I’m a hijacker. I was listening to a podcast by Tullian Tchividjian called “Jesus + Nothing = Everything.” In it, he described how even our spiritual growth efforts can become self-centered by taking the focus off who God IS and making it about what we …
Read MorePaul was a Trader
SmallGroupTrader.com‘s mission is: “Helping people trade in the pursuit of the American-Dream for a world that desperately needs Christ.” Remember the old game Chutes and Ladders? To me, this carries some of the same ideas. Paul didn’t exactly trade in his pursuit of the “American-Dream,” …
Read MoreFaith and Fear
In his book, Paul the Leader, J. Oswald Sanders says, “The man who does not know fear cannot know courage.” (p.44, 1986, 4th printing, Navpress) I have always believe myself to be a courageous man. My brother and I grew up daring/encouraging/shaming each other …
Read MorePrideful Paul
I always thought it was a bit prideful of Paul to write things like – “follow my example” (1 Cor 11:1) and “join with others in following my example” (Php 3:17). Anyway, he says things like this throughout Scripture and it always bothered me a …
Read MoreGrace and Peace
In class last week Dr. Loken pointed out something that seems pretty basic, but it was just something I never really thought about before. Paul uses the phrase “grace and peace” alot. Here’s why – “Grace” was a standard greeting for the Gentiles. “Peace” or …
Read MoreQuestions for Paul
I thought this was a cool pic – even the earth has questions! The Corinthians were given the chance to ask Paul some questions – you can read Paul’s answers to them in 1 Corinthians 7:1-16:4. Dr Loken took some time out of class the …
Read More“Go Fourth and Teach”
Yes – I spelled “fourth” wrong on purpose – you’ll understand later. (It’s a really bad pun – but I’m just that stupid.) Are you growing the way you should? An interesting thought came out in class last night. We were talking about 1 Corinthians. …
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