"To go to communion worthily gives God great glory, but to take food in thankfulness and temperance gives Him glory too. To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dung fork in his hand, a woman with a slop pail, give Him glory too. He is so great that all things give Him glory if you mean that they shall."
"We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts...How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things."
Tim Keller finally got around to reading and reviewing The Shack (see Redeemer City to City)"Anyone who is strongly influenced by the imaginative world of The Shack will be totally unprepared for the far more multi-dimensional and complex God that you actually meet when you read the Bible"
Read the whole thing.
(Some of my earlier posts about "The Shack" Here, here, here and here.)
When even the atheist can see this truth, why is it that so many church members and theologians cannot see it?"The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make and distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?
I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian."
Snicker. That's funny!10. You incentivize financial giving by offering to send your donors inanimate objects that have been prayed over.
9. You’ve convened a committee to decide the name of your new Gulfstream jet.
8. Your ministry even has a Gulfstream jet.
7. Two words: scheduled revivals.
6. Your broadcast goes out only in tongues.
5. Every member of the board of directors has the same last name.
4. The guy you raised from the dead this morning is starting to smell pretty bad.
3. Your job postings include, “teeth-whitening a must.”
2. Your annual budget includes a line item for hairspray.
1. You read this list out loud and they fired you.
I went to the March for Life rally Friday on the Mall expecting to write about its irrelevance. Isn’t it quaint, I thought, that these abortion protesters show up each year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, even though the decision still stands after 37 years. What’s more, with a Democrat in the White House likely to appoint justices who support abortion rights, surely the Supreme Court isn’t going to overturn Roe in the foreseeable future.The battle is hard, war is long, but we are winning!
How wrong I was. The antiabortion movement feels it’s gaining strength, even if it’s not yet ready to predict ultimate triumph, and Roe supporters (including me) are justifiably nervous.
As always, we in Washington enjoy an up-close view of the health of various causes because of the city’s role as the nation’s most important setting for political demonstrations. In this case, I was especially struck by the large number of young people among the tens of thousands at the march. It suggests that the battle over abortion will endure for a long time to come.
“We are the pro-life generation,” said signs carried by the crowd, about half its members appearing to be younger than 30. . . .
Activists who support abortion rights conceded that there’s less energy among young people on their side of the debate.
“Unfortunately, I feel my generation is a little complacent,” said Amanda Pelletier, 20, co-director of the abortion rights group at American University. “It just doesn’t seem to be a very hip issue.”
“God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule living God’s way enjoying shalom in God’s holy and loving presence to God’s glory” (God the Peacemaker, p. 229).Sounds better (and more comprehensive) than just going to heaven when you die.
Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus obtained the church with his own blood. Is this what your love for the church is based on? If it's anything less, it won't last long.
Love the church because of who shed his blood to obtain the church. Love the church because of who the church belongs to. Love the church because of who the church worships. Love the church because you love Jesus Christ and his glory. Love the church because Jesus is worthy and faithful and true. Love the church because Jesus loves the church.
- Don't love the church because of what it does for you. Because sooner or later it won't do enough.
- Don't love the church because of a leader. Because human leaders are fallible and will let you down.
- Don't love the church because of a program or a building or activities because all those things get old.
- Don't love the church because of a certain group of friends because friendships change and people move.
