Joint Heirs with Jesus

Who I Am To Christ, Part Two—Joint Heirs with Jesus

Christ-Esteem: The world talks about “self-esteem.” But God’s Word teaches us about “Christ-esteem”—how God views us, sees us, accepts us, and loves us through Christ. Knowing how God relates to us because of our relationship to Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about how God views you.

*Thank God for who you are to Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Relationship to God through Christ

Acts 10:43—My sins are forgiven.

Acts 20:28—I am Christ’s flock.

Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2—Together with all the saints, I am God’s Church.

Romans 1:7—I am loved by God.

Romans 4:7-8—My transgressions are forgiven and my sins are covered.

Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:14-17; Colossians 1:21-22—I have peace with God.

Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18—I have full, free, confident, bold access to God.

Romans 5:5—God has poured out His love into my heart.

Romans 5:6-8—God demonstrated His love for me in that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me.

Romans 5:9—I am saved, delivered from wrath.

Romans 5:10-11; Colossians 1:20—I am reconciled to God.

Romans 8:1, 33-34—I will never be condemned because I am in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:14—I am among those called, “sons of God.”

Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6—I have received the Spirit of sonship so I can cry, “Abba, Daddy.”

Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7; Ephesians 3:6; Titus 3:7—I am an heir of God.

Romans 8:17—I am a joint-heir with Jesus.

Romans 8:23—I am adopted into Father’s forever family.

Romans 8:31—God is for me, never against me.

Romans 8:37-39—Nothing, nor anyone, anywhere can ever separate me from God’s love for me in Christ.

Romans 9:25—Along with all Christians, God says of me, “You are my people.”

Romans 9:25—God says of me, “You are my loved one.”

Romans 9:26—I am a son of the living God.

Romans 10:11—I will never be put to shame.

Romans 11:5—I am chosen by grace.

Romans 14:3—I am accepted by God.

Romans 15:7—I am accepted by Christ.

Romans 15:16—I am an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

Christ-Esteem

Who I Am To Christ, Part One--Christ-Esteem

Christ-Esteem: The world talks about “self-esteem.” But God’s Word teaches us about “Christ-esteem”—how God views us, sees us, accepts us, and loves us through Christ. Knowing how God relates to us because of our relationship to Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully.

As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about how God views you.

*Thank God for who you are to Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Relationship to God through Christ

Matthew 6:26—I am are very valuable to Christ.

Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5—I am God’s forgiven son/daughter.

Matthew 9:36-38—I am the Good Shepherd’s shepherded sheep.

Matthew 10:31; Luke 12:7—I am of great worth to God.

Matthew 12:12—I am of much value to Christ.

Matthew 18:10-14—I am God’s precious, protected little one.

Mark 3:34-35—I am Christ’s brother or sister.

Luke 6:35—I am a son or daughter of the Most High God.

Luke 12:4—I am Christ’s friend.

Luke 20:36; John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17; 1 John 3:2—I am a child of God.

John 1:13—I am a child born of God.

John 3:6—I am born of the Spirit.

John 3:16—I am so loved by Father that He gave His only begotten Son to die for me so that I could live with Him forever.

John 8:35—I am God’s forever son/daughter.

John 10:28-30—I am eternally secure in God’s holy love.

John 13:33—God says of me, “You are my child.”

John 15:5—I am a branch abiding in Christ the Vine.

John 15:9—Jesus says of me, “As My Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.”

John 15:14—Jesus says to me, “You are my friend.”

John 15:15—Jesus says to me, “I no longer call you servant, but friend.”

John 16:27—Jesus whispers to me, “The Father Himself loves you.”

John 17:23—Jesus says of me, “The Father loves you as He loves me.”

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

I Have Overcome the World

Who I Am In Christ, Part Nine

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

2 Peter 1:3—God’s Divine power has given me everything I need for life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:4—Through God’s great and precious promises I participate in the Divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4—Through God’s great and precious promises I have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

1 John 2:20—I have an anointing from the Holy One and I know the truth.

1 John 4:4—I have overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil because greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4, 6—I am from God.

1 John 4:7; 5:1—I am born of God.

1 John 5:4-5—Born of God, I overcome the world by faith in Christ.

Jude 24—I stand before God’s glorious presence without fault and with great joy.

Revelation 1:5—I am freed from my sins by Christ’s blood.

Revelation 1:6—God has made me, together with all the saints, a kingdom of priests.

Revelation 19:7-8, 14—Along with all the saints, I am the pure Bride of Christ, clean, white, and righteous.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

Blameless in Christ!

Who I Am In Christ, Part Eight

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

1 Thessalonians 3:13—I am blameless and holy before God’s presence.

1 Thessalonians 5:23—God is sanctifying me through and through.

1 Thessalonians 5:23—God keeps my whole spirit, soul, and body blameless.

2 Thessalonians 2:14—I am called to share in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 1:7—God placed within me His spirit of power, love, and wisdom.

2 Timothy 2:3-4—I am a good soldier in Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:5—I am a victorious athlete in Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:6—I am a disciplined, hard working farmer in Jesus Christ.

Titus 3:5—I am saved, washed, re-birthed, and renewed in Christ and by the Spirit.

Hebrews 1:3—I am purified from sin in and by Christ.

Hebrews 2:10—I am brought to glory in and by Christ.

Hebrews 2:11—I am made holy in and by Christ.

Hebrews 7:25—I am saved completely.

Hebrews 8:10; 10:16—God’s law is in my mind, written on my heart.

Hebrews 9:12—I have eternal redemption in Christ.

Hebrews 9:14—My conscience is cleansed in Christ.

Hebrews 9:15—I am set free from sin in Christ.

Hebrews 9:26-27—My sins are done away with and taken away in and by Christ.

Hebrews 10:2—I am cleansed once for all, guiltless in Christ.

Hebrews 10:10—I have been made holy once for all by Christ’s sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:14—I have been made perfect forever in and by Christ.

Hebrews 10:22—I am cleansed and washed in Christ.

1 Peter 1:3—I am born again, given new birth in Christ.

1 Peter 1:18-19—I am redeemed from my old empty way of life by Christ’s precious blood.

1 Peter 1:22—I am purified by faith in Christ.

1 Peter 1:23—I have been born again of imperishable seed.

1 Peter 2:5—I am a living stone, being built into a spiritual house.

1 Peter 2:5—Along with all the saints, I am a holy priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9—Along with all the saints, I am a chosen people.

1 Peter 2:9—Along with all the saints, I am a member of a royal priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9—Along with all the saints, I am a citizen of a holy nation.

1 Peter 2:9-10—Along with all the saints, I am a people belonging to God.

1 Peter 2:9—I am called out of darkness into Christ’s wonderful light.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://bit.ly/7vaE

Alive with Christ

Who I Am In Christ, Part Four

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

Romans 6:8—I live with Christ.

Romans 6:11—I am dead to sin.

Romans 6:11—I am alive to God.

Romans 6:13—I have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life.

Romans 6:14—Sin shall not be my master.

Romans 6:14—I am not under law, but under grace.

Romans 6:18, 22—I have been set free from sin.

Romans 6:19—I am a slave to righteousness, righteousness masters my being.

Romans 6:22—I am a slave to God.

Romans 7:4—I have died to the law.

Romans 7:6—I serve Christ in the new way of the Spirit.

Romans 7:22—My inner being delights in God’s law—His holy standards.

Romans 7:25—In my innermost mind, I am a slave to God’s law.

Romans 8:1—I will never suffer condemnation because I am in Christ.

Romans 8:2—I am set free from the law of sin and death in Christ.

Romans 8:4—I have met the righteous requirements of the law in Christ.

Romans 8:5—My mindset is on spiritual affections and passions.

Romans 8:9—I am not controlled by the flesh, but I am controlled by the Spirit.

Romans 8:29—I am predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son.

Romans 8:37—I am more than a conqueror in Christ.

Romans 9:23—I have been prepared in advance by God to be glorious.

Romans 10:9, 10, 13—I am saved in Christ.

Romans 15:14—I am full of goodness in Christ.

Romans 15:14—I am complete in knowledge in Christ.

Romans 15:14—I am competent to disciple others in Christ.

Romans 15:16—I am sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:16—I am acceptable to God in Christ.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6

Who Am I in Christ?

Who I Am In Christ, Part Two

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

John 15:11—My joy is complete in Christ.

John 16:33—I have overcome the world in Christ.

John 17:16—I am not of this world.

Acts 2:44; 4:32—I am a believer.

Acts 5:20—I have new life in Christ.

Acts 8:3; 2 Corinthians 1:1—Together with all the saints, I am God’s Church.

Acts 11:26—I am a Christian, a little Christ.

Acts 13:39; Romans 3:24, 26, 28, 30; 4:25; 5:1, 9, 18; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:7—I am justified freely and fully in Christ.

Acts 20:32; 1 Corinthians 6:11—I am sanctified in Christ.

Romans 1:6—I am called to belong to Christ.

Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 6:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 4:21, 22; Philemon 4; Jude 3—I am a saint.

Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14—I am redeemed in Christ.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6

Who I Am in Christ

Who I Am In Christ, Part One

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17—I am a fisher of men.

Matthew 5:13—I am the salt of the earth.

Matthew 5:14—I am the light of the world.

Matthew 28:19; Luke 14:27; John 8:31; 13:35; 15:8; Acts 6:1, 7; 11:25-26, 29; 14:20-22; 16:1—I am a disciple of Christ.

Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8—I am Christ’s witness.

John 3:16-18; 10:28-29; 17:3; Romans 5:21; 6:23; 1 John 5:11—I have eternal life in Christ.

John 8:32, 36—I am set free from sin in Christ.

John 10:10—I have abundant life in Christ.

John 14:26; 16:13—I have been taught all things by the Holy Spirit.

John 14:27; 16:33—I have peace in Christ.

John 15:3—I am clean in Christ.

John 15:4, 5, 8, 16; Romans 7:4—I bear much lasting fruit in Christ.

John 15:5—I am a branch abiding in Christ the Vine.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6

The Most Interesting Man in the World

The Most Interesting Man in the World—Jesus!

For those of you who have been asleep the past few months, or don’t own a TV, or TIVO everything and never see commercials, or simply are out of the “in” loop, the hottest commercial in the world right now is about the most interesting man in the world. Like lots of the most creative commercial, this one, unfortunately, is also a beer commercial. But before you’re offended, take a deep breath, keep reading. There really is a biblical point to be made…

The Mythological Most Interesting Man in the World

In the commercial, they mythologize the most interesting man in the world with such outrageous, hilarious assertions as:

You can see his charisma from space.

The police often question him, just because they find him . . . interesting.

If a monument was built in his honor, Mt. Rushmore would close, due to poor attendance.

His blood smells like cologne.

On every continent in the world, there is a sandwich named after him.

He doesn’t believe in using oven mitts, nor potholders.

His cereal never gets soggy. It sits there, staying crispy, just for him.

Respected archaeologists fight over his discarded apple cores.

He has been known to cure narcolepsy, just by walking into the room.

His organ donation card, also lists his beard.

When it is raining, it is because he is sad.

His shirts never wrinkle.

He is left-handed. And right-handed.

Even if he forgets to put postage on his mail, it gets there.

He is The Most Interesting Man In The World.

Not Myth, But Fact

I’ve never met this mythological man.

However, I do have a personal relationship with the One Who truly is THE most interesting Man in the world. Perhaps you know Him. May I introduce you?

He is before all things.

He is eternal.

He created . . . everything.

By the Word of His power He upholds the universe.

He was born of a virgin.

He walked on water and it wasn’t even ice.

He cured the sick.

He forgave the sinful.

He never sinned, not once.

He is the most fascinating teacher who ever lived.

He died for those who hated Him.

He is Savior, Redeemer, Lord.

Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

He rose from the dead.

God exalted Him to the highest place.

At His name every knee shall bow.

His love surpasses knowledge.

He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

He gives rest.

He offers abundant life.

In everything He has the supremacy.

In Him are hidden all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.

He is Alpha and Omega.

He is the radiance of God’s glory.

He is God.

He is THE Most Interesting Man in the World—Jesus!

And You Would Add?

You who know Him personally . . . what would you add? Feel free to share additional testimony that you would you give about The Most Interesting Man in the World—Jesus!

The Glorious Easter Exchange

The Glorious Easter Exchange

John Flavel:

Lord, the condemnation was yours,
that the justification might be mine.

The agony was yours,
that the victory might be mine.

The pain was yours,
and the ease mine.

The stripes were yours,
and the healing balm issuing from them mine.

The vinegar and gall were yours,
that the honey and sweet might be mine.

The curse was yours,
that the blessing might be mine.

The crown of thorns was yours,
that the crown of glory might be mine.

The death was yours,
the life purchased by it mine.

You paid the price
that I might enjoy the inheritance.

John Flavel (1671), from his sermon, The Solemn Consecration of the Mediator, in The Fountain of Life Opened Up: A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory.

The Journey: Day Seventeen--From Hellcat to Heaven Saint

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Seventeen: From Hellcat to Heaven Saint

Welcome to day seventeen of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Seventeen: From Hellcat to Heaven Saint[1]

African American believers rediscovered their pristine identity in Christ. They understood, therefore, that it was their spiritual act of worship to be faithful to that renewed and purified new creation in Christ.

African Americans’ new identity in Christ redefined how they related to others who had sinned against them. Charlie had been enslaved by Mars’ Bill who kept his back constantly sore from whippings. He escaped, joined the “Yanks,” and became a Christian. As a freeman, he met Mar’s Bill again thirty years later.

Recognizing each other, Bill says, “Charlie, do you remember me lacerating your back?”

When Charlie replies, “Yes, Mars,” Bill asks, “Have you forgiven me?”

By now, a large crowd has gathered, for Charlie and Bill are some distance apart and talking loud. After Charlie shouts that he has indeed forgiven his old, cruel master, Bill is chagrined. “How can you forgive me, Charlie?”

I Serve a God of Love

Charlie’s answer is instructive. “What is in me, though, is not in you. I used to drive you to church and peep through the door to see you all worship, but you ain’t right yet, Marster. I love you as though you never hit me a lick, for the God I serve is a God of love . . .”

Old Mars’ Bill then moves toward Charlie, hand held out, tears streaming down his face. “I am sorry for what I did.”

Charlie grants forgiveness. “That’s all right, Marster. I done left the past behind me.”

The Power of Redeeming Love

Charlie then testifies to Christ’s redemptive power.

“I had felt the power of God and tasted his love, and this had killed all the spirit of hate in my heart years before this happened. Whenever a man has been killed dead and made alive in Christ Jesus, he no longer feels like he did when he was a servant of the devil. Sin kills dead, but the spirit of God makes alive. I didn’t know that such a change could be made, for in my younger days I used to be a hellcat.”

From hellcat to heaven saint. From a hateful spirit to Christlike love. That’s the power of our new identity in Christ.

Learning Together from Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. African American converts celebrated the new nurture and the new nature. How aware are you of your new relationship to Christ as a son or daughter of the King? How do you apply your spiritual aristocracy to your personal life and relationships?

2. How aware are you of your new identity in Christ as a saint cleansed by God? How do you apply your spiritual nobility in order to overcome sin and to forgive others?

[1]Excerpted, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.

The Journey: Day Sixteen--Leaping to My Feet

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Sixteen: Leaping to My Feet

Welcome to day sixteen of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Sixteen: Leaping to My Feet[1]

African American conversion accounts splendidly assimilate the “two sides” of reconciliation. First, God’s Spirit hooks in the heart—he loads the conscience with guilt, bringing the sinner to the point of saying, “It’s horrible to sin.”

But the Spirit never leaves us there. He causes sinners to leap to their feet—he lightens the conscience with grace, bringing the sinner to the place of saying, “It’s wonderful to be forgiven!”

Jarena Lee

Jarena Lee’s conversion narrative displays the potency of these twin Gospel themes. Born on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey, Lee grew up with parents ignorant of the Gospel. At age 24, she was converted under the preaching ministry of a Presbyterian missionary and of Reverend Richard Allen.

The year is 1804, and Lee undergoes deep conviction as she hears the Presbyterian minister preach from the Psalms. “Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin, born unholy and unclean. Sprung from man, whose guilty fall corrupts the race, and taints us all.”

In response, she writes, “This description of my condition struck me to the heart, and made me feel in some measure, the weight of my sins, and sinful nature. But not knowing how to run immediately to the Lord for help, I was driven of Satan, in the course of a few days, and tempted to destroy myself.”

In fact, Lee senses Satan suggesting to her that she drown herself in a brook near her home, in which there was a deep hole where the waters whirled about among the rocks. Resisting this temptation, her mind reminds tortured. Continuing to search for peace, she finds only doubt.

Grace for Our Disgrace

Experienced soul physicians recognize her symptoms as the result of preaching guilt without grace. Guilt minus grace always equals Satan’s condemning narrative of despair.

The Apostle Paul prescribes his antidote. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). Competent ambassadors of reconciliation know that grace is God’s prescription for our disgrace.

An Expert Soul Physician

Reverend Richard Allen was such a man. Attending an afternoon service in which Allen was preaching, Lee perceives in the center of her heart the sin of malice, and she receives the forgiveness of God.

“That instant, it appeared to me as if a garment, which had entirely enveloped my whole person, even to my fingers’ end, split at the crown of my head, and was stripped away from me, passing like a shadow from my sight—when the glory of God seemed to cover me instead.”

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, God covers Lee’s shameful nakedness with garments purchased in and cleansed by blood. Immediately, she celebrates the wonders of forgiving grace.

“That moment, though hundreds were present, I did leap to my feet and declare that God, for Christ’s sake, had pardoned the sins of my soul. Great was the ecstasy of my mind, for I felt that not only the sin of malice, but all other sins were swept away together.”

Lee and a multitude of other African Americans depicted conversion using the biblical metaphor of rebirth. The result of being born again by forgiving grace was twofold: a new nurture—having a new relationship to God as beloved sons and daughters, and a new nature—having a new identity in Christ as cleansed saints.

Learning Together from Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. African American soul physicians understood salvation to be more than a quick praying of a “canned” prayer. What do you think of their view of salvation?

2. African American soul physicians taught that grace super abounds over guilt. In our Gospel presentations today, do we tend to highlight only guilt, only grace, or a “splendid assimilation” of both?

[1]Excerpted, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.

The Journey: Day Fifteen--Hooked in the Heart

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Fifteen: Hooked in the Heart

Welcome to day fifteen of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Fifteen: Hooked in the Heart[1]

How did African Americans become aware of the horrors of their sin, repent, see the wonders of Christ’s forgiving grace, and believe? One unnamed ex-enslaved person interviewed between 1927-1929 by Andrew Watson, explains it brilliantly.

“Before God can use a man, that man must be hooked in the heart. By this I mean that he has to feel converted. And once God stirs up a man’s pure mind and makes him see the folly of his ways, he is wishing for God to take him and use him.”

God is the Author of conversion, or better, the Fisherman of conversion fishing for men and women. The hook God casts enlightens the eyes, enabling converts to see the foolishness of their sinfulness.

Spiritually Blind: Unaware of My Spiritual Sickness

An African American minister from Tennessee known as Reverend H. offers an unflinching vision of spiritual blindness.

“A sinner is dead, but we who are born of God are live children. No dead child can understand the works of a live one, because he hasn’t had his eyes opened. This nobody can do but God. If God doesn’t open your blinded eyes, cut loose your stammering tongue, unstop your deaf ears, and deliver your soul from death and hell, you are dead and can’t understand the things we do. You got to be dug up, rooted and grounded, and buried in him.”

Reverend H. understands that apart from God’s spiritual laser surgery, sinners fail to perceive the cancer of sin spreading in their hearts.

New Spiritual Eyes

Pastor Peter Randolph, looking back on his conversion experience, further enhances our image of spiritual sightlessness and spiritual eyes.

“The eyes of my mind were open, and I saw things as I never did before. With my mind’s eye, I could see my Redeemer hanging upon the cross for me. I wanted all the other slaves to see him thus, and feel as happy as I did. I used to talk to others, and tell them of the friend they would have in Jesus, and show them by my experience how I was brought to Christ, and felt his love within my heart—and love it was, in God’s adapting himself to my capacity.”

Soul Physicians

In an age when we face the temptation to “water down” the Gospel to make it more “palatable” to “seekers,” we could learn much from Reverend H. and Pastor Randolph. As skillful soul physicians, their diagnosis was insightful and clear. They told themselves and their patients the truth about their spiritual condition. With their diagnosis came their sight-giving prescription. They opened blind eyes to see the Redeemer.

Cataracts removed, sinners saw what a Friend they had in Jesus. They understood that until we admit that we are sinners, we force away the Friend of sinners, for he came to call sinners, not the righteous to repentance. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31).

Learning Together from Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. African American soul physicians taught that sinners were spiritually blind and dead. How can we help seekers to become aware of their spiritual sickness?

2. How can we help seekers to see that they are unable to cure their spiritual sickness?

[1]Excerpted, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.

The Journey: Day Fourteen--Identifying with a Suffering Savior

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Fourteen: Identifying with a Suffering Savior

Welcome to day fourteen of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Fourteen: Identifying with a Suffering Savior[1]

It is important to ponder why African Americans turned to Christianity given the hypocritical religious culture of many of the Christian slave owners. In the midst of suffering through the ordeal of the sin of slavery, how did God save enslaved people from the slavery of sin?

Like any starving person, African Americans searched for sustenance. However, they often initially resisted Christian conversion because of the apparent contradiction between slave owners’ professed beliefs and their brutal treatment of their slaves.

Daniel Alexander Payne explains the inner battle that resulted from such hypocrisy. Born to free parents in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1811, during his ordination in 1839, he describes the testing of faith caused by Christian duplicity.

“The slaves are sensible of the oppression exercised by their masters; and they see these masters on the Lord’s day worshiping in His holy Sanctuary. They hear their masters professing Christianity; they see their masters preaching the Gospel; they hear these masters praying in their families, and they know that oppression and slavery are inconsistent with the Christian religion; therefore they scoff at religion itself—mock their masters, and distrust both the goodness and justice of God. Yes, I have known them even to question His existence.”

Religious Reconciliation

If spiritually famished African Americans were going to convert to Christianity, then they had to convert on the basis of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as revealed in the Bible, not on the basis of Christianity revealed in the lifestyles of the Christians they knew. Ironically, to find redemption in Christ, African Americans had to redeem Christianity as they saw it practiced.

Howard Thurman put it this way. “By some amazing but vastly creative spiritual insight the slave undertook the redemption of a religion that the master had profaned in his midst.”

Christ’s suffering for humanity’s sin was the key that unlocked their hearts and enlightened their eyes. “Jesus quickly became the ardent personification of the slaves’ own suffering.” Their suffering at the hands of Christians caused them to identify with a suffering Savior who suffered at the hands of religious leaders.

Salvation from Sin, Not from Suffering

At the same time, African American Christians clearly recognized and constantly emphasized the difference between Christ’s sinlessness and their personal need for forgiveness from sin. The recurring theme of the conversion narratives was salvation from sin, not from suffering. Yes, Christ shared with them the experience of unjust suffering. But more importantly, they shared in Christ’s suffering for their sins.

Pastor James W. C. Pennington, reflecting on his conversion, seamlessly expresses his understanding of suffering and of sin. Without minimizing for a moment the evils of slavery, he maximizes for all eternity the horrors of his own enslavement to sin and Satan.

“I was a lost sinner and a slave to Satan; and soon I saw that I must make another escape from another tyrant. I did not by any means forget my fellow-bondmen, of whom I had been sorrowing so deeply, and travailing in spirit so earnestly; but I now saw that while man had been injuring me, I had been offending God; and that unless I ceased to offend him, I could not expect to have his sympathy in my wrongs; and moreover, that I could not be instrumental in eliciting his powerful aid in behalf of those for whom I mourned so deeply.”

Rejecting the “slaveholding gospel” of the institutional Church of that era, the enslaved African Americans gave birth to a regenerated Christianity that reflected fundamental Christian doctrine. It created the new narrative of present resilience made possible by a Savior who suffered with them because they were sinned against. It also created the new narrative of future hope made possible by a Savior who suffered for them because they were sinners.

Their focus offers an indispensable caution for all soul physicians. While we are called to sustain and heal people in their suffering, if we neglect to address their sinning, if we fail to offer reconciling, then we may enable people to become more self-sufficient sinners. Such one-sided ministry attempts to empower people to live this life more successfully while giving them little incentive to turn to Christ’s resurrection power for eternal life later and abundant life now. We should shudder at the thought.

Learning Together from Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. Hypocritical Christians were a common threat to African American acceptance of Christianity. Of what hypocritical behaviors, attitudes, and styles of relating do Christians in our day need to repent?

2. African American converts understood that they needed Jesus because they were sinners, not simply because they were sufferers. As we present the Gospel today, do we present Jesus primarily as the healer of our hurts, or as the Savior of our sins?

3. Specifically, what can we learn from our African American forebears about biblically presenting Christ’s Gospel?

[1]Excerpted, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.

The Journey: Day Thirteen--It's Wonderful to Be Forgiven

The Journey: Forty Days of Promise
Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity

Day Thirteen: It’s Wonderful to Be Forgiven

Welcome to day thirteen of our forty-day intercultural journey. From Martin Luther King Day to the end of Black History Month we are focusing on The Journey: Forty Days of Promise—Celebrating the Legacy of African American Christianity.

Day Thirteen: It’s Wonderful to Be Forgiven[1]

*Continued from Day Twelve . . .

Positioned in front of the firing squad, Chaplain White asks Private Mapps one last time, “Do you feel that Jesus will be with you?”

“Yes,” he replies.

“Do you put all your trust in him?”

“I do,” is his answer.

“Do you believe that you will be saved?”

“I do; for though they may destroy my body, they cannot hurt my soul.”

White then prays this benediction. “Eternal God, the Master of all the living and Judge of all the dead, we commit this our dying comrade into thy hands from whence he came. Now, O my Lord and my God, for thy Son’s sake, receive his soul unto thyself in glory. Forgive, him—forgive, O thou Blessed Jesus, for thou didst die for all mankind, and bid them to come unto thee, and partake of everlasting life. Save him, Lord—save him, for none can save but thee, and thee alone. Amen. Good-by, my brother, good-by.”

The order is now given: “Ready! Aim! Fire!” All earthly life extinguished. Eternal life commences.

White brilliantly, lovingly, and scripturally enlightened Mapps to see that it’s horrible to sin, but wonderful to be forgiven. Skillfully he wove together ancient Scripture and pressing need.

Turning of Heart

Private Mapps’ response to Chaplain White’s death-bed ministry offers one example of how God reconciled an African American to Himself. Through interviews, slave narratives, autobiographies, and letters, we are fortunate to have a multitude of first-hand accounts of personal conversion experiences.

These vivid descriptions help us to understand the literal turning of heart (metanoia—repentance, change of mind), transformation of identity, and reorientation of personhood that occurred at the salvation of African Americans. We have much to learn from them about how to witness to any oppressed, marginalized people, how to explain the need for a Savior, how to encourage repentance, how to offer the grace of forgiveness, and how to explain the changes that occur in one’s nurture and nature at salvation.

Learning Together From Our Great Cloud of Witnesses

1. Like Chaplain White, how can you weave together ancient Scripture and pressing modern needs?

2. What change of mind and heart took place in your life at your point of salvation?

[1]Excerpted, modified from, and quoted from Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Purchase your copy at 40% off for only $10.00 at www.rpmministries.org.

Christ All-Sufficient

Christ All-Sufficient

The following Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision reminds us of the glorious grace of Christ.

All thy lovingkindness is in thy Son,
I bring him to thee in the arms of faith,
I urge his saving name as the one who died for me.
I plead his blood to pay my debts of wrong.

Accept his worthiness for my unworthiness,
His sinlessness for my transgressions,
His purity for my uncleanness,
His sincerity for my guile,
His truth for my deceits,
His meekness for my pride,
His constancy for my backslidings,
His love for my enmity,
His fullness for my emptiness,
His faithfulness for my treachery,
His obedience for my lawlessness,
His glory for my shame,
His devotedness for my waywardness,
His holy life for my unchaste ways,
His righteousness for my dead works,
His death for my life.

Just Where Did the Emergent Idea of Salvation Emerge From?

Just Where Did the Emergent Idea of Salvation Emerge From?

Recently Moody Press released Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be. The “Emergent Church” (EC) is a name given to a loosely knit "group" of Christians who see the church emerging out of its tryst with modernism and emerging into and beyond the post-modern era. Because of its very post-modern way of thinking/being, definitions become nebulous. If you want to learn more, read the book. I highly recommend it.

Salvation and Eternal Life

My thoughts today relate to one aspect of emergent thinking: salvation and eternal life. As is true with much in the EC, they tend to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

Listen to what one EC leader, Spencer Brooks, says about salvation. “I am discovering to my wonder, joy, and amazement that I have mistakenly placed the emphasis of the good news on the eternal. In the Gospels . . . people could become a part of the Kingdom of God . . . not a heavenly dwelling but the place where God is King.”

Let that quote percolate in your mind while we read what another EC leader, Brian McLaren, shares about the kingdom versus salvation. He claims that the stuff of our evangelistic tracts—“God’s grace, God’s forgiveness . . . the free gift of salvation”—is, at best, only a “footnote to a gospel that is much richer, grander, and more alive, a gospel that calls you to become a disciple and to disciple others, in authentic community, for the good of the world.”

Come Let Us Dialogue Together

I could dissect these quotes (excuse me, in the EC, people don’t dissect, they dialogue and converse—so I could converse about these quotes) from many perspectives. However, given my passion for church history and given the EC’s hatred for modernity, here’s the point. The EC would have us believe that the church’s focus on salvation as something you get in the future rather than as something you are now is a result of Enlightenment modernism.

I have news for them . . . long before the Enlightenment, Christians focused on both—salvation as a future gift and as a present reality. Again, I could share much more about this both/and focus. But since the EC denigrates the focus on salvation-equals-eternal life, and since they claim this is a thoroughly modern facet of Christianity (and, therefore, evil to its core—bad, really, really bad), dialogue with me as we briefly focus on their historical fallacy.

Historical Fallacy

As many of you know, I have studied church history for over a quarter century. The church fathers, the desert mothers, the medieval scholastics and the medieval mystics, the Reformers and the Counter-Reformers, men and women, black and white and brown all lived today in light of tomorrow. They all emphasized salvation as the future hope that sustains us now. Yes, the Kingdom had already broken in. Yes, they wanted to live differently now. But, they only survived and thrived because they remembered the future—salvation as their future, eternal hope.

Writing Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Feminine Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors, my co-author, Susan Ellis, and I have over 1,000 pages of research notes. More than 1/3 of those pages highlight salvation as our future, eternal, heavenly hope. Now, it is possible, I suppose, that all of these godly women, living pre-Enlightenment, could have all gotten it wrong all the time. But that’s not really the point. The EC folks insist that salvation as eternal life later and not only or primarily as eternal life now, is modern. That is, it started in the 1700s with the Enlightenment.

Hmm. Someone should tell the female martyrs of the first and second centuries, like Perpetua, that they were impacted by a movement that did not start for another 1,500 years! Someone should tell the desert mothers of the second through fourth centuries that they were influenced by a movement that did not start for another 1,300 years! Someone should tell the women of the Reformation that they were infected by a movement that did not start for another 100 years!

Before we contextualize the nature of these women’s eternal hope, dialogue with me about another group of historical believers who also focused on salvation as eternal hope. Many of you know that I co-authored with my African American friend, Karole Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Granted, some of these African American believers lived after the Enlightenment (though some lived before it). However, historically there is no evidence that enslaved African American Christians had any exposure to Enlightenment thinking. But guess what? These non-Enlightenment African American believers highlighted salvation as a future eternal hope.

Situational Pomposity

Now, let’s contextualize this motif of salvation as future eternal hope. In letter after letter, in journal entry after journal entry, in martyrdom report after report, in repeated conversion narratives, in repeated slave narratives—in other words—everywhere, suffering women and African Americans looked to their future eternal salvation as their only hope to survive and be sustained through the horrible abuse they were enduring.

Now, here’s the point. The leadership of the Emergent Church is predominantly lily white, upper class, affluent, well-to-do, country-club-like, and male. In terms of their experience of life, they have had it made in the shade. They have lived the good life. So, it is so easy for them to say, “Thinking about salvation as future eternal life is selfish, shallow, and modern!”

Well, historically it is hardly modern.

And personally, experientially—it is hardly shallow.

Instead, for the oppressed, the suffering, and the persecuted it is pre-modern and it is deep. It reaches from before the dawn of time into time to give all those who are currently oppressed a future hope so they can draw a line in the sand of retreat, so they can survive, and, yes, through Christ’s grace, so they can thrive.

Biblical Sanity

Eternal life for the great masses of persecuted and suffering Christians has always been both/and. It has always been salvation later and the strength to live for Christ now in light of the future hope.

Isn’t it fascinating that this emergent idea of salvation only as a now thing did not emerge from an oppressed people. It is easy for those living a life of ease to say that “the free gift of salvation” is only “a footnote to a gospel that is much richer.” Oh yeah? Take some time to read the plethora of primary sources where pre-modern, non-Enlightenment Christians clung to the biblical view of salvation as an eternal future that gives hope for today.

So perhaps when you mix one part life-of-ease and one part historical-inaccuracy (and one part diminishing-original-sin . . . but that's a blog for another day) you bake a fluffy cake that claims it is sinfully modern and shallow to emphasize the Gospel as focusing on eternal salvation later. But let the yeast of suffering and history infiltrate that mix, and your cake crumbles.

Applying Church History to Ministry

What has motivated my twenty-five-year study of church history? My passion for relating truth to life. I want to learn from that great cloud of witnesses how they applied God’s truth to human relationships.

Guess what? With suffering people 100% of the time soul physicians helped them to find healing hope by looking candidly at misery now in light of a future where there will be no more tears.

The EC in all things claims to want to be relevant. Relevance has been elevated by the EC to God-like status.

Okay, someone explain to me how in the world it is relevant to suffering people to jettison an other-worldly, future-worldly perspective?

The EC also claims that in all things they want to express concern for the least of these. In fact, they correctly define one aspect of kingdom living as active compassion on the least of these.

Okay, someone explain to me how in the world it is compassionate when the “most of these” (the affluent) jettison an other-worldly, future-worldly perspective that for 2,000 years has been the only perspective which has brought sustaining comfort and healing hope to “the least of these”?

Truth Really Does Matter

You see, truth really does matter. Historical truth matters. Biblical truth matters. I have no qualms with the EC folks reminding me that salvation ought to impact how I live today. I agree 100%.

But I have big problems with anyone telling me, and telling suffering Christians that our future salvation, our eternal life are the crumbs off the table. I’m sorry, but those “crumbs” have nourished hurting hearts and hungry souls since the Cross.

Take away “God’s grace, God’s forgiveness, and the free gift of salvation” and you rob and abuse every sinner who ever lived—which is every person who ever lived except our Savior—the one who promised us eternal life for now and for forever.

Common Themes in African American Acceptance of Christ

Common Themes in African American Acceptance of Christ

Note: Excerpted from Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, by Kellemen and Edwards

During slavery, if spiritually famished African Americans were going to convert to Christianity, then they had to convert on the basis of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as revealed in the Bible, not on the basis of Christianity revealed in the lifestyles of the Christians they knew. Ironically, to find redemption in Christ, African Americans had to redeem Christianity as they saw it practiced. “By some amazing but vastly creative spiritual insight the slave undertook the redemption of a religion that the master had profaned in his midst.”[i]

Christ’s suffering for humanity’s sin was the key that unlocked their hearts and enlightened their eyes. “Jesus quickly became the ardent personification of the slaves’ own suffering.”[ii] Their suffering at the hands of Christians caused them to identify with a suffering Savior who suffered at the hands of religious leaders.

At the same time, African American Christians clearly recognized and constantly emphasized the difference between Christ’s sinlessness and their personal need for forgiveness from sin. The recurring theme of the conversion narratives was salvation from sin, not from suffering. Yes, Christ shared with them the experience of unjust suffering. But more importantly, they shared in Christ’s suffering for their sins.

The Sin of Slavery and the Slavery of Sin

Pastor James W. C. Pennington, reflecting on his conversion, seamlessly expresses his understanding of suffering and of sin. Without minimizing for a moment the evils of slavery, he maximizes for all eternity the horrors of his own enslavement to sin and Satan.

"I was a lost sinner and a slave to Satan; and soon I saw that I must make another escape from another tyrant. I did not by any means forget my fellow-bondmen, of whom I had been sorrowing so deeply, and travailing in spirit so earnestly; but I now saw that while man had been injuring me, I had been offending God; and that unless I ceased to offend him, I could not expect to have his sympathy in my wrongs; and moreover, that I could not be instrumental in eliciting his powerful aid in behalf of those for whom I mourned so deeply" (Pennington).[iii]

Rejecting the “slaveholding gospel” of the institutional Church of that era, the enslaved African Americans gave birth to a regenerated Christianity that reflected fundamental Christian doctrine while maintaining compatible African traditions. Their cultural practice of biblical Christianity provided the new orientation toward existence that they needed given their shattered external circumstances and sinful internal nature. It created the new narrative of present resilience made possible by a Savior who suffered with them because they were sinned against. It also created the new narrative of future hope made possible by a Savior who suffered for them because they were sinners.

Their focus offers an indispensable caution for all soul physicians. While we are called to sustain and heal people in their suffering, if we neglect to address their sinning, if we fail to offer reconciling, then we may enable people to become more self-sufficient sinners. Such one-sided ministry attempts to empower people to live this life more successfully while giving them little incentive to turn to Christ’s resurrection power for eternal life later and abundant life now. We should shudder at the thought.


[i] Thurman, Deep River, p. 36.
[ii] Andrews, Practical Theology, p. 18.
[iii] Pennington, “The Fugitive Blacksmith,” in Katz, Five Slave Narratives, p. 52, emphasis added.