-
Offering intercessory prayer means nothing other than Christians bringing one another into the presence of God, seeing each other under the cross of Jesus as poor human beings and sinners in need of grace. Then, everything about other people that repels me falls away. Then I see them in all their need, hardship, and distress. Their need and their sin become so heavy and oppressive to me that I feel as if they were my own, and I can do nothing else but bid: Lord, you yourself, you alone, deal with them according to your firmness and your goodness. - Dietrich Bon
hoeffer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
New York Mets infielder Daniel Murphy, an outspoken Christian, was questioned by reporters on the prospect of gay teammates and his team’s decision to welcome Billy Bean, Major League Baseball’s openly gay “ambassador for inclusion,” to spring training. In his response, Murphy offered what he feels is Christianity’s “actual stance” on homosexuality. He also said he is definitely ready to have a gay teammate. “Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality. We love the people. We disagree the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me,” Murphy told the Star-Ledger. He continued: “It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Bil...
Read more

20 Differences Between the Psalms and Modern Worship Songs by By Adrian Warnock, Jubilee Church London

-
Image
There is a major difference between many modern worship songs and the Psalms. Too many modern songs speak only of the love of God, and he is seen only as a gentle and loving friend. It’s not that the worship songs are wrong. It’s just that they can almost completely miss a different side of God’s character. I want to explore that a little today before we focus in another post on an event that happened in 2 Samuel 6 that shocks the modern reader. In the Psalms, God is described as someone who: 1. judges (Psalm 1:6) 2. is full of wrath (Psalm 2:5, 12) 3. breaks the teeth of the wicked (Psalm 3:10) 4. is a God of honor and righteousness (Psalm 4:1-2) 5. hates all evildoers and destroys liars (Psalm 5:5) 6. disciplines (Psalm 6:1) 7. feels indignation every day (Psalm 7:11) 8. is majestic and full of glory (Psalm 8:1) 9. rebukes and blots out the wicked (Psalm 9:5) 10. stands far off and hides himself even when someone is in trouble (Psalm 10:1) 1...
Read more
-
Image
Lust is more than looking. It is different from feeling attraction or involuntary sexual arousal. Lust entails seeing another’s body as an object for self-gratification. It defines the person not as a human, created in the image of God, but as a means of carnal pleasure. We get it wrong when limiting our discussions of modesty to sexuality. Shechem’s lust led him to sexually assault Dinah in Genesis 34. Scholar and pastor Ron Clark explains, “Shechem has violated the rights of Dinah as well as the covenant with the Jacobites.” Clearly men do not rape women because of how they dress. “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). True modesty comes from dressing in the spirit of Jesus. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them...
Read more