In January 2010 I set myself a goal that has transformed my diary, my thinking, my reading and the way my home operates.
In January 2010 I pledged to work at the goal, prayerfully and dependently, of bringing ten people into the Kingdom of God by 31 December 2011.
Jai and his wife Jay-Ellen are planning to plant a church in Mackay in 2011. Better them than me! It's a huge task. But that's the exciting thing about The Geneva Push: having a chance to rub shoulders with all these different people, with all these crazy plans, and being able to play a part in helping them on their way.
There are so many reasons for losing sleep it's not really worth listing them. You're either getting enough sleep or you're not. And if you aren't, an awful lot of the Christian life can feel very difficult indeed. Shorter tempers, less self-control, sense of life being out of control, feeling sorry for oneself, irritable, unkind, not listening… Sleep is such a good gift from God if only because it makes so many, many things easier. Prayer is one such thing. What can we do when we aren't praying because we aren't getting the sleep we need?
Are you a stress-thrower or a stress-absorber?
A stress-thrower blames things on others and expresses stress in anger; a stress-absorber blames things on themselves and expresses stress in anxiety (I think I've got that right!). This useful distinction was taught to me by Tom Cannon, a chaplain I used to work with in university ministry. In our family, we have both stress-throwers and stress-absorbers.
In this series I've been working my way slowly through various facets of life (home, education, work, sport, etc.), talking about the opportunities that each presents for being involved in the lives of others for their good and their salvation, and the idolatries that have the potential to destroy us and our witness by luring our hearts away from Christ. In this post, having set out a general framework and taken a brief look at the opportunities and idolatries of the home, I want to turn to the topic of education (our own and our children's) and the opportunities that it provides for mission.
Learning to pray for others is one of the first things we learn as Christians: we see it commended on every other page of the New Testament; we see it modelled in every other meeting of Christians we participate in; and Christian parents model it to their children from birth.
Have you ever stopped to think about why we pray for others, however? Or why we ask prayer from others? I was made to really consider the question when I first read through 2 Corinthians 1. And what the Apostle Paul says there continues to provoke me to thought and wonder every time I read it.
Does God forgive us based upon our repentance? We covered a couple of problems with such an idea in our previous post. This time around, I want to canvass what I would suggest is the real killer to the whole idea: it overturns justification by grace through faith alone.
Mexico in the 1940s was a country trying to come to grips with the 20th century. While discoveries of oil and a developing infrastructure encouraged foreign investment, basic social indicators like literacy rates, health care and basic wages demonstrated that for the vast majority of Mexicans, life was still a great struggle. It was in this context that Ávila Camacho was elected president in 1940.
We have been considering the question of whether we can or should forgive in the absence of repentance by the guilty party. We began by looking at whether we forgive in exactly the same way that God does, and then turned to consider the question in light of a series of pastoral issues. With this post and the next, we will conclude by addressing the really big question in all this—not what we do, but what God does. Is God's forgiveness of us dependent upon our repentance?
For the past three Saturdays, we've been looking at contributions to the old Briefing ‘People in Ministry’ column, which focused on evangelical ministry worked out in practice. First David McDonald told us about the impetus behind Canberra Christian Youth Convention. Then Ken Simpson talks about ministry to doctors. Then Michael Blake explains how he uses school Scripture to reach parents. This week, Archie Poulos discusses evangelism to Greeks in Sydney in the late 80s:
Top 10 Tips for Sleep Deprived Prayer (4 comments)
Taking ‘crazy’ one step closer to ‘can do’ (2 comments)
Stress-throwers and stress-absorbers (0 comments)
10 in 2 by Ben Pfahlert (6 comments). In January 2010 I set myself a goal that has transformed my diary, my thinking, my reading and the … more
Taking ‘crazy’ one step closer to ‘can do’ by Guest blogger (2 comments). Guest blogger Mikey Lynch, one of the directors of The Geneva Push, talks about the network's approach to … more
Top 10 Tips for Sleep Deprived Prayer by Jennie Baddeley (4 comments). There are so many reasons for losing sleep it's not really worth listing them. You're either getting enough sleep or you're … more
Stress-throwers and stress-absorbers by Jean Williams (0 comments). Are you a stress-thrower or a stress-absorber? A stress-thrower blames things on others and expresses stress in anger; a … more
‘Missional Lifestyle’: Education by Nicole Starling (11 comments). This is the fifth in Nicole's series on ‘missional lifestyle’. Read parts 1, 2, 3 … more
Why do we pray for others? by Scott Newling (1 comment). Learning to pray for others is one of the first things we learn as Christians: we see it commended … more
Forgiveness and repentance (part 8): Does God only forgive us when we repent? (ii) by Mark Baddeley (17 comments). (Read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.) Does … more
The power of example by Peter Sholl (3 comments). Mexico in the 1940s was a country trying to come to grips with the 20th century. While discoveries of oil and … more
Forgiveness and repentance (part 7): Does God only forgive us when we repent? (i) by Mark Baddeley (29 comments). (Read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.) We have been … more
The gospel to Greeks by Karen Beilharz (0 comments). For the past three Saturdays, we've been looking at contributions to the old Briefing ‘People in Ministry’ column, … more
Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
