Comments for The Gospel According to Matt

Comment on Growing Strong as God Followers by Work In Progress Online Bible Community

Work In Progress Online Bible Community — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:37:22 +0000

I agree with your points and I think #5 Responsibility & Accountability within a Christian Community is missing in many many churches. Pastors and church leaders are NOT accountable to nobody.

I think for me Dying and denyin Oneseld is living a life when I become less and less so God can grow bigger and bigger. Denying your personal wants and will for God’s Will. Not easy but with God is possible. I just don;t think that we will totally master this point.

Comment on On Christianity, Civil Responsibility and the Role of Government by brandonwestmoreland

brandonwestmoreland — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:08:03 +0000

Great post look forward to more video blogs.

Comment on Growing Strong as God Followers by Francois Tremblay

Francois Tremblay — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:13:55 +0000

I stumbled upon your blog while looking at the related links for one of my entries. I guess you could say I am a hostile commentator, but I am genuinely curious to know what you mean by “Dying to & Denying Oneself.” It sounds very Buddhist to me, actually. I’ve never heard any Christian propose this as being part of being a Christian. How do you understand it? If you could point me on a blog entry where you describe it, that would be great.

Comment on Creating Culture for Missional Movements (via Dave Ferguson) by “Exponential” Blog tour this week « EngagingChurch

“Exponential” Blog tour this week « EngagingChurch — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:34:30 +0000

[...] Those Who Thirst The Gospel According to Matt Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)“Exponential” Blog Tour and NFL Draft [...]

Comment on Growing Strong as God Followers by joebjr

joebjr — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:23:41 +0000

I’d like to see how we fit in the concept of discipline throughout these lifestyles. Often I make a good start on many of these lifestyles, but fail to build the habit of discipline into the pratices.

Comment on Growing Strong as God Followers by Jake

Jake — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:05:21 +0000

For me, the concept of “dying to oneself” is most important. Humility (often in the form of humiliation before God) has been a consistent catalyst for me. Unfortunately, God usually has to humble me by force. It would be a great practice for us to be proactive and humble ourselves…thinking along the lines of Matthew 16:24-25:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

#6 on your list could be: Humility and Dying to Oneself (or denying oneself)

Comment on Creating Culture for Missional Movements (via Dave Ferguson) by Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:58:38 +0000

Matt,
Good summary. I could teach from these notes! Good to see you again today. Keep up the great work.
Dave

Comment on Creating Culture for Missional Movements (via Dave Ferguson) by Brandon Westmoreland

Brandon Westmoreland — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:29:28 +0000

very good post thank you for passing the information on.

Comment on Does “Facebook” Destroy Marriages? by Richard

Richard — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:13:45 +0000

My wife used Facebook to find an old boyfriend to make me jealous because I did not take enough notice of her because I always had to work late to earn enough money to look after her and our three children. (We were married for 15 years) She didn’t actually want an affair but it actually destroyed our marriage from mistrust. Thanks Facebook!

Comment on The Bookends of the Gospel: Society & Salvation by Austin

Austin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:28:17 +0000

Great post!

“Why…?”
I think we often have aspects of life and God that we are drawn to more b/c of who we are and what God has purposed for us (ala Eph 2:10).
As humans we naturally tend to take these things and run with them, and begin to fit God into our own box of understanding.

For example, having always been immersed in the later form of Christianity, when I first began to see and experience the former type of Christianity (the “social” or “progressive”) I was blown away. So many things seemed to make sense that never did before; about God, faith, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. So, naturally (I use this word purposefully), I pulled away from the later form of Christianity that seemed to lack life and the power and purpose of living in the Spirit.

However, the way God reveals Himself to me and the things that are always at the forefront of my mind spiritually are there for a reason. But God is not limited to those things He has planted in me. He’s created me to be an important part of the body. But no less and no more important than the person in whom God has planted other (and often very different) visions and passions. And it’s actually not a matter of individual importance at all, what is important is that we need each other. Otherwise, there is no body, or at least I’m not part of it, which means I’m not really following Jesus.

This has unintentionally turned into a blog in an of itself, sorry.
My point is that embracing only one part/aspect of the gospel is natural (yes, a play on words again). We tend to stick with the things we most connect with. But, it seems that a partial gospel leads us to put incorrect and harmful boundaries and limits on God and His people, and is therefore ultimately anti-gospel.