Knowing the God of the Gospel

The Problem of Forgiveness     My two four year old kids are learning about forgiveness.  They often act selfishly against each other, offending each other and we are teaching them to apologize and forgive.  It is often a rote catch phrase they quickly spout off, knowing that it is an appropriate practice in life and relationships.  They often throw the phrase into situations of conflict, knowing that it is important, but not always grasping the concepts of offense, forgiveness and the resulting reconciliation that forgiveness is intended to accomplish.   Why doesn't God simply forgive us with words of forgiveness like I require of my kids?   Why should our forgiveness depend on Christ's death on the cross?  As one French cynic once said, "Why can't God practice what he preaches and be equally generous [to us]? Nobody's death is necessary before we forgive each other.  Why then does God make so much fuss about forgiving us an...

In his book, Bowling Alone, Robert T. Putnam, talks about the shifting American landscape and how our definition of community has changed so drastically over the past decades.  In Bowling Alone, Putnam makes the comment that Americans traditionally have been communal people, bowling together, going to church together, serving in community clubs together.  Yet in recent years, this has all shifted.  The individuality of the American experience, enhanced by technology, travel and mobility, has increasingly made us disconnected from each other. Yet as I meet people in Madison, Wisconsin and other places, I see people longing for friendship, for a sense of connection to other like minded people and given to something bigger than themselves.   When Jesus came to earth and lived, his ultimate purpose was not to help people improve their moral behavior so they could have improved relationships and get along better.   Ultimately Jesus came and died to con...

The Fuel of Death Defying Missions One of the books that has recently impacted Brenda and me is "Radical" by David Platt.  Brenda and I went through this book in a small group several years ago and it deeply challenged us to more fully give our lives to Christ's work and make decisions, especially financial decisions, that reflect at eternal perspective. This book has challenged not only our lives but our former small group as well as the staff here at Monona Oaks Community Church.   Platt recently spoke at the T4G conference on global missions and his sermon is continuing to gather a large following.  As you think about your commitment to global missions, I encourage you to listen to David Platt's message as you consider how you might participate in God's global mission.

God Speaks Through What He Has Spoken Recently I was reading a book by John Stott called "Between Two Worlds" which is Stott's classic book on preaching.  Yet in the early pages of the book, I was struck by one of Stott's phrases that doesn't just apply to preaching, but to Bible reading and Bible study in general.  Stott makes the pronouncement that God has spoken through his Word, which is absolutely true, but just as importantly, God continues to speak through what he has spoken.  When the writer of Hebrews says that God's Word is 'living and active' what the writer is saying is that God has spoken and is continuing to speak, yet sadly, people harden their hearts to God's Word and don't heed his voice (Heb 4:7).  It is an ongoing problem for humanity.  But another spiritual problem relates to not rebellion, but neglect.  Some of us don't hear from God and our spiritual lives are stale and boring, not from rebellion, but neglect o...

The Prodigal God A Third Way to Live One of the books that has been a great encouragement to me the past several years is the book "Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller.   Dr. Keller pastors a church in New York City called Redeemer Presbyterian Church and he has written and taught extensively on the centrality of the gospel as the foundation for the Christian life and the Church.  His book Prodigal God has blessed me and challenged me because of my innate sense of legalism.   As Martin Luther once said, legalism is the default mode of the human heart and this is certainly true of me. When I placed my faith in Christ my senior year of college at UW-Eau Claire, there was a lot of things going on my my life that I would just as soon forget.  Without mentioning them all, some of the patterns in my life were easy to break and some were hard.  While living a life far separated from God in college, it was as though my life w...

How To Read The Bible One of my spiritual heroes is Howard Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.  Although he is a brilliant teacher, he constantly sticks to the basics of inductive Bible study and never tires of teaching it and training others to study the Bible for themselves.  His book, Living by the Book, covers these basics of inductive Bible Study.   The Basic Principle of Biblical Interpretation :   Seek the plain, natural, intended meaning of the text.   What did the original author intend for his original audience to understand, and therefore what is implied for Christians today. As we seek to interpret the Bible, we go through a three step process:   1.   Observation 2.   Interpretation 3. Application 1. Observation What does this passage say?   A.. What is the context of the passage? B.   Wh...

UNSTUCK! I recently heard a radio spot by a man named Dr. Arnie Cole, who is CEO of Back to the Bible.  He has done a lot of research on spiritual growth and Christian maturity.  In his research, he has studied thousands of people in churches and finds that a large number of people in church behave in exactly the same manner as people in the world who are non-Christian.  This is probably not a complete surprise to most people.  But here is what he said that I find so fascinating... He said that people that read their Bibles are often people with behavior similar to the world.  As he studied people in churches that were truly transformed spiritually, hearing from God, actively obeying and living life differently than the world's values, there was one defining practice that separated them from other people.  The defining practice that gave them a distinctive life as a Christian was the practice of "reflection" on their Bible reading.  People in ch...