A few months ago, Tim and I discovered the work of Dr. Stephen Crosby. After giving several of his resources a look and a listen, and reading one of his books twice through, we'd like to highly recommend him to you. I plan on including an excerpt from his book "Silent Killers of Faith - Overcoming Legalism and Performance Based Religion" over the next several days or weeks. It is not often that we come across someone who has been teaching so many of the same things we have been teaching. It is not often we come across a body of work that this closely resembles our own.
He and his wife are moving from the west coast to North Carolina, by the way. We hope to get to meet them - we'll see what the Lord has in store!
Enjoy!
"We get it backward. We expect accountability to produce sons. Accountable behavior will never produce a father-son relationship; rather, a father-son relationship spontaneously begets accountable behavior."
"Holiness that leads to isolation or insulation is a biblical counterfeit. Religion without love has been responsible for most of the world's misery. A.W. Tozer said, "You can find more carnal, unregenerate, self centered characters in the church who have religion and are sensitive toward it than you can bury in the Grand Canyon." Separation that begets a spirit of superiority is a betrayal of Christ and His gospel."
"We need to testify to His redeeming hope, not the process of our sanctification."
(how I loooooove that. That says it all.)
"We Americans are so private in our paradigms and so "wounded" from, and resentful toward authority figures, that we are reluctant to reach out to others for help. Sometimes we are comfortable reaching out horizontally to peers when looking for comfort or help, but the real deliverance anointing comes when we reach "up", so to speak, to those who have oversight. We have to reach out to someone who values our future more than our friendship - someone who not only will provide comfort, but will also lead us to that place of discomfort, confrontation, and spiritual growth."
(My note - when a leader is accessible, and becomes a friend - and THEN there comes a time when they must assert their God-given role in a performance-based Christian's life, it often results in a great upset. The performance-based believer would much prefer to think of the leader as their peer...perhaps even their "student". They become offended - sometimes beyond their ability to deal with.)
"A salvation that only brings us to moral zero, moral neutrality, is insufficient. We will all be back in the red in no time. No, we are forever free from the creditor. The state of the New Covenant believer is one of the abundant life, an eternal credit....we are not moral debtors on spiritual probation, trying to earn enough credit to have our death sentence commuted. We are pardoned, not paroled. Our sentence has been done away with."
There is so much more in this book. Can't wait to share more with you!
The Coolest Guitar Amp EVER!
Look what our daughter (Sarah) and son-in-law (Jonathan) got for their dad! A friend of Jonathan makes these:
A guitar amp, in an Altoid's container!
The inside speaker...
Tim, and his Les Paul and his Altoid's amp (playing some ZZ Top)...
A guitar amp, in an Altoid's container!
The inside speaker...
Tim, and his Les Paul and his Altoid's amp (playing some ZZ Top)...
You would not believe the sound that comes out of this tiny thing!
Get your own from the maker, Christopher Shibley, here. Please tell him that Tim and Sheila Atchley from Harvest Church sent you...
A Gift
A pastor has to be becoming known for something, when a man sees this, while far away on vacation, and one pastor comes instantly to mind ~
Thank you Scott and Cyndy! The even better gift has been that of your friendship. Sharing a meal together, talking about the things that matter most, as we did last night, is mine and Tim's favorite thing in life.
A toast to the Grace of God, through Christ!
Thank you Scott and Cyndy! The even better gift has been that of your friendship. Sharing a meal together, talking about the things that matter most, as we did last night, is mine and Tim's favorite thing in life.
A toast to the Grace of God, through Christ!
The Gospel is Worth Our Cheerful Endurance
Go find your hairbrush. Go on...I'll wait. Draw from it a single one of your hairs. Now, take that hair and tape it to the front cover of your Bible study journal. It will be an icon for you, both of what is about to happen in your life story, and the outcome of your story. That single hair will also remind you of how to deal with what is about to happen.
In short - it will be more than difficult, but you will be more than just okay.
If you stand firm on the gospel of Christ Alone, here is what will happen to you:
You will be betrayed. (meaning: someone who you thought was with you, will leave you. Usually they will betray you "with a kiss" - saying with their lips that they love you, and still want to be your friend...or your family.)
Betrayal does not come by the kiss of just anyone, otherwise it wouldn't matter. No, betrayal comes by the kiss of a dear one, always.
But listen to me. It is a loss at first, but in the end, you will not have lost so much as a hair from off the top of your beautiful head. This is experience speaking! I have found the words of Jesus to be dramatically true.
Expect to be betrayed and lose those ones, yet expect to lose nothing. The Christian life is full of paradox. Bear it all with cheerful patience. Patience is no patience at all if it is not cheerful. Otherwise, it is just fleshly stoicism...an unattractive martyrdom.
You are not going to suffer the loss of so much as a hair from your head, see. That is yours and God's little secret. So let them kiss you and walk away. The gospel is worth your cheerful endurance, and it is through this cheerfulness that you possess an untroubled soul.
I taped a single hair of mine to the front cover of my Bible study journal just now. It is for me an icon of the fact that I am living a dream I do not deserve. In spite of weathering the worst, I am receiving the best.
If God is fully committed to the preservation of that hair from my head, how much more will he preserve and protect my heart...my reputation...my relationships and my resources? I've been betrayed, and I have lost, but as I look at the bottom line of my balance sheet, there is more in the bank than ever before, so to speak.
Each time I open that journal, and break open the word of God, I will see...a seemingly unimportant part of me that God has committed Himself to keep count of, and to protect...a single hair of a woman with an untroubled soul, a soul breathing deeply of the atmosphere of eternity, where all is undisturbed Shalom.
"You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls."
In short - it will be more than difficult, but you will be more than just okay.
If you stand firm on the gospel of Christ Alone, here is what will happen to you:
You will be betrayed. (meaning: someone who you thought was with you, will leave you. Usually they will betray you "with a kiss" - saying with their lips that they love you, and still want to be your friend...or your family.)
Betrayal does not come by the kiss of just anyone, otherwise it wouldn't matter. No, betrayal comes by the kiss of a dear one, always.
But listen to me. It is a loss at first, but in the end, you will not have lost so much as a hair from off the top of your beautiful head. This is experience speaking! I have found the words of Jesus to be dramatically true.
Expect to be betrayed and lose those ones, yet expect to lose nothing. The Christian life is full of paradox. Bear it all with cheerful patience. Patience is no patience at all if it is not cheerful. Otherwise, it is just fleshly stoicism...an unattractive martyrdom.
You are not going to suffer the loss of so much as a hair from your head, see. That is yours and God's little secret. So let them kiss you and walk away. The gospel is worth your cheerful endurance, and it is through this cheerfulness that you possess an untroubled soul.
I taped a single hair of mine to the front cover of my Bible study journal just now. It is for me an icon of the fact that I am living a dream I do not deserve. In spite of weathering the worst, I am receiving the best.
If God is fully committed to the preservation of that hair from my head, how much more will he preserve and protect my heart...my reputation...my relationships and my resources? I've been betrayed, and I have lost, but as I look at the bottom line of my balance sheet, there is more in the bank than ever before, so to speak.
Each time I open that journal, and break open the word of God, I will see...a seemingly unimportant part of me that God has committed Himself to keep count of, and to protect...a single hair of a woman with an untroubled soul, a soul breathing deeply of the atmosphere of eternity, where all is undisturbed Shalom.
"You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls."
Slipcovers by Sarah
My newly-married daughter Sarah discovered some amazing fabric last week, clearanced for a dollar a yard. She decided, just like that...
::snaps fingers::
...to sew her mother (me) new slipcovers for her parsons-style dining room chairs.
Side view - she also made the pillow.
Back view - contrasting tieThe fabric color couldn't be more perfect. The quality and weight is the best - a very heavy weight fabric with a soft, thick hand to it. Here is the beautiful result, delivered to me just yesterday:
Side view - she also made the pillow.
I'm loving this grayish-blue color. This color is going on a wall adjacent to the dining room. It plays well with my beloved white/neutral palette.
My idea for changing up the look whenever I want - pillowcases, standard size. (These are from Target...gorgeous stripes. So fresh and summery.)
My first truly "styled" picture I've ever snapped for this blog.
The whole look...love! (Pink linen napkins bought at an antique shop today, $5 for all four! They are trimmed in a tiny white crochet!)
Thanks, daughter. I could not be more happy, more comforted, more cheered! (Well, I could be, but only if you found out you were...you know. But no rush. Really.)
I love you...
Mountain Moving Faith
A faith that moves mountains is simpler than you think. Jesus said it best, when He said, "...if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'be removed and cast into the sea'..."
A mountain represents a Present Problem. A mountain is a problem so looming, it chills you with its consuming shadow. A mountain is a problem that fills your field of vision, blocking out everything else. A mountain feels too big, and seems too urgent. It is an obstacle to living a peaceful and ordinary life.
But in Christ, you have been given a measure of mountain moving faith. The mysterious paradox of mountain moving faith is this: you aren't supposed to work it up.
You are supposed to speak to the mountain. In the case of mountain moving faith, actions speak louder than words. Your actions do all the talking, in fact.
First, you acknowledge your mountain. You let it be there - tall and daunting. Let it be every bit as unvanquishable as it is. This isn't mountain climbing faith you have, it is a faith that moves the mountain...it is a faith that allows you to live with the same joy you had before your mountain existed; the same joy as if your mountain did not exist. For all purposes in your life, this mountain is no longer in the way of anything God is able to accomplish.
Secondly, you do the next thing, without regard to the mountain. Let your actions do the talking - and your actions are declaring, "What mountain? Before my God you shall become a plain!"
Plan your weekly meals. Shop for the best ingredients. Kiss your spouse. Redecorate. Wash the car. Take a vacation. Do your job, every day. Obey God in the very next thing He says.
This is the critical thing - live! Keep calm, carry on. Really live, and do it smack-dab in full view of your mountain. The very act of living, of doing the next thing, is the faith-speak it takes to move the mountain!
And if simply living and doing the next thing seems too easy - you have never encountered a real mountain. When facing a real mountain, ordinary days seem impossible.
With God, all things are possible. Let your actions shout "Grace, grace!" to your mountain!
The Lord sent you here today so that I can tell you, when you "speak" to your mountain, there will come a day, not too far away, when suddenly you will feel the warmth of the sun. The chilling shadow will be gone. You will look up, and behold: the mountain is brought so low, it is at sea level! Gone!
And in its place will be a road. Proceed with great joy.
Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth...(Is. 40)
A mountain represents a Present Problem. A mountain is a problem so looming, it chills you with its consuming shadow. A mountain is a problem that fills your field of vision, blocking out everything else. A mountain feels too big, and seems too urgent. It is an obstacle to living a peaceful and ordinary life.
But in Christ, you have been given a measure of mountain moving faith. The mysterious paradox of mountain moving faith is this: you aren't supposed to work it up.
You are supposed to speak to the mountain. In the case of mountain moving faith, actions speak louder than words. Your actions do all the talking, in fact.
First, you acknowledge your mountain. You let it be there - tall and daunting. Let it be every bit as unvanquishable as it is. This isn't mountain climbing faith you have, it is a faith that moves the mountain...it is a faith that allows you to live with the same joy you had before your mountain existed; the same joy as if your mountain did not exist. For all purposes in your life, this mountain is no longer in the way of anything God is able to accomplish.
Secondly, you do the next thing, without regard to the mountain. Let your actions do the talking - and your actions are declaring, "What mountain? Before my God you shall become a plain!"
Plan your weekly meals. Shop for the best ingredients. Kiss your spouse. Redecorate. Wash the car. Take a vacation. Do your job, every day. Obey God in the very next thing He says.
This is the critical thing - live! Keep calm, carry on. Really live, and do it smack-dab in full view of your mountain. The very act of living, of doing the next thing, is the faith-speak it takes to move the mountain!
And if simply living and doing the next thing seems too easy - you have never encountered a real mountain. When facing a real mountain, ordinary days seem impossible.
With God, all things are possible. Let your actions shout "Grace, grace!" to your mountain!
The Lord sent you here today so that I can tell you, when you "speak" to your mountain, there will come a day, not too far away, when suddenly you will feel the warmth of the sun. The chilling shadow will be gone. You will look up, and behold: the mountain is brought so low, it is at sea level! Gone!
And in its place will be a road. Proceed with great joy.
Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth...(Is. 40)
The Liberty of Grace!
We've celebrated the 4th in fine style here...the family gathered 'round hamburgers and hotdogs, puppies barking, pocket parrots screeching, family laughing, and fireworks all over the entire neighborhood...
...and my thoughts are on two law-busting, liberty-loving Biblical passages. I refer to "law-busting" in the sense of the uneducated modern day Pharisee-ism we've all seen from time to time...possibly even seen in ourselves.
I call it "uneducated", because the apostle Peter did so, when he said, "our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."
I want to examine just two passages, two law-busting points. Just two. The first one being this passage in John 15 (and many thanks to Oscar Frias for preaching this at Harvest last week!):
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
The untaught (and the unstable, one lends itself to the other and back again) - the uneducated read that passage as proof text of their "Christian Perfection" doctrines. "There, see? If anyone doesn't abide in Christ, they are cast out, thrown into the fire and burned."
And so, these are perennially grumpy about someone else's salvation - not their own, since they themselves are fruit-bearing, virtue laden believers.
Stop.
Context, context, context. So many misunderstandings of Scripture and of the doctrines of grace can be fixed if you simply read everything before, and after, and put what you read in proper context.
Keep reading.
Just...keep...reading.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. "
End of story. Jesus said it, that settles it for me. I am in no danger of being hacked off and cast into the fire, not even on my worst day or worst year. No person who is in Christ Jesus is in that sort of danger.
And funny thing...loving others is fruit bearing. Loving. Not leaving.
(::cough:: I just wanted to make sure we all get the vowel straight...L-OH-V-E. Not L-E-A-V-E. Truly, love is not a place to come and go as we please.)
Next law-busting passage is found in Exodus 18, when Jethro advised Moses as to the quality of man to help him lead the people. These men should be:
~Strong men, of personal assets, and bravery
~God fearing
~Truthful
~men who hated covetousness
Wow. The perfect elders, huh? Wait. Keep reading.
Just...keep...reading. Moses found a few good men of sterling character to help him, and praise God for them!
But I ask you - how many of those men chose to meet personally with God, in the very next two chapters? How many of them inherited the promise?
Not. One.
Hear me: not one of them. Your disciplined character, important as it is, is no guarantee of the presence of God in your life. Your disciplined character is not The Blessing. Your inheritance is found in Christ Alone.
Now, lets put these two law-busting passages together in our theology, and make our theology affect our biography:
Any emphasis on character or self discipline that does not put relationships of a primary importance is not the full gospel, and could in fact possibly be legalism.
(note: thanks to Dr. Stephen Crosby for this truth from Exodus 18-20!)
Go. Mend your fences. Love people. Bear the sort of fruit God is actually looking for. Then show God your wonderful self disciplines.
And always...
...keep reading. Just...keep...reading.
...and my thoughts are on two law-busting, liberty-loving Biblical passages. I refer to "law-busting" in the sense of the uneducated modern day Pharisee-ism we've all seen from time to time...possibly even seen in ourselves.
I call it "uneducated", because the apostle Peter did so, when he said, "our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."
I want to examine just two passages, two law-busting points. Just two. The first one being this passage in John 15 (and many thanks to Oscar Frias for preaching this at Harvest last week!):
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
The untaught (and the unstable, one lends itself to the other and back again) - the uneducated read that passage as proof text of their "Christian Perfection" doctrines. "There, see? If anyone doesn't abide in Christ, they are cast out, thrown into the fire and burned."
And so, these are perennially grumpy about someone else's salvation - not their own, since they themselves are fruit-bearing, virtue laden believers.
Stop.
Context, context, context. So many misunderstandings of Scripture and of the doctrines of grace can be fixed if you simply read everything before, and after, and put what you read in proper context.
Keep reading.
Just...keep...reading.
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. "
End of story. Jesus said it, that settles it for me. I am in no danger of being hacked off and cast into the fire, not even on my worst day or worst year. No person who is in Christ Jesus is in that sort of danger.
And funny thing...loving others is fruit bearing. Loving. Not leaving.
(::cough:: I just wanted to make sure we all get the vowel straight...L-OH-V-E. Not L-E-A-V-E. Truly, love is not a place to come and go as we please.)
Next law-busting passage is found in Exodus 18, when Jethro advised Moses as to the quality of man to help him lead the people. These men should be:
~Strong men, of personal assets, and bravery
~God fearing
~Truthful
~men who hated covetousness
Wow. The perfect elders, huh? Wait. Keep reading.
Just...keep...reading. Moses found a few good men of sterling character to help him, and praise God for them!
But I ask you - how many of those men chose to meet personally with God, in the very next two chapters? How many of them inherited the promise?
Not. One.
Hear me: not one of them. Your disciplined character, important as it is, is no guarantee of the presence of God in your life. Your disciplined character is not The Blessing. Your inheritance is found in Christ Alone.
Now, lets put these two law-busting passages together in our theology, and make our theology affect our biography:
Any emphasis on character or self discipline that does not put relationships of a primary importance is not the full gospel, and could in fact possibly be legalism.
(note: thanks to Dr. Stephen Crosby for this truth from Exodus 18-20!)
Go. Mend your fences. Love people. Bear the sort of fruit God is actually looking for. Then show God your wonderful self disciplines.
And always...
...keep reading. Just...keep...reading.
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