Los prop籀sitos de a簽o nuevo son parte de la costumbre anual de muchos de nosotros. La llegada del nuevo a簽o nos da la oportunidad para detenernos por un momento y planificar un futuro mejor. Por ejemplo, los gimnasios aumentan sus membrec穩as considerablemente en enero con personas que desean bajar de peso o mejorar su condici籀n f穩sica. Tambi矇n escuch矇 que el 穩ndice de divorcios crece considerablemente las primeras semanas del a簽o. Independientemente de la sabidur穩a de los prop籀sitos, todos los deseos persiguen un mejor destino.
The Christian calendar marks the observance of various feasts and celebrations throughout the year. January 6 is the day on which the Christian church celebrates Epiphany. The Season of Epiphany then extends until the day before Ash Wednesday. Epiphany means manifestation or appearance. It is a time in which the church focuses on the divine presence as manifested in Jesus Christ in New Testament times and the implications of that manifestation for today. The season is an occasion to contemplate the unfolding of the revelation of Gods presence on earth through his son, Jesus Christ. It is a time to watch and wait as the mystery and glory of the presence of God in our midst is unveiled. What will it look like for God to walk among us? How will Jesus manifest God to the watching world?
In an ideal world, all Christians would maintain three types of spiritual relationships as they walked through life. (Disclaimer: There have only been a couple times in my own life when I have had all three going at once, but this is still an ideal worth aiming for.)
El nacimiento de Jes繳s cambi籀 al mundo. La navidad es, sin duda alguna, el acontecimiento m獺s importante en la historia de la humanidad y, por lo tanto, la mayor celebraci籀n de cada a簽o. El Dios creador del universo se hizo hombre y habit籀 entre nosotros. Dios no est獺 lejos ni es distante sino que a trav矇s de Jes繳s su presencia es real y personal. De hecho, el milagro de la navidad se resume con la palabra Emanuel que significa apropiadamente Dios con nosotros.
I feel overwhelmed when people refer to a book as a must read. If I read all of the must read books that have been recommended to me in the past year, I would have to quit my job in order to read each one. So I will not heap one more must read on you in this review. However, if you are particularly interested in the issue of poverty, then I do highly recommend that you have this book in your library. I will also provide you with my advice on how you can read it quickly and still glean from its contents.
Why do pastors need to know all that much about work and economics? Last week we introduced this subject and suggested that there are very few areas of our lives that have nothing to do with work and/or economics. Remember that even the notion of our eternal salvation has something to do with economics, since the Bible actually describes the elements of our eternal salvation in economic terms. In addition, life on this side of eternity matters greatly. If we refuse to separate out the sacred from the secular, and thus affirm that all of life is spiritual, then there are few, if any, areas of our spiritual lives that are not impacted by economics.
As a rule, Evangelicals are great defenders of the deity of Christ. Thats not something we mess around with, and anyone who might had better take carebe they Bart Ehrman or the Jehovahs Witness at your door!
Why do pastors need to know all that much about economics? My friend and writing partner, Austin Hill, tells the story of a conference he attended as a graduate student, when the facilitator posed the provocative question, Can somebody name for me one area of our lives that has nothing to do with economics? The group was silent for more than a few moments, as the students were pondering this, most for the first time. Then a student spoke up in a southern drawl, and said what I suspect many were thinking. He said, As a Christian, I believe that my eternal salvation has nothing to do with economics. The group was taken aback by his forthrightness, and the facilitator then rephrased the question this way, Ok, lets assume youre right about that, and lets assume that ones eternal destiny has nothing to do with economics (a debatable assumption), can somebody name a second area of our lives that has nothing to do with economics? He went on to suggest that every facet of our earthly lives is impacted on some level by both economic activity and economic conditions.
A couple years back my wife Rolane and I visited ten of our wonderful Midwest Talbot alumni. What a joy to see them all thriving, finding God faithful, and knowing days of effective and challenging ministry. While we were in the area, we took the opportunity to visit my hometown of Hospers, Iowa and spent a little time with my cousins living there. Some of them I hadnt been with in over 30 years - so long that we all wore nametags to keep from getting confused! While I only spent the first seventeen years of my life on the farm, it played a significant role in who I am today. In going back home, certain impressions left their mark on my mind and heart. Let me elaborate ...
Por los tres 繳ltimos a簽os, el 穩ndice de felicidad planetaria ha dado a conocer los pa穩ses m獺s felices del mundo de acuerdo a ciertos par獺metros. Los resultados sorprendentes de la 繳ltima edici籀n en el 2012 se簽alaron que pa穩s m獺s feliz del mundo es Costa Rica, en segundo lugar se encuentra Vietnam y en tercero Colombia. Los Estados Unidos se ubicaron en el lugar 104. Este 穩ndice de felicidad se basa en tres cosas: 1) Se hace la pregunta la persona, "聶Qu矇 tan feliz es usted?" En una escala del 0-10. 2) Luego se mide la expectativa de vida de las personas de ese pa穩s. Finalmente se mide cuanta tierra (o recursos ecol籀gicos) necesita la persona en ese pa穩s para ser feliz.
In my last blog, I wrote on how to invite a guest speaker to a retreat well. This included knowing how to choose a speaker for your groups needs, giving enough time to prepare for the retreat, and serving him well as he arrives to the retreat. The goal for the time at the retreat is to serve the speaker well so that he would gladly want to return in the future without a second thought. This entry will concentrate on how to host the speaker well at a retreat.
Between 1750 and 1900, the total expanse of human knowledge had doubled. At that time of pre-technology human history, it took 150 years. Today, the growth of knowledge is occurring some 100 times faster. It is said that the entire sum of all known information, i.e., human knowledge, doubles every 1.5 years. By 2020 it is estimated that it will be doubling approximately every month and a half (72 days). Think about that
Allow me to introduce you to Brett McCracken. Brett is a Talbot student and 51蹤獲 employee whom God is using in some very strategic ways to represent Jesus and his people at the national level. I became acquainted with Brett through my oversight of the Good Book Blog. I am thankful and proud that this humble and gifted young man is part of the 51蹤獲/Talbot community, and I think that you will be, too, after you read the following interview.
El 31 de octubre de 1517 Mart穩n Lutero clav籀 en las puertas de la catedral de Wittenberg en Alemania 95 tesis en las que criticaba abiertamente las ventas de indulgencias de la iglesia cat籀lica romana. Lutero inicialmente no ten穩a la intenci籀n de romper con la iglesia romana sino enfatizar la supremac穩a del evangelio basada en su simplicidad y a la vez en su gran profundidad. El evangelio o las buenas noticias de la salvaci籀n en Cristo es el fundamento esencial de la fe cristiana y desgraciadamente se hab穩a pervertido convirti矇ndose en una pr獺ctica totalmente ajena a su esencia. De manera que, las indulgencias eran una distorsi籀n absoluta del evangelio y, por lo tanto, dignas de ser repudiadas con severidad. Como resultado de esta acci籀n, Lutero inici籀 el movimiento conocido como la Reforma Protestante y cada 31 de octubre se conmemora como el D穩a de la Reforma.
I recently completed a manuscript on the book of Judges for Bakers Teach the Text Commentary Series. It took me about three and a half years to write the short text, and I want to share just a few highlights from what I learned during my study.
Literally. This morning I was jogging on the beach and came across four people: (1) a minister, (2) photographer, (3) a young man in a tux, and (4) a young lady in a wedding dress. I think the ceremony had just ended, because they were signing the marriage license as I ran by. What was sad was that there was not another person in sight.
Being a retreat speaker can be an enjoyable time but can also be a challenging time. The difference maker for which outcome occurs is largely dependent on the host for the speaker. Over the years, as both a speaker and also as a host, Ive seen some excellent treatment of speakers and also some situations that could use a lot of improvement. This will be a 2 part series of blogs in which I hope to highlight some ways to invite and host a guest speaker in which he would feel very well taken care of throughout the whole process. In this first part of the series, I will focus on how to invite a guest speaker to a retreat.
I am so very grateful for the life and legacy of Pastor Chuck Smith, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and founder of the Calvary Chapel Movement. He entered the presence of the Lord early this morning after a bout with lung cancer.
El gran educador Antonio del Corro (Sevilla, 1527-Londres, 1591) es quiz獺 una de las figuras m獺s importantes y a la vez menos conocidas de la reforma espa簽ola. Es tambi矇n un ejemplo a imitar para todos los que seguimos a Cristo y sobre todo para los que nos dedicamos a servirle a trav矇s de la ense簽anza. El historiador Emilio Monjo se refiere a Antonio de Corro como un personaje que refleja el talante de la Reforma espa簽ola en cuanto a su libertad de pensamiento y palabra: una iglesia que hab穩a nacido libre por la acci籀n de la Escritura, y que se mantuvo libre con la Escritura tambi矇n en su exilio europeo".
Three years ago, Trudi and I adopted two precious girls out of the Los Angeles County foster system. They are now 14 and 12 years old. We are deeply grateful for these precious young ladies God has brought into our family. But we encountered a few things that we wish someone had told us about foster-adoptions before we started the process. Here is a short list of issues that might be helpful for you to know if youre considering embarking on such an adventure.
2013 is the inaugural year of an innovative biblical commentary series edited by John Walton and Mark Straus (published by Baker Books). Its called Teach the Text because that is what it is about: helping people to teach the biblical text effectively. It combines literary, background and exegetical analysis with theological, pedagogical and homiletical discussion. But it does this in a surprisingly concise and accessible manner.
Yesterday I spent about 45 minutes talking and praying with one of my current students. Four months ago he was invited to step into the role of youth pastor in his church, and now finds himself responsible for preparing and teaching a message every Friday and Sunday. Two messages a week! And this for someone who has only done a bit of preaching in the past He shared with me (and I share this entire post with his permission) that the single hardest thing he has faced in his new role as youth pastor is the agonizing decision of what to preach each week.
Remember 7th grade, when your English teacher taught you how to diagram sentences? You know, main clause, subordinate clause, and all that other stuff you have likely forgotten long ago? I still diagram sentences. And I teach my students how to diagram sentences, tooGreek sentences!
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