Jesus is the Word of God
I had no idea Ron Frost has a blog (thanks Dan for highlighting it). Joy of joys.
A spreading goodness is an extremely readable and insightful blog about bible-soaked, Trinitarian affective theology. Try these posts as an introduction:
Make this the year - getting into the bible
Living by faith - what is faith anyway?
Choosing to rule my emotions? - the will or the heart?
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... in any sense of the word.
Cindy Jacobs mobilised a Day of Prayer for the Global Economies on October 29th.
So these Christians went down to a Wall Street statue symbolic of the global financial system. They laid hands on a metal image of a bull and prayed.
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And they sang 'God Bless America.'
[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yuSDQzJDB80]
Yikes!
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Source Wonkette via Jesus Shaped Spirituality.
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Here's a brilliantly helpful resource for New Testament study: Links for Expository Preaching
For every NT book there are stacks of links to online resources under the following headings:
Introductions, Overviews, and Short Commentaries
Full-Length Commentaries
Historical Commentaries and Sermons
Expositional Studies
Expository Sermons
and
Other Links
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In fact between this resource and his excellent blog, Milton Stanley may just be the one stop resource for all your blogging and bible study needs!
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On the subject - what golden nuggets am I missing as I plod around the blogosphere? Have a look at my blogroll and see if you think there are any glaring omissions - always glad to be pointed to the good stuff.
(btw I'm sure you're all grown up enough to know that I don't always agree with those on my blogroll. I think it's healthy to read beyond our own theological circles. Maybe that's why some of you read me!)
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Bobby has moved to blogspot. He describes himself as pre-mill but "a half-step away from being a committed amillenialist." He's asked the question about how a-millers view the modern state of Israel.
I gave an ill-considered half answer. What about others? Dan Hames I'm looking in your direction? Or post-mills? I'd love to hear other views on this. So why not go on over and share the wealth.
Play nice though!
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I feel terrible that I haven't linked before to Jacky Lam's tour de force in the making. Check out this christological commentary on the whole bible (3 books down 63 to go!). He's taking a break from blogging while in mainland China, so now's your chance to catch up on Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus. Hugely stimulating stuff.
Dan Hames has revamped his website which looks to be an excellent resource.
Brilliant short piece on God's Sovereignty by Paul Blackham here.
The most excellent Tim Vasby-Burnie seems to be blogging more regularly here.
Check out posts on confession, healing and small groups and the latest on Todd Bentley.
Also Pete Myers has posted a couple of things concerning our Christ in the OT discussions here and here.
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Bobby writes here about the dangers inherent in confessionalism
I particularly liked this phrase:
I’m not saying that our various traditions and confessions aren’t important, but that “our” stake in those confessions is unimportant.
It's so true that we have a stake in our theological positions and Christian labels. We find identity in the alignments we make within the body.
This is what can make Christian blogging so darned nasty at times! Let's be honest - there's a lot of unChristian-ness on Christian blogs. Why? Well a lot of it is because we're not just discussing ideas out there. We have a stake in our positions. We justify ourselves through our theology. We have bought into our tribe and our tribal identity. We know where we stand in the world because we wear the colours... And this bozo over here is flying a different flag. And it's so hard to hear what they say because they're not dressed up as one of you. It's easier simply to shout out "You're a blue tribe, I'm a red tribe." But what has that achieved? Only to re-inforce our party-spirit, to demonize and to distract our attention from the actual content of our Christian witness.
Paul faced exactly this with the Corithians:
"I am of Paul" "No, no, I am of Apollos" (1 Cor 3:4).
The "I" is very prominent here. We beat our chests and find strength in our parties.
And Paul's answer?
"You are Christ's!" (v23) "And in Him, Paul and Apollos are yours! (v22).
When you understand you don't belong to Christian teachers or factions but to Christ, there's a tremendous liberation. I'm not a "red tribe" man. I belong to Jesus. "The LORD is my banner" (Ex 17:15)
And free from the need to beat my tribal drum I can see Paul and Apollos and Cephas for who they are - just servants of Christ. I don't belong to them, they belong to me. Everything they say is mine in Christ. All their good stuff doesn't belong to them, it belong to Christ and in Christ it's mine.
We don't have a stake in our theological positions. We belong only to Jesus. Every other position belongs to us.
21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Cor 3:21-23)
Here's a sermon of mine on exactly this point: 1 Corinthians 3
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I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'Where's Glen been the last few days? Why has he abandoned us? For where else can we go to find such pithy and incisive theological tid-bits??'
Where else indeed dear reader!?
Unless of course you've been reading here and here where I've been responding to some thoughtful critiques of my Christ in the OT views. Watch these spaces for responses to the responses.
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