God conforming me

Did Jesus really mean that?

What does Matthew 20 mean?

Remind me to re-listen to this one (or perhaps the following week when Micah moved on to Part 2... But I think it was this one...)

GLIMPSE _ PT 1

Micah Witham

7/31/11

Description:Week 1 of a series called Glimpse where we explore parables of Jesus. This week we unearth the context of Matthew 20 and seek to gain a better understanding of what Jesus was actually saying.

http://awakencommunity.com/media.php?pageID=15#27

So, what is "Dispensationalism"?

Over on one of my other blogs I have a page that jokingly but honestly lists the things I don't care about -- sports, cars, etc. Maybe I need a page like that here, because when a friend mentioned Dispensationalism in passing I realized that (despite brief study of it in a class one summer) it really wasn't "on my radar" as a topic of interest.

Maybe I can start with:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensationalism

The interesting thing to me is that, unlike the topic of cars or sports, the topic of "God's nature and character" is one that we ought to pursue. Not to the exclusion of other ministries and not as a point of division, but I think one of the spiritual disciplines is a growing interest in and pursuit of God and what He has revealed to us.

So, maybe I should study up on Dispensationalism vs. Covenant Theology vs. whatever else is out there...?

AG planting structure?

I wonder what the story is behind Deep Springs Church being planted next to Stone Church?

http://www.mnchurchplanting.com/church-plant-stories/2011/10/24/deep-springs-...
http://stonechurcheagan.com/

Sure, there's more than enough of God to go around, but given that (as I understand it) the AG has some sort of planned distribution of who-has-what-church-where, this must be intentional... Yet they're not sharing the same AG building that Stone Church meets in?

Anyone know the scoop?

Structure of mind/will/etc.

I was struggling and struggling to remember where I had heard this and I finally found it!!! Thanks to Google (for prompting the right connections deep in my mind that could be pried out otherwise):

http://books.google.com/books?id=ptuGdAmDuqIC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&d#v=onepage&q&f=false

That'll take you to the right page in Greg Boyd's book with a better pair of graphics than I can represent here.

I think there's a lot of truth in this model; gotta ponder it some more…

It was referenced by Rob Ketterling last Saturday in the "re[think]" series at River Valley Church (January 15):

https://www.rivervalley.org/default.aspx?page=3706 (starts at 6:50 into the video)

Graphic:

God's Original Design (top-down):

Lord /
Spirit /
Mind /
Body /
World /
Satan

Satan's Design (bottom-up):

Spirit \
Mind \
Body \
World \
Satan

The problem with Calvinism

Every so often over the years I encounter extreme Five-Point Calvinists who aren't content to leave the topic at "polite conversation about a centuries-old debate." I don't think that the nuances of our theologies about an infinite God reflect on our salvation... but I do think that our attitudes about those theologies might be cause for concern.

Put bluntly: If you're convinced that you have God's mind all figured out, that's a frighteningly clear sign that you don't.

Roger Thompson (of Berean Baptist Church), when speaking on Galatians, happened to perfectly sum up why I get concerned about people who brag about their Calvinism:

"A small inaccuracy about the gospel is a lie about God and it steals your oxygen of Grace."

He goes on to explain the reasoning behind our shunning of grace:

"And we desert Grace for one simple reason: We want to improve God's idea. We believe it's inadequate. It's too simple, it's too open, it's too relational."

I don't pretend to understand why Calvinists reject the blatantly-Biblical notion of "God's free gift to all that some choose to reject" ...but the idea that such a Truth is too simple, open or relational (especially since salvation is freely extended toward "people who aren't like me") seems like a good candidate for an explanation.

Extreme Calvinists, of course, would challenge that they're "improving" anything and claim that they're attempting to clarify and profess the "true" gospel.

The problem is that their view contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture. Suddenly, God didn't love the world that He gave His Son -- He loves only the elect. Christ died, not for all, but for the elect. When Jesus is longing over Jerusalem, He really wasn't longing for them because he actually chose for them to not return to Him. When He wept for Lazarus it was a form of crocodile tears because the entry of sin and death into the world was part of His plan.

Throwing up your hands and declaring "It's a mystery!" doesn't work when you've already made an un-Biblical assertion about God and his relationship to human persons.

Yes, there's a mystery as to how and why people can freely reject a sovereign God. Let's not trash God's character and make Him out to be a liar by packing that rejection into His will.

Daily Bible by eye and ear

It's been a few years since I've read through the Bible cover-to-cover and I think it's time to do it again. I used to subscribe to the Daily Audio Bible and didn't realize how much I missed Brian Hardin's voice and personality.

So, I'm going to try for both; let's see if I can form a habit. Kicking off this year:

Podcast Title: 1 Year Daily Audio Bible
Episode: DAB January 1 - 2012
Media URL:

Podcast feed URL:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/dailyaudiobible

What's a Sabbath?

Yesterday I started pondering the idea of a weekly "sabbath" with the self-convicting question of whether two half-sabbaths (a few hours on Saturday, a few hours on Sunday) could "count" as a sabbath day -- bearing in mind that the Sabbath was created not for God but for us (Mark 2:27).

Long story short, I don't think ".5 + .5 = 1" will cut it.

This morning, a friend of mine reminded me that the original Jewish Sabbath "day" was defined as sundown to sundown.

Hmmm.

Sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday wouldn't help get past the work involved in administration of our Adult Sunday School (which is the thing that keeps Sundays from being as "restful" as they might be otherwise)... but sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday just might work.

That only makes sense when a "sabbath" is defined not as a legalistic absence of any sort of labor or exertion and is taken instead as a focus on personal renewal. The deciding question could (should? might?) be "Will I draw energy from this activity or will it drain me?"

What's God's standard?

Question: Is it wise to keep your husband on a short leash that's long enough for him to hang himself?

http://ht.salemweb.net/zcast/a-quick-word-with-beth-moore/2011/10-26/230592/a...

Tweet from: @GordonMarcy

From: @GordonMarcy
Sent: Oct 11, 2011 1:32p

God favors collaboration. Unified for His purpose and glory, seemingly impossible feats will be accomplished.

sent via TweetDeck

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/GordonMarcy/status/123828212676558848