eat the crumbs

Paul announces and unfolds this glorious good news in Romans 1-5: Good News! It’s about the gospel of justification of the ungodly by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ’s work alone, for the glory of God alone. It’s all about the good news that sinners can have hope that God will save us from his own wrath on the basis of what Christ did for us, not on the basis of what we do for him.

And so Paul writes Romans 6 to defend grace.
And he writes Romans 7 to defend Law.
(HT:JP)

There are only two times to pray: when you need it, and when you don’t.
~Pastor Mike

Why is it that whenever the sermon is on David and Golieth, the pastor feels the need to apply the text to the congregation’s personsal life by asking, “So what giants are you facing in your life? How are you trusting God in facing those giants?”
Why do many pastors take any Bible story and give it a personal application? Why can’t it just be a story?

I don’t think this what Paul means when he says in Romans 7:4 that we “die to the law so that we can belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead,” Jesus Christ. He didn’t mean: Die to the law so that you can belong to the one who can really help you to belong to the law. He was saying: The law is not the goal of history; Christ is the goal of history. The law is not the goal of your life; Christ is the goal of your life. Christ did not come into history to lead us to the law; the law came into history to lead us to Christ. The law is not the goal of Christ; Christ is the goal of the law.

Marriage is not for the sake of wedding vows; wedding vows are for the sake of marriage.
You don’t keep the commandments to love Jesus. Don’t reduce loving Jesus to keeping commandments. You keep commandments because you love Jesus.

Let everything in your life be for knowing and trusting Jesus better.

(JP)

“Just because man is bad, it does not mean that God is not good.” ~T.Blair

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

“We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory

“Slings were commonly used by shepherds to guide the sheep from the back of the pack.  Taking a stone, the shepherd could loft a stone to near the front of the pack, and the sheep would respond by moving then away from where the stone landed.  Generally speaking, a sling was not viewed as a weapon.”

Pastor Tim

Four stages of growing in giving to a Church

• Chip In - giving here and there
• Cause or Crisis - giving when the needs arise
• Priority Giving - Lifestyle or systematic
• Spirit Led - living like Acts 4 givers

Pastor Bill

Identity is central to a classical liberal understanding of freedom. There are grave dangers in identity politics, but we insist that we ourselves, and not scholars, the press, or public opinion, have the right to say who we understand ourselves to be. We are who we say we are, and we resist all attempts to explain us in terms of our “true” motives and our “real” agenda. (page 4)

reasons for the manifesto from Oz
thoughts on the manifesto from Joe

Everything we do in the life of this church needs 3 things:

1. Theology: is it Biblical?
2. Model: how we do it.
3. Practice: then go Impact the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is His reign and rule here on Earth.
~Pastor Derek