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The terrible inefficiency of the Kingdom of God
Americans do NOT like to admit this, especially really smooth running churches, but here is the truth: The Kingdom of God is terribly inefficient. It’s messy. It just, quite honestly, doesn’t make sense. But, doggone it, we’re AMERICANS and we WILL make sense of it! We WILL make it efficient… God bless America! Exhibit A: The Parable of the Sower.…
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ADHD Prayer
But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. (Ps. 106:13) We think we’ve “prayed forever” on something… only to realize that while we say we’ve prayed for something “for weeks” or “months” we’ve only thought to mention it to God about 10 seconds a day… And when he doesn’t “come through,” we’re…
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The narrowness of my evangelicalism
The story is from Birmingham Revolution, but it could be my story. It took place in 1968, but for me it could have been 1988. Edward Gilbreath relates the story of Glen Kehrein, who founded Circle Urban Ministries in Chicago. When he was a student at Moody Bible Institute in 1968, a group of students were on a retreat in Wisconsin…
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Clueless Christianity
The verse is 1 Cor. 2:10 — “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” Then later in v. 16 — “But we have the mind of Christ.” I wrote in the margin of my Bible: “I have no clue as to how deep I can go!” There are days… and as it relates to my spiritual life:…
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Book Review — Birmingham Revolution
The year 2013 brings us to significant moments in our nation’s history. Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. This week is a somber revisit to the assassination of JFK 50 years ago. Birmingham Revolution by Edward Gilbreath reminds us of another significant movement 50 years ago. Martin Luther King, Jr., sat in a Birmingham jail and…
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The remnant and the reformation
In Draw the Circle Mark Batterson calls for a reformation. It only takes a few people praying. A remnant that will be faithful can see God move in powerful ways. One area of reformation I believe we desperately need in the evangelical/Pentecostal church is a reformation of worship. That we get away from our “rock star” worship team approach and just let…
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The Bible and Inerrancy
Happening now: a panel discussion at the meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on the differing views of inerrancy. I didn’t get this email until late last night, so you might miss the discussion. FOLLOW HERE.
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Behind-the-scenes-power
The true power of prayer is always behind the scenes. It is the power that generates the movement of God and we often don’t have any idea of the “true events” of a revival or miracle until later. What we often find out later is God was moving someone to prayer. Mark Batterson writes in Draw the Circle: Prayer is the…
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“Willing” Your Way Back to Faith
Psalm 77 is a place of faith for me. I read someone willing their way back to faith. They have been seeking God continuously, but to no avail. God seems to be silent. Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? (v.9) But, then, a choice is made. To this I will appeal… (v. 10) The choice is to…
