What’s Sunday Really For? | Jordan Arnold

Practical Postmodernists | Virgil Hurley

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/practical-postmodernists/ [https://renew.org/practical-postmodernists/]  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org * Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ [https://renew.org/articles/] Many Christians today consciously or subconsciously let their personal experience determine their interpretation of the Bible. It’s easy to make that mistake. Any Bible study group accidentally encourages it when they proceed on the basis of, “What does this verse or text mean to you?” A Bible passage’s significance or application might vary from person to person—but the passage means what it means. It honestly shouldn’t matter what a Bible passage “means” to us until we determine what God meant by it in the original context. And only when we are syncing our understanding with what God meant in the original context should we apply it to ourselves. By skipping that crucial step—sincerely seeking what God meant to communicate—we too easily let our feelings and experience determine our interpretation. Perhaps I’m calling out something that isn’t a problem in many of our churches today—but I fear it is a very real problem. Do any of these sound familiar? * I need to be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins? But I already feel saved without it. * Sex only in marriage? But we’re in a committed relationship. In fact, we’re engaged. * Evangelize? But this person already seems like they’re saved, even if they don’t technically believe in Jesus. * Tithing? But I feel good giving $10 from each paycheck. * Regular church attendance? But I feel I can’t say no to these other weekend obligations. We’ve heard that Christians can sometimes be “practical atheists,” but I’m seeing more and more “practical postmodernists” among us. “Postmodernism [https://renew.org/postmodern-theories-playing-out-in-todays-world/]” is a philosophy that views truth claims suspiciously, favoring a personal or tribal experiential view of “truth.” We can see its influence wherever truth becomes whatever resonates with how people feel—validated or invalidated based on their personal experience. Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ [https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/] Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ [https://renew.org/resources/events/] Get the RENEW.org App -- https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/ [https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/]  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork [https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork] Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW [https://rumble.com/c/RENEW]

What’s Sunday Really For? | Jordan Arnold

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/whats-sunday-really-for/ [https://renew.org/whats-sunday-really-for/]  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org * Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ [https://renew.org/articles/] Back in the 1950s, the Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz discovered a fact of nature everyone should know: ducklings, it turns out, are gullible. Arriving in the world without any innate picture of what a mother duck should look like, they imprint on the first moving object they see after hatching. If it happens to be their mother, all goes swimmingly. But if it’s a red balloon drifting across the barnyard, they will fall in line just the same, and that first impression orients them for life—which is either a joke played by nature’s God or a parable waiting to be overheard. Now, granted, Christians are not ducks—Jesus likened us more often to sparrows, after all. But it is safe to say we are no less impressionable than sheep. And very often the traditions we first encounter ossify into a stubborn expectation of what Christianity is and must be—whether their origin is biblical, cultural, or merely idiosyncratic. Small wonder, then, that for many the “worship service”—their church’s pattern of hymns, prayers, offering, sermon, and communion—becomes something like a red balloon. Whether raised in pews or “born again” in a gleaming “worship center,” we take those first communal practices as definitive. Flyers advertise “worship times.” “Worship leaders” summon us with a “call to worship.” In some traditions, even the benediction before dismissal takes this form: “We pray our worship has been pleasing and acceptable to You.” And when the church reinforces—sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly by linguistic habit—that what we do in the assembly carries the special provenance of “worship,” set apart from the rest of life, the impression only deepens. Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ [https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/] Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ [https://renew.org/resources/events/] Get the RENEW.org App -- https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/ [https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/]  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork [https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork] Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW [https://rumble.com/c/RENEW]

Should a Christian attend a same-sex wedding? | Guy Hammond

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/should-a-christian-attend-a-same-sex-wedding/ [https://renew.org/should-a-christian-attend-a-same-sex-wedding/]  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org * Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ [https://renew.org/articles/] It is an honor to be invited to someone’s wedding. It speaks to trust, love, loyalty, and friendship. It means those who invited you value your relationship and want you to celebrate with them in their special life event. But if the invitation comes from a gay couple, should you, a Christian, accept it? The matter only becomes more confusing if the invitation comes from a family member. Some say yes. Some would argue that a Christian should attend. If our goal is to eventually bring these people to Jesus, how can we do that if our friends or family feel slighted and offended by our absence in one of their life’s biggest moments? Are we destroying the relationship we’ve worked so hard to build? Our absence would speak louder than our presence. Besides, refusing would mean not imitating Jesus, a friend of sinners who showed his love and acceptance by sharing life with them (see Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34; Matthew 9:10–17; Mark 2:15–22). Some say no. Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ [https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/] Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ [https://renew.org/resources/events/] Get the RENEW.org App -- https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/ [https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/]  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork [https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork] Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW [https://rumble.com/c/RENEW]

God Who Comes Near: Hebrews 2 and the Gospel’s Contrast with Islam | Tim Orr

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/god-who-comes-near-hebrews-2-and-the-gospels-contrast-with-islam/ [https://renew.org/god-who-comes-near-hebrews-2-and-the-gospels-contrast-with-islam/]  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org * Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ [https://renew.org/articles/] The Hebrews author provides us in 2:14–18 with some remarkable Christology. The necessity of the Incarnation is discussed, along with Jesus’ death and the role of Jesus as High Priest. These are some of the most important and essential doctrines of Christianity. They speak to the atonement, the work of Christ, and the security of our salvation. Placing these truths from Hebrews over and against Islam makes them even more poignant. The question at the root of this consideration is: How does God relate to humans? Christianity teaches that God comes near to us, suffers for and with us, and saves us through His sacrifice. Islam teaches that God is near in knowledge, power, and mercy, but denies that God could draw near via Incarnation. This makes Hebrews 2:14–18 a text that is in direct opposition to Islam, and at the same time, a great encouragement to Christians. Hebrews 2:14 (ESV) reads, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.…” The doctrine of the Incarnation, that Jesus became a human (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6–8), is fundamental to Christianity. The Greek word meteschēken (μετέσχεν), “partook,” means total participation. The Incarnation is necessary for three reasons. First, for revelation: Jesus in the exact imprint of God’s nature (Hebrews 1:3); in Him we do not simply know about God, but we know God (John 14:9). Second, for redemption: Only by becoming a human could Jesus be a substitutionary atonement for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Third, for relational nearness: Jesus is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23), not a God who only forgives as he wishes and does not provide a sacrifice. Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ [https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/] Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ [https://renew.org/resources/events/] Get the RENEW.org App -- https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/ [https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/]  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork [https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork] Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW [https://rumble.com/c/RENEW]

How Much Do You Believe the Gospel? | Jay Greer

Click here to read the full article at RENEW.org: https://renew.org/how-much-do-you-believe-the-gospel/ [https://renew.org/how-much-do-you-believe-the-gospel/]  This is an audio version of a written Article from RENEW.org * Check out other great articles on RENEW.org here: https://renew.org/articles/ [https://renew.org/articles/] “. . . We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.” (Romans 1:5, ESV) From that verse, did you catch what counts as the end zone for Paul? What Paul is aiming his life (and his readers’ lives) toward? The goal is right there in the opening to Paul’s letter to the Romans: Jesus’ name among all the nations. The vision is nothing less than world gospelization. Paul says he’s an apostle of Jesus—through whom we receive grace and apostleship to call all nations to faith in him. To that end, the goal in this article is to call each disciple of Jesus reading this to leverage your life for world gospelization. I would compel each of you to leverage your skills, time, money, prayers, connections, students, congregants, children, and (for some of you) your place of residence for world gospelization. Why? It’s because that’s the resounding “therefore” we get when we read Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans begins and ends with “all nations.” It begins and ends with people coming to faith in Jesus from all over the world. Through hearing the gospel, they come into a life of obedience to God—obedience that comes from faith: “. . . to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.” (Romans 1:5b, ESV) “. . . the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.” (Romans 16:25b-26, ESV) Listen for more... Join RENEW.org's Newsletter: https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/ [https://renew.org/resources/newsletter-sign-up/] Join RENEW.org at one of our upcoming events: https://renew.org/resources/events/ [https://renew.org/resources/events/] Get the RENEW.org App -- https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/ [https://renew-app-page.bolt.host/]  Be sure to like, subscribe and follow on social media!  You can find us on: Instagram: @the.renew.network  Facebook: Renew.org  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork [https://www.youtube.com/@RENEWnetwork] Twitter: @therenewnetwork TikTok: the.renew.network  Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/RENEW [https://rumble.com/c/RENEW]