John Piper on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

June 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
piper(1)

John Piper (who is not a Pentecostal but a Reformed Noncessationist) says... "Now the positive thing I want to say about the moderate Pentecostal teaching (represented by the Bennets, i.e., Dennis & Rita) is that it is right to stress the experiential reality of receiving the Spirit. When you read the New Testament honestly, you can't help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience... I think that being baptized with the Holy Spirit (the way Luke means it) is not the same as being born … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Charismatic, Holy Spirit, Pentecostal, Pentecostalism, Pneumatology, Power, Spirit Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

An Interesting Elevator Ride: The Book That Sparks Opinion

May 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
elevator

If you ever want to make an elevator ride interesting, just casually ask the fellow riders in the car what they think about THE BIBLE. And, then, hope you’re in a tall building, because it seems that everybody has an opinion about the Bible. The varying opinions of the Bible are many. Views range from a “pack of lies”... to “the hope of the world.” One psychologist wrote that in his opinion, “...a person who takes the Bible seriously is demonstrating a sickening form of dependency that ought to be addressed in long-term therapy.” On the contrary, a federal judge once said … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Bible, Encouragement, God, Religion, Revelation, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

A LifeWord: Off the Pages & Into Your Heart

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
hearing God

“The life is in the speaking words.” A.W. Tozer God wants to breathe a word into your soul and over your life.  Did you know that? It happened to people in the Bible. It has happened to people throughout history. It has even happened to me and it is a moment not to be missed. It can also happen to you. As a matter of fact, God wants it to. Of course, you may already know that God has written his words in a book, but the fact is. . .he also wants to write one on your heart. He has done so throughout the centuries in the lives of countless followers and you’re no different. God wants … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Bible, Communication, Encouragement, Faith, Following, Hope, Journey, Lifeword, Religion, Salvation Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

How Good is “Good Enough”?

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
overcoming feelings of inadequacy

  “I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion…” - Isaiah 1:14 The Message “It will be an ill day for us if what most humans mean by ‘religion’ ever vanishes from the Earth. It can still send us the truly delicious sins. The fine flower of unholiness can grow only in the close neighborhood of the Holy. Nowhere do we tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar.” - Senior “devil” Screwtape in a speech at the “Annual Dinner of the Tempter’s Training College for Young Devils” (from C.S. Lewis’ popular parody, The Screwtape Letters) One of my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Bible, Cross, Evangelism, Faith, God, Good, Gospel, Holiness, Intimacy, Jesus, Outreach, Relationship, Religion, Sin Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Was Jesus Religious?

May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
why-i-hate-religion-but-love-jesus-spoken-word-video

“I’m after mercy, not religion.” Hosea 6:6 The Message “Christ came when all things were growing old. He made them new.” Augustine Would Jesus be comfortable attending an average church service today? I’m not so sure. You have to wonder at least, don’t you? First, I’m not so sure he would sit still for that long. Second, in some churches, if Jesus showed up as a visitor, he would be ignored. In others, just plain bored. Even though in our church architecture we have certainly succeeded in stamping him onto our stain glass windows, I’m not so sure we could … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Bible, Cross, Evangelism, Faith, Following, God, Intimacy, Jesus, Journey, Relationship, Religion, Salvation Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

The God I DON’T Believe In.

May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Christian Atheist

There are many people in the world today who don’t believe in God. Even though I now believe in God, when I talk with some of these people I find I agree with them. The kind of God they don’t believe in, I don’t believe in either. Writer Brian McLaren described the God he doesn’t believe in: An uptight God who is about black-and-white easy answers and brittle, rigid logic and law, rather than about profound and many-faceted truth, self-sacrificing love, compassionate justice, and profound relationships. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Belief, Bible, Evangelism, Faith, Following, God, Gospel, Intimacy, Jesus, Journey, Outreach, Religion, Salvation, Sin Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a Comment

Jesus Didn’t Come to Start A New Religion.

May 6, 2012 By 1 Comment
RvR

How many more minutes before the church service would be over? That’s all I could think about. Every agenda item on the scheduled liturgy was just something else I would have to endure. My mind worked hard to calculate and estimate how much time each of these “perfunctories” would demand: Invocation – two minutes. Reading from Psalms – five minutes. Hymn #124 – three to five minutes. Hymn #291 – another three to five minutes. Sermon – twenty-five minutes, if I was lucky. And on and on it went until the mental calculator registered fifty-five minutes. Fifty-five minutes?! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Belief, Change, Evangelism, Faith, Following, Friendship, Intimacy, Jesus, Journey, Religion, Sin, Soul Tagged With: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Martin Luther called this verse “the Gospel in miniature…”

May 2, 2012 By 3 Comments
Martin Luther

Take some time in prayer today to consider the incredible lengths that Jesus Christ has gone to in order to forge a friendship with you. Carefully consider the one verse of Scripture which the church reformer, Martin Luther, called “the heart of the Bible, the Gospel in miniature”: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life(John 3:16).” Told differently: “God”……………………………………….……………………………..….The greatest Lover “so … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible, Change, Evangelism, Faith, Gospel, Outreach, Relationship, Salvation, Sin, Soul, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Chuck Colson Dies – From Watergate to the Gates of Heaven

April 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

… [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible, Change, Faith, leadership, Salvation, Sin, Soul, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

Leading, the Following Way.

April 10, 2012 By 3 Comments
Follow Me

Jesus did not focus on leadership; certainly not the way many Christian pastors and teachers do today.  In fact, I cannot find one place in all of his (red-letter) words where he calls any man specifically to “lead” or to “leadership.” Don’t get me wrong.  Certainly Jesus was and is a leader and led not only a band of twelve men but a movement that would fascinate and dominate the interests of countless millions.  Still, as I pour over his words, although I personally love the subject of leadership I am hard-pressed to find any inkling of the fascination we have today with the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bible, Change, Following, Jesus, leadership, Millennials, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , 3 Comments