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Tourniquet
"He stood between the living and the dead and the plague stopped." Numbers 16:48
Tag Archives: grace
Amen Sister!
In this awesome post by Leslie Chambers (wife of Alan Chambers President of Exodus International ) she shares about her marriage, grace and true freedom in Christ! Read and enjoy! From the Exodus Blog. . .
Leslie Chambers Tackles Heterosexuality, Hyper-Grace, and Offers Hope.
Have you ever wondered what people think of you? As my husband is Alan Chambers, the President of Exodus International, I have. At present, he is somewhat of a conundrum for a lot of people. There seems to be some confusion about who he is, what he is saying and what he stands for. Here it is in a nutshell: while he has repeatedly stated his biblically orthodox view of sexuality, he has also stated his belief that one particular sin is not somehow more offensive to God than another. As his wife, I have stayed out of most of the chaos, but there are a few things that I cannot be silent about any longer. So here it goes… click here to read the rest!
Brennan Manning. 1934-2013
With heavy hearts we share with you today a statement from the website of beloved author Brennan Manning.
It is with mixed emotions that we must tell you that on Friday April 12, 2013, our Brother Brennan passed away.
While he will be greatly missed we should all take comfort in the fact that he is resting in the loving arms of his Abba.
Sincerely,
Art & Gerry Rubino
The written works of Brother Brennan have touched our lives and helped us draw closer to the relentless love of our Abba Father, we are so grateful for his willingness to be honest and vulnerable so that we in our own brokenness could begin to understand how much Abba loves us.
He fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. – 2 Timothy 4:7 & Psalm 116:15
Condolences can be made at the Brennan Manning Facebook page. Purchase Brennan’s books here.
Thoughts on Life: Don’t They Know It’s The End Of The World?
I’ve been thinking about some big things. Now, I will be the first to tell you that
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I might be way over my head in these ponderings, and
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I might also be completely wrong ( or at least a little off base
But let me go on and you can add your thoughts and ideas and arguments in the comments, I would love that.
In our current social/political climate I think it’s understandable that I would be asking a lot of questions about the fate of our world, from gun laws and mass shootings to same sex marriage and divorce, I think it’s fair to say the moral compass of our land is in question but my big thoughts are more concerned with the roles of the church and followers of Christ in this present situation.Are we really doing what , based on the Bible, our beliefs command us to do?As a very wise friend of mine said, in a fabulous blog post you should totally read
“ In the Great Commission it says to make disciples of all nations … not disciple the nation.”
If, as the Bible teaches us , we believe that this world will part ways with the way God intended it to be to the point that Jesus returns, what then is our role in this predictable sinking ship, if you will ?
As Galadriel says in The Lord of the Rings ” The time of the elves is over.Do we leave Middle-Earth to this fate? Do we let them stand alone?”
If we look at Jesus in the Gospels we do not see a man concerned with the political arena, a man desperate to change the morals of the people by way of the laws of the land. We see our Saviour in the communities he finds himself, reaching out for connections with the people. We see Him meeting their needs, reaching into their lives through relationship, compassion, kindness.
Right now is a trying and yet wonderful time to be a part of the Body of Christ, Grace is being taught and lived in our churches in a more honest way than it has been in a long time, but at the same time our influence in the world is decreasing.Truthfully I would have to say that we are in the middle of two extremes, on one side we are overly concerned with “ discipling the nation” and on the other we are courting the worlds affection and second guessing every sermon to make sure we aren’t offending anyone. I know this is not an easy road to navigate,it’s right for us to proclaim the Gospel and to be fearless in our desire for holiness, and it’s right for us to challenge ourselves against scripture and check our selves to make sure we are being loving and speaking truth in that love , at the same time Jesus made it very clear that the world would hate us the way they hated Him. (John 15:18) Can we handle that?
In an open letter to the American Church, author Brennan Manning wrote at length about the state of our church today , the whole letter is worth reading but I will only quote a bit of it here, You can read the rest in his book The Signature of Jesus.
“If the apostle (Paul) were to return to the earth today, I believe he would call the entire American church to return to the discipline of the secret. This ancient practice of the apostolic church was implemented to protect the sacred name of Jesus Christ from mockery and the mysteries of the Christian faith from profanation. The ancient church avoided mention of baptism, Eucharist, and the death and resurrection of Christ in the presence of the unbaptized. Why? Because the most persuasive witness was the way one lived, not the words one spoke. Soren Kierkegaard once described two types of Christians: The first group comprises those who imitate Jesus Christ; the second are those who are content to speak about him. “ (emphasis mine)
If we are supposed to leave people with no question of our faith and if the best way to demonstrate and share our faith is through showing real tangible love in the ways that Jesus demonstrated then aren’t we called to be set apart by our unfathomable love for others and extreme acts of grace and mercy ?To truly set ourselves apart by our actions in this world? Perhaps living our faith out loud is not about standing on a street corner yelling about the sins of the world but being a people that act so differently that the world is forced to ask “ what is the hope that is in you?”
Quote of a Quote: Brennan Manning
Fantastic Article: Being Gay at Jerry Falwell’s University
This post is so good, it’s long but read the whole thing. Man if we could all show love this way and have this kind of impact on our fellow humans the world would be such a different place.
It was the fifth time that night that my Theology and Biblical Greek professor was calling. And, like the previous times, no way was I answering the phone. I knew why he was calling. Earlier that day, I emailed all of my professors to tell them I’d made the difficult decision to withdraw from school. As my cell phone went to voice mail, I crawled into bed under my covers, dreading the next morning when the rest of my professors would get my email, when the university would call my parents, when my roommates would ask me why I wasn’t waking up for class. “Why did I come here?” I asked myself. “Out of all the colleges in the world, why did I pick this one?”….
Read the rest of the article here!
Let It Be.
I struggle. I struggle with lots of different things. I think it’s safe to say we ALL struggle. . . with lots of different things. Struggling is hard, it’s good because it means we aren’t giving up , it means we are fighting to overcome whatever it is we are struggling with. Fighting is hard. Sometimes it feels like in the midst of this struggle, this fight to not give in , to not become what I don’t want to become, to not give up and stop trying to better than I am right now, it feels like I only have two choices, two options. One, to keep fighting and hope that I am strong enough or to break.
But I think we are missing an important third option.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all share their account of Jesus going to the garden and praying right before He was arrested and crucified . They say He fell to his knees, wept, sweat drops of blood and was overcome with grief. And He prayed for God to take away the cup that was before him .
How many times have you or I been in the midst of such a struggle that we feel something similar to what Jesus was going through? Have you ever been so tied up in knots over this struggle that you felt like laying on the floor and screaming and begging God to please please take it away ?
In the midst of this anguish , which I think it is safe to say was much greater than any you or I have ever felt , Jesus says to The Father,” Your will, not mine be done. “
Let it be. I trust you. You love me.
And here is our third option, to come before God with our broken hearts and Just say, Lord, Let it be . That doesn’t mean that we stop fighting or that anything goes away but there in that moment, standing in God’s grace for us that tells us He will show us a way out, we acknowledge that our struggle has a purpose. There is peace in that place. For a moment just rest. Knowing that he loves us as we fight and because we fight and even if we don’t fight. Trust Him, He doesn’t waste anything, no hurt or pain or suffering or struggle.
Romans 5:1-5 says
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace by which we now stand.
And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character , hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Video Tuesday: Tony Moore’s Ask Me Anything About . . . Homosexuality.
It’s video Tuesday and I had another video planned but then I watched this video from our friend Tony Moore and it’s so excellent I decided to share it instead. As we have mentioned here before, Tony is the pastor of Transformation House in South Carolina and he has an awesome testimony . We are big fans of Transformation House here. Anyway, in this video he answers some questions from his congregation and shares a little of his own story . I hope you find it informative and helpful and most of all full of hope and love and compassion ! Some of the questions he looks at are
- What are your views on Homosexuality ?
- What do you tell your church about Homosexuality?
- Why does this issue cause such a divide in the church?
- What are your views on the LGBT community ?
- Can you support a person with out accepting their choices ?
- Do you think it’s right for “Christians” who believe it’s wrong to bash the homosexuals?
- Many Christians say I can’t be saved and love Jesus if I am gay. Do you agree?
One of our passions at Tourniquet is to help the church become a more compassionate and loving place for people who are impacted by SSA and I mean all people, the ones who identify as gay, the ones who struggle the ones who love people who do any of the above and that includes us, the kids of those people. Growing up ,the church wasn’t the warmest most understand place for me and my siblings, parents were flat out scared of what they didn’t understand about our family and not many tried to understand so for the children of people with SSA the church can be a lonely place . We wanna change that. So that’s why when I find a pastor talking to his church about this in a way that will help I am gonna do my best to pass it along.
Exodus Week-End Review for Nov. 9th
Sorry we missed last week guys but here’s the new Exodus Week-End review. Great question of the Week this week as well as some wonderful resources watch the video to find out more about . . .
- The Village Church NYC
- “Out of Egypt” and “Into the Promise Land ” by Jeanette Howard
- Question of the Week: Are people born gay? Is homosexuality genetic ?
And don’t forget, if you would like to be a part of the wonderful work of Exodus International through prayer or financial support head over to the website and click on the Support Exodus link!
