Posts of Note - # 1

I've done series on posts that I've enjoyed before, but I'm going to start properly labelling these to make it easier for me and you to keep track of these.

My mate Mike Brantley has done a post of Deference - this is an awesome concept to think and pray and think about as we posture as Christians. If you want to study this idea in more depth, I suggest that you read 1 Corinthians 9 and the story of Paul's circumcision of Timothy as starting points (which can be found in Acts 16:1-3). I wrote a piece on this a year ago also you can listen to one of Mark Driscolls sermons which is called Missional Ministry. This is a call for all Christians to accept the mission of God, which is to both practice establishing the kingdom of God and to proclaim the Kingdom. This is centred in my view on proclaiming the saving act of a loving God on the cross, that Jesus died for all of Humanity so that we could come back into relationship with our creator, and that we are called to establish the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven

Related to this is a series of posts by Grace from Kingdom Grace (previously Emerging Grace). Her two last posts are discussions of the idea of the Kingdom of God. Here is a Quote from her that I enjoyed

"One of the first things that comes to mind for me is the idea of “missio dei”. Michael Frost explains that this is more than just something that God does, but in fact is the very nature of who He is.
He is the King who comes near, the King who comes alongside.
The ruler who makes himself a Servant.
The all-powerful God who makes himself vulnerable.
The God who thunders from heaven, yet comes to our rescue."
These ideas are powerful, yet sometimes hard to grasp. I know for me personally coming to grips with the reality of the Kingdom of God, both a a concept and a reality has been challenging. I have pulled away from some of my past assumptions in my journey as I have come to understand this term. I know that my whole life is going to be centred around seeking the Kingdom of God and playing a part in the mission of God.

Scot McKnight has started a series on the book "Consuming Jesus." This book argues basically that the challenge for modern evangelicalism is to take on the classism and racism that has permeated the Christian church, as well as the consumer nature. Scot McKnight as usual does a thoughtful and reasonable critique of the text.

Mike Zook, has started a series called "What Came First the Mission or the Church." He takes on the fact that the Church at times has become a marketing machine rather than a church focused on the mission of God. His posts show the a maturity and give us a call back to the heart of discipleship and the heart of the church. If we lose the focus of the Church on Gods call and Gods mission, we lose the heart of the Church and we lose our essence.