"Practice what you preach." I have a hard time preaching things I don't practice. I've been devoting myself to a deepened prayer life in 2014. I preached on this in February, as I highlighted the priority of prayer in spiritual movements. Since then, I have devoted the first Thursday of the month to what we call "Frontline Prayer" - an intentional, corporate prayer gathering. Help keep this pastor accountable to what he preaches. If you are local in St. Louis, MO, I challenge you to wake up early on Thursday morning, May 1st and join me in our church sanctuary from 7:00-7:30AM. If this is physically impossible for you, join me remotely from wherever you are (your bed, your kitchen, your cubicle at work, etc.). If you're praying with me on Thursday morning, let me know. If remote, here are some things you can pray for:
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The fact that Jesus died by crucifixion was not exceptional. Many were executed by the Roman government in this fashion. For that matter, in the course of human history, many men and women have been tortured and killed in brutal ways. Could it be that, physically speaking, other men have suffered greater torment than Jesus? Yes. Think of a POW held captive and brutalized for years and not just one day. It's not the crucifixion that makes Jesus' suffering so extraordinary. It is that in his crucifixion he bore all humanity's sin and suffering. This is where his torture was singularly unique. This is why he sweat blood. This is why no man can ever identify with his suffering. In this Holy Week, consider an excerpt Martin Luther: On His soul lay the sins of the whole world. The death he had to suffer was a death caused by sin and imposed by the wrath of God. For since he had stepped into our place, had taken our sins upon himself, and had ventured to render satisfaction for them, he felt both at once, the sins of the whole world and then the death he had to suffer for the sake of these sins. How is your body broken? Count your scars, wounds, and imperfections. Injuries, glasses, bad back, twisted ankle, or allergies. Or maybe things are not as you want them: crooked teeth, braces, big nose, a little extra weight here and there, too short or too tall. Or maybe you're experiencing the decline associated with age: loss of strength and sharpness of thought, wrinkles, gray hair, hearing loss. Or maybe serious maladies like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. Or maybe mental illness, depression, a bodily addiction. There are so many ways the body can be broken. The fact of the matter is that we all have broken bodies. What do we do with our broken bodies?
A promise is a present statement with a future commitment. “I’ll call you tomorrow” is a promise – a present statement with a future commitment. Or “I promise I’ll pay you back.” Even a lease or a cell phone contract is a promise. One of the greatest promises someone can make is to solidify love with a vow. This is the traditional wedding vow: “I, __________, in the presence of God and these witnesses, take you, __________, to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death parts us, and I pledge you my faithfulness.” |
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