We’ve wrapped our first full week at Gateway. It was quite full between unpacking the house, getting into the office and trying to unpack and organize there, getting ready for Thursday Bible Study and Sunday morning. Our home voicemail wasn’t working and I recorded a new message at the church. But all in all, that was to be expected. Then came the unexpected.
Tag: Christian Living
Who Is Discipling You?
I read a tweet tonight that was a few days old. (I’ve been “offline” for a number of days and am trying to catch up.) The Tweeter asked, “Who are you discipling? Who is discipling you? Blogs and vids don’t count. Imagine if the Amer[ican] dream was to disciple and be discipled.” While I understand the writer’s point, I would argue that blogs, tweets and videos are actually huge influencers when it comes to discipleship in our lives.
Exploring Hope – 6
If you’ve been following through our Exploring Hope posts, you might be glad to hear that this will be our last one. Some might have felt like we were going through a course to learn Klingon (a comment I received when preaching this sermon a few weeks ago). But these are the words from the Hebrew that we translate to “hope” in the Old Testament. Here is one last word that delivers an intense picture of our hope.
The Christian Atheist
One thing I do a lot of is reading. I also like to put book reviews here on this site. I don’t usually do what I’m doing here, though, and that’s talking about a book that has just hit shelves, and I haven’t read it yet.
“The Christian Atheist” is written by Craig Groeschel, pastor of multi-site and internet church, Life Church (www.lifechurch.tv). In the promotional material I’ve seen online today, Craig calls himself a “recovering Christian Atheist”. At the bottom of the post you can watch a promo by Craig on the book.
The concept for “The Christian Atheist” is that an overwhelming percentage of North Americans claim to be Christian. But do they really live as if they believe God exists and salvation is found in Christ? We hear it, read it, repeat it, but are those who profess Christ (“Christians”) who live as though God does not exist (“atheists”)?
My Dad told me about a book he picked up by a popular author. He started reading it and almost put it aside because it challenged and convicted him. I expect “The Christian Atheist” to have the same effect on us as we read it. Of course, if we can’t be convicted by the truth, we’ve got a deeper problem, right? Not everyone goes looking for a challenging word, but I think we as the people of God might want to start.
If you’ve picked up the book and read it, leave your comments here, or post a review at: www.christianbooklounge.com.
You can get more information, check out the blog and download a sample chapter at: www.christianatheist.com.
And now, the clip from Craig Groeschel:
Exploring Hope – 5
We’re nearing the end of our journey through the Hebrew words that we translate as “hope” in the Old Testament. Our next word, kesel, will at first sound like it is totally unrelated to hope. Maybe a reference to a popular television show will help us unravel it so we can understand the concept better.
Exploring Hope – 4
Have you noticed that there is a lot to unpack when it comes to hope? It is more than just a dream or desire, and we can make a deeper part of our lives. Having looked at expectation, patient longing and corded/attached hope, we talk about miqveh hope.
Chris MacKinnon 