As we preach from the Bible, especially the Old Testament, we need to uses bridges to reach the hearts of the congregation:

*The bridge from the original language to English (translation)
*The bridge from ancient culture to modern culture (contextualization)
*The bridge from old covenant to new covenant (interpretation)
*The bridge from from doctrine to practice (application)

A book that helps sensitize us to the need to orient all biblical preaching and studies to be presented in a Christ-centered way is this volume published by Cru:

One Story, by Tim Henderson and Tom Sperlich

“All of Scripture is telling one story. It’s a story about Jesus and our need for Him. The great story is comprised of many little stories found throughout the Old and New Testament narratives, and it is reinforced in the law, poetry, prophecy, and epistles. Every passage in some way draws our attention to our fallenness and Christ’s solution to our fallenness. St. Augustine said, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New Testament.”

“In the One Story Guidebook you’ll learn how to study various genres of Scripture “Christocentrically.” A genre is a category of composition that has its own style or form and therefore its own rules of interpretation…

For details and ordering information visit Cru here.
-JBW

One of the features of the deeperChristian e-newsletter is the quote section:
Men are God’’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.
– EM Bounds

I am afraid of only one thing—that I should become a grain of wheat not willing to die.
– Young Missionary Girl (as told by Corrie ten Boom)

If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
– CS Lewis

Our Guilty Silence suggests that one of the main reasons for our silence is because we lack either a thorough knowledge of the Gospel or a conviction about its truth or both. There can be no evangelism without an evangelist, no mission without a message.
– John Stott  from Our Guilty Silence

Not to be daily mortifying sin, is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who hath furnished us with a principle (and means) of doing it.
– John Owen  from The Mortification of Sin

A true leader must have enough backbone to stand alone—even when the crowd wants to take the easy road home. A true leader cannot be dependent on companionship for his or her security, but must learn to trust in God alone.
– Leslie Ludy from When God Writes Your Life Story

One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do no constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.
– AW Tozer

You can subscribe to the e-newsletter here and search their quote archive here.

From ChurchLeaders.com:

Exhausted. Overwhelmed. Overscheduled. If this sounds familiar, then this free Sermon Series from Bill Hybels is for you. We’ve put together some awesome resources — and they’re free. So dig in!

Complete MP3s
Sermon Transcripts (for those of us who like to read)
Simplify Chapter 1: Moving From Exhausted to Energized

Download now

by Pastor Jeff Barbieri

“Some accept the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord and then spend the rest of their lives trying to get him to accept them.”  – Dr. Charles Solomon [1]

That is a profound statement from Dr. Solomon. I have personally heard him say, “A Christian must accept their acceptance in Christ.”  But…
•    What is our acceptance in Christ?
•    Why is it hard for many to rest in it?
•    How can I accept my acceptance?
•    What positive outcomes will occur in my Christian life and ministry when I accept my acceptance in Christ?

In this Thought of the Week and the next few installments, I want to answer these important questions about God’s acceptance of us in Christ. The key verse for our discovery together will be Ephesians 1:6

“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved”(NKJV).
This verse states that believers are accepted by God in the Beloved, that’s Jesus. The word “accepted” means to highly favor, to honor. It is an intense word, stated in the Greek past tense, indicating a complete action, statement of fact. No matter what your sin, no matter how bad you were or are, when you accept Jesus as the God/Man who died for you on the cross and rose again from the dead, you were accepted by God in Christ. But how can that be? Is that fair?

I think the following real life situation will help clarify these questions. A childhood friend recently called me seeking answers about the gospel. Some Bible-believing Christians had shared with him that eternal life, acceptance by God could not be earned by good works, but only by faith in Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9). The teaching of God’s grace troubled my friend who protested with this question, “Does that mean that if Hitler believed on Christ he would be accepted by God?” 
I replied to my friend that he was looking at the question from the wrong perspective. He was looking at how bad Hitler was instead of how incredibly awesome Jesus is. I pointed out that :
•    Jesus is God and Man in the flesh ( John 1:14)
•    Jesus lived a perfect life ( Hebrews 4:15-16)
•    Jesus died on the cross for every sin of the world ( I John 2;2)
•    Jesus rose again from the dead ( I Cor. 15:1-4)

I counseled my friend not to look at the gospel from the human perspective but to consider it from the divine perspective; God’s provision of Jesus is greater than all sin.

I would counsel you the same way. If you can’t accept your acceptance in Christ, you are giving your sin more power than the work of Jesus. Yes your sin, my sin, and Hitler’s sin is real and horrid. We should not debate that. But neither should we dismiss the greater truth that God’s provision of Jesus Christ to deal fully with all of our sin is equally real as the writer of Hebrews states:

“…for by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14 (NASB).

You are perfected forever not by good things you do, nor are you rejected because of bad you do. You have been perfected forever by one sacrifice and therefore you are accepted in Christ by God (Ephesians 1:6) … He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
Our salvation is restoration of relationship where God accepts us in Christ. Accepting your acceptance is the foundation of growing and living a vibrant Christ life. Please know that the foundation of your life here and into eternity is your complete acceptance by God in Christ!

[1] Handbook to Happiness, p.21

http://mountainviewbiblechurch.com

For more on this theme, see the article by Miles Stanford here.

Mary K. Thomas, M.A., is your instructor for these lessons, which deal with the brain, the mind, the emotional center of our soul, overcoming addictive behavior, and learning how to experience grace in our Christian walk. Our salvation is much bigger than perceived, including the healing from hurtful pasts and deep woundedness.  Experience the abundant life in Christ, making the Lord very real in your life!

Disc 1
Part A – The Foundations of Healthy Thinking
Part B – The Formation of the Triune Brain
Part C – Brain Facts Continued

Disc 2 – Functions Explained
Part A – The Reptilian Brain
Part B – The Limbic System
Part C – The Limbic System Continued
Part D – The Limbic System Continued

Disc 3
The Formidable Trio vs. The Neo Cortex Brain

Bonus CD
Instructional & Study Materials

For details and ordering information, visit ReleasingGrace.org

Grace discipleship is simply profound and profoundly simple. Here is a practical four lesson booklet, “Discipleship Basics,” by Dr. Phil Jones. These lessons are not intended to be comprehensive, but are foundational and user-friendly.

Here is a free copy of the PDF notebook: discipleship-basics-all-lessons-booket-format

Here is a four message downloadable audio series that corresponds with the lessons. They are at Grace Fellowship Internationals’ Sermon.net audio channel here.

These were produced and preached at First Baptist Church of Powell in Tennessee.

What’s the best way to encourage others to want to walk with Christ? In this 3-minute video, Pastor Bryan Chapell explains that it’s not trying to get them to do what you know is right. It’s something else. Watch now.

“Member Care Media (MCM) is a media ministry of TransWorld Radio especially prepared for Cross-Cultural Workers around the globe whose obedience to the Great Commission has taken them to difficult places. It is our goal to encourage, enhance and enable these workers in their places of calling so that they will stay effective and fulfilled.”

These audio resources are helpful for pastors serving in North America as well.

Here’s a recommended series to check out: In this 7 part series of 10 minute MemCare radio programs Edmund Spieker shares Biblical insights of how the Truth can set you Free!

Lifetime Guarantee Ministries has published an audio series, Masculinity; The Mantle of Manhood. It features a conversation by Dr. Bill Gillham and his son, Preston. These men are advocates of a Christ-centered identity and biblical family roles.

You can download this audio series for free this month (November) at LifetimeGuarantee.org

Dr. Lewis Gregory

Labor Day in the United States has traditionally been a day to cease from one’s labors and rest. God offers a lifetime of rest to all who will cease from their fleshly labors and enter His rest. Easier said than done! It is very difficult for most of us to give up on all our “so called good works.” I know it was for me. My thinking went something like this. “I’m trying as hard as I can, doing all that I can, the best that I can. It may not be the greatest (admittedly I was defeated), but I’m giving it all I’ve got. If all my hard work has only gotten me this far, just think what would happen if I gave up. Why, it would be a disaster, and I would become passive.

Since then I’ve discovered this kind of thinking to be all too common among Christians. Ceasing from our fleshly efforts in order to enter God’s rest is actually shifting from a works-oriented approach, to a grace-oriented approach to living. Ironically, many people have mistakenly thought that an emphasis on grace will lead to a life of passivity. The concern is that a strong emphasis on grace—which declares that the responsibility for our lives belongs to Christ and that He will take care of everything for us—will cause many to become passive. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When you truly realize your union with Christ, you are not about to sit back and do nothing. Passivity is the last thing on your mind. Once you have discovered what it means to be a new creation in Christ, you are finally ready to do something of eternal consequence. As you begin to realize your true identity in Christ, it actually liberates you to an even greater level of activity—Divine activity. You are fully equipped for godly living. At last, you’re free to do what God has put in your heart to do.

Paul, the chief proponent of this truth, was no slouch. In fact, he was one of the most active Christians on biblical record. Here is what he wrote, “By the grace of God I am what I am . . . I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Did you notice he said he labored much more than everyone else? He is not bragging—far from it. It is merely a statement of fact. Yet, in a sense, it is bragging, though not about himself. Who did Paul credit for such fervent activity? He emphatically stated that it was God who made him who he was, and enabled him to do what he did. He described this remarkable phenomenon as the grace of God. Paul declared that his labors were a result of God and God alone. He was bragging all right—on God!

The grace of God does not result in passivity. Paul made it very clear that this life of grace, as a new creation, is anything but passive. He told the Colossians, “I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily” (Colossians 1:29). Paul declared that such a lifestyle is a labor, which involves striving, and results in work being accomplished.

What was the source of Paul’s labor? The energizing source of his dynamic labor was none other than the indwelling Christ! He also asserted that everything he did was a result of God’s work in his life. It was Christ who did the work, but He has chosen to do it in and through human personalities. That’s you and me. We have been granted the marvelous privilege of being co-laborers with Christ. We are the human instruments through whom He has chosen to accomplish His Divine purposes. Divine activity is to be the order of the day for those believers who are living by the grace of God as new creations in Christ.

On one hand, you don’t do anything; yet, on the other, you do everything. You, in your human strength, are not to do anything. However, you, in the strength of the Lord, are now able to do all things! In Philippians 4:13, Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This is now your motto.

A young Christian told me this was her favorite verse. When I asked her why, she answered, “It gives me hope and confidence. I am hopeful that things will be different for me as a Christian. I also have a new self-confidence, because God has made me a new person in Christ. Therefore, I am confident of what I can do through Christ, who is now my strength.” May God grant you this same outlook on life!

Once, a friend met a young man who said he had been a Christian for a few years. After determining that the young man had truly met the Lord, he began to quiz him about his Christian walk. As they became better acquainted, several interesting things emerged.

It became evident that the young man’s life was stagnant. In fact, he seemed to just be going in circles. To make matters worse, he blamed others for his dilemma.

When my friend realized the young man was stuck in a rut he exclaimed, “Man you’re sitting on a gold mine, and you’re just letting it go to waste. As a Christian, God has endowed you with a brand new life. Are you telling me that you have Christ inside of you, and yet you are not allowing Him to live His life through you? That’s just not right. It’s time for you to get with the program!”

The same is true for you. If you feel as though your life is going nowhere, then it’s time to get with the program. The transforming truth of the new creation made it possible for the apostle Paul to do God’s work. Likewise, you must be about your Father’s business!

May this Labor Day be the beginning of a lifetime of resting in the Lord. As you do, you will find His grace sufficient for all your labors. And you can rest assured that your labor will never be in vain in the Lord!

Taken from Introducing The New You, to read more – http://www.sourceministries.net/go/resources/the-new-you/