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The First Spiritual Renewal

Gary DeLashmutt

Acts 2:1-13

Luke records the event that led to the first spiritual renewal - a time where God works powerfully in and through Christians - in the early church movement. This event, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, led to thousands coming to Christ in a day. From this event we can glean four elements we should expect to see during a spiritual renewal. We should see: 1) Christians united in ongoing, corporate prayer, 2) Christians being moved by God to speak personally about Him to others, 3) God mobilizing His people to reach other cultures, and 4) people being polarized by the message of Christ.

Keywords

{"passage": "Acts 2:1-13","passageabreviated": "Acts 2:1-13","passagetiny": "Acts 2:1-13","teacher": "Gary DeLashmutt","teachingDate": "0...

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Life in the Body of Christ

Scott Risley

Romans 12:6-13

In contrast to the common clergy-laity model, Paul describes a church that acts more like a body, in which each member has a specific and indispensable role to play. Within the body, God has a ministry for each person, and has given to each one spiritual gifts to build up the body. Relationships within the church should be characterized by sacrificial love for one another.

Keywords

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Members of One Another

Scott Risley

Romans 12:3-5

Paul uses the analogy of a body to describe the Biblical model of Christian community--one in which each member has a specific and indispensable role to play. In contrast to the traditional clergy/laity model, this pictures a community of believers in which each person is meaningfully engaged in ministry, service, and loving others.

Keywords

{"passage": "Romans 12:3-5","passageabreviated": "Rom 12:3-5","passagetiny": "Rom 12:3-5","teacher": "Scott Risley","teachingDate": "07/2...

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Humanitarian Aid and the Local Church

Jeff Gordon

Titus 3:14

How can we gain more insight on the issues of poverty and what we can do about it? Jeff Gordon talks about what the issues surrounding poverty look like, and the issues surrounding relief and development. He addresses how we can help, and how helping helps us! He terms it the philosophy of generosity; in essence, it is the fact that giving to others helps us in a deep and live-changing way. He lays out 4 aspects to understanding poverty and stirring up change: God's generosity, God's truth, pressing needs, and effective solutions.

Keywords

{"passage": "Titus 3:14-14","passageabreviated": "Titus 3:14-14","passagetiny": "Titus 3:14-14","teacher": "Jeff Gordon","teachingDate": ...

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Adorning the Gospel

Gary DeLashmutt

Acts 5:12-14

Paul's letter to Titus sets forth a lifestyle of adorning the Gospel with good deeds. Four key questions are discussed in this teaching: 1) What are good deeds? Who should do them? To whom?, 2) How important are good deeds for Christian leaders?, 3) How do good deeds affect the spread of the Gospel?, and 4) What will motivate us to embrace and sustain a lifestyle of good deeds? The success of a sacrificial lifestyle in prospering the Gospel is emphatically supported by history. This sort of lifestyle starts with the individual. Each of us should commit to being a good neighbor, volunteering in our community, and investing our resources in serving the community.\r\n

Keywords

{"passage": "Titus 2:12-3:14","passageabreviated": "Titus 2:12-3:14","passagetiny": "Titus 2:12-3:14","teacher": "Gary DeLashmutt","teach...

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Postmodernism and the Church

Scott Smith

Acts 4:13-22

Because our culture is becoming increasingly postmodern, Christians need to learn to contextualize the gospel in a way people will understand. This does not involve straying from truth, but it might mean changing the focus of our witness to action rather than words. By looking into the effects of postmodernism on the culture at large and the church, we can better understand the perspective people are coming from as well as how to more effectively dialogue with them about the gospel.

Keywords

{"passage": "Acts 4:13-22","passageabreviated": "Acts 4:13-22","passagetiny": "Acts 4:13-22","teacher": "Scott Smith","teachingDate": "07...

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The Writings of Brian McLaren

Gerry Breshears

Acts 4:13-22

In Breshears' opinion, The Story We Find Ourselves In is THE theology of the emergent church, and exactly what it calls itself - a (fictional) story. The emergent church nobly started as a group of young leaders who wanted to "take Christianity to the streets" in opposition to postmodern spirituality and in contrast to fundamentalism. Today, the emergent church has unfortunately separated itself from the evangelical essentials and stands in stark opposition to the true Gospel of Christ. Instead of critiquing contemporary culture, it critiques the Church, and in the case of McLaren, the critique is not Biblically-based. Breshears exposes McLaren's theology as not taking into account all of Scripture, but rather only certain parts. The only real test of truth is the Word of God, the Bible.\r\n

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{"passage": "","passageabreviated": "","passagetiny": "","teacher": "Gerry Breshears","teachingDate": "07/24/2008"}

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Incorporating New Christians into Community

John Cleary

1 Peter 2:4-5

How can the church incorporate new Christians into the body of Christ? John Cleary talks about how to help new Christians get more involved in the body of Christ including: identifying who new Christians are, what the body looks like, and what our role is in this effort. He lays out 4 aspects of our role in this: developing our own depth and ownership in this area, building personal relationships, encouraging increasing involvement, and recognizing obstacles in winning people to more involvement.\r\n

Keywords

{"passage": "Ephesians 4:11-12","passageabreviated": "Eph 4:11-12","passagetiny": "Eph 4:11-12","teacher": "John Cleary","teachingDate": ...

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Evaluating a Complex Movement

D.A. Carson

1 Peter 2:4-5

D.A. Carson presents an analysis of the emergent church. This complex movement, born in the 20th century and following us today, arose out of an attempt to relate to the current culture. There are many difficulties with the emergent church, because as people focus more on winning people in their culture, they may lose the focus on winning people to the Lord, who is unchanging and above culture. Carson describes new changes in this movement, what this movement is, and implications of some emergent theology. Finally, he makes it clear that the center of Christianity is and should always be the plain gospel with nothing extra added and nothing taken away from its truth.

Keywords

{"passage": "","passageabreviated": "","passagetiny": "","teacher": "D.A. Carson","teachingDate": "07/24/2008"}

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