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Justified Apart from Our Free Will Aug 07, 2018

Show notes

What our heart wants our mind justifies. We want what we want when we want it. There's not a whole lot we can do to curb the wanting either. This may not seem like much of a problem until we ask what our wanting does to effect God's relation to us. How does our unending need for personal freedom to choose effect salvation? The answer is simple, just not easy for us to accept. What we want in relation to God is captive to sin, death, and the devil. In relation to each other we may have some small amount of freedom to choose, but in relation to God’s saving work for us at Golgotha, we always choose sin and resistance. That's what it means that our will is in bondage.

You Can't Work for Peace Aug 06, 2018

Show notes

Sometimes the hardest part of the day is the time just before sleep. At that time, if struggles or stresses abound, we can be kept up by racing thoughts. This fretting and over-analyzation, the frantic search for options, can leave us exhausted and depleted, feeding the cycle of stress that is already at work in us.

Who are You to Walk the Walk Aug 02, 2018

Show notes

“Walk the walk.” When I hear that phrase, I know there’s something for me to do. Get it together girl. There is a way you should be acting and things you should be doing. Generally, I’m a pretty good person, and I think I do what I’m supposed to.

When Church is Exhausting, You're Doing it Wrong Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

Both Marys and Marthas abound in the church, and there is often tension between them. Sometimes this tension is expressed by exhausted Marthas spouting off the 80/20 rule: twenty percent of the people are doing eighty percent of the work. As a pastor, Martha-like curriculums often bombard me with promises to help eliminate apathy in the pews or motivate my people for more service. Much of this type of teaching comes down to guilt-tripping people until they feel forced to do more, serve more, be better. In turn, I too am guilt-tripped about not getting my people to jump on to the latest craze, join a short-term mission trip, or something to that effect.

Set Free to Forgive and Love Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

Jesus loves in the way of selfless, self-giving. His sacrificial love covers sin. His love does not seek its own good, but only the good of the beloved. Jesus doesn't ask, "What are going to do for me?" He doesn’t ask us, “What will I get out of this?” He asks, "What do you need?" What's the result? The question hits its tipping point at Calvary.

What Writer's Block Tells Us About the Kingdom of God Jul 31, 2018

Show notes

Writer's Block, like the law as a mirror, shows me the need for a Savior. I've hurt someone by my words again. I've wounded someone by not speaking up again. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many hours I spend writing, rewriting, and editing, I can't be perfect. When I focus on myself – as a writer, in my other vocations, or simply as a human being – I will always be found wanting.

Luther's Anxiety of the Heart and Today's Despair Jul 27, 2018

Show notes

Nietzsche was right when he said God is dead. Social Darwinism and Progressivism have taught us that we no longer need a sky deity - we are too smart for Him, and so we’ve done away with Him. He has ceased to be the way our world measures goodness, truth, and beauty and thus, the way we measure our worth. We tell ourselves this "lack of God" is better: no more condemnation from above, no more thunder, lightning and hailstorms, no way anyone any longer can use God as ammunition to oppress the weak or steal from the poor.

Why Church is For You Jul 25, 2018

Show notes

What should be the friendly response to each of these individuals’ doubts and ignorances? Tell them the Gospel again! Put them into this YOU, as Luther says. Again, again and again! The “You” mentioned by Luther is Christ’s forgiveness, won on the cross for the entire world and thus for you.

A Bitter Parable Jul 23, 2018

Show notes

We pray that God may enlighten and use parents, Servants of the Word, and Christian friends as His instruments to help our children deepen their understanding and appreciation of these realities or, as with Jennifer, recover them for a Happy Forever.

The Truth about Loving Our God Jul 23, 2018

Show notes

The truth is, we love God in spite of ourselves. That does not mean we are incapable of love. All people love someone or something. But regardless of who or what we love, we are called by Selfless Jesus to go further. Selfless, Loving Jesus invites us to make the radical claim that we love God and neighbor "because He first loved us.” But, to love as God wants us to love is so difficult.

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