Category Archives: Sermons and Devotions

How to Preach What’s Not The Gospel

Note: Adrian Warnock preaches the Gospel. He also made a great picture 🙂 In a few days, I’ll gather my chapel preachers together for our orientation to the preaching work of the year. As I do every year, I’ll tell them to preach the Gospel. I’ll hand out “Two Ways To Live” and talk aboutContinue reading “How to Preach What’s Not The Gospel”

Michael Bell: Taking Another Look at the “No Religion” Data

IM First Officer Michael Bell takes a second look at the “no religion” data in the Pew Forum Studies. I have received a lot of interest and feedback on my last two posts on InternetMonk, concerning how and when people switch between their childhood religion and their current faith. For those who have not hadContinue reading “Michael Bell: Taking Another Look at the “No Religion” Data”

Michael Bell: How To Stop The Hemorrhaging: A Follow Up To The Pew Forum Data

IM First Officer Michael Bell follows up his look at the Pew Forum Data on Changes in Religious Affiliation. In my previous post at Internet Monk, I looked at two surveys conducted by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S. that was released aContinue reading “Michael Bell: How To Stop The Hemorrhaging: A Follow Up To The Pew Forum Data”

Where Is Church Discipline When You Need It? (Part 4): Does Church Discipline Always Look Like Church Discipline?

My posts so far have carried an agenda. I would like readers to consider what church discipline looks like when it is the church’s compassionate ministry to those who are suffering, rather than primarily a punitive action toward those who are sinning. I am aware that, according to a full understanding of church discipline, itContinue reading “Where Is Church Discipline When You Need It? (Part 4): Does Church Discipline Always Look Like Church Discipline?”

Looking For An Exit From The Journey With Jesus

John 6:60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” 61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 TheContinue reading “Looking For An Exit From The Journey With Jesus”

Avoiding Death by Nostalgia: My Denomination (The SBC) Today

The following post is completely and only my personal opinion. It is the first of two posts about my denomination. The second will examine the idea of A Great Commission Resurgence: Is It A Possible SBC Future? Nostalgia- a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.Continue reading “Avoiding Death by Nostalgia: My Denomination (The SBC) Today”

Riffs: 03:05:09: Richard Foster on Solitude; Me on Silence

Next Reformation posted this bit of a 2008 CT interview with Richard Foster. (I mainly mention Foster to light up the radar of the discernabloggers. Boo!) What is the discipline that you think we need to be exploring more at this point? Solitude. It is the most foundational of the disciplines of abstinence, the via negativa.Continue reading “Riffs: 03:05:09: Richard Foster on Solitude; Me on Silence”

What Have I Learned From Living In Community? (Part 1)

When you’ve lived in an intentional Christian community for almost 17 years, you’re a pretty sorry excuse for a person if you haven’t thought about how your life has affected that community or how that experience has shaped you as a person. You live together on the same campus, eat together for most meals, liveContinue reading “What Have I Learned From Living In Community? (Part 1)”