509 results for tag: Brad Jersak
Exclamation Point on God’s Love: Greg Albrecht with Brad Jersak
The following is a transcript of an interview with Brad Jersak by Greg Albrecht on the meaning of the Cross
Greg Albrecht: Hello everyone, this is Greg Albrecht. We're going to remember and discuss our Lord's ultimate sacrifice for us and reflect on his life, death, burial and of course the significance and meaning of his resurrection. Helping us with his insights and observations is Brad Jersak. Brad is Editor of our magazines and a Christ-centered professor, speaker and author.
Brad, in one sense it seems to me that these two events, the crucifixion and the ...
April 2022
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Brad Jersak: The Cross: God's Eternal Mercy Seat – pg. 2
Laura Urista: Trimming the Roses – pg. 5
Richard Rohr: The Saving Power of the Cross – pg. 6
Greg Albrecht: The Meaning(s) of the Cross – pg. 7
Q&R: Isaiah 45:7 – Does God cause evil?
Question
What do you make of Isaiah 45:7? Is seems to say that God is the cause of evil and calamity?
KJV: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
NASB: "The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating disaster; I am the LORD who does all these things."
NIV: "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things."
ESV: "I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.
MSG: "I form light and create darkness, I ...
More Christlike God Q & A: “Doesn’t Isaiah 59:2 clearly state that our sins separate us from God?” – Brad Jersak
QUESTION:
Dear Brad,I have had the privilege of hearing your teaching at my local church. I also love your book, Stricken by God? In it you dispel the idea that God cannot look on sin and I totally agree with your reasoning. But although you mention Habakkuk 1:13, you do not comment on Isaiah 59:2. It seems to be clearly stating that the people's sin had separated them from God and hidden his face from them. I would be most interested in your interpretation of this verse, if you have the time to answer.Thank you. May God bless you,
Sarah
RESPONSE:
What a great question, ...
Q&R: Intellectually Honest Bible Reading – Brad Jersak
Question
I am writing to ask for your expertise, advice and suggestions. Even though I have been studying the Church Fathers, your books and expositions on how to read Scripture “the Emmaus Way” for the past three years, I am still troubled by various OT Testament passages.How do we “ interpret” the Flood Story for example. How do we read the countless rather swift and brutal judgment passages related to the 40 years of Israelites wandering the desert? Whole people groups swallowed up in the ground or burned by fire?
Some of the above stories are also mentioned by Jesus, Paul or Peter in the NT accounts. I know this sounds maybe a ...
Amid the Brain Fog of Wartime – Brad Jersak
On Ash Wednesday, 2022, I write from a window-facing easy-chair, glancing over my laptop at the Northern Flicker pecking seed from a feeder, grasping for moments of stillness of heart. As an educator, I’m faced with the challenge of grading book reports and prepping lessons amid the brain fog of wartime, having spent an hour on Zoom on Tuesday, hearing the lament of a Ukrainian priest in Lviv between bomb shelter alarms. It’s hard to recall why what I do matters in the shadow of vacuum bombs and civilian casualties that have the stamp of approval from Christian nationalists. I’m tempted with despondency even as I recline in my place of ...
The Cross in David’s Confession (Psalm 51) – Brad Jersak
As I’ve stated in A More Christlike Word and previous articles, the Psalms often begin with what seem to be musical superscriptions. These ‘liner notes’ also frequently signal Messianic content, especially with the words, “To the end” (mistranslated “for the choir director” in many Bibles).
“To the end” or “Unto the telos” is like a dedication to the coming One—the Messiah—who would fulfill the words of the Psalm as Israel’s Deliverer, especially through the Cross of Christ. The Psalm will anticipate a telos—a completion or fulfillment—an “it is finished” through the good news ...
Grace Creed & the so-called “Old Testament God” – Brad Jersak
“THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD”
A great part of my spiritual journey has been learning how to read Scripture in light of Jesus’s revelation of ‘a more Christlike God.’ More Christlike than what? More Christlike than I had reckoned, given the hellfire preaching of the revivalists I endured in my childhood. More Christlike than the literalist hermeneutics of my training as a Biblical Studies major. And more Christlike than my impressions of the so-called “God of the Old Testament.” Note that I’ve italicized the word ‘my.’ Out of my personal experiences, training, and impressions, I ...
Q&R: Baldies, Bears & Cursing in God’s name – Brad Jersak
The Punishment of the Children who Mocked Elisha in Bethel; The Widow before Elisha; Unknown; Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany; about 1400 - 1410; Tempera colors, gold, silver paint, and ink on parchment; Leaf: 33.5 x 23.5 cm (13 3/16 x 9 1/4 in.); Ms. 33, fol. 229v
Question
Greetings! How are we to understand the young boys in the book of kings who mocked Elisha's bald head and were mauled to death by bears. Certainly this could not have come from the Lord. Elisha had cursed them in the name of the Lord when the bears came and mauled them.
Response
You are correct. I think what you are saying is obviously true: CERTAINLY, this could not ...
“Lower the Heat” (assuming faithfulness in disagreement) – Brad Jersak w/ Floris Kersloot
The following are my takeaways from advice I received from Dutch psychologist Floris Kersloot. The topic was on how to understand and respond as peace-builders when faced with angry reactions over theological (or political) convictions.
He who is slow to anger has great understanding but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.Proverbs 14:29
Even when (and especially when) sharing something so basic and central to Christianity as "God is love" or "Jesus calls us away from hatred into love," we often see people of good faith triggered into inexplicable anger and defensiveness. When our perspectives and opinions about God ...
Q & R – If we’re already forgiven, why strive to be good? Isn’t that salvation by works? –Brad Jersak
Q: If we’re already forgiven, why strive to be good? Isn’t that just “salvation by works”?
R: First, let’s examine each phrase of this question.
“If we’re already forgiven”—Yes, indeed we are. As Christ makes clear from the mercy seat of the Cross, “Father, forgive them,” is the once-for-all divine verdict for sinners. Paul concurs in Romans 5 when he says that when we were still sinners and enemies, Christ died for us, justified us and reconciled us to God.
“Why strive to be good”—Yes, as much as we believe and hope that our goodness is generated from within, the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5) ...
CWR video – Brad Jersak – “Spreading Hospitality”
Short video by Brad Jersak about spreading hospitality as Christians.
Follow Your Heart! Really? (part 2) Brad Jersak
Jeremiah 17
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out ...
Follow Your Heart! Really? (part 1) Brad Jersak
“Follow you heart.”
There’s something about this bit of proverbial wisdom that sounds so right, so refreshing, so healing. To those who’ve shaken free of the restraints of religious moralism or experienced the bankruptcy of rationalism, the rediscovery of one’s heart is a thrilling find indeed. To uncover this precious gift from beneath a thousand layers of emotional limestone is, in a deep way, to be born again. And what a wonderful surprise to find out that perhaps the human heart is, at its core, not some monster to be destroyed, but a pearl to be reclaimed and cherished.
And so we hear this anthem, this slogan—Follow your heart!—...
Tutu, Truth & Reconciliation – Brad Jersak
Desmond Tutu - https://www.flickr.com/photos/portofsandiego/
With the passing of Desmond Tutu, we say farewell to the architect and chair of South Africa's breakthrough "Truth and Reconciliation Commission," which opened the seemingly impossible exodus out of that nation's apartheid system without devolving into civil war. The model that he and former president Nelson Mandela managed has become a template for other nations who seek to resolve past injustices and find a way to reconciliation.
For those who don't know exactly how it worked, what Desmond Tutu realized was that there could be no peace, justice, or reconciliation without both ...
Q & R: “Not counting our sins against us” Part 2 – Brad Jersak
"Not Counting Our Sins Against Us"
In a previous post, "Not counting our sins against us," I wrote concerning Paul's remarkable claim that at the Cross, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself not counting our sins against us." (from 2 Corinthians 3:18-19). That last phrase is a stunning repudiation of every claim that God is beholden to some higher justice that requires payment or punishment as a condition of forgiveness or reconciliation.
Further, it shines bright among a constellation of similar verses that wipe out any sense of record-keeping on God's part. Two others that come to mind:
* Hebrews 8:11-12 citing Jeremiah ...
Separation vs. Alienation & “the fear of God” – Brad Jersak
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he FEARED.” Hebrews 5:7 KJV
My friend Lazar Puhalo recounts his memory of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth on a new-fangled invention called the 'television. It was June 2, 1953. During the coronation of this graceful and gracious 27-year-young woman, the same style of King James language used above referred to the new queen as our 'fearful and 'terrible sovereign, which sounds ominous indeed. And yet, those who 'feared her with reverence and awe' also felt a deep ...
Q&R with Brad Jersak – “No longer counting our sins against us”
Question
"For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT)
+ no longer counting people's sins against them+ no longer counting people's sins against them+ no longer counting people's sins against them+ no longer counting people's sins against them+ no longer counting people's sins against them
So, why do we count sins against ourselves and others? If we stopped counting (perceived) sins done by others, would we not then stop counting sins by or against ourselves?
And what then does the message or ...
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