Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 66
October 21, 2017
Weekend reading (10/21)
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The Prosperity Gospel in Our ClosetJimmy Needham:
It’s ironic that many of us are able to see the lies of the prosperity preachers, who promise new cars and houses for anyone willing to believe a little harder, but we don’t have eyes to see the more subtle threat of using our relationship with God as a means to boost our spiritual resume. This is the orthodox man’s prosperity gospel — going through the spiritual motions to acquire an elevated sense of self-worth. It’s the prosperity we keep...
October 20, 2017
Pushing through the final push
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If you’re a writer, you know how hard it can be to actually write sometimes. There’s always a new video to watch, an article to read, a Twitter rant to ignore. It seems like when you’re close to the end of a project, even if that end is only relatively close, those temptations toward distraction become stronger.
And then there’s the other side of it: you fight the distraction, but the words don’t come. You sit in front of your keyboard, clackity-clacking away only to select all and delete be...
October 19, 2017
Links I like (10/19)
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Five Unintended Consequences of Short Pastoral TenureJonathan Howe:
Beware the Satisfied ChurchWhile some circumstances do call for quick pastoral turnover, it’s hard not to wonder if some churches fire their pastor (or the pastor bails) too quickly. Regardless of which side cuts the other loose, the church and pastor are nearly always worse off as a result. The unintended consequences of short pastoral tenure take their toll on both sides.
Trevin Wax:
But it’s easy for Christians who have...
October 18, 2017
Don’t fear the Holy Spirit, know him
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That title itself probably sounds strange, doesn’t it? After all, why would someone fear the Holy Spirit? How could someone fear the third person of the Trinity?
Maybe “fear” is the wrong word. Maybe neglect knowing him is a better way to describe it. Or positively, we should seek to know him. I’ve been thinking about this again as I write something not-so-short elsewhere on the member of the Trinity who tends to avoid the spotlight. The Spirit illuminates our minds to the things of God. He...
October 17, 2017
Links I like (10/17)
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How Do You Respond to God’s Word?David McLemore:
The Boy Scouts...What we do with God’s word is a pointer to what we would do with God himself. If we treat his word as worthless, disgusting, imposing, violating, or offensive, then we will also treat God himself that way. When, for example, something like the Nashville Statement seeking to reaffirm biblical values on sexuality meets such outrage from within Christianity, we must begin to think how we would react to Jesus if he were here today.
October 16, 2017
Hope in heartbreak
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An online acquaintance shared this yesterday, and it broke my heart:
I realized why I hadn't been particularly struck by #MeToo.
It's because I assume every woman I know has been hollered at, grabbed, insulted, objectified, or violated at some point.
It's terrible that that's the norm. And me too.
— kate shellnutt (@kateshellnutt) October 16, 2017
What’s heartbreaking about it for me isn’t a realization that anyone assumes this is the norm. What’s heartbreaking for me is that I generally...
October 15, 2017
The good news in an introduction
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When I was younger, I had times when I was tempted to skip over parts of Paul’s letters. Not the meaty parts in the middle, mind you. The “real” content of course. Just the introductions. You know, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you…” and all that.
I don’t find myself tempted to do that anymore, which is probably a good thing. When you sit with them, there’s sometimes a lot more there than you realize. Yes, they’re introductions. Yes, they are greetings. But they’re al...
October 14, 2017
Weekend reading (10/14)
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Shepherding Those Who Don’t Want a ShepherdRob Hurtgen:
There was a man in the church who did not like change. He wore the same suits that he purchased thirty or forty years ago. Even though the jackets were threadbare in places he saw no reason to change them. He was also very vocal about how he disliked these new changes and this new pastor. His friends, equally disgruntled about changes in their lives, frequently came together to dine on pastor potluck. This man did not want any pastor t...
October 13, 2017
Will you join us in praying?
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It seems like our family is always going through some upheaval these days. This comes with the territory when you move countries, I suppose. We’ve got all kinds of craziness going on with work, school opportunities, church…
There’s a lot. I’ve had a lot of it swimming around in my head for weeks, and realized as I sit in a hotel in Louisville, that I should do something wise: pray, and ask for prayer.
So that’s what I’m doing. Here’s what I’m asking for specifically:
My family’s future in A...October 12, 2017
Links I like (10/12)
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Fighting Sin with LoveTrillia Newbell:
I hate sin. It is ugly. It disrupts life. It messes with precious relationships. It confuses the mind. Sin is pervasive and gross. Sin affects us to our core. Sin wreaks havoc on much, but perhaps the greatest area of impact is on the commandments for us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I think that’s perhaps one reason Paul rebuked the Corinthians about their selfishness and division with verses...
