Weekly Once-Over (01.15.2014)
Weekly Once-Over:
Discipleship: When Is Enough Enough?: How can leaders tell if they are making mature disciples? Paul gives us three places to look: the heart, the head, and the hands of disciples.
Should Broke Tim Get Married And Have Kids?: If you are both making poor money, should you still trust God, get married, and start having kids?
What I Learned About Sabbaticals by Finally Taking One: And it struck me that God had called me on sabbatical for that moment—to heal me of wounds that had gone so deep that I hardly knew what life was like without them. Feeling the great surge of letting everything wash away, feeling stripped bare, I was reminded that his grace is sufficient, and he does in fact make all things new. That was our 42nd day. Now that I've finally taken a sabbatical, here are a few things I've learned.
How Not To Create A Missional Movement: Rather than present our polished vision, values and practices, I want to take a little different tack – I want to candidly talk about putting these ideas into practice in a real church. More specifically, I want to be completely honest with you about our failures at The Austin Stone. Over the last 7 years, we have been in the process of transitioning to missional communities, and we’ve made plenty of mistakes...
Parents: Don't Just Give Your Kids Technology: I’m surprised by how many parents just give their kids technology – without taking the opportunity to train them in responsibility, accountability, and wisdom. This is a sure way to raise a spoiled brat or a selfish, entitled college student.
What I Appreciate (And Don't) About Prosperity Preachers: Prosperity teaching leans on Malachi 3 to cast God as a big piñata in the sky, chock-full of material wealth. This interpretation of the text is more about how to feed greed than glorify God.
Gospel Amnesia In The Local Church: Have you ever felt ashamed or guilty because you can’t seem to keep up with someone else’s sanctification? On the other side: have you ever let words slip from your lips (e.g. how many times a week you do family worship, what books you are reading, which parenting and education method you are using, etc.) to show how far along your family is on the sanctification spectrum? In other words, have you ever “preached Christ” out of envy, rivalry, or selfish ambition (Philippians 1:15–17)? I certainly have...
Holy-Love Wins: Holiness without love yields sternness. Love without holiness yields sentimentality. The Maker of heaven and earth is neither stern nor sentimental, for he is simultaneously holy and love...