I’ve been thinking a lot about checklists since David’s sermon on Sunday. He did a great job of describing the way we imagine God constantly standing over our shoulder, monitoring our every thought and action and marking down all of our failures on some sort of divine checklist. The result? A profound sense of condemnation–the […]
On April 25, we thought about being Spiritually dead… this week we took off after life. Experiencing life! How does the Holy Spirit bring those who are dead to life, wake ’em up? To get after that, I talked about the process of moving from death to life from three vantage points: the mechanical, the […]
Restoration is taking the post-Easter, ‘getting ready for Pentecost’ season to study, explore, and engage the person of the Holy Spirit. In order to provide a benchmark and introduction, I talked about what life WITHOUT the Spirit is like. Here are my thoughts on what it means to be Spiritually Dead. (BTW, special thanks to […]
Sunday Corporate Worship, Theology 4
Ignorance is overcome by information. Information comes from the community of people and ideas whom we give access to our brains. Your mind is being shaped by the community you let in. In our worship yesterday, I noticed that Paul exhorts his little church to ‘no longer walk as the Gentiles do.’ Because of ignorance […]
Church, Membership, restoration, Theology 5
More than a few folks have asked me, “Do I need to be confirmed?” The short answer is no. You don’t need to be confirmed. Jesus never said a word about confirmation. Confirmation doesn’t accomplish, secure, guarantee, or otherwise bolster your salvation. As far as I know, no one’s ever depicted St. Peter standing at […]
Church, Membership, restoration, Theology 0
So there’s been a lot of talk at Restoration recently about confirmation. That’s because our bishop, David Bena, will be visiting Restoration on Palm Sunday (April 5), and he’ll be confirming people at that time. This brings up a lot of questions: What is confirmation? Is it for me? Why do I need it? Why […]
I just saw ironman again last week. RDjr’s character is really winsome. He makes the movie. This time, a particular line completely grabbed me. After his ‘conversion’ in the cave, RDjr commits himself to finding ‘my weapons’ and destroying them. Several times he uses the phrase ‘my weapons’. Normally we use ‘my weapons’ to describe […]
Church, restoration, Theology 0
The Biblical promise that gives me the most hope is that Jesus is coming back as King to restore all things and to reconcile all things to God. He is bringing a new heavens and a new earth. In those last days, there will be a judgment and a separation. Truth will be vindicated. We […]
Christian Calendar, Theology 0
Nov 1 is historically the day the church remembers those whom have died in the previous calendar year: All Saints Day. ‘Saint’ is quite a loaded term in our culture. It is used throughout the New Testament to refer to those who have been ‘set apart’ or made holy by their relationship with God through […]
One of my favorite games to play with Bennett happens on the way to school each morning. We put my ipod on shuffle and listen to the songs that come up. He is allowed to vote on each song with a Caesar-like thumbs-up or thumbs-down. He usually makes the call within 10 seconds. What is […]
