Survey Reveals Americans' 2011 New Year's Resolutions

As the calendar shifts from holiday celebrations to January, a new survey from the Barna Group explores what Americans describe as their New Year's resolutions. Do Americans make such commitments and are they successful? The nationwide survey provides a snapshot of people's personal growth priorities. Find out how your own priorities for this year compare with the national averages. 

Read the full Barna Update report >

The Family of God

by T. Austin-Sparks 

The Divine thought is surely not to have companies of Christians constituted by a New Testament technique, or system of doctrine and practice, any more than it is to have congregations, preaching-places, or just meetings. Primarily it is to have spiritual families; and a Divinely governed and ordered family will express its life according to what is true doctrine and right practice. Thus, when it is time for His people to take spiritual responsibility, if the Holy Spirit had things on His right basis, He would distribute them so that new spiritual families are brought into being. This is organic growth as differing from organised expansion which is so unsatisfactory in its resultant spiritual measure. How much safer and purer is this Divine method. For one thing, it starts from the inside and not from without. Its bond is mutual love, not doctrine. It grows by spiritual birth or organic oneness, not by adherence or "joining". Its success is not determined by its size or numbers, but by its spiritual life and inward measure of Christ. 

There is nothing professional about a true family; neither is there anything artificial or formal. What a true natural family would be in every respect, as to its own inner corporate and family life, and as to its growth, testimony, work, and multiplication of itself in new families in due course, so the local companies of the Lord's people ought to be; for God intended His visible institutions to embody His invisible, spiritual, and heavenly thoughts and principles. But it is all spontaneous and vital, not organised and technical. We cannot go further here with this Divine thought, but we ask; May this not be the Lord's object in allowing or causing that ever present sense of inadequacy, limitation, and dissatisfaction in "organized Christianity"; and may this not lie behind His permitting of so much destruction in the realm of the traditional framework which has really come to take the place of the true spiritual family? There is nothing like an emergency and suffering to bring down to the bedrock things; and the bedrock of true Christian experience is that, beneath all else, the Lord's true people are a family - "The Church of the firstborn ones".

The first thing that the Lord Jesus said on His resurrection was "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father". When the meaning of His resurrection was made good in the coming of the Holy Spirit, we find that the believers in Jerusalem were spontaneously constituted a spiritual family, "breaking bread from house to house". Later, reference was made to one local company as "the Church in thy house". Let us remember that only two spiritually responsible ones are essential to be the starting-point of a family. May this not be the principle behind the sending forth at the beginning "two by two"?

But let us ever remember that the Lord has a governing object in mind in the family, and that the family is not an end in itself. Spiritual fulness is His end, not only spiritual fellowship. Much loss has been suffered by the Lord and His people by other forms taking the place of the spiritual fulness. Beware of substitutes. Beware of letting go something of the measure for which you have been apprehended. This is one of the perils of isolation and scattering from the family where your home has been. The one powerful bond of a true family is that the desire and will of its head governs all its members. If the Lord's desire for spiritual fulness governs us all, it will be a safeguard or guiding principle, and motive-power which delivers from many personal and lesser interests or considerations which would eventuate in limitation and disappointment. We are quite certain that spiritual fulness is only possible by emancipation from the artificial and man-made system of procedure which obtains today, and a return to the simple but powerful basis of organic life kept pure by the direct government of the Holy Spirit, as it was at the first. 

Well, beloved, the Lord open your hearts to all that is of Himself, and our prayer is, in the words of an Apostle, that "none of you should be deemed to have come short".

First published in an Editor's Letter in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Mar-Apr 1941 Vol. 17-2

The Lord’s Prayer

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Sam
 

Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the following outline:

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.^{1 10} Your kingdom come, your will be done,¹ on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,^{1 12} and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Mt 6.9-13 – ESV).

We pray to the Father.  Simple enough.

Thy “kingdom come” coupled with “your will be done” are synonymous.  God’s “rule” is his “will” being carried out.  And, where is the rule of God carried out?  “Heaven” and “earth.”  God issues his decree “from the bench” so to speak, in heaven, and it is carried out on the earth.  Now, Jesus is not saying that unless this is prayed, it won’t happen.  God’s rule has always been the norm.  So, what is the difference here?  The answer is to be found in the expression: thy kingdom come.  What kingdom?  God’s.  Hasn’t it “come” before?  Yes, it has always ruled.  God has always ruled in the heavenlies, and he has always ruled the nations.  The OT is replete with this notion.  So, what’s this “coming” all about?

It has to do something with the fact of the kingdom’s manifestation.  The kingdom, which has always been expressed in the OT, would come about in a new way.  If we understand Jesus to be firmly rooted in the OT Scriptures, then we must go back there to see if the Prophets were expecting the arrival of God in a way that He has not arrived before.  In short, to keep this simple, Jesus is praying for the arrival of the salvation and kingdom of God outlined in the Prophets.  He is praying for the arrival of Isaiah 40-66, Ezekiel 40-48, Zechariah 14, and the other myriad of passages that are in parallel with that material.

“He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. ¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. ¹⁸ According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. ¹⁹ So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream,¹ which the wind of the LORD drives. ²⁰ “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD (Is 59.16-20).

Thy kingdom come!  And so it has.  We believe that this coming refers to the events of history surrounding the Jewish War in 66-70 AD.  But, the prophecy does not end there.  Is 60.1-ff shows what happens as a result of this coming.  There is a recreation that takes place, not instantly, but gradually.  The nations are no longer gathered and ruled over in terms of their entering into judgment.  They are ruled over and gathered in terms of their redemption.  God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.  The Purpose of God (his will) is now being displayed, and the results are the salvation of the nations.  Is 60.1-ff (which is rehashed in Rev 21-22, verbatim in some places).  The language of Isaiah 60 and 61 is the language of restoration and recreation.  That Purpose has now come, and is coming.  Wherever the Christian stands, he should pray: thy kingdom come!  In your houses, businesses, neighborhoods: thy kingdom come!

Unlike before, where God’s kingdom ruled on earth, the display of it “worked wrath”.  Now that the sin issue is dealt with in Christ, the kingdom of God “on earth” can take on a new-creation dimension it was not able to do before.  I do not mean it was “not able” in the sense that something prevented God from being God.  The reason it was not able to do what it now does is because of that which God himself had set up.  He judged sin.  He decreed the reign of the Sin and the Death.  He added the Law in order to increase the Sin.  This was his kingdom at work on earth.  But, “there was no one to intercede.”  There was no “salvation” upon the earth.  It is this aspect of the coming kingdom Jesus taught his disciples to pray for.  Where God and Man together can rule and reign together on earth, bringing all things on earth into submission to God’s kingdom.  David had tried this, and Solomon had reached the zenith of trying it, only to fail.  Jesus succeeded.  He crushed the powers and disarmed all authorities.  God’s power was now fully given the Last Adam (the First Adam of the New Creation), to Man himself.  Because the Last Adam, unlike the First Adam, shared as equal in the Divinity of the Godhead, it was now eternally secured to Man.  This time, the kingdom (dominion) of God and the rightful dominion given to Man can now accomplish the original Purpose: subdue all things to the glory of God.

This, then, is the will of God, and it is to be displayed on earth as it is in heaven.  All we need to ask it, how IS it in heaven, currently?  Pretty good, I imagine.  God’s redeemed have been gathered to him.  His son has been married off with the Bride.  His people now dwell with him, enjoying the Feast.  We see glimpses of that reality here on earth, too.  But, we don’t see it all that way, yet.  You now have your marching orders.  One day, the earth will reflect as it is in heaven, where the two shall become as one.  In our hearts, in our carbon-based lives here on earth, it is already reflecting it.  In the Church at large, it is already reflecting it.  Our mission, like Isaiah 61 tells us, is to “rebuild” what Sin and Death have destroyed.   To enter into the Purpose of God in the process of recreating a new heavens and a new earth.  This is the impossible-for-man-but-possible-for-God-mission that he has called the Church to do.  All things have been given to us.  All things are guaranteed to work for the good of God’s Glory and Purpose.  We can’t fail (Rom 8.24-ff). 

Anyway….food for thought.

A dad at 94

Geez whiz! a dad at 94

By ANDY SOLTIS

December 30, 2010

It's never too late to start a family.

A 94-year-old Indian man -- who relies on a high-fat diet -- claims he's the world's oldest new dad after his wife gave birth last month to their first child.

"This child is God's gift to me," Ramjit Raghav said of the baby, Karamjit.

He said the secret of his miraculous virility was being in shape as a wrestler in his youth and adhering to a remarkable nuts-and-dairy diet.

Raghav said he drinks about 3½ quarts of milk a day, and eats a pound of almonds and a pound of clarified butter, which is known as ghee in India.

Doctors confirmed that his wife, Shankuntala Devi, had a normal delivery -- at age 59. They said the baby boy is healthy.

"Having babies at such age is a remote possibility, but then it can't be ruled out as it just needs one sperm to fertilize the egg," said Dr. Paramjeet Singh, at Kharkhoda Civil Hospital, where the child was born.

Raghav is a farmer in a northern Indian village about 50 miles from New Delhi.

He and his wife own no land and manage to get by with the two cows they own, a government pension and about $100 a month in wages from farming.

Pension records confirm that Raghav is 94.

The title of world's oldest dad was last set three years ago by another Indian, Nanu Ram Jogi, who sired his 22nd child at 90.

andy.soltis@nypost.com

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Stay Younger! Live Longer!
That's not just a silly promise of our culture.
By Mark Galli

FROM HER.MENEUTICS
Our Favorite Books by Women
Or at least the ones that we read in 2010.
By Katelyn Beaty

For Many Missionaries, More Tech Means Shorter Furloughs
Constant connection keeps missionaries on the field, but has its costs.
By Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

Top 10 News Stories of 2010

The events, people, and debates of the past year that have shaped, or will significantly shape, evangelical life, thought, or mission.

CT staff | posted 12/28/2010 10:17AM

1. Aid groups rush to help an already-hurting Haiti after its 7.0-magnitude earthquake, raising $750 million in a mere five weeks. But scandal over Baptist missionaries' efforts to move 33 children to the Dominican Republic becomes a major plot line and raises questions about "amateur" aid.
2. Thousands of global evangelical leaders gather in Cape Town to discuss missions, highlight evangelicalism's global diversity, pray for religious liberty, and build relationships that will likely bear unexpected fruit in the decades to come.
3. In a closely watched case, World Vision wins its employment case at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled 2–1 that the organization can fire employees who aren't orthodox Christians. A loss would have caused turmoil for faith-based organizations' hiring rules.
4. Midterm elections halve the number of pro-life Democrats in the House of Representatives. Activist groups say the vote is a backlash against March's health-care reform bill, which also prompted new state abortion funding restrictions and the rise of the tea party (whose social concerns are still unclear).
5. The U.S. Supreme Court rules against the Hastings College of the Law chapter of the Christian Legal Society, saying the school's policy that student groups must open all positions to all students—even those who oppose the group's core values—"is a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral condition."
6. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill shifts the creation care debate. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary dean Russell Moore calls it a "defining moment" comparable to Roe v. Wade, and oversees sbc resolution calling for "full corporate accountability."
7. American evangelicals find themselves at odds with African Christians over Uganda's proposed anti-gay bill, which would punish homosexual acts with life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
8. Prominent Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke resigns from Reformed Theological Seminary under pressure amid debate on the historicity of Adam. "If the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution," he said in a video for BioLogos, "to deny that reality will make us a cult."
9. Christian musician Jennifer Knapp announces she is in a same-sex relationship, spotlighting questions of pastoral response to gay Christians.
10. Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida, sparks worldwide condemnation when he threatens to burn a Qur'an. He later promises never to burn one.

Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today.

The Church Snuggie

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Glory to God in the highest,

and peace on earth to all men

God’s glory is in the highest heavens,
but his high state is now found in the stable,
what was lowly has now become sublime.
God’s glory is on the earth,
it is the glory of humility and love.
And even more: the glory of God is peace.
Wherever he is, there is peace.
He is present wherever human beings do not attempt,
apart from him, and even violently,
to turn earth into heaven.
He is with those of watchful hearts;
with the humble and those who meet him at the level of his own "height",
the height of humility and love.
To these people he gives his peace,
so that through them, peace can enter this world.

Benedict XVI