“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
As Pastor Caesar Kalinowski concludes Chapter 1 of Transformed, he tells of the time when he was a new believer and was befriended by a man named Johnnie, an older Christian who taught Caesar much about servanthood. Nowhere was Johnnie’s servant heart more apparent than when he was in a public restroom. Johnnie always would […]
“We are objects of love before we are subjects who love.”- Jono Linebaugh In Chapter 9 of One Way Love, author Tullian Tchividjian states that the only way any of us truly begins to live a life of obedience to God is when we experience tasting His grace. The message that justifies also is the […]
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. . . . You do not have, because you do not ask God.”-James 4:1-2 In Chapter 7 of One Way Love, Tullian Tchividjian notes that when the foundation of any relationship […]
Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish? . . . When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread.”- John […]
As Tullian Tchividjian concludes Chapter 4 of One Way Love, he cites J. Gresham Machen’s counterintuitive statement that “a low ( or cheap) view of the law always produces legalism; a high view of the law makes a person a seeker after grace.” Pastor Tchividjian then contrast the two views. A low view of the Law: […]
Pastor Tullian Tchividjian (One Way Love) follows his discussion of The Parable of Two Sons with a tale of two very different lunches he had with concerned family friends, one before and one after he had been kicked out of the house at age sixteen. The first family friend read Tullian the riot act. However, […]
Pastor Tullian Tchividjian concludes Chapter 1 of One Way Love with the assertion that we often resist grace, even though it is beautiful and lifesaving. By nature, he notes, we’re suspicious of promises that seem too good to be true. Tullian states that we resist grace because: 1. even if we’re able to accept God’s […]