Liberty & Justice
I have named my blog Liberty and Justice because this is the work of the Spirit in our age perfecting the work of Christ on the earth. I am working on my podcast of the same name and I am excited about what God will do through it. I hope you will join me on the journey with a free subscription.
God works through pain
I have been teaching, preaching, and praying through how God uses pain in our lives. Last Sunday I brought the message Present with Pain or Hiding from Healing on Sunday morning. Jesus is where the hurting are. If you disassociate from your pain, you abandon the place of healing. Christ has come that we would be healed and whole but we need to be present to receive that healing.
Coincidentally Rick Warren wrote an article article God’s Purpose in Your Pain in Plough magazine which is worth a read.
What is our hope in pain? It is the promise of God that he can bring good out of anything, even pain, if we trust him. Romans 8:28 is one of the most beloved verses in the Bible, but it’s also one of the most misquoted. It does not say, “All things that happen to us are good.” That is obviously untrue: rape, cancer, war, disease, racism, and starvation are not good. It also does not say, “All things will have a happy ending.” That too is not reality: not every injustice is corrected; not every disease is healed; not every pain is removed.
John Stewart on Gun Control
I don’t have a problem with people who want guns. I have a problem with people who won’t be honest about their disregard for the consequences of those desires. John Stewart destroys this hypocritical stance.
Weird Sex Stuff
There was a lot of talk this week about an article put out by the Gospel Coalition and the statement that sex is an icon of salvation. If this weren’t weird enough, they went farther down this road. Beyond just a really weird article, they sepetate Jesus and the word. "Christ penetrates his church with the generative seed of his Word and the life-giving presence of his Spirit, which takes root within her and grows to bring new life into the world."
That just feels dirty. Seems I was not alone.
If you haven’t read it, and I don’t recommend you do, you can find it here.
Update: To the surprise of no one, the endorsers of the book this comes from never read it.