We live in two worlds, it has been said. Those of us who belong to Christ are left here in the world to be God’s agents of change and reconciliation, but we live by a whole different set of standards in relation to how we conduct business. Ours are a higher set of standards with little room for compromise. And yet, when each of us came into the Kingdom, we were already indebted and already part of the kingdom of this world. The change of allegiance, the transition that occurs, is bought and paid for by Jesus’ blood. However we must walk out the change in our own lives. This is dilemma we face, particularly in relation to handling finances. Will we continue to work according to the wisdom of the world and just ask God to bless it anyway? Or will we begin anew, to understand and follow the biblical principles? This third installment deals with the redeeming or re-marking of wealth, to make it productive in the Kingdom and the provision of God.
Entries from April 2009
Faith & Finance: Part 3
April 8th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Spiritual Lifestyle · Bible · Faith & Finance · Spiritual Leadership
Being Missional (Part 5)
April 6th, 2009 · No Comments
This 5th installment in the “Being Missional” series builds upon Romans 12:5 “and we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” The community of believers as we found them in the early church, and as we must become in postmodern America, is a transformational community. By that, we mean that it is composed of people whose lives have been transformed by Christ, that it involves people who continue the transformation of lifestyle through obedience to Christ, and also that the presence of the community in the world transforms the world around it. The structure and practice of the Christian community are in view in this session.
Tags: Spiritual Lifestyle · Bible · Pop Culture · Postmodernism · Spiritual Leadership
Knowing God: Part 2
April 4th, 2009 · No Comments
What God IS is Love
“Beloved, let us love one another,” John writes, “for love is from God, and everyone who does love is born of God and knows God. Anyone who doesn’t do love cannot possibly know God, because what God IS is love.” Not only by His longing for our freedom, but by the love, which is both His chosen mode of being and the very essence of His existence, shall we come to know and understand God. Once these things are in place, we can begin to understand what to expect in our relationship with Him.
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Tags: Spiritual Lifestyle · Bible · Postmodernism · Spiritual Leadership
Being Missional (Part 4)
April 1st, 2009 · No Comments
This little series of talks is aimed, in a roundabout way, at helping us all have some common metaphors, examples and stories that will provide us with a common framework for understanding what we mean when we say “Missional.”
Part 4 continues the discussion on what it means to be missional, looking at the structure of the church. Our idea of proper organization is probably not biblical, since the New Testament says precious little about actual church orgainzation. We have been given great latitude concerning the practical aspects of organization in the church, and yet we continue in the same pattern we have used for hundreds of years. We need to consider organizational principles that will meet the needs of the church in the new century, not in the 16th century
Tags: Spiritual Lifestyle · Bible · Postmodernism · Spiritual Leadership
