Category Archives: Body Life

Sep 20 2021

Escape and Assurance: 'Monday Morning Musings - September 20, 2021'

In many common presentations of the Gospel in modern evangelicalism, the themes of escape and assurance have had a dominant presence. If we are pursuing Christian community with those two values as primary motivators, we will assure ourselves of unnecessary relationship difficulties. A local community is not something we should hope to escape at the first whiff of an unpleasant experience. A local community is the laboratory of relational life where the ethics of what we say we believe gets tested.  I am not saying there are never good reasons to leave a group. There are. But “I am not enjoying myself” or “it is too hard,” or “it hurts,” are not among the legitimate reasons. 

 

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Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

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Sep 13 2021

The Dream versus The Reality – Dealing with “Unpleasantness”: 'Monday Morning Musings - September 13, 2021'

 

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” – D. Bonhoeffer

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined the phrase the “Dream Wish” in the context of the search for Christian community. He makes the point that the Dream Wish will destroy any Christian Community because it is idealistic and unattainable. It is intolerant of weakness and defect. We must be open to the possibility that “God’s wonderful plan for our lives” might include an assignment to unpleasant people and places. Life can be hard. When it so, it does not mean we have missed God in any way.

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Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

 

Photo by Jan Canty on Unsplash

Sep 6 2021

Is Ekklesia a Problem to Solve or Adventure to Experience?: 'Monday Morning Musings - September 6, 2021'

When the issue of searching for and experiencing life in community in a Christian context, we often take the approach of “things to solve” to be more “Biblical” to conform more completely to what is seen there. Unfortunately, that approach has with it lots of assumptions and it is not that tidy a matter when human beings are involved. The church is not a problem to solve. It is a revelation to experience.

 

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Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Photo by Linus Sandvide on Unsplash

Aug 23 2021

Knit Together in Love: 'Monday Morning Musings - August 23, 2021'

Ask an average Evangelical or Charismatic about how to grow in grace and the knowledge of God and you will get answers like: study the Bible, listen to anointed preaching and teaching, get a “download” from the “Holy Ghost,” pray regularly. Few, if any would say “by being knit together in love.” Yet that is exactly what Paul itemizes as critical for unfolding the deep things of God.

 

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Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Photo by Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

Aug 16 2021

Relationship and Community: 'Monday Morning Musings August 16, 2021'

Many folks are yearning and looking for authentic community together in Christ. It is a great goal, but if we hold some “isms” emotionally or intellectually in our heart, we are headed for disappointment. The “isms” that need to go if we would experience a vibrant (not perfect) Christian community are: Romanticism, perfectionism, idealism, and individualism. 

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Copyright 2021. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

 

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Dec 18 2020

We Don’t Need to Know: 'How to Handle Personal Spiritual Experiences'

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How to Handle Spiritual Experiences

The Spirit of the Lord could subjectively instruct you to take all the pots and pans out of your kitchen and bang on them and make a joyful noise unto His Name. You could have a legitimate, transcendent, spiritual experience doing so. That does not mean:

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Dec 17 2020

The Simplicity That is in Christ: 'Jesus is Simple. The Bible is Not.'

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Simplicity in Christ

Jesus is simple. The Bible isn’t. Jesus is deeply, profoundly, unknowably, unfathomably, costly, and painfully–simple.

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Dec 17 2020

The Incarnation: 'God Dwells Among Humanity'

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The Incarnation

Without getting into all the technical language details, the Prologue to John’s Gospel makes some profound declarations concerning Jesus. Jesus is the localized presence of God in the earth and Jesus is the glory (shekinah) of God. Jesus has replaced the Temple as the localization of both. That’s a pretty gutsy declaration for a Jew to make. A few observations:

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Nov 30 2020

Finding the Sweet Spot: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 30, 2020'

It is human nature to react to a reaction with a reaction, swinging from extreme to extreme. Because the Body of Christ, the Church, is made up or human beings, that tendency is common in the Church universal and local churches. One “new insight” [sic] that ends up being over-emphasized creates and equal and opposite reaction that is over emphasized!  What I call the “sweet spot” or the “radical middle” can be elusive. Viewing God, the Scriptures, and the Christian life in static categories rather than a living dynamism, is part of the problem. Even the mildest shift in emphasis to someone whose identity is at an extreme, is perceived as a threatening compromise. It doesn;t matter which ditch we end up in, we are neutralized in either.

Photo by Sunrise Photos on Unsplash

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Copyright 2020. Dr. Stephen R. Crosby. www.stevecrosby.org. For video and audio resources, sign up as a student here. You will find a mix of both free resources and those with cost. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this blog article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a contribution through our Paypal button to help? Stephanos Ministries is NOT a 501-c-3 corporation Click here to understand why. Thank you and God bless you.

Nov 24 2020

Money Can’t Buy Me Love: 'We Can't Serve God and Money'

Money Can’t Buy Me Love

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls . . .  So wrote Simon and Garfunkel in their 1966 hit song, The Sound of Silence. If we pay close attention, we will find that the secular artists (poets, musicians, authors, etc.) of a culture often speak kingdom values and insights to the people of God with a clarity not found among the people of God.

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