Book Study: 1 John 2:7-11

7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the […]

Dying for Us Wasn’t Enough? Yes it was enough.

I had a small discussion on facebook this morning, and I thought it was worth reposting here as a matter of record. When Christ came to earth, He came to bring to mankind the gospel of the Kingdom. Over the centuries, the Church has tended to emphasize only a portion of the gospel. That portion […]

Announcing New Teaching Series: Reasonable Grace

Reasonable Grace Living under grace means living a convinced life as one greatly loved and greatly forgiven. It means living beyond obligation, beyond karma, beyond the cycle of reaping what you sow. Grace means radical kindness, love coming at you when you don’t deserve it, life redeemed and freed from the prison of ought. Life […]

Book study: 1 John 2:3-6

3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of […]

Confession, Death, and Resurrection

I’ve been reflecting on yesterday’s post about 1 John 1:9, and I wanted to round out some of the ideas. Paul makes a great deal about how we have been baptized into Christ’s death, and are raised with Him to newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). I recently (thereforenow.com/2012/03/his-cross-is-my-death/) made the point that it is Christ’s […]

We Confess, He Transforms

We resist grace because we do not believe He exists, and we suspect that if He does exist, He will manifest His power only to punish and judge. We cannot leave our confession hanging and vulnerable waiting upon the awful silence, we cannot believe that the alien touch from beyond the silence will be a […]

Law and Gospel in 10,000 years

As there has been for literally millennia, there has been a lot of discussion lately in the blogosphere about law and gospel. I’m thinking of a recent post by Tullian Tchividjian: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2012/03/23/law-and-gospel-part-1 Here’s a thought about how this works. I am convinced, utterly convinced, that it is important that young adult men should not poop […]

Mercury is in Retrograde!

Mercury is in retrograde, and this is NEWS! http://shine.yahoo.com/life-made-easy/mercury-retrograde-survival-guide-155500286.html Not that we’re superstitious of course! But, things are going really well the last few days with certain trouble spots at work, KNOCK ON WOOD! Just don’t open an umbrella inside, or walk under a ladder. We’ve really got to get rid of that black cat […]

Book study: 1 John 1:5-10

1 John 1:5-10 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5 God is light: this is the message John heard from Him who was from the beginning. We want to know what God says to […]

Book study: 1 John 1:1-4

1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands 1 John 1:1 We have an amazing statement here to start off 1 John. That which was from the beginning – think about that for […]