Posts Tagged "mark driscoll"

Real Marriage Conference – Session #1: Friend (Not Plural!) With Benefits

Real Marriage Conference – Session #1: Friend (Not Plural!) With Benefits

Book Reviews, Conference, Love & Intimacy

Yesterday and today, my lovely wife and I went to the Real Marriage Conference, with Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll, at Crossroads Church in Corona, CA.

This post and the following posts are my notes from the event. After all the posts, I will also post general reflections.

Part Two of the Real Marriage Conference Series –  Session #2: Sex: God, Gross, or Gift? with Q&A.

Part Three of the Real Marriage Conference Series –  Session #3: Selfish Lovers vs. Servant Lovers with Q&A.

Part Four of the Real Marriage Conference Series –  Session #4: Can We [insert something sexual]? with Q&A.

  • Across all major research, the #1 thing that couples say they want is friendship.
  • Friendship is an eternal attribute of God. The God of the Bible exists in eternal friendship. Jesus had close friends and lived in community while on Earth. Another way to think about it… God is a friend who has friends.
  • The real problem in all relationships and in the world is sin, and the answer is Jesus.
  • Friendship with Jesus is the key to and the only way to have real friendship in your marriage. 

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A God Story: Mars Hill Church – “God’s Work, Our Witness”

A God Story: Mars Hill Church – “God’s Work, Our Witness”

God Stories, Sermons

Mars Hill Church, planted and led by Pastor Mark Driscoll is one of the most influential mega-churches churches in the United States. They are the 43rd largest AND the 43rd fastest growing church in the USA. In my opinion, numbers only matter because they are potentially an indication of Holy Spirit actively changing lives and of Jesus’ name being known / multiplied in the nations.

Mars Hill is much more than a “big church”; they are a church that preaches the Gospel soundly, passionately, unapologetically, loudly, and devoutly. They also provide many many many many many (many many!) teaching and training resources  to believers, non-believers, ministry leaders, and other churches.

Mars Hill recently launched a sermon series “God’s Story, Our Witness” (I really like that sermon series title!) by releasing a video that tells the story of Mars Hill from the beginning to today (the video located at the bottom of this post). The leaders and servants at Mars Hill Church were horribly and wonderful ill-equipped by all accounts. They would never have been capable of what’s been accomplished if not for the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why I call it a God Story! Praise God for their obedience.

While it is no secret I am a fan of Driscoll’s direct, “intellectual”, and fervent teaching… The purpose of this “God Story” is NOT to extol Driscoll… but to praise God for the beautiful collision of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit with submitted, faithful, hard working disciples. As Christians, we should celebrate, learn from, be thankful for, be inspired by, and be driven to action by God’s work through and in other believers. (… continue reading…)

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Do I REALLY Believe in Hell? How Does Hell Change MY Life?

Do I REALLY Believe in Hell? How Does Hell Change MY Life?

General

This post also assumes you who believes in the (not optional) doctrine of heaven and hell. Any teaching that suggests hell is not real, merely an “idea”, does not involve or require Jesus, not something a loving God would allow, etc… is wrong teaching. Hell is real. For anyone that may post a comment to the contrary, I probably will not engage in the conversation.

Truth exists outside of my or your opinions or beliefs. I definitely encourage you to review and pray over the sermon below. There will be many “good people” in hell.

If you and I really believe in hell…

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The Man Problem in America: Are You a Boy, a Man, or a “Ban”?

The Man Problem in America: Are You a Boy, a Man, or a “Ban”?

Get Over Yourself

As men pursue and reflect Christ… families change… churches change… communities change… the world changes. Unfortunately, this is not reality… it is not happening. We have a morbidly disgusting man problem in America…

We recently started going through the new membership classes at our wonderfully awesome church. As part of this first of 12ish classes, the teacher emphasized the importance and absence of male leadership in the church.

He referenced a couple really compelling resources that I thought I would share with you…

Resource 1 – Statistics on how a father’s church attendance impacts whether his children attend church in adulthood.

Resource 2 – An excerpt from a book entitled Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission by Darrin Matrick and Mark Driscoll on the unfortunate reality of how men in America waste their lives and resources while pursuing selfish indulgence.

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