Scripture Focus: You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself
Scripture Focus: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the
Two-thirds of the world’s population now lives in countries where the birth rate has dropped to or below 2.1 babies per woman, the number needed to keep the population constant. When I first read that I was shocked by the language: 2.1 babies per woman. However, it was the concern that really got my attention. Experts are concerned that the
Our Wesleyan Anthropology, our story, should consist of: Freedom from Addictions and Restoration of Families People who are living witnesses of being set free from their addictions, of all kind. May families be released from the destruction of drugs and alcohol. May freedom from pornography help homes define the word “love” according to God’s holy lexicon. Healing Marriages
Scripture Focus: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us
Finally, to the chapter of our Worldview story that Wesleyans can make the most profound contribution, “What is the solution?” What is our Soteriology and Eschatology narrative? Understanding Eschatology: A New Heaven and a New Earth In Good biblical fashion, may I address the last question first? Eschatology. As you read the end of the Story; Rev 21-22, we discover
In my last article I focused on the notion of mission as “making disciples who make disciples.” I introduced the term “discipleship evangelism”, as the essence of evangelism. I hinted at the claim that there is “no great commission without the great commandment”. We must nurture and cherish the bond between word and deed, ideas and consequences, beliefs and actions. Good
What is our Hamartiology? Bill Arnold’s third question to establish a “world view story” has to do with “What has gone wrong? What is our Hamartiology?” (As a review, Harmartiology means our understanding of sin, or what’s gone wrong). We flow immediately from our “orienting story” in Genesis 1-2 to a “dys-orienting” one in Genesis Chapter 3. Yes, this can be seen
Scripture Focus: It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre. You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing
What is our cosmology? When my son Joshua was very young and I would put him to bed at night, he would say this, “Daddy, tell me a story. BUT make sure to get me into it.” We are indeed people of story. But first and foremost, we need an orienting story. A compelling story from which to stand and gaze
Scripture Focus: If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you
In the questions Jesus was often asked, two stand out. A young man of great wealth asked him, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). In another setting an expert of the law questioned, “Teacher, which one was the greatest commandment in the Law?” The first question, often phrased “What must I do to
In my last article I reflected on Paul’s emotional struggle as he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. He was filled with emotion as he thought of these new Christians, and in his mind, probably rehearsing his own Damascus Road experience. How could he say what he was feeling and thinking? What did he need to say? All he had
Scripture Focus: When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Abide in my love. When you obey my commandments, you abide in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have told you
“For the first time in my life, I had joined with Jesus’s compassion for someone who was sick and felt the power of God flow into another to make him well.” In their book Healing Prayer: God’s Idea for Restoring Body, Mind, and Spirit, David Chotka and Maxie Dunnam remind us that healing miracles still happen today. Healing miracles in
Scripture Focus: When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die
Join me in your imagination. We are a part of a Christian congregation in Ephesus. At one of our gatherings, a fellow member reads a letter written by the great apostle, Paul. He is seeking to shepherd the new emerging Christian movement and he is praying for us. Hear him, now. I kneel in prayer to the Father, from whom
We transfer this mantle from our generation to the young, indicating that the responsibilities of the older generation will be caught up and carried on by the young, and that the spirit of today’s Elijahs will rest on today’s Elishas.” Nearly a decade ago these words rang across the retirement service as a retiring elder handed me a symbolic lantern.
Scripture Focus: If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one
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