Last night, I watched this sermon by Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way, an intentional community in the “bad lands” of north Philadelphia. He shares his incredible story of how God has led him throughout his life to learn what it means to take Jesus’ words seriously and really follow him. He was born in east Tennessee and was raised as a Methodist. He went to a “get saved” meeting each year and got born again, again and again. Then he went to Eastern in Pennsylvania and found himself reading an article about homeless people who were being evicted from an abandoned Catholic church. He and 100 others got involved by moving into the church with the homeless and suffering with them while sharing the love of Messiah. I won’t give too much away, because it is a beautiful story. He also interned with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and has done some incredible things in Philadelphia since then.
Next week a number of us will be attending the Family Camp held at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George, NY. The focus for the week will be the book of 1 John. In preparation for this I have been reading the book through repeatedly in order to acquaint myself with it. There is much to be said about the major themes of abiding, love, fellowship, truth, light, antichrist, and righteousness vs. sin. However, one section in particular has been very striking to me. Each time I read through it I get fascinated by its bold and convicting content.
Walter Brueggemann was a Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. A graduate of Elmhurst College, Professor Brueggemann went on to study at the Eden Theological Seminary, receiving his Doctorate of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from St. Louis University. He has devoted his life to a passionate exploration of Old Testament theology. An unequaled passion for his subject has resulted in the publication of more than 58 books and hundreds of articles. My introduction to Dr. Brueggemann was through a course I took on Old Testament Poetry, for which my teacher, Dr. Joe Martin (who studied under Brueggemann), used The Message of the Psalms.
Click here to listen to Modern Idolatry or The Other Gospel as presented by Chuck Jones, Apr 29 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by Sean Finnegan.
Chuck Jones is a pastor of a congregation in Pomona, California. His presentation focused on the subject of idolatry. First, he looked to the Old Testament to describe six examples of idolatry. Next he moved on to look at how idolatry is used, in a somewhat wider sense, in the New Testament. Finally he spoke about “false saviors and other gospels” and how we our prone to wander into putting our trust in goodness, power, wisdom, wealth, a need for significance, etc.
Recently, I have been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book was published in 1937 in Munich, Germany. The church had to a large degree lapsed into a doctrinal pride based on Luther’s view that justification occurs by faith alone apart from any works. Bonhoeffer writes with passion and confronts this luke-warm mentality. Though he confronted his fellow countryman in an effort to bring revival to the church, sadly, Bonhoeffer failed, and the church was whisked off her feet by a zealous new leader–Adolf Hitler. As time went on the church became more and more afraid of opposing the Nazi regime and Bonhoeffer and a few others eventually broke away forming “The Confessing Church” which opposed Nazism publicly. I find his words surprisingly relevant to the state of Christianity today.
Here is the incredible story of a 92 year-old woman of faith who preached to her mugger in a Walmart parking lot. He had gotten into her car just before she started it to drive home and demanded that she give him all of her money. She told him no and instead preached to him.
Here is something very powerful that impressed itself upon me recently.
I found this prayer by Kaj Munk in the book The Irresistable Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Whether or not you agree with the contents or even think the book is a worthwhile read, I think everybody needs to see and/or hear this.
Kaj Munk was a Danish Lutheran pastor who was vehemently against both the regimes of Hitler and Mussolini and was eventually martyred during World War 2. This is a prayer or his.
My name’s Kyle and I was recently asked to do the writings for Fridays here on KingdomReady.org. I hope that we can learn from each other.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting down wondering what I was going to teach at the church that I am currently interning at when one of my favorite songs by the band mewithoutyou (yes, all one word–you should check them out if you ever get a chance) called “A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains.” The words are good, very poetic and hard to understand, but that one sentence struck me as something extremely profound and thought provoking. I had been thinking about preaching on one of eight woes, in particular the one about the cup, and I remembered that wasn’t the only time Jesus had talked about cups and their contents.
The following sermon was preached last Sunday by Victor Gluckin at Living Faith Christian Church. The message cut “Churchianity” from true Christianity like a knife. Following Jesus is more than just attending a meeting an hour a week. It is more than just mentally assenting to a list of doctrines. It is more than having an emotional experience during the worship songs. It is more than mere behavior modification. We need to “be Jesus” in the easy situations but also when it is unpopular, awkward, or dangerous. Click the play button below to watch this rousing and timely presentation of true commitment to and identification with the Messiah.
Yesterday I cam across this website, which lists the school shootings that have occurred in recent history (it starts in 1996). Shockingly there are over 50 incidents listed. My question is, “What is going on here?” Why are students from 13 to 30 coming into their middle school, high school, or college and murdering their classmates? Am I to accept this as “normal?” Has this always been going on or is it just that now because of “sensationalist” media coverage it is being brought to our attention? Can something be done?
Last night, I watched this sermon by Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way, an intentional community in the “bad lands” of north Philadelphia. He shares his incredible story of how God has led him throughout his life to learn what it means to take Jesus’ words seriously and really follow him. He was born in east Tennessee and was raised as a Methodist. He went to a “get saved” meeting each year and got born again, again and again. Then he went to Eastern in Pennsylvania and found himself reading an article about homeless people who were being evicted from an abandoned Catholic church. He and 100 others got involved by moving into the church with the homeless and suffering with them while sharing the love of Messiah. I won’t give too much away, because it is a beautiful story. He also interned with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and has done some incredible things in Philadelphia since then. 
Next week a number of us will be attending the Family Camp held at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George, NY. The focus for the week will be the book of 1 John. In preparation for this I have been reading the book through repeatedly in order to acquaint myself with it. There is much to be said about the major themes of abiding, love, fellowship, truth, light, antichrist, and righteousness vs. sin. However, one section in particular has been very striking to me. Each time I read through it I get fascinated by its bold and convicting content.
Walter Brueggemann was a Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. A graduate of Elmhurst College, Professor Brueggemann went on to study at the Eden Theological Seminary, receiving his Doctorate of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from St. Louis University. He has devoted his life to a passionate exploration of Old Testament theology. An unequaled passion for his subject has resulted in the publication of more than 58 books and hundreds of articles. My introduction to Dr. Brueggemann was through a course I took on Old Testament Poetry, for which my teacher, Dr. Joe Martin (who studied under Brueggemann), used 
Recently, I have been reading 
Yesterday I cam across