6 Ways to Apply the Atonement

6 Ways to Apply the Atonement: "

The atonement is central to the Christian identity. It is what makes Christianity unique among all other worldviews. The idea of a loving God who sends Himself in the flesh to earth in order to ultimately satisfy His own wrath is the mind-blowing message of Christianity that saves people from their sin. It is the reality that, once we place our faith in it, changes everything. But how? Here’s 6 ways (from this morning’s message):

1. The atonement provides a Savior that isn’t you. Stop trying to save yourself from God by your religious acts and outward piety. It doesn’t accomplish anything but add to your guilt when you stumble and your pride when you succeed! Rest in the finished work of Christ, not the ongoing weariness-bringing work of your own feeble efforts.


2. It releases us of guilt. God has been done because of what Jesus has done. Like I said before, we don’t have to feel guilty when we falter (whether in rebellion or in religion), because the saving work of Christ on the Cross has freed us: not our rebellion or religion.


3. Because God has been propitiated (satisfied), we now live for Him out of delight, not duty. Our lives and gifts and abilities and resources are poured out before God not as an offering of duty to appease Him, but out of delight in what He’s done already through the atoning work of Jesus. This is wildly freeing and provides us with radical independence from religious duty, and allows us to rest in joy of the Cross.


4. We no longer live in fear of God’s wrath, but in faith of God’s faithfulness.  When we fall short of the glory of God and sin, we do not have to worry about His reaction, but rather place our trust in the fact that what He has begun in us through the propitiation, He will bring to completion through sanctification! We have been saved at the Cross, we are being saved by the Spirit’s work in us, and we will be saved by the glorification of our bodies when Christ returns.


5. Because we are not alone in being redeemed, we can gather with others to enjoy our state before God. Sunday morning church gatherings are not our duty before God, but our privilege before Him: it is our time to publicly celebrate the finished work of Christ!


6. We now long for others to place faith in the same reality, so we live on mission and preach the Gospel with our mouths and deeds. This is evangelism as a lifestyle: it is us, out of desiring for others to see Christ for who He is and what He’s done, living our lives with intentionality and purpose: to make Christ known.

Hope this helps.

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TAÇLI PRENSES DOĞUM GÜNÜ PASTASI VE HAYIRLI BAYRAMLAR

When Relationships Are Built Around the Truths of the Gospel

When Relationships Are Built Around the Truths of the Gospel: "Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson, in Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ (pp. 86-87):

When relationships are built around the truths of the gospel—the truth that we are walking in light even though we are still sinners in need of cleansing by his blood—we can be free from feelings of inferiority and the demanding spirit that is born of pride. We can pursue relationships without fear of being discovered as the sinners we are. This kind of open relationship rests solely on the realities of the gospel. We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, and so is everyone we know. Because of this, we won’t be surprised by other’s sins. They won’t expect us to be sinless either, so we don’t have to give in to self-condemnation and fear when they see us as we really are. We don’t have to hide or pretend anymore.

The gospel also tells us that we are loved and welcomed without any merit on our part, so we can love and welcome others whose merits we can’t see. We can remember the circumstances under which we have been forgiven, and we can forgive in the same way. We don’t deserve relationship with the Trinity, but it has been given to us. We can seek our relationships with others because we know that we have been sought out by him and that he is carrying us all on his shoulders. (Yes, he is that strong!)

HT: Buzzard Blog

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KL Lantern Festival 2009

Heard there is some EVENT keep broadcasting from Radio. so since i'm free that day.. just hop on LRT to the place to see what's happening around there.


Once again.. mid autumn festival is near.. is all about lantern and moon cake again.


ohh.. famous DRAGON DANCE tooo.. seem like big event they having here.


the Dragon Dance performed on the stage before the event officially started..


Father and Son. Heart warming.. happy family..


KL Lantern Festival 2009 held in Central Market, Begun! performer from china. impressive stun.


Okay.. due to the project ONE MALAYSIA. we celebrating mid autumn festival with all races in Malaysia.beside that.. something unexpected scene can be see too.. maybe this year special abit???


Fuuahhh.. the HARD CORE ONE MALAYSIA supporter.. bravo.. applause!!!


our Prime Minister is walking around Petaling street. and we moving in big group to Block ppl doing business in Petaling Street. and i saw someone hanging his Lantern on his hat... erm... look weird....


Erm.... I dun think that is correct way of PLAYING with lantern... oh well... creative enough. hehe


Mid Autumn Feel... is near.. Latern and Lion dance

My Answer to this... is JESUS

Summing up Summer

(everyone’s allowed one of of these on their blog, right?)

I know you thought all we were doing was birthday-ing, traveling, losing our jobs and whining.  But you are wrong.  In between the birthdays, travels, job loss and whines, we did the following:

Emma got to spend a week with Grandma Dorrie.  Despite quite a few bumps and bruises (that Grandma can play rough!), Emma had a great time.

This was the Ryan Romney School of Swim.  Certain former-lifeguard/swimteachers are too cheap to pay for swim lessons, so every once in a while I threaten spending his hard earned money if he doesn’t teach the kids.  This was his answer.  What are these called?  Arm-ups?  Anyway…they did lots of them.

Emma and Gabe ended up taking lessons, but only because the local gym wouldn’t refund something else and would only transfer it to swim lessons.  They learned the 4 major strokes, in hopes of being good enough to start swim team this fall.

These are pictures from our town’s annual Fun Run.  Everyone but Seth and Faith participated, as well as half of our ward.  Emma and Ryan (ahem, 4 miles in 27 minutes) took second place in their age division.  Oh, and me?  Oh, how nice of you to ask—I ran it in 34 minutes (8.5 minute hilly miles—not that I want to brag.  Or anything).

These are pictures from my cousin Tyler’s visit.  I hope they prove to Aunt Stacy that we did do fun stuff with him…slave labor at the raspberry patch and finding junk in the local lake!

Faith got ridiculously small pigtails forced onto her head.

Also, I sat her down next to some pretty roses, to take her picture.  And she fell into the rose bush.  While I tried to pull her from the thorny depths, she thrashed around with her face and hands.  The results are the HORRIBLE scratches you see in this picture. 

Just wanted to include that awesome parenting move for posterity.

We had lots of fun trips out to local lakes and rivers (Liberty, Hayden, Priest), with generous uncles providing lots of fun tube rides.  Too bad I don’t have the picture of me and two other 35+ matrons doing some of our amazing tube tricks.  While you would have loved the tricks, the thighs might have put you off.

This is from one of trips to Riverfront park.  Our deal:  Ryan does the height rides (see above with Seth on the Ferris Wheel), and I gag my way through the spinning ones.  It’s a true testament to our deep love for our kids that we did this 4-5 times this summer.

Our kids slept like this EVERY night.  They DO have their own beds, but why sleep all alone, when 4 kids in a twin is available?

 

As a Finished-Mom’s-Tortuous-Summer-Learning-Schedule Reward, we took the family to the 3$ Movie Theatre and saw “Up”.  Since we are the last family in the world to see it, I don’t need to tell you how super super funny and entertaining it was, right?

 

And this is how Seth chose to take a few bike rides this summer.  Last year’s Halloween costume, this year’s birthday cape from Grandma Nut.  He said to Ryan: “Dose people were  looking at me.”  Ryan replied: “Really?  Were they looking at you like ‘that guy is so cool’?”  Seth:  “No.  They were looking at me like they thought I was REAL.” 

It was, in lots of ways, a summer filled with fun and lessons learned.  Hopefully that’s how we all remember it.

What is the Missional Church?

What is the Missional Church?: "The church is not sent on a mission by God, rather God is on a mission and the church is called to join him. The mission is not the church’s; it is the Missio Dei, or “mission of God” that we are called to be part of. Andrew Jones of TallSkinnyKiwi blog fame points out: “Missio Dei stems from the Triune God: the Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son send the Spirit, the Father and the Son and the Spirit send the church into the world.”

Missional activist Alan Hirsch points out what being missional is not: First, the missional church is not synonymous with the emergent church, which is primarily a renewal movement to contextualize Christianity for a postmodern generation. Missional is also not the same as evangelistic or seeker sensitive, terms that generally apply to a more attractional church. Missional is not a new term from church growth it has a much bigger agenda than that. Finally, missional is not just social justice. We should engage the needs of the world, which is a part of the mission, but certainly not the whole of it.

Hirsch goes on to say, “A missional theology is not content with mission being a church-based work. Rather, it applies to the whole of life of every believer. Every disciple is to be an agent of the kingdom of God, and every disciple is to carry the mission of God into every sphere of life. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture.”

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