Beholding and Proclaiming

Current trajectory of American Evangelicalism

Hybels, Tullian Tchividjian, etc.

Disconnect between the head and the heart. Ministry becomes work and no longer the overflow of a heart intimately connected to him.

Disconnect between the head and the heart. Ministry becomes work and no longer the overflow of a heart intimately connected to him.

English Standard Version Chapter 15

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

I. Overflow of the presence of God.

“Dr. Charles Weigle composed the favorite “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” One day he visited Pasadena, California. Early that morning he had an opportunity to walk through some of the famous rose gardens when the full fragrance of the flowers filled the air. Later in the day he arrived at the hotel where a Bible conference was being held. As he took his seat, a man turned to him and said, “Dr. Weigle, I know where you’ve been. You toured one of our lovely gardens, for I can smell the pleasing aroma on your clothing.” “My prayer is that I may walk so closely with the Lord that the fragrance of His grace will pervade my being. I want them to know by my words, actions, and songs that I have been with Jesus.”

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 828 Jim Elliot’s Diary

In a diary entry, Jim Elliot, the Auca Indian martyr, wrote, “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life, that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.”

Lexham Survey of Theology The Nature of Justification

According to Luther, justification occurs not by a process of inner transformation but by a legal imputation of righteousness: God credits Christ’s righteousness to the sinner apart from the inherent righteousness of the sinner. Moral transformation is the effect, not the cause, of our justification.

“Dr. Charles Weigle composed the favorite “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” One day he visited Pasadena, California. Early that morning he had an opportunity to walk through some of the famous rose gardens when the full fragrance of the flowers filled the air.

If we expect for our words to have power and relevance they must come from an overflow of our intimacy with Christ.

II. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

Later in the day he arrived at the hotel where a Bible conference was being held. As he took his seat, a man turned to him and said, “Dr. Weigle, I know where you’ve been. You toured one of our lovely gardens, for I can smell the pleasing aroma on your clothing.” “My prayer is that I may walk so closely with the Lord that the fragrance of His grace will pervade my being. I want them to know by my words, actions, and songs that I have been with Jesus.”

II. Proclaiming the Truth from a deeply seeded intimacy.