In my previous post, I made the case that the church is meant to be a harbinger of the new heavens and the new earth. That is, when people experience the community of people called ‘the church’ they should be given a taste of the new heavens and the new earth. In order for that to…
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Establishing a church culture of “gospel + safety + time” is critical to the church’s health and effectiveness. Why? Let’s make an assumption. The assumption is this: the more a church is like the way the Bible says a church should be, the healthier and more effective it will be. Or to put it in…
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What does your church offer? When someone asks that question, they’re usually asking about what programs and ministries the church has to offer. Now churches should be able to tell people about the various ministries that occur each week, but it would be really cool to see a different first response to that question… “Well…we…
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Before we can answer the question, we have to make sure something is clear: the gospel calls churches into existence. That is, the gospel creates churches. Think about it… The gospel is the good news that Jesus has come into our world, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have…
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I’m sure you’ve noticed our propensity to name drop. “I shook hands with the President!” “I sat next to Aaron Rogers on the plane.” “Channing Tatum smiled at me!” Having close encounters with famous people makes us look good; it makes us look like important insiders. But name dropping only works if you have a…
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I’ve been working my way through Rico Tice’s new book, Honest Evangelism. It’s been both encouraging and convicting. Rico is a pastor at a church in London and one of his primary responsibilities is evangelism. Yet he would be the first to admit evangelism doesn’t come easy for him. It doesn’t come easy for me either….
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Over the years in pastoral ministry, I have been asked on countless occasions, “What do I do when I just don’t have a desire to read the Bible?” I understand the frustration. I’ve lived it. As a Christian, it feels unChristian to even be in that spot. You might think to yourself, “What’s wrong with…
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By most accounts, the apostle Paul seemed to be a pretty passionate guy. He was willing to endure lashings, stonings, and verbal abuse for the sake of the gospel. He traveled the Mediterranean world planting churches. He wasn’t afraid to go the extra mile. But there is only one thing he himself said he “strenuously…
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Words. They are everywhere. Life without them would be…well…confusing. Think about how pervasive language is. Just today, I used language in the preparation of a sermon. I used it to correspond with dozens of individuals. I used language to give an instruction to a fellow staff person in our church. Not only is language pervasive,…
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