assets.

– Zig Ziglar. Something to Smile About: Encouragement and Inspiration for Life’s Ups and Downs (Kindle Locations 1215-1226). Kindle Edition.

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NO WALK IN THE PARK

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