Tag Archives: discipleship

Jul 25 2022

I Am the Light of the World – Part 1: 'Monday Morning Musing July 25, 2022'

In this two-part episode I try to present the high tension and drama that would have been involved in Jesus’s “I Am the light of the world” statement. This statement along with his declaration about living water were made in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Dedication. I briefly unpack some some of the significant ritual features which occurred during the feast, to which Jesus’s bold statements were directly and immediately referring. It was a scene of high drama and conflict.

______________

 

 

Copyright 2022. 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.

Jul 11 2022

Before Abraham Was, I Am: 'Monday Morning Musing - July 11, 2022'

Of all Jesus’s I Am statements, this is perhaps the most easy to understand, and it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. In this statement Jesus engages in something called “challenge and riposte” which in an honor-shamed based society was a formal and public dispute before a crowd, with winners and losers. Jesus and his opponents are locked in a fight about identity and lineage “from God.” After this episode in John 8, the skids toward Calvary were “greased’ so to speak. In the previous chapter, Jesus was a hero with crowds still following him. But after this statement, his death sentence was sealed. He went from hero to zero all over claim to spiritual originations: who had claim to Yahweh as Father?

 

_____________________

 

Copyright 2022. 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.

May 17 2022

The Amen: 'Monday Morning Musings - February 21, 2022'

There is more behind “amen” than intellectual consent or emotional enthusiasm for an abstract concept.

Continue reading →

Mar 7 2022

If You Only Knew: 'March 7, 2022'

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to, to make known Christ and the Cross. The Holy Spirit does not do magical, automatic Bible interpretation for a believer. So-called “Holy Spirit downloads” do not take the place of the hard work of understanding even the simplest thing from Scripture. Take the little word “if” for example . . .

_____________________________________

Copyright 2022. 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.

Feb 21 2022

Why I Am No Longer a Pastor: 'Discovering Ministry Outside of Church'

Why I Quit Pastoring

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.  

Continue reading →

Feb 1 2021

Gentleness – Jesus Style: 'Monday Morning Musing - February 1, 2021'

Like humility and meekness, biblical gentleness is not a human personality trait. It is a spiritual awareness of our one-ness with each other in weakness. It is a quality that understands and lives from a relational awareness of mitigating circumstances. It does not demand its just due from stark legal, quid-pro-quo dynamics. Gentleness is like mercy. It is a tempering quality to the severity that is always inherent in naked justice.

 

 

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.

 

 

Jan 18 2021

Humility – Part 3 – It is Not a Technique to Get People to Like You: 'Monday Morning Musing - January 18. 2021'

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. 

__________________________

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.

Nov 16 2020

Individualism and the Kingdom – A Clash of Cultures: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 16, 2020'

At the foundation of Western thought, political and religious, are certain presuppositions about the supposedly self-evident nature of human existence as “individuals.” Individualism as a belief system referring to the “autonomous self,” is not a value found in Christ’s kingdom. Ephesians 4:25 says: we are “of one another, members.” That is, our existence is social. The life of Christ and his kingdom is only fully experienced socially. This is threatening to deeply held Western cultural values, but none-the-less, Christianity 101.

__________________________

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 9 2020

Gnostic Evangelical Christianity: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 9, 2020'

“>

“You are a spirit, who has a soul, and lives in a body.” Have you ever heard that? ” Jesus was ‘”God in a zipper-suit.” Have you ever heard that? I have heard both, hundreds of times growing up in evangelical/Charismatic churches. They are 100% Gnostic; 100% mishandling of 1 Thess. 5:23 and in my experience, common beliefs among thousands of poorly taught Evangelical believers.

_______________________________

 

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 2 2020

Pizzeria or Library?: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 2, 2020'

If you are hungry, you look for a restaurant, not a library. Jesus said: Feed my sheep, not intellectually inform them. Paul describes the Church as the One Loaf for the world: a strong metaphor implying being “consumed” by others as foundational to our calling and mission. Paul speaks of an “aroma of Christ.”  It is not difficult to get people who are craving pizza into a pizzeria. The question for us as Christ-followers becomes: What are we? A pizzeria or a library. Too commonly it is the latter and then we wonder why no one is eating: we are not putting out any aroma, and what we are presenting isn’t food.  We just have strongly held convictions about “the Bible.” Many “evangelistic” modalities are like expecting people to find food in a library. The kingdom of Jesus does not operate that way.

___________________________________

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.