Blog

06
Sep 2011

Loving the City? Urban Ministry and Urban Living often attract those who are infatuated or flirtatious with the mystique of the city and even some who profess to love the city. Some of us simply love the gospel and the density (crowded neighborhoods) and diversity (economic, ethic, educational, cultural, and age differences) of people who are found in the city – offering an opportunity for a strategic advance of the gospel. We should be cautious about the phrase ‘Loving the city’ because it can be no more than a cliché of those......

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24
Aug 2011

A Gospel-Centered Way Beyond Fundamentalism and New Evangelicalism At Grace Church of Philly, we long for Christian fellowship with other believers that is based upon gospel essentials. By gospel essentials, we mean those teachings of Scripture which are necessary for one to truly be called a Christian. Those gospel essentials would at least include a belief in the authority and reliability of Scripture, the Trinity, the exclusiveness and sufficiency of the redemptive work of Christ, and the depravity and inability of mankind. Also, included in those gospel essentials would be credible evidence......

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18
Aug 2011

Why we use the Apostles’ Creed at Grace Church of Philly From time to time I hear concerns from well-meaning people questioning our use of the Apostles’ Creed. Most often it has to do not so much with the content, but with their personal history of having recited it in the Roman Catholic Church or a liberal denominational church. Part of their conversion story is that in understanding the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ, they left a religious system that had corrupted and confused the gospel. We rejoice......

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09
Aug 2011

Principles of a Submissive Life that apply to the Church 1 Peter 3:8-12 1 Peter 3:8-12 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away......

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24
May 2011

1 Peter 1: 17-21 Live in Reverential Worship 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last......

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16
May 2011

1 Peter 1: 13-25 Series Title: Christian Living in a Non-Christian World Christian Values in a Non-Christian World (Part One) 1. Why is it important that we understand that Christian living in a non-Christian world is grounded in knowing our identity, valuing it, and allow it to define who we are and how we will live in this world? 2. What is the difference between a ‘value’ and a ‘belief’? 3. How does the development of these values create a growing distinction between the values of the world (which we once held)......

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03
May 2011

1. Discuss what it means to have an unearthly joy that transcends the temporal joys and sorrows of life. 2. Discuss the reference to the gospel ( “in this”) and what it is about the gospel that offers a transcendent joy. 3. How can this unearthly joy be real in the presence of trials? Discuss how the gospel calls us to and enables us to live with antinomies? 4. Grammatically, ‘rejoice’ may be either a command or a statement. Either way, why should there be an expectation of joy even in the......

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25
Apr 2011

Discussion Questions The Servant’s Glorious Triumph over Suffering from God’s Perspective Isaiah 53:10-12 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear......

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19
Apr 2011

Discussion Questions on Isaiah 53:1-9 The Glorious Triumph of the Suffering Servant As seen by redeemed sinners How does the text indicate that Isaiah, the prophet, speaks proleptically (puts himself in the place) of some in the future who have witnessed both the sufferings of Christ and his resurrection and who have responded in faith? How does 1 Peter 2:21-25 use of Isaiah 53 indicate that this is not only Israelites who come to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, such as at Pentecost, but also believers from among the nations? In......

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05
Apr 2011

Discussion questions on 1 Peter 1:3-5 Who am I? – I have a living Hope How does being an exile and sojourning among the nations of the world compare to  a ‘short-term mission trip’? How does the above create the possibility for fear, isolation, retreat, and even hatred of the world in which we dwell? Why is it important to remember that our psychological response to the world in which we live (i.e. fear vs. confidence; despair vs. hope) is rooted in our theology? In what sense are all the events or......

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