Don't devalue the OT. It is vital to knowing God and His character. Yes, we have the revelation of God through Christ, but God's character is beautifully and vividly displayed through poetry and powerfully illustrated through story in the OT
Reading Pet Peeve
When an author brings up "There are three things", then specifically names the first, but never names the second and third. The reader has to deduce the outline.
Imagine what we could have had if the world had consistently listened to the warnings of C.S. Lewis.
"Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful. That is the important paradox. As there are plants which will flourish only in mountain soil, so it appears that Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere Humanitarianism. it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety. But we ought long ago to have learned our lesson. We should be too old now to be deceived by those humane pretensions which have served to usher in every cruelty of the revolutionary period in which we live.
...
One last word. You may ask why I send this to an Australian periodical. The reason is simple and perhaps worth recording: I can get no hearing for it in England."
- C.S. Lewis, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
In order for the Lord to speak through you, you must first listen to him speaking to you. If you separate the two, you're merely desiring to perform.
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, โGo, take to yourself a wife of whoredom..." (Hosea 1:2)
@pastorchar1015 I've got 15 minutes to give a survey of your book for a class on evangelism and discipleship. Two questions: 1) What can I not afford to leave out, and 2) does the whole class become honorary Thinklings?
I found @FredFredSanders notion of the "deflective" work of the Spirit so helpful in his @crossway book. I have not been able to get over the idea and decided to put it in chart form for a future class on the Holy Spirit. Sharing here as well in case it's helpful to others.
Where am I?
Dads are strengthen with resolve. Children stare with wide-eyed glee. Mothers wrangle their kids with exasperation. Seniors look on with bewilderment as they question what has become of their culture.
It all happens at a Buc-ee's on the way to Grandma's house!
Sin is like shattering glass. You can spend a long time picking up the pieces, and by grace, the mess will clean, but very often a jagged shard will show up long after you thought everything was gone.
Whenever we find ourselves wanting the ministry impact of Jesus while simultaneously resisting spending time with Jesus, we are positioning ourselves for a beating and some variation on being run โout of the house naked and bleeding.โ
- Peter Scazzero
To God and to the Lamb who is the great "I AM,"
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
And through eternity, I'll sing on!