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July 06, 2004

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Realizing gospel...

As I began to catch up on a little Blog reading today, I found this from the pastor of my church, Tim Keel:

I want Presence. I want transformation. I want Christ in me, the hope of glory. I want to be disturbed. I want mystery. I want confusion. I want crisis. I want to be lead away. I want to interact with a centurion. I want Jesus. I want Jesus over a life-time. I want Jesus as the rhythm and cadence of my life. I want to sit under my rabbi and be still. I want year-to-year agonizing discipleship. I want season-to-season joyful engagement. I want month-to-month invitations to death. I want week-to-week laughter and friendship amongst the people of Jesus. I want day-to-day servanthood. I want moment-to-moment submission. I want more….

I’m not even getting close.
This. This is a little bit of what I was trying to get at a while back. Thanks, pastor.

Read why Tim Keel was on this strain here.

Over the past few years, it’s been getting harder and harder for me to consider what “gospel” really means (but, if you visit this Blog regularly, you probably already know that). It is tedious. It is frustrating. I mean, I know what it is…in my heart and soul. But, I find it hard to explain it. It’s just so big. I desire share the Good News. I want to tell peopla about my Lord. But it’s difficult to know how to “preach” the gospel if the gospel doesn’t quite fit into my neat little preconceived notions of it (i.e., I’ve heard a lot about the “gospel” over the last thirty-some-odd years and a lot of it just isn’t jibing with me anymore). What I don’t want to do is come up short and give an inaccurate testimony of who God is.

Trust is part of it. I must trust the Holy Spirit in this. But, see? All of those things that Tim described above. That’s all part of it. But not all of it.

More later.

Posted at 08:09 am

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Comments (8):
Let me tell a brief story. almost five years ago my life was falling apart. My wife was having an affair I was loosing everything. Then on Easter Sunday I went to church with two really good friends. Tim Samoff was one of them. That Easter I commited my life to Christ. In the months that followed Tim and his family were my soul guides. It wasn’t what you or your parents preached that changed me. It was the love and truth you shared.


It is now five years later. My wife and I have rebuilt our marriage on the foundation of the gospel. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Tim in a quiet manner you helped put a whole families name in the book of the lamb. For that Theresa and I can’t thank you enough.

Patrick () (URL) - July 09, 2004 at 10:38 pm

The gospel. interesting. in much of our theological educations, we begin by accepting what we like. and next accepting what appeals to us emotionally… rarely if ever (as far as i recall) the type of presentation Christ gave. nor paul, nor moses. all i can say is i am thankful for the reformation and the calvins, the luther’s and the augustine’s… it is the presentation of mind gripping truth that carries me through my corrections and re-corrections. even when i dont know what the truth is, i know that its there… now HOW is THAT possible? emotional anecdotes and poor analogies plague us along with the salvation-verifying stamps of the ownership of a thomas kinkade painting and the Left Behind sereies (someone start a fire, we got business to do). It is hard to imagine that when you get the email that tells a little story and suggests that you are truly saved if you forward this poor piece of literature to 5 of your unsuspecting friends, has any evils attatched to it. it seems we often try to do just that: preach a comfortable, digestable little pill with an open prescription. But God isn’t like that. we either preach regardless of the type of falsehood (i once had a friends’ wife tell me that Joan Osborne song “if God was one of us” was a good tool for ministeriing) or we lack the confidence to say anything at all. This is why salvation, thankfully is not up to us. its not an obligation to mention Jesus name 3 times in every conversation or you’re out of the club… Faith is the persistence of our souls. of our minds. of our hearts. Don’t think that that isnt sufficient ministry. at the same time, don’t persist in error of thinking or deed just cause it appears to be winning converts… Scripture must be the source. teaching and learning do not end after the “the gospels”.. The old testament is labeled by dispensationalists as the Mean God Book. that couldnt be further from the truth. preach what you know, know what you preach and persist in deepening that well.

Dennisthemenace () - July 29, 2004 at 1:42 pm

Yeah, Dennis. Exactly. :)

timsamoff () (URL) - July 29, 2004 at 7:59 pm

P.S.


That Joan Osborne song is not only heretical, it just plain sucks.

Dennisthemenace () - August 02, 2004 at 10:59 am

I like gospel, it’s a kind of music I discovered long ago, and it’s hard to give up. There is a band in Mallorca (Spain) called Anima. Wonderful!

silke () (URL) - March 18, 2005 at 2:40 pm

ummm…. not that kind of gospel, silke. but glad you enimas. wha?!

dennisthemenace () - March 19, 2005 at 1:47 pm

Ummm… Dennis, she said “Anima.” Anyway, I think music is a big part of the gospel (Ephesians 5:19). ;-)

Thanks, for stopping by, Silke! If you are Antonia, you’ve got a great voice!

timsamoff () (URL) - March 19, 2005 at 6:46 pm

Well, i had an Anima once and it sucked… maybe she has a really good doctor. but yea, thanks for sharing Silke.

dennisthemenace () - March 21, 2005 at 09:30 am

  
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