“So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”- 1 Kings 19:21 As Mark Batterson begins Chapter 6 (“Burn […]
“We give Thee but Thine own, Whate’er the gift may be, All that we have is Thine alone, A trust, O Lord, from Thee.”- Lutheran Service Book 781, v. 1 Mark Batterson continues Chapter 5 of All In by stating that the source of our dreams is the Holy Spirit-the Dream Maker. If we’re locked […]
In Chapter 5 of All In, author Mark Batterson states that all of us, like Abraham, have our Isaac- what we find our identity and security based upon. Pastor Batterson stresses that God will test us to make sure that we find our identity and security in the cross of Jesus Christ. If God’s gift […]
Sometime later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. The God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love- Isaac- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”- Genesis 22:1-2 Mark Batterson observes in […]
Mark Batterson begins Chapter 3 (“Charge”) of All In with the story of Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, a member of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Union Army. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain and his three hundred soldiers withstood five charges by the Confederate Army. Down to eighty men, Chamberlain was informed by a lookout […]
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”- Luke 9:24 In Chapter 3 of All In, author Mark Batterson counterintuitively asserts that he’s convinced it is true that the key to self-fulfillment is self-denial (shorthand for delayed gratification). That’s how we’ll discover that authentic […]
The he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”- Luke 9:23 NIV) “If Jesus is not Lord of all, then Jesus is not Lord at all.”- Mark Batterson Mark Batterson begins Chapter 3 (“Draw the Line”) of All In […]
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”- Joshua 3:5 “If you aren’t hungry for God, you are full of yourself.”- Mark Batterson As Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 2 of All In, he states that anytime God is ready to do something amazing in our lives, He calls us to consecrate […]
In Chapter 2 (“The Inverted Gospel”) of All In, author Mark Batterson reminds us that, in the sixteenth century, astronomer Nicholas Copernicus challenged the prevailing belief that the earth was the center of the universe. He turned the scientific world upside down by proclaiming that the earth revolved around the sun. Likewise, Pastor Batterson states, […]
“This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”- 1 John 1:5 Mark Batterson begins Chapter 1 (“Pack Your Coffins”) of his most recent book, All In, with an account of some brave missionaries known as one-way missionaries. […]
In his Introduction to Part 2 (“Identity: Who We Are”) of Transformed, Caesar Kalinowski asks us to imagine performing as a one-person trapeze act. Obviously, it doesn’t work- we’d need a partner to catch us. Similarly, our new identity in Christ is lived both individually and collectively (as the church). Pastor Kalinowski states that the […]
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”- Romans 8:11 As Caesar Kalinowski continues Chapter 2 of Transformed, he states that his grasp of the […]