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Who is your favorite author?  There are many great authors out there.  I will be sharing over the next several months authors who have helped me grow in grace and the gospel.  I will try and include images of some of my favorite books by them. These will be shared in alphabetical order. Author: Matt Chandler

Here are some of my favorite tweets from the last few weeks.  This is one of the blessings of social media where we can hear the gospel from people all over the world. If you like the tweet, go and follow the person on Twitter.  When we grasp how secure we are in Christ we don't respond with the desire to sin more but we love God more and desire to sin less. @JohnH4Christ Christians do not live for an identity; they live from an identity. They do not achieve an identity; they receive an identity in Christ. @WePreachChrist Rest in the reality that God isn't simply your just Judge but also your loving Heavenly Father. @MattChandler74 I share the Gospel. Not because I think that they are not saved; I share the Gospel to remind them that they are loved. @RaleighSadler "I do not condemn you. Now leave your life of sin." - Jesus-- Reverse the order of these sentences, and you lose both Christianity and Jesus. @scottsauls Our target is a transformed heart, not ch...

If you are regular reader of the blog, on Fridays I have shared new books, favorite books, and most recently kid books.  Now, I am going to share discipleship resources that I would recommend each Friday. 

Here are some of my favorite tweets from the last few weeks.  This is one of the blessings of social media where we can hear the gospel from people all over the world. If you like the tweet, go and follow the person on Twitter.  Mother's Day: pastor preaches on mom's awesomeness. Father's Day: pastor tells dad to get his act together. Two sides of a non-gospel coin. @jaredcwilson After 18 years of pastoral ministry, I have never met a person who fell in love w/Jesus bc a Christian scolded them about ethics. @scottsauls We must become convinced that Love has to be a person to us before it can become a verb. @scottsauls The central message of Christianity isn't "do" but "done." The good news announces to us not "get to work" but "it is finished @jaredcwilson The Spirit who empowers our conversion will empower our discipleship.  @jaredcwilson Jesus didn't die for some better version of us; those people don't even exist...

Introduction : Generosity, Money, Giving.   This is one topic that congregations do not enjoy hearing about AND one of the topics that pastors do not like to preach or teach on.   This is an area that I personally struggle with.   But before you stop listening, let me share a secret about my feelings on this topic.   As a pastor, I am not a fan of the way giving, generosity, money has been taught in the church.   Much (not all) of the curriculum or teaching I have discovered focuses too much on guilt and shame to get results.   Today’s passage shows us how generosity is good news not bad news.   Give (Vs. 14-18) ·          Vs. 14-Good to share in my troubles o    The Greek word translated “share” emphasizes that participation. Same root word used in Philippians 1:7. The basic translation, “fellowship,” means a deep partnership of two going the same direction . [1] o    Paul had...

Here are some of my favorite tweets from the last few weeks.  This is one of the blessings of social media where we can hear the gospel from people all over the world. If you like the tweet, go and follow the person on Twitter.  Many have never made the turn in their understanding from God as just Judge to Heavenly Father. @mattchandler74 Because you believe God has first loved you, your love for him will flow more and more naturally. @jdgreear The reason it's called the fruit of the Spirit, is because the Spirit that dwells inside the believer produces it. @MJDadof5 Discipleship starts with gospel realities and then moves to life transforming realities. @Ryan_haskins Genuine renewal only comes when we realize that the church is always drawn to distractions and must always be redirected to Christ. @MichaelHorton_ Jesus saying "Be perfect" isn't telling you to try harder. It's to make you finally despair of yourself and look to his perfection for you. @...

Here are some of my favorite tweets from the last few weeks.  This is one of the blessings of social media where we can hear the gospel from people all over the world. If you like the tweet, go and follow the person on Twitter.  Confidence in the gospel produces self-forgetfulness. Hope is only found when people forget about themselves. @bradjoegray The essence of the Christian message is not "Behave!" but "Behold!" @jaredcwilson The Father's lavish love makes us His kids. The Son's sacrificial love makes us holy. The Spirit's pursuing love makes us remember. @Thejesslou Why act like you're a grace graduate when every single day, you continue to depend on God's patience, forgiveness, wisdom and power? @PaulTripp If you don't get justification, you will always run from God rather than toward Him. God justifies sinners. @MattChandler74 We are saved by our Redeemer, not our reform. We trust in Christ's perfection, not our progres...

I am saving this new book for 2017.  It is a 60 day devotional by some of my favorite authors. Check it out!

One of my stops during Sabbatical Trip 2 was to The Village Church in Dallas, TX.  I attended their worship service two weeks in a row. I also had the opportunity to observe their children's ministry for 5th grade and younger.  Here are a few thoughts from this visit: Matt Chandler and the Village Church have been taking some heat recently via social media. I was encouraged by Chandler's confession and repentance during the worship service. He was humble and gave permission for the congregation to contact any of the elders if they had been hurt by their actions.  His words and posture showed sorrow for his and others' actions Children's Ministry curriculum that is gospel centered and Jesus focused--I know this seems like a no brainer, but so much of the curriculum for kids is about morals and being good.  I appreciated Kid's Village (1st-5th) focus on the attributes of God. These are prominently placed in all of their rooms. See picture below. Repetitio...

In a previous post, I shared some favorite quotes from The Gospel Project online seminar.  Today, I am sharing a few more that I listened to before the videos were removed.                  A gospel centered church consistently & constantly reminds its people of the gospel, consistently & constantly reminds people who they were before they heard the gospel & consistently celebrates the present power of the gospel for daily life. (Matt Chandler) The gospel in worship leads people into the beauty of the story of the finished work of Jesus & the power of His resurrection. (Louie Giglio) We have a new identity-child of God, loved by God. This new identity leads to a new way of living-loving others. (Jeff Vanderstelt) Discipleship is not a ministry of your church. Discipleship is THE ministry of the church. (Dhati Lewis) The Church partners with Jesus in saving thru gospel proclamation...

Have you hurt someone?  Has someone taken advantage of you recently? The final chapters of Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler look at how we seek reconciliation in relationships whether we are the cause or recipient. The one who pursed us in making peace also desires that we respond to others in kind...by pursuing peace. Whenever believers are involved in conflict with other people, God remains the authority--not us. What am I supposed to do, God, when somebody like this is working against me all the time? Well, looks like He's already shown us what He would do: initiate and forgive, engage and reconcile, pursue peace at all costs. Why should it be any different in our case? One of the marks of Christian maturity is a willingness to absorb and forgive any ugliness or injustice that's tossed in our direction, and to let our desire for retaliation or rebuttal fall peaceably to the ground. Bitterness is a powder keg. Pay attention to it. It's not ...

In this chapter from Recovering Redemption, Matt Chandler shares how we live the Christian life knowing what He explained in earlier chapters of the book.  See previous posts on this blog.  And for believers, this means (1) renouncing what is old, (2) rerooting in what is new, and (3) perpetually asking God for help to keep this transformation happening. God's the one who knows you'll never be whole if the only solution He ever implements in your life is just pruning back the bad behavior. Renounce the roots, but not the Gardener. . .The problem is where we're seeking to plant them, where we're rooting them. But if we root these same desires in the kingdom of heaven--in the truths and promises of God--they will instead produce the fruit of the Spirit within us.       

Yesterday on the blog, I shared quotes about guilt and shame from Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler.  Today, I am sharing from the same book on the topic of fear and anxiety.  This is a great book. Go and pick it up at Faith and Life Bookstore in Newton, KS. The gospel of Jesus Christ is still the one reassuring answer to your antsy heart. Eden was, by contrast, a place of peace and prosperity. And so, beginning from that tragic point in time, fear and anxiety began aggravating the human heart, so that even His redeemed children through the ages, down to this very day, would know the cruel feeling of being robbed, of living without the peace and prosperity He'd intended for us to enjoy. For while "Abba" does connote a level of family intimacy, it sends up more of the idea that "my dad can beat up your dad," that our Father is not caught off guard or pushed around by anything that seems too big or oversized for us, no matter what it is. The bottom...

Do you struggle with either of these?  I know I do.  I appreciated the thoughts from Matt Chandler in Recovering Redemption on these real life issues all of us face. I encourage you to read the quotes and then pick up the book at your local Christian bookstore. While both of them (guilt, shame) do indicate the falling short of some kind of standard, the one that guilt fails to meet is more often a clear moral code, a legality. The standard that shame fails to meet on the other hand, goes much deeper to the core of who we really are. Our identity. Guilt is more about what we do; shame is more about who we are. It's important to see this distinction. Guilt (robbing us of innocence) and shame (robbing us of honor) are the double helix that creates the DNA of our worst behavior. Shame is deeply rooted in identity. And the "self-ideal" we create for ourselves can often incorporate a lot of expectations that simply aren't included in God's ideal for us. Guilt ...

I am continuing to read through Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler.  I highly recommend this book and will be leading a group of adults through it in 2015.  Here are some quotes related to struggles, belief, and changing: repentance growing up out of our hearts is a leading indicator of genuine belief on the inside. It shows us we're His from the roots up. But sin can't be trained; sin must be killed. In the end, godly grief produces within us such a hatred of our sin, we then receive from God the renewed motivation to actually turn from our sin. The secret, of course--the mystery--is that the Judge has rendered His decision based not on what we've done, on our innocence, but on the sacrifice and willing substitution of the innocent, crucified Christ.  His resurrection provides all the objective evidence we need that proves His promises are true, that His ability to conquer death is real, and that His atonement for our sin is activel...

I am continuing to read Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer.  It is a great read and I am only through three chapters.  Here are a few thoughts from Chandler and Snetzer from C hapters 2-3: Are you trying to tip the scales in your favor?  Are you hoping and working so that your good outweighs your bad?  Chandler says this, "Those scales don't exist. There are no scales. You're either completely justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, or you're not justified at all." "And if you're trying to treat the "one thing" in your life by (1) trying harder, (2) using others, (3) escaping, or (4) upping your religious quotient--or any combination of these--all you're really doing is just mowing over the weeds."  "The beauty of Christ's gospel is the great "unless" of life." "So if you struggle with being able to run hard after the Lord because you feel so unworthy, so unclean, so unsteady...

Today, I read Chapter 1 from Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer.  To say it was good would be an understatement.  It tied in well with part of the message I preached a few weeks ago about Jesus being angry and weeping at the effect sin has had our world, relationships, and even death itself. I have a feeling this blog will be filled with quotes and thoughts from this book for weeks to come.  I only read one chapter and might have wore out a highlighter in the process. Here are a few quotes that spoke to me: "Because if you're looking at this world--and at yourself--and you're convinced neither one of them is the way they're supposed to be, then you're being given an important piece of bad news...In order for good news to be good--like the gospel is good--it must invade bad spaces." (Speaking of creation in Genesis 1-2) "Nothing is their world was dead or dying around them. Nothing was ominous or unsafe. Nothing was leaking...

As I shared via a picture yesterday, I am reading three books right now.  They are Deep & Wide by Andy Stanley, Charis by Preston Sprinkle, and Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler. Here are quotes from each: Deep & Wide In other words, churches shouldn't do anything that makes it unnecessarily difficult for people who are turning to God. So we have never approached spiritual formation as a cognitive exercise. We have a much more holistic approach. Charis The Old Testament is a kaleidoscope of grace. And this book will admire its beauty. Genesis, Exodus, even Judges and Kings--they're all greedy to be read by tired Christians seeking rest. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea--all singularly fixated upon God's stubborn grace. The Old Testament is one thick, adventurous narrative of God's reckless love toward unlovable people. Grace. Charis. But biblical grace--or charis , as you'll see--doesnt' like to settle down.   Recovering Redemption It's...