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....
December 31, 2014 | Category: Current Events | Tags: Redeemer Church, Lake Nona Church, lake Nona, Racism, ISIS, rape culture, race, Ferguson, Redeemer Church at Lake Nona, 2014, year, review, Chesterton, G.K. Chesterton, Staten Island, Ebola, Putin, optimism, pessimism, jingoism, patriotism, church, Year In Review
Jake Phillips writes about why 2014 was such a bad year for American society, and what we can do about it. Should we view it, and the year to come, optimistically? Pessimistically? Some combination of the two? Jake argues that G.K. Chesterton shows a better way: we must simultaneously be irrational pessimists and irrational optimists....
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