Lift Hand and Touch Ears
"He who believes his doctrine to be perfectly right and true has only to lift his hands and touch his ears and discover that they are the long furry ears of a donkey." - Martin Luther...
Keep ReadingThe First Precept
"If you ask me what is the first precept of the Christian religion, I will answer first, second and third, Humility." - Augustine ...
Keep ReadingConfession and Assurance 5
Confession of Sin and Assurance of Forgiveness based upon Ephesians 2:3-10 Confession: Father in heaven, we confess that we have too often lived in a spirit of disobedience, gratifying the cravings of our sinful natures and following its desires and thoughts. We soberly acknowledge that if left to ourselves, we would only be objects of wrath. But You, O Lord, are rich in...
Keep ReadingConfession of Faith and Confession of Sin 4
Confession of Faith from Lamentations 3:21-25 When affliction comes, what can we "call to mind and therefore have hope"? The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, t...
Keep ReadingGod is a Sending God
All of us should be able to agree that mission arises primarily out of the nature not of the church but of God Himself. The living God of the Bible is a sending God.The primal mission is God's for it is He Who sent His prophets, His Son, His Spirit. Of these missions the mission of the Son is central, for itis the culmination of the ministry of the prophets, and it embrace...
Keep ReadingCan Short-Term Mission Trips Be Considered "Doing Missions"?
As a recent seminary graduate engaged in starting my first church plant, I cannot claim that I had it all figured out. Not even close. Name a doctrine or theological emphasis and I often had more questions than answers. There were some things, however, that I was clear on. I was invited to a vision-casting meeting held by our main sponsoring church in which they were discu...
Keep ReadingWell Seasoned Missions
In my other blog category,Community and Global Health, are some helpful thoughts on the use of regular folk in the missionary enterprise from the book Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission. See it here: http://www.bdshort.com/community-and-global-health/post/foolish-salt-must-be-used...
Keep ReadingGod's hatchets
If someone cuts with a rusty and rough hatchet, even though the worker is a good craftsman, the hatchet leaves bad, jagged, and ugly gashes. So it is when God works through us. - Martin Luther ...
Keep ReadingMarching band pokes fun- Calvin laughs, Luther calls it “inappropriate and regrettable.”
A few years back,Sanford University played a football game against Brigham Young University and their marching banddecided it would be funny to poke fun at polygamy by having 5 dancers dressed in wedding gowns as part of their halftimeshow. Stanford's atheltic director made a public apologycalling their act "inappropriate and regrettable." It just goes to show that while ...
Keep ReadingRegarding How We Approach Children and Youth in the Church
On November 11, 2011, Wayne Rice, one of the founders of the largest, most influential student ministry organization, Youth Specialties, confessed: "We got what we wanted. We turned youth ministry into the toy department of the church. Churches now hire professionals to lead youth ministry. We got relevance but we created a generation of teenagers who are a mile wide and a...
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