January 31, 2012
"The gospel, applied to our hearts every day, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of His total forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ means we don't have to play defensive games anymore. We don't have to rationalize and excuse our sins. We can say we told a lie instead of saying we exaggerated a bit. We can admit an unforgiving spirit instead of continuing to blame our parents for our emotional distress. We can call sin exactly what it is, regardless of how ugly and shameful it may be, because we know that Jesus bore that sin in His body on the cross. With the assurance of total forgiveness through Christ, we have no reason to hide from our sins anymore."...
January 6, 2012
I'm at a season of life where it seems like it's time to slow down. Nothing is working quite right anymore. I need glasses for aging eyes and anti-inflammtories for aging joints. I forget names and what commonly used household gadgets are called. Solitude invites me to steal away (which I enjoy doing at times!) while a growing family and new church lovingly require me to get even busier than ever. The commercials say Benny and I should be anticipating retirement after all the years of being in the throes of parenting and pastoring. Sometimes I envy those who can....
October 26, 2016 by | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Racism, race, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, President Obama, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Christianity, Stephen Colbert, Barack Obama, systemic racism
Jacob Phillips on why the success of individual African-Americans or Christians doesn't disprove allegations of systemic racism or bias against Christianity. ...
Keep ReadingAugust 3, 2016 by | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Racism, race, #blacklivesmatter, Redeemer Church Lake Nona, Black lives matter, colorblind, police
Janelle, a white mother, writes about what she wants to teach her sons about their black friends ...
Keep ReadingMay 6, 2016 | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, art, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, movies, God's Not Dead, film, representation, God's Not Dead 2
Jake Phillips talks about the "God's Not Dead" franchise and why it's problematic. ...
Keep ReadingJanuary 6, 2016 | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, John Piper, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, ethics, self-defense, guns, Augustine
Part 2 of Joey's article about John Piper, guns and lethal self-defense...
Keep ReadingJanuary 4, 2016 | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, John Piper, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, ethics, terrorism, self-defense, guns, Second Amendment, American Vision, Muslims
It is a temptation within American evangelicalism to conflate cultural and political values with biblical teaching. John Piper might be right about guns and self-defense, or he might be wrong. Either way, we can learn from him how to approach our own values based on the Bible rather than only the Constitution....
Keep ReadingDecember 2, 2015 | 3 Comments | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, abortion, the gospel coalition, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, Karen Swallow Prior, murder, rhetoric, Joe Carter, Frank Turk, Christianity Today
There's a recent debate in evangelicalism about when, if ever, to call abortion "murder." Jake Phillips weighs in. ...
Keep ReadingNovember 12, 2015 by Bob Putman | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, brain, science, The Brain with David Eagleman, Carl Sagan, Colossians
Bob Putman analyzes The Brain with David Eagleman, a PBS production, and how it both wildly misses the point, but also demonstrates the glory and power of God. ...
Keep ReadingJune 26, 2015 | 7 Comments by | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, trayvon martin, Racism, redeemer, race, Ferguson, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, slavery, #blacklivesmatter, Charleston, Confederate flag, racist, Trayvon, Eric Garner, Nazi, Jim Crow
Janelle Garrett writes about searching our own hearts, and being honest about what we find....
Keep ReadingJune 2, 2015 | 6 Comments | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: humility, cultural values, cultural engagement, empathy, emotion
A young guy about age 20 walked into the lobby and asked for a job application. I explained we weren’t hiring, so he said he wanted a pack of Marlboros. I walked over behind the counter, handed him the cigarettes and told him that would be 50 cents. (Yes, you read that right.) He produced a $1 bill and when I opened the drawer to get change he told me he wanted all t...
Keep ReadingMay 13, 2015 | Category: Cultural Values | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, ethics, for-profit prisons, criminal justice, prison-industrial complex, corporations, fiduciary duties, duty of care, prisons, incarceration rates
Jake Phillips writes about for-profit prisons and the problem of fiduciary duties. ...
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