occasionally subtle
bliss lane
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Game Changer & Make Some Noise
Kiana Khansmith
ojovivo
Not today Justin
hello vonnie
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gracie abrams
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The Bowery Presents
#extradirty
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
Xuebing Du
Andulka
Monterey Bay Aquarium
izzy's playlists!
ellievsbear
seen from Malaysia
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@hypkigoodquotes
The Concept of Human Rights
Christianity provided not merely a general idea of equality but also the resources for an understanding of “natural” human rights. Whoever came up with the idea that a human being had “rights” not granted by the state and that could be appealed to against the state? Where did the thought come from that some things are owed to all persons, regardless of their social status, gifts, or abilities,…
If You Really Believed
He, and his friends, who by this time had switched off the music, listened intently and respectfully for some time until he suddenly stood up and said, “I’ve got to go. But before I do, I need to say one thing to you, mister.” “What’s that?” I asked, interested in what he was going to say. “You don’t believe a word of all this stuff you’ve been telling us about God,” he almost shouted at me. I…
Learning Requires Discomfort
Brain research shows that when a person is comfortable the more analytical functions of the brain required for learning shut off. Simply put, learning and transformation require discomfort – the very thing many churches work hard to remove from their gatherings. Skye Jethani, What If Jesus Was Serious About the Church? p.175.
Connected and Grounded Prayer
Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading of the Word. The wedding of the Bible and prayer anchors your life in the real God. Timothy Keller, Prayer, p. 56.
Unity Leads to Belief
Unity is essential to the mission of God in the world. When the world sees formerly divided people who used to be filled with hatred, envy, anger, and rage, transformed and united into a people of love, goodness, and kindness –they will believe. When the world sees people once divided by race, color, class, and tradition, now embracing one another as brothers and sisters–they will believe. Skye…
Prayer in Response to God Himself
Some prayers in the Bible are like an intimate conversation with a friend, others like an appeal to a great monarch, and others approximate a wrestling match. Why? In every case, the nature of the prayer is determined by the character of God, who is at once our friend, father, lover, shepherd, and king. We must not decide how to pray based on what types of prayer are most effective for producing…
sabbath
In some ways, the whole point of the Exodus was Sabbath. Let my people go, became God’s rallying cry, that they might worship me. At the heart of liberty – of being let go – is worship. But at the heart of worship is rest-a stopping from all work, all worry, all scheming, all fleeing-to stand amazed and thankful before God and his work. There can be no real worship without true rest. Mark…
make meaning
So I like a new definition of teaching: helping people make meaning. This moves me from a lecturer to a learning-environment designer. Roy Moran, Spent Matches, p. 84.
she sings all the time
A missionary traveled to Saudi Arabia, where she stayed with some Muslim friends. The lady of the house asked the missionary if she would come downstairs to see a new room she had decorated. Out of courtesy, she followed the lady downstairs where about eighty people had been waiting. The lady then asked the missionary to share with them about Isa (Jesus). “But isn’t that illegal in Saudi Arabia?…
bring shalom into the world
So mission is joining God in his caring, sustaining, and transforming activity on earth. Mission is good news to the world. It is good news because it brings people into relation with Jesus. But it is also good news because it promises to bring shalom into the world. The ultimate goal of mission is the sabbath shalom of God: the threefold harmony of God, creation, and humankind, which will…
make disciples right here
There is more ethnic diversity in the United States than in any country in the world. Three are estimated to be 584 unengaged, unreached people groups in North America right now living in our cities.God is moving people and groups into our cities and our neighborhoods. We can reach them without even getting on a plane. We need to send more who will go overseas, but we also need to preach the…
enough light
Pascal … argued explicitly that there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough obscurity for those who don’t. For Pascal, God has arranged things this way because certainty is not our main need, just as ignorance is not our main problem. “God wishes to move the will rather than the mind. Perfect clarity would help the mind and harm the will.” Pascal thus emphasized that the…
waiting
Most of the biblical history consists of people waiting for God to do something. And often they waited in very dire circumstances that made the wait all the more difficult. They were held in the tension between the divine promise and the seeming absence of any implementation of that purpose. Matthew Jacoby, Deeper Places, page 92.
reverent skepticism
In our constant struggle to believe we are likely to overlook the simple fact that a bit of healthy disbelief I sometimes as needful as faith to the welfare of our souls. I go further and say that we would do well to cultivate a reverent skepticism. It will keep us out of a thousand bogs and quagmires where others who lack it sometimes find themselves. It is no sin to doubt something, but it may…
what makes a work christian
Preaching, caring for the flock, and equipping the saints can be profoundly secular. Listening to a child, designing a software package, and examining a balance sheet can be profoundly Christian. What makes a work Christian is faith, hope, and love. R. Paul Stevens, The Other Six Days, p. 248.
immerse in the secular world
To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe. Our Christians presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is that kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen…
the church is a gathered community
Returning to a simplistic yet profoundly biblical understanding of the church as a gathered community is essential. The church should refrain from nostalgia for a past when its halls were packed and from condemning those who have moved for various reasons. Instead, it should view migration challenges through a missional lens, recognizing the numerous new and previously unseen mission…