Monthly archive: July, 2005

One purpose. One theme. One Story.

July 29, 2005, by 1 comment

This entry was written as a reflection of the things I have been learning about God’s passion for his glory.

Let’s go back in time, and on a journey. You are part of the Jewish race, living in Palestine, the land promised to you by your god, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through Moses your people were brought out of slavery en masse as your god did signs and wonders among your people. While learning to trust this god in the desert, you learn that you must live in obedience because of a covenant made with your people. God makes a promise: through your people group all nations of the world will be blessed. God says, essentially, “I will bless you to be a blessing.”
Read more →

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

Website - More Posts

Justification by Faith

July 15, 2005, by No comments yet

I’ve been following the New Perspective on Paul debate, as it’s called, with N.T. Wright being one of the most attacked theologians (although he is a critic of NPP himself!). The NPP challenges in some ways the Reformed view of justification. I found a summary of his beliefs, which may on the surface appear to not be too different from Reformed theology, but is rich with meaning and theology.

Justification by faith, the verdict issued in the present time over gospel faith which anticipates the verdict issued in the future over the entire life, thus produces the solid assurance of membership, now and in the future, in the single family promised to Abraham, which as I have already stressed is the family whose sins have been forgiven, since the purpose of the covenant in the first place was always to deal with sin. Justification in the present tells every believer that she or he is a beloved, forgiven child of God, a fact which must at once be put into practice in terms of full membership in God’s people, full dining rights at the family table. Justification by faith in the present is therefore equally about (a) the sigh of relief that I don’t have to earn my status in God’s people, simply to receive it, and (b) the definition of the Christian community in terms of nothing more nor less than faith itself.

Read more →

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

Website - More Posts

“Why not?”

July 13, 2005, by No comments yet

Two years ago today, when I was videotaping a baptism picnic for NewSong Fellowship Church in Lancaster, PA, I saw a really cute girl and I went up to talk to her. I hesitated at first because I am normally pretty shy and have no idea what to say to new acquaintances, let alone cute ones, but then I thought, “Why not? If I make a fool of myself or come off the wrong way, it’s no big deal. I live in Maryland, I’ll never see these people again.”

Wouldn’t you know it, a year later, I was attending NewSong Fellowship. I started making new friends and acquaintances, and I proceeded to make a few more semi-negative impressions among people. One of those new acquaintances was the cute girl I saw at the picnic the previous year. We ran into each other twice–along with two more bad first impressions.

Somehow, through no intention or fault of my own, God brought that beautiful woman from the picnic into my life, and we fell in love rather quickly, and have become best friends in the meantime. I could not ask for a better friend!

Doug

Doug Stuart is a committed follower of Jesus and passionate about building for the Kingdom of God through education and mobilization. He is a regular writer at LibertarianChristians.com as well as the founder of Living Loud.

Website - More Posts