Tag Archives: stephencrosby.soarlms.com

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. 

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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.

Dec 28 2020

Humility, Meekness, and Gentleness – Introduction: 'Monday Morning Musings - December 28, 2020'

We all bring filters to the Scriptures when we read them. Our cultural values and ethics always intrude into and conform the text to what makes us comfortable. This is especially the case when it comes to what many believers think constitute the virtues of humility, meekness and gentleness. They are not just pleasant human personality traits. This episode introduces the topic that will follow on for the next five weeks.

 

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Dec 21 2020

The Incarnation: 'Monday Morning Musing - December 21, 2020'

 

 

The significance of God in the flesh often gets lost in the familiar parts of the Christmas narrative. Why was the incarnation necessary? Just so someone could die to “satisfy” the Father? Jesus as God incarnate, fully human, is more than a metaphysical commodity to sustain an atonement theory.

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Dec 17 2020

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

Photo by James on Unsplash

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 14 2020

Jesus is Greater Than Moses: 'Monday Morning Musings - December 14, 2020'

Everyone has a hermeneutic. That is, how they approach and interpret Scripture. For me, Jesus is the final Word of God to humanity and the precise, exact representation of the nature of God as our Father. Jesus’s presentation of His Father is superior to every other person, and every other presentation of God recorded in Scripture. (See John 1:18 and others). The shadow is not the reality. This is how Paul and others described the Jewish (Old Testament) Scriptures. Jesus said: When you have seen me, you have seen the Father. If we try to put characters from the Jewish Scriptures on the same authority level as Jesus, we are going to have difficulty with many beliefs and practices recorded in the Christian Old Testament. We will end up with a schizophrenic God-image (In spite of tortuous attempts at “harmonization”). This is a foundational issue that everyone is going to have to handle, one way or the other. For too many alleged followers of Christ, the veil of Moses is still on their faces.

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 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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Nov 23 2020

Kingdom Values in John’s Epistles – One Anothering: 'Monday Morning Musings - November 23, 2020'

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.

Nov 16 2020

Defining Orthodoxy Relationally: 'It Takes More Than Correct Doctrine to be Truly Orthodox'

Orthodoxy Relationally Defined

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)  

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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.

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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.