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missional Recent Posts Scripture Tabernacle Temple theology

BEING THE TEMPLE FOR THE WORLD #3a

  Here is the complete series: 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6. So I’m getting a little behind on writing up my class notes for “God With Us: Being the Temple for the World” at Life on the Vine.  Today I’ll be summarizing what we talked about two weeks ago.  Hopefully on Friday I’ll […]

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Christology discipleship ecclecia ecclesiology prayer Recent Posts theology

The Human Side of Prayer (along with Tim Keller)

I came across this on twitter and it caught my eye and made me think. Failure to pray is not merely breaking some religious rule. It is really a failure to treat God as God. — Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) October 26, 2014 What do you think? As a Reformed pastor and theologian I know Keller […]

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ecclecia ecclesiology economics evangelical evangelicalism Racism Recent Posts theology

Deeper than We Thought (1): Our Society’s Sin

The Journey of Redemption  I’ve found in my journey of redemption that I don’t necessary sin egregiously in every category. Rather I’ve found I often keep struggling with the same two or three sins that seem to go all the way down to my core. Every time I think I’m done with that sin God will gently […]

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Epiphany Prodigal Christianity Recent Posts theology

Abundance and Access: Eternal Life in John

I’m working on my sermon on John 3:1-21, which covers the ‘born-again’ conversation with Nicodemus to the famous “for God so loved the world” verse. But neither of these themes should be disconnected from the two episodes covered in John 2.  There Jesus first turns water into wine, and then goes on to clear the […]

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Christology Jesus Jesus Christ Recent Posts theology

Christology of the Temple: in Heaven and on Earth

Temple Christology So I’ve been reflecting on N.T. Wright’s claim that Christology should properly begin with an understand of the Temple as the initial place of God’s dwelling on earth, of the union of heaven and earth (I believe this is in Simply Jesus, but I don’t have it in front of me right now). […]

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evangelical Recent Posts theology

Theology of Scripture?

I’ve been reading two books on a theology of Scripture in order to beef up my class on “Biblical and Theology Reflections on Ministry and Culture” (what a mouthful, not my title) at Northern Seminary (their MDim program). They are both from a more Reformed perspective, for what it is worth. “Words of Life” is […]

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ecclecia ecclesiology God Jesus Christ Prodigal Christianity Recent Posts theology

More Than Splitting the Difference: Missio Dei (a)

So often we want to jump right into joining God’s mission because we feel we already know what God’s mission is.  But before even asking, “What is God’s mission?” we need to ask, “Who is this God on mission?” and “How does God go about this mission?” Is God distant? Is God everywhere? These are […]

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evangelical politics Recent Posts theology

“We Have Theology, the Rest of You are Just Visiting…”

I think that much of theology works with the assumptions expressed by Matt Damon’s character in “The Good Shepherd” (about the CIA).  When asked about what “you people have?” he answers, “We have America. The rest of you are just visiting.” (FYI, racial slurs in the dialogue) (My thoughts below). I think many pop theologians […]

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ecclesiology politics theology

The Church in its Profoundest Expression…

“The church in its profoundest expression is the gathering of a people who are able to sustain one another through the inevitable tragedies of our lives.  They are able to do so beause they have been formed by a narrative, constantly reenacted through the sharing of a meal, that claims nothing less than that God […]

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theology Uncategorized

Can’t or Don’t Want To? On Not Being Emergent or Neo-Reformed

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.” (Rom 13:8). You don’t choose to pay a debt; you are compelled.  But we will return to this in a moment. — Last week it was suggested that Dave Fitch and I, when we said that “we couldn’t” live by the answers that Emergent was offering […]