Following Jesus, Discipleship, Bible
Doug Resler
Sex
Sex
Discipleship, Following Jesus, Bible
Doug Resler
Simplicity
Simplicity
Following Jesus, Discipleship, Bible
Doug Resler
John’s Baptism
John’s Baptism
Discipleship, Following Jesus, Bible
Doug Resler
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Following Jesus, Discipleship, Bible
Doug Resler
Faith, Hope, and Love
Faith, Hope, and Love

Following Jesus

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In the beginning...

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Readings for the Day: Genesis 1 & 2

Nothing. Emptiness. Void. Before time. Before space. Before matter.  There was only God. Already Trinity. Already Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Existing from eternity in Three Persons. Complete. Full. Rich. God needed nothing.  God lacked nothing.  God was eternally satisfied in Himself.  Decision. Resolve. Commitment.  God choosing to create.  God choosing to bring forth life and light and beauty and order.  God choosing to love and be loved.   

Let there be Light!  

Let there be Heaven! 

Let there be Earth and Seas! 

Let there be plants, trees, and flowers!

Let there stars and sun and moon! 

Let there be fish and birds! 

Let there be beasts on the earth! 

Something. Time and space and matter now come into being.  A universe filled with stars and planets and galaxies bursts into being. The first sunrise.  The first sunset. Tides begin. The first buds appear on the earth. The first babies are born on the earth and in the sea.  And through it all, there is God. Still lacking nothing.  Still needing nothing. Still eternally satisfied but deeply in love with all He creates.  

Out of love, God provides a guardian. Someone to take care of all He has made. A creature made in His own image. Male and female, they too are to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. They are given a sacred charge. To subdue the earth. To hold dominion over creation. God entrusting to them a precious gift. They are to steward life. To make sure it flourishes and God’s good purposes come to pass.  They are to nurture and care for it.  They are to work and keep it.  They are to guard and protect it.   

So much gets lost in the debates over whether creation happened in six literal 24-hour days.  Or whether the plural first person (“Let us make...”) is an early reference to the Trinity or simply the use of the royal “we” that was common in Ancient Near East literature. Or parsing the differences between the two creation accounts, one poetry (Gen. 1) and one prose (Gen. 2), that we lose sight of the point of the text.   

God creates something out of nothing.  Brings order to chaos. Light to darkness. Fills the void. And then sets humanity up as His vice-regents on the earth.  They are given the authority to rule over all He has made in His name.  They are to walk in obedience with Him and thereby enjoy a unique relationship with their Creator.  They are to work.  They are to be fruitful.  They are to multiply and fill the earth with the image and glory of God. This is their purpose.  This is the role God designed them to play.   

Think about all God has entrusted into your hands today.  Think about all the responsibilities God has given you.  Family. Friends. Work. Wealth. Talent. Ability.  How are you stewarding these gifts for His glory?  How are you living out your God-given purpose to nurture life today in all you say, think, and do?  How will you contribute to the flourishing of those around you?  

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Ethiopian Revival!

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Ethiopian Revival!

To be Christian is to be a missionary.  To love God is to love the people God loves.  The lost.  The lonely.  The busy. The hurting.  To follow Christ is to follow His lead in extending compassion and grace and proclaiming the truth to those in need wherever they may be found. To serve Christ is our highest calling and to this great end, we must “mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” 

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#IStand vs. #TakeAKnee

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#IStand vs. #TakeAKnee

As I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds erupt over the weekend, I found myself grieving for our country. It seems so clear to me that our great adversary, Satan, continues to tighten his grip around our collective throats. The rage, hate, and vitriol is shocking.  The name-calling and character assassination is appalling.  We appear locked in perpetual adolescence, unable to see beyond our own emotions. In the midst of it all, I have found myself asking, "How would Jesus respond to this situation?" 

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Dispatches from the Front: Djibouti

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Dispatches from the Front: Djibouti

Senite has the most beautiful smile. Her joy as she speaks is palpable. She laughs when she talks about being put in prison with her husband. She constantly interrupts herself to give praise to God for His faithfulness. She speaks of persecution and beatings and threats as if these thing are normal, which they are in her context. Her passion to share Christ is contagious and convicting.

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Dispatch from the Front: Uganda

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Dispatch from the Front: Uganda

Pastor Silvest is an amazing Ugandan pastor who has planted nine churches (and counting) in his country. Humble. Soft-spoken. He speaks of God with a deep voice and an even deeper faith. He has been beaten several times. He has had his home robbed. His family threatened. Early in his ministry, his only means of transportation (a bicycle) was stolen so he walked from church to church to preach on Sundays.

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Dispatch from the Front: South Sudan

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Dispatch from the Front: South Sudan

Anarchy. Civil War. Unspeakable tragedy. Lawlessness. Suffering. Drought. Famine. Disease. Death. These are the conditions under which the Kingdom of God is growing in South Sudan. 150,000 new believers in the last ten years. 180 new church plants. 77 indigenous church planters risking their lives for the sake of the gospel. Through these incredible men and women, the Kingdom of God is growing through miracles, signs, and wonders. And I get the pleasure of spending a week with them. Like Elisha of old, I find myself wanting a double portion of their spirit.

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God and Politics: Abortion

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God and Politics: Abortion

Every single human being who has ever been born has carried with them - in their bodies, minds, and spirits - the image of their Creator.  As such, we do not draw our primary worth from our utility.  From what value we add to society. From what we can produce or achieve.  Our value is not extrinsic but intrinsic because we have been endowed by our Creator with a worth we cannot begin to measure.

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Practicing Hope - Daily Time with God

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Practicing Hope - Daily Time with God

I meet a lot of people in my line of work.  They come from all different places and walks of life.  They are all over the map spiritually.  And almost all of them have a hunger down deep for more of God.  They want to experience God.  They want to know God.  They believe on some level that life is incomplete without a relationship with God.

Following Jesus

Following Jesus

We have to stay alert as weeds spring up threatening to choke off the new life that's emerging in us through Christ. And it's not enough just to clear the ground of our old vices, we have to plant new virtues as well.  We have to be intentional about sowing seeds of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  That way, we will reap a harvest of godliness over the course of a lifetime. 

The Dangers of Pride

 "The highest wisdom is to navigate one's course - with contempt of the World as your chart - towards the Heavenly Port." So says a fourteenth century Augustinian monk named Thomas in his classic work, The Imitation of Christ. It's a book about the danger of vanity. Pride. Arrogance. "If you're not humble, you make the Trinity nervous..." he writes in another place in the same work with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

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Intergenerational Ministry

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Intergenerational Ministry

But here's the real truth. We can die on a lot of hills in the church. Most of which simply aren't worth it. This is one hill worth dying on. This is one battle worth fighting. Study after study shows that the most effective evangelism takes place when one generation reaches another with the good news of the gospel. When one generation makes it their aim, their goal, their passion to pass on the faith to the next generation. Parents to kids. Grandparents to grandkids. All so that, as one generation is "gathered to their fathers", there remains another generation to take their place.

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Purpose

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Purpose

God either gets it all or He gets nothing. He doesn't leave us the choice to accessorize our life with a little Jesus. As if I can live my life the way I choose and "season" it from time to time with some Jesus. Like He's there to give my life a little spiritual flavor. God is not some spice. Some condiment. Some add-on to life. He is the Life.

First...Jesus

First...Jesus

I am simply a guy who got ambushed by Jesus over twenty years ago on the campus of the University of Colorado.  And I am still working out the details.  It's a lifelong process.  You don't learn it in school.  You don't naturally fall into it in life.  Putting Jesus first requires an almost relentless intentionality that is not easy.

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Heart Check

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Heart Check

 

Today I go for my annual heart check.  I'll spend about a week on the treadmill.  Stress test.  EKG.  The whole work up.  My doctor will meet me in a place called Gojo in a country called Ethiopia which is literally on the other side of the world.  He won't be gentle...Why do I do this?  Because of something Jesus once said to me.  "I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many."

Real Life in Real Community

Real Life in Real Community

 

Her name is Wanda.  She is an older lady who is living in the later stages of dementia.  She loves horses and it seems like the only memories left to her are of the horseshows she attended when she was younger.  Each Sunday she dresses up in her western style clothes, puts on her makeup, and comes to worship with her caregiver.

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Truth vs. Lies

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Truth vs. Lies

 

We live in constant danger.  Bombarded by messages through mainstream and social media.  So much information is being thrown at us on a daily basis, it is hard to separate truth from lie.  Fantasy from reality.  So much of how we think about life or think about the people in our lives or even think about ourselves is shaped far more profoundly by our culture than by the truth God has revealed in the Bible.