My conviction is that the New Testament not only gives the church content for what it should be saying, but also how it should function. This is fleshed out in at least two ways. First, restoration speaks to the active followship of Christ every believer is to embrace. The verse above and other passages make Jesus both the content and the model of the Christiatn life. Second, restoration also focuses on the church’s continual pursuance to embrace the New Testament church as its model. By saying this I agree with the Anabaptists of the Reformation era who sought to continually challenge the church to look to the New Testament alone as its criteria for Ecclesiology.
My hope is that in some small way that this blog will bring the agenda of restoration in the lives of indivdual believers and the church to the forefront. I will try to accomplish this in the following ways:
- Reflection on Key Biblical Passages
- Interaction with Cultural Challenges to Restoration
- Highlighting Biographical Examples in Church History
- Reviews of Significant Books
- Discussion of Practical Ecclesiological Issues
- General Theological Reflection
Over time, these categories will grow. But, my prayer is that this blog will not only challenge others to long for a continual pursuance of biblical Christianity, but also that it will challenge me as well.
Hi, I really enjoyed your sermon last week. However, I also have some reservations about what you said. You preached about “not having expectations”. I think I get what you are trying to say. If you live life without expectations, then you are more grateful and thankful for everything good that happens to you. Perhaps you could have used better examples. To say that you shouldn’t be upset because someone at work treats you poorly does not make sense to me. There has to be a certain level of expectation. The expectation that people should be respectful and courteous to each other. To not have the expectation that people should at least be decent is a pretty sad way to live your life. I can’t even imagine the chaos this world would be in if you did not put a minimum level of expectations on people in general.
On the other hand, I can reference so many examples in my life where perhaps my expectations of people and my relationships with them have been set too high. And you are right. It is very disappointing when they do not come through or when things do not play out the way you envisioned.
It would have been more helpful to understand, what is that healthy medium? Because to NOT have any sort of expectations is clearly not the answer.
Thanks.
God’s Word is true, and that I believe. Sometimes I wonder what He’s up to….
Jesus’ blood has been shed as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Thinking back over the message about the end times, if the temple is rebuilt, how or why would God allow the practice of animal sacrifice to be reintroduced. Sprinkling animal blood on the mercy seat would be a terrible thing to do, since it ignores what God has already done for us through Jesus. Any man that tries to do that, I believe, is asking for a death sentence.
If the Ark is not returned to its place in the temple, just what part of the process can be performed? Makes you wonder what they were doing before the temple was destroyed.
I guess God may be perfectly happy to leave the Ark sealed up right where Jeremiah left it.