512 results for tag: blog

Self-will vs Surrender: Gospel Language for Postmoderns – Brad Jersak with Laurence Singlehurst

“For if Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore, all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).   I had the great privilege of chatting with Laurence Singlehurst, a seasoned British missiologist who has thought deeply about the language we use to share the Good News in our postmodern era. He’s addressed the problem of our lingo for years, in such books as The Gospel Message Today: Language That Connects in Communicating the Gospel.   What follows are ...

Our Daily Walk – by Ed Dunn

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. (Matthew 6:34, The Message Bible) There’s an old tale of two priests who went for a long daily walk in the woods just after a prolonged and stormy downpour. As they walked and meditated along their way, they came upon a small river that not long before had been a shallow stream. As they did, a young woman from the neighboring village dressed in fine clothing stood by the rain-soaked, muddy bank trying to see how she might get across. ...

But What About Rewards? – by Greg Albrecht

Q: Jesus spoke of God rewarding people for charitable giving, for prayer and for fasting: "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:3-4). "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" (Matthew 6:6). "But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your ...

CWR Video – The Trinity – by Lucy Peppiatt

4 minute Lucy Peppiatt video on the Trinity.

Field of Dreams – by Ed Dunn

Friend and Partner Letter from September 2022 Once again Ed Dunn favors us by writing our letter this month. Given the topic of baseball which forms the illustration of the vital spiritual lesson Ed shares below, we might say he has become a regular in our batting order, coming up to bat for our September letter!  As most of you know, as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ed wears many hats at PTM. Earlier this year he authored “Looking at Life from the Outside In” for the cover of our March Plain Truth. Many appreciated it as a powerful and inspiring account of some of his own struggles in life as he has picked up his own ...

The Dirty Laundry Ritual – Jim Fowler

Jim Fowler Living, as we do, in a dirty world, the clothing that I wear each day gets dirty, sweaty and smelly. So with daily regularity, I take off my dirty clothing, and piece by piece, I carefully cast them toward a clothes basket that is placed quite conspicuously against a wall in our bedroom. There was a time in my life when I did not do this; when my clothes dropped onto the floor wherever my body happened to be when that particular item of clothing was removed. But when I married, certain social adjustments had to be made, and personal habits were revamped. I could no longer live like a bachelor “pig.” I had to “clean up my act.”...

God Is After You – by Greg Albrecht

by Greg Albrecht Moses was born into slavery. Freedom was a foreign concept to his people, the children of Israel who lived in bondage in Egypt. The Hebrews had no idea what it would be like to be free. Like many oppressed minorities throughout history, the Hebrews started to out-populate the majority power. The population explosion of the Israelite slaves was becoming such a problem that the Egyptian king, called the Pharaoh, decided that all male babies had to be killed at birth so that the Hebrews would not eventually out-number the Egyptians. In one of those unexpected turn of events in which God seems to delight, God used the very family of ...

Built to Last – by Ed Dunn

Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV) - “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock…” As we’ve all been faced with the fear and uncertainty caused by recent events, and many of our normal rhythms and routines of life have been forced to change, at least for the time-being, I’ve been reflecting on a favorite teaching Jesus offered for just such a time as this. In this passage, Jesus presents the parable ...

Getting or Being Saved? – by Greg Albrecht

by Greg Albrecht Are you saved, brother?" the intense young man asked me. He continued, "If you're not saved, you need to get saved!" When the young evangelist cornered me, I surmised he was hoping to save another soul from the eternal torment of hell-fire. I responded, "Before I reply, may I ask you to tell me what it is you believe I need to be saved from?" The earnest young man didn't miss a beat (as I suspected, he rattled off the stock answer he'd learned in Saving Souls 101) "if you don't get saved, you're going to hell." I locked eyes with him and asked him another question: "So, let me get this straight—I need to 'get' saved so I won't ...

The Universal Body of Christ – Greg Albrecht

The teaching ministry of Christianity Without the Religion (CWR) offers weekly online sermons, with Christ-centered teaching, fellowship, prayers and communion. We minister modestly, without religious embellishments, primarily to individuals and small groups who are part of the body of Christ, rather than overflowing crowds in warehouse-like sanctuaries or in majestic, stained glass cathedrals. We minister in the name of Jesus, remembering his promise in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” We insist that the church is who YOU are, in Christ,far more than it is a physical location to which ...

The Walking Wounded – by Greg Albrecht

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.—Psalm 34:17-18 When we think of the term "walking wounded," we usually consider warriors who served their country, whose wounds are visible and known, as well as those whose wounds are not as apparent.   Most recently, we are familiar with The Walking Wounded who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. While one of the tragic consequences of any war is The Walking Wounded left in its wake, one of the most publicized examples goes back a genera...

More on Inviting our Everywhere-Present God – Brad Jersak

Awhile back, I wrote a post on why we ask Abba for gifts already given. In that article, I distinguished between problematic assumptions about our need to ask (e.g. needing to beg a stingy God) and healthier reasons why we Christ instructed us to ask (e.g. God honors our permission). In this post, I will pick up on the important difference between alienation, separation and space as we conceive our relationship with God. Alienation vs Separation This weekend, I was thinking about the Prodigal Son's real experience of alienation from his father. That is, he felt the pain of turning from his father's love. Out of this alienation, he ...

Why Forgive? – Greg Albrecht

Years ago, as a pastor, I visited prisoners in jails and prisons. In those days prison officials would often remind people like me, whom they considered naive “do-gooders,” that we were visiting convicts, and that convicts will say anything and pretend to be something they are not in order to expedite their release from prison. Pastors like me were warned not to be fooled by someone who pretends to “come to Jesus”—who fakes a conversion hoping to deceive a pastor or social worker into supporting and vouching for the convict to receive early parole. Statistical evidence was given to pastors who visited prisoners demonstrating that ...

Grace and Friendship – by Stuart Segall

Grace and friendship walk hand-in-hand most of the time. As you may know, I speak and write about friendship and so it is good to ponder this similarity when you realize that grace is like friendship. You only know you have either one when you really need it. If you don’t get that, well I pledge to you that you don’t get grace. For some, grace will be their own definition of things like “unmerited pardon,” but for me the richness of grace is about what “amazing grace” is. It is about the father in the prodigal son story. My past experiences, which are rich and many, show and tell me that many don’t even get what that father did ...

Satisfaction When Others Get Their Comeuppance – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from August 2017 Eternal conscious torment in hell is an unbiblical, fabricated teaching of Christ-less religion designed to effectively keep its followers in line. “Believers” in such teaching perceive hell as having positive results because 1) the fear of being consigned to the fiery coals of hell keeps the followers of Christ-less religion in tow, as they “toe-the-line,” and 2) it gives those who are religiously devout “hope” that God will see to it those who do not seem to faithfully “toe-the-line” as they do will get what they deserve.  This “hope” of seeing others “get what’s ...

This is a Football – Greg Albrecht

It’s that time again—football season is here! You can’t miss it (even if you try!). There will be high school games on Friday night, college games on Saturday and NFL games all day Sunday, Monday nights and occasionally other nights. Critics of football note that football is as close to religion as some folks ever get. Critics of religion (like me) can only say “thank God” for that. Let’s get close to God, but let’s get as far away from religion as possible. Speaking of God, religion and football, the legendary coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers is said to have given a “This is a football” lecture to his team at ...

Attend Church or Else! – by Greg Albrecht

by Greg AlbrechtEditor's Note: Just what it means to "be" and "do" and "go to" church is a controversial topic within Christendom. Of course there are vested interests, so that the discussion is rarely objective. One of our readers/listeners introduced this conversation, as he reported his response to an article by a pastor (in italics) he felt to be manipulative and self-serving (our reader's response in bold type). We invite you to be the judge of that! My wife recently brought home a pastoral newsletter from the church she occasionally attends. I read the lead article and couldn't believe what I was reading. Have I just gone completely nuts, ...

What Are We Really Singing? – by Laura Urista

We praise Thee O God our Redeemer, Creator, in grateful devotion our tribute we bring. We lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee, we bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing. (Netherlands folk song text by Julia Cady Cory). Those are the opening words to my very first “favorite hymn.” I can remember singing those words at age four, surrounded by my family and hundreds of worshippers at a large church gathering. I still get goosebumps thinking of the shared joy of singing hymns of praise and worship with my parents, brothers and sisters as well as my spiritual “brothers and sisters in the Lord.” This great old hymn remains one of ...

The Jalopy and the Jaguar – Jim Fowler

Belching black smoke and periodically back-firing, the old jalopy rattled down the road. The owner had driven this car for many years, but it was thoroughly worn-out. People were beginning to shake their heads in derision when he drove by—he was a blight to the road. The paint was peeling, the body was full of dents—the car looked like a wounded survivor of a demolition derby. Flat tires were an almost weekly routine. Talk about uncomfortable! The springs poked through the seats and the wind poured through the cracks in the windows. All of this was detrimental to the owner’s mental and emotional disposition. It was so frustrating to try to ...

His Blessed Hope – Take Heart – by Greg Albrecht

Friend and Partner Letter from August 2022 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Anxiety and fear impact our world. Disturbing and horrific news overwhelms us so that when we do hear good news—such as the good news of the gospel—we can have trouble fully hearing and appreciating it. We are now, once again as in so many hundreds of times since Jesus originally said it, experiencing, in our cities, on national settings and international stages, “…wars and rumors of wars…” (Matthew 24:6). Just a few months ...