“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” (Deut. 5:6-7)

First, God. God’s presence in the present, the now, is where we also are present, the condition in which we live, we and our family and friends, our neighbors and the strangers who are among us, and, yes, our enemies. This is the neighborhood. And this God who lives here is about to tell us what to do. But his command does not come out of a vacuum; it comes from a rich, storied context of slavation from slavery. Before he tells us what to do, he tells us what he has done: he has saved us from a live of slavery. We are no longer slaves who have no choice in what we do or do not do. We are free to say yes or no. Our freedom is a gift of God’s salvation. Do we understand this? The we are ready to hear his first word: you shall have no other gods before me. Our choice.

Our choice, because God, having set us free, is not going to violate our freedom now by imposing himself upon is. The community in shich we live is not formed by coercion. Nobody has to live here with these others whom God has saved. On the other hand, if we want to live in community, this is the first condition: God without rivals, God without secretly holding in to other options.”

Eugene H. Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, pp.253-254

A good take on “Bibliolatry“, from a great blog.

1/13/07: Just bumping this post back up to the top. I am truly intrested in hearing what people would say to someone as they present the good news.

In the past week or so, there has been allot of talk among a few blogs about what it is to present the good news (gospel). I don’t want to drag those conversations over here (mainly because I am not ready to get into the limited atonement discussion right now… and if you don’t know, don’t ask). However, I do want to think seriously about what is the gospel.

I’ve talked about this in past posts (predominantly the What the Atonement Did series), but think we need to start at the beginning.

So, here is the question for the next few days: What does a correct presentation of the good news sound like?

Ill go first: Come, be reconciled to God by the person and work of Jesus, and live with the hope of salvation.
(If that’s too much “church talk” or if people need me to expand/explain, just let me know.)

I thought “God is love” was in the Bible somewhere…

P.S.: this is all about this video.

Here is an interesting quote:

Where there is forgiveness of these [acts of rebellion and sin], there is no longer any offering for sin.

Any thoughts?

I’m still obsessed with Jesus Himself as the only gospel.

In that obsession, I am finding more and more that I need to see Jesus as He has been revealed, not as we perceive Him in our 21st century American pop-theology.

Keep Reading, “Seeing Jesus”…

I get quite a few daily blog hit’s a day that are sent from From the Morning. If you haven’t already checked this blog out,  you should. Especially because lately he has been asking questions about things that have been on my mind as I am thinking  and re-thinking about the church plant I am a part of… like where our money should be going.

Go, read, laugh, and be well.