Why I am no Longer a Pastor
It is almost twenty years since I quit being a pastor. It wasn’t always easy, but I do not regret the decision for a minute. I have been, and currently am, enjoying the best, most fruitful days of my Christian life. Someone recently asked me why I quit being a pastor. This blog will give you seven reasons why.
Centuries of emphasis on where one’s “soul goes when you die,” has left another facet of the Gospel utterly ignored. In the cross Jesus did not just assure some invisible future state of existence. He was inaugurating, as the first of many like him, a new type of human, a new type of human family, and a new sphere of human existence. The Gospel of Jesus is for planet earth, not the sweet by and by.
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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.
Jesus became the judge who was judged. Rather than meeting injustice with violence and retribution, He released forgiveness to his persecutors and His Father gave the Spirit of the Son as a gift! He makes enemies friends! The Gospel begins and ends with: “Peace, don’t be afraid.”
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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.
This episode briefly explains how the early church redefined the Greek idea of humility of “largeness of soul” or “magnanimity” to “littleness of soul” before a great God. Humility is not chronic self-awareness of one’s personal short-comings. Insecure and timid people are always intimidated by someone who is truly humble, biblically defined. Jesus was gentle, meek, and full of humility. Yet He was crucified by good, conservative, religious people (Roman and Jewish). If we think gentleness, meekness and humility are qualities that are going to make us well-liked or popular “Church-folk”, we are in for a shock.
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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.
A true story of how someone who acted so “humble” had a whole congregation fooled. When we fail to exercise discernment between Biblical humility and the phony, personality-based, religious, demonically activated counterfeit, we will be fooled also. Fake humility is a common element of relationally inauthentic Christian communities.
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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.
Simplicity in Christ
Jesus is simple. The Bible isn’t. Jesus is deeply, profoundly, unknowably, unfathomably, costly, and painfully–simple.
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.
John’s epistles are sometimes over-shadowed by Paul’s doctrinal epistles. John’s first epistle at first glance seems simple, repetitive, and to the English eye and ear, not well written. Nothing can be further from the truth. John’s structure and style are laden with purpose and his message is practical and profound: if you do not love one another, you do not know God. We know we have passed from life to death, not because of our doctrinal convictions (as some would present Paul), but by our love for the brethren. Failing here has far reaching consequences.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic 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.
Defining Orthodoxy Relationally
“Objective historic theology is Reformation theology. It is historical evangelicalism. It is historical orthodoxy.” So says John MacArthur (Charismatic Chaos: 32). If John’s lips are moving, there’s a good chance I don’t agree with much of what’s coming through them! The narrow and sectarian nature of that statement is appalling. But John is just following in the footsteps of his spiritual forefather, Martin Luther. Luther said that in the history of the church no one–not Augustine, not any of the Church Fathers–NO ONE other than himself–ever understood “pure doctrine.” He called everything before himself “great darkness.” (Table Talk: §530)
Christian Celebrity and Our Responsibility
So, another Christian celebrity’s egregious behavior has made the national news. He has “fallen” in sexual immorality. Sadly, there is no real news here. This will always happen in a “give us a king (celebrity)” culture that values fame and talent more than character. But it is not just an individual responsibility issue.