Blog
Don’t Miss the Invitation to Share a Meal with Jesus
Receiving an invitation to a meal is an honor because eating with someone is one of the most intimate connections you can make with other people. A meal together is fellowship. It’s engagement. It’s acceptance. Jesus Christ has extended to you an invitation to his banquet. Wouldn’t that invitation overrule everything else going on in your life—everything on the earth?
The Political Magic of C. S. Lewis, Southern Seminary's Statement on Racism, & Farewell to President George H. W. Bush
Wisdom for Your Weekend: Your regular installment of what we've been reading (and watching) from around the web. We gather the best and leave out the rest.
How Can Your Job Benefit the Poor?
If it’s crossing your mind that you can climb the ladder in your workplace, then you have skills that could transform entire communities in the poorer parts of the world. The skills and resources to end most poverty are already in the church. The next step is for you to decide how you can use what you have and where God has placed you to make an eternal difference and benefit those most in need.
Jesus Is Not Just Important. He Must Be First.
Jesus is first. He is the Creator of everything, the template on which it was made, and the one for whom it was made. He is not one of many beautiful things God has created—not even, as many other religions claim, the most beautiful and powerful being God created. No, Jesus is the creating force and purpose behind it all.
How to Pray (Part 5): "Lead Us Not Into Temptation"
Only God’s grace can deliver us from the temptations of our heart, especially since we have a literal Enemy who is scheming to attack us with those temptations in the specific places where he knows we are most vulnerable. But, God promises to make a way of escape if we ask him for it.
How to Pray (Part 4): "Give Us Our Daily Bread" and "Forgive Us Our Sins"
The essence of sin, you see, is independence and autonomy from God. “Give us our daily bread” pushes us the opposite way. Jesus showed us that we can ask God for whatever we need, but he also stressed the need for confession. Confession is an important part of our spiritual growth, because it helps us clear out sin so that it isn’t growing and spreading in us.
How to Pray (Part 3): "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done"
The point of prayer is not to get God to help us in all of our agendas. Instead, we should seek to join God where he is already working. When we pray, “Let your kingdom come, your will be done,” we are surrendering ourselves to pursue God’s agenda on earth.
How to Pray (Part 2): "Hallowed Be Your Name"
Have you noticed in Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6 that before we get to any requests—which is, of course, the thing that occupies most of our prayers—there are several phrases that focus on our relationship with God? After we pray, “Our Father,” “hallowed be your name” should precede any request we make of God. This is a request for God be hallowed in our eyes and to show the world that he is hallowed through us.
How to Pray (Part 1): "Our Father"
Thankfully, we don’t have to wonder how we should pray. There is a story in the New Testament where Jesus not only explains to the disciples how to pray but also gives a prayer to model theirs after. The Lord’s Prayer should shape the way we pray today, too.
What Progressive Christians and Atheists Have in Common, the Darkness of Christmas, & Lift Her Chin with Love
Wisdom for Your Weekend: Your regular installment of what we've been reading (and watching) from around the web. We gather the best and leave out the rest.
About J.D. Greear
J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC and author of several books including Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send.