;) Halloween

Feed Me.

If you are interested . . . I've worked up two quick news feeds for this site. You can subscribe either to the main blog or just to the linked up along the way section.

[ linked up ]

[ main blog ]

I'll be posting much more frequently a running commentary on the links I run across on the web in the LINKED UP bar, but I'll write often enough on the main blog as well.

Feel free to syndicate if you'd like--In Firefox you can simply right-click on the link of your choice and choose add live bookmark. You can also use your normal news reader. Or, my favorite, set up a google account and use http://www.google.com/ig as your home page. You can add the link as a little custom live content box. That's what I've got going on on my machines. It works wonderfully.

1.5 Weeks

. . . renovated our Crosstraining Teen Room

. . . celebrated 25 years of Oak Ridge Baptist Church history

. . . shot, directed, edited and presented a 20 minute documentary on that history.

. . . went to Farm Fest

. . . took a Systematic Theology Test

. . . slept little

Get Real...

Thanks to Adam Bailie for posting this on his blog. A much needed reproving. Read and heed.

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Get Real

Can we please set aside the idea that the Sunday gathering is a place for sanctified hypocrisy?! I am so very tired of my heart desiring for those who see me at the Sunday meeting to think of me as without sin. I am full of evil, defiant sin. I am in a war between sin and holiness, and it is often discouraging. I am in a battle between trust in God and self reliance. I am worn down and wounded, and I thought I was gathering with the other warriors for a clear Word from our Leader, and an opportunity to give Him corporate worship. . . a needed reprieve. Instead, it often seems others come as if they haven’t even been fighting. They are acting as if the enemy isn’t active or attacking. Their fight with sin must be easier than mine, because I am the only one who is struggling. I am sure of one thing; I will try to come a little more put together next week. . . And so it goes, until I am a part of the masses masking the truth of their wounds and weariness.

It is the responsibility of the body to edify and prod one another to love and good works, being patient and forgiving (Heb. 10:24; Col. 3:12-17; Rom. 12:9ff). That gets strangely difficult, when we are sure that no one in our church actually sins. Only the most heinous and shocking of sins gets our attention and time. The church seems to have forgotten that Romans 7:13-25 is in our Scriptures. It has professed confidence in God’s progressive work of sanctification, but it has demanded (at least outwardly) a form of weekly completed sanctification. We call that “glorification” in theology, and it happens in heaven.

News Flash: We aren’t in heaven yet! Can we please stop playing like we are already there?!

When was the last time a member of the local body exposed sin for the sake of the unified help of the rest of the body? When was the last time you were desperate enough for holiness that you exposed your weakness and sin to others for the encouragement you needed? I am not talking about “I need to pray more” or “I don’t evangelize as I should.” I mean ugly, raw, oozing sin.

I am begging God to impress upon my heart and our people’s heart the need we have for the encouragement of the body in sanctification, as well as the responsibility we have to do the same for others. This means speaking to others of my lusts, evil desire, hatred for others, pride, legalism, greed, etc. This also means asking others about their sins and struggles, so that I can responsibly bring God’s Word to bear on their life.

Will you partner with me to lay aside your Sunday “get-up” and start living in reality? We are sinners saved by grace and being sanctified by grace.

We are sinners.
We are being saved by grace.
We are being sanctified by grace.

We must not forget any of those truths, if we are to be a useful tool for the growth of the body of Christ.

I am tired of the game, the total lack of reality.

The body needs you, and you need the body.

Get real.