Pastor David Keuss - Hope without Compromise

R ecently, I had an opportunity to take a seminar under Dr. JD Payne at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He has a book out on Missional House Churches , which essentially studies what by one definition would be successful house church groups. On his blog, he recently posted a link to some major news articles on their movement. Here is a link . Here is another . The goal of Dr. Payne's book is to isolate a certain kind of church: house churches. Furthermore, he wants to find ones which are growing in a healthy way and see what they are doing right, and Scripturally. This in turn would benefit those in the house church movements with ways to improve their ministry. Payne provides some helpful advice for change in those movements, including better supports of missions and associational work. He endorses having pastors (whereas most house church people seem anti-pastor (though they would predictably deny this claim)). My main goal is not to endors

T here is an interesting article on some of the nuance to Adam and Eve's sinning in the Garden of Eden. You might take a look for your own Bible knowledge to be sharpened: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/03/14/feedback-first-sin Let me know what you think.

It is somewhat unexpected, but the spiritual truth is present about the dividing wall being broken down between Jew and Gentile in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 15. While it may not be as clear as the Apostle Paul later makes it, it is certainly at the least foreshadowed. Jesus in Matthew 15:22 begins to dialogue with a Gentile woman who requests Jesus to have mercy on her, because her daughter is cruely demon possessed. After clarifying her motives in a 1st century way (to make sure she knew the Messiah's mission), he agrees to set her daughter free because of the request asked in faith. Then after this, Jesus is healing people in a large crowd on a mountaintop that includes both large numbers of Jews and Gentiles. And after three days of being with these crowds, he provides for the 12000-16000 people there with a miracle of multiplying. In each of these cases, the gospel of Matthew which often traces Jewish audiences need to see things about Jesus, shows that Jesus is Lord