Jesus said we cannot plunder the strong man unless we first bind the strong man. In the grand historical-redemptive picture, I believe Jesus spoke of his life, death, and resurrection that defeated Satan and his minions, thus allowing sinful humans to be set free, i.e., plundered from Satan’s kingdom of darkness. I also believe there is a more localized application
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The circumstances in which we live are changing more rapidly every day. We cannot depend on the stability of the government. We cannot depend on the stability of our economic circumstances. The moral and religious nature of our culture is changing. These are all human actions, and we ignore them at our peril.
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Exactly what is a Disciple-Making Movement (DMM)? Why pray for one? There are a few different definitions of DMM, but they all fall somewhere in the range of the definition I will quote here from Jerry Trousdale and Glen Sunshine’s book, The Kingdom Unleashed. “Disciple Making Movement (DMM): a process of disciples making disciples, and churches planting at least 100 churches, with four or more generations of replication.”
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72% of practicing Christians pray monthly to share their faith with non-Christians. 40% pray for opportunities to share their faith daily. Practicing Christians are not opposed to sharing the gospel with non-Christians. There is a segment that believes that it is wrong to share our faith with the hope of converting the person shared with. 27% of all practicing Christians, and 47% of millennial practicing Christians believe evangelism is wrong.
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I have heard it said that if you emphasize spiritual gifts, you will be putting everyone in a spiritual box and destroying the freedom to act as individuals. If anyone believes that, I can only assume they have a minimal understanding of how God manifests himself through the gifts he has given to the church in individual persons.
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What is the relationship between love and obedience? Do I earn God’s love through my obedience?
Obedience is an essential quality of a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus gives us the true pattern. In verse 31, he says that he does what the Father commanded “so that” the world may know that I love the Father. Jesus’ obedience was intended to be a demonstration of his love for the Father. Is that the ultimate motivation for Jesus? And, does that mean that we obey so that the world will believe that we love Jesus? Is that the motivation for our obedience?
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