Gospel Coalition Conference Pastor Warns Against ‘Legalism’ in the Church, ‘Dishonorable Vessels’

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Gospel Coalition Conference Pastor Warns Against ‘Legalism’ in the Church, ‘Dishonorable Vessels’

(Screenshot: https://live1.thegospelcoalition.org/live)Juan Sanchez, senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas and president of the Texas Southern Baptist Convention, giving remarks at The Gospel Coalition’s West Coast Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018.

A pastor who serves as president of the Texas Southern Baptist Convention has warned evangelicals against the dangers of “legalism” in the church.

Juan Sanchez, who also serves as senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, gave a speech at The Gospel Coalition’s West Coast Conference on Wednesday. When discussing 2 Timothy 3:1-9, Sanchez spoke about the temptation for church leaders to engage in legalism, tying it to the early church and how some back then demanded that new believers be circumcised.

“We look at that and we think how ridiculous that is, but in our own churches there’s a temptation to say ‘unless you fill-in-the-blank, you cannot be saved.’ Now we don’t say ‘you cannot be saved,’ but we have a tendency to look down on people,” said Sanchez.

“Unless you vote Republican, you can’t really be saved. Unless you vote Democratic, you really cannot be saved. Unless you homeschool your children, unless you private educate your children, unless you public educate your…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Charlotte Pence Discusses Her Battle With Atheism and How She Solidified Faith in Christ

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Charlotte Pence Discusses Her Battle With Atheism and How She Solidified Faith in Christ

(PHOTO: US EMBASSY, Berlin)Vice President Mike Pence (M), Second Lady Karen Pence (L) and their middle child, Charlotte, tour Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial in Germany on February 19, 2017.

Vice President Mike Pence has always encouraged his three children to make his Christian faith their own. But in order to do that, at least one of his daughters had teetered on the brink of atheism.

Pence’s 25-year-old daughter, Charlotte, released her new book, Where You Go: Life Lessons Learned From My Father, on Tuesday. While the book focuses on the advice and words of wisdom that her father has offered her and her siblings throughout their upbringing, it also touches on the personal struggles of faith that the middle child faced as she spent a year studying abroad in England at the age of 21.

It is no secret that Pence and his wife, Karen, are devout evangelical Christians who are living out their faith in the public limelight that comes with the title of “Second Family” of the United States.

However, Charlotte Pence told The Christian Post in an interview Wednesday that despite being raised in a church-going home with very spiritual parents, she still needed to discover the truth about religion for herself.

In her interview with CP, Pence explained that her family would attend church on a weekly basis when she was growing up. At times in which her parents were looking for a new church, she said that her dad would sometimes hold his own church service right in their house.

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(PHOTO: HACHETTE BOOK GROUP)

When the time came for her to go off to college, she said that her father…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Six Best Practices for Increasing Giving in a Church Revitalization

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio • Google Play

Churches need funding for ministry. Whether you’re in a revitalization or not, these principles can help you when it comes to increasing giving in your church.

Episode Highlights:

  • Lack of trust in leadership will lead to a decrease in church giving.
  • Millennials don’t give to institutions as much as they give toward a vision and passion.
  • People will give toward causes, but they will give more because of relationships.
  • Churches should report weekly giving and attendance. People trust the church more when there is transparency and accountability.

The seven ways to increase giving which we discuss are:

  1. Make clear the vision and the passion.
  2. Remember: Giving is impacted about perceptions of leadership.
  3. Transparency and accountability are crucial.
  4. Never take for granted the income-giving stream.
  5. Don’t forget the income potential from capital sources.
  6. Don’t forget estate giving (the simple 10% principle).

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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Shetland church closures: names revealed

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Shetland church closures: names revealed

On Tuesday, the Kirk revealed that only eleven of its 31 church buildings on Shetland would remain operational as it would be “unaffordable” to keep them open.

While the closures are among a raft of measures included in a new Presbytery plan endorsed by the majority of the Church of Scotland’s 975 members in Shetland, local congregations will have the option to appeal against the closure of their church.

 

Here is the full list of churches set to close:

  • Bigton St Ninians
  • Bressay
  • Cunningsburgh
  • Dunrossness
  • Fair Isle
  • Fetlar
  • Foula
  • Gulberwick
  • Hillswick
  • Nesting
  • Quarff
  • Sandness Church
  • Sand – Sandsting
  • Skerries
  • St Magnus, Yell
  • Sullom North Mavine
  • Tingwall
  • Voe Parish Church
  • Weisdale
  • Whalsay Church

Reverend Ian Murray is an assessor minister to Shetland and told Premier the closures mean they can invest in other areas such as youth work and employing other staff.

Speaking during News Hour he said: “It sounds dreadful that we’re closing two-thirds of the buildings in Shetland [but] in doing so, we’re clearing the way for a new chapter, for a reformation of the Church and for a revival of the Church.

“We are breathing new life into it.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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Why a journalist’s disappearance is globally significant

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Why a journalist’s disappearance is globally significant

Jamal Khashoggi, a famous journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia’s leadership, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain some documents. He has not been seen since.

His fiancée is afraid he has been kidnapped or killed. Turkish authorities claim to have evidence that he was tortured and murdered by Saudi agents. Saudi officials insist he left the consulate shortly after arriving.

Let’s survey what we know this morning, then we’ll explore the reasons why his disappearance is so significant to the Middle East and to the West.

Who is Jamal Khashoggi?

Jamal Khashoggi was born in Medina in 1958. His grandfather was the personal physician of King Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His cousin, Dodi Fayed, was dating Princess Diana when the two were killed in 1997.

A longtime critic of the Saudi government, he relocated to the US in 2017 and began writing for the Washington Post. He founded a new political party this year directly opposing the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

On the afternoon of October 2, he went inside the main entrance of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul to obtain a document proving he was divorced. He could then marry his fiancée, a Turkish citizen, who waited outside. After he did not come back out, she reported him missing. The Saudi government claims he left the consulate through a back entrance.

What happened to Khashoggi?

CNN reported on Monday that the Saudis were preparing a statement acknowledging that Khashoggi’s death was the result of an interrogation gone wrong. According to CNN’s sources, the interrogation was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey. The report would likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and that those involved will be held responsible.

However, Turkish officials now claim that Saudi operatives beat, drugged, killed, and dismembered Khashoggi in the presence of the kingdom’s top diplomat in…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.

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Number of Brits referred to The Salvation Army as modern slaves doubles in a year

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Number of Brits referred to The Salvation Army as modern slaves doubles in a year

A new report by the Christian charity has been released on Thursday to mark Anti-Slavery Day.

The study found 86 British victims were supported by The Salvation Army between July 2017 and June 2018, up from 44 the year before.

 

Dianne Payne from the charity told Premier there are many ways people can be manipulated into slavery.

She explained: “It can be labour exploitation which could be anything from farming, from working in a factory, working on a building site, it can be domestic servitude – somebody who was been brought in to the house as a server but then finds themselves pretty much a slave.”

A total of 1,856 people were referred to the service making the total number of victims supported by the church and charity this year 3,354.

The report notes the charity saw a large increase in British victims referred following forced criminality in dealing drugs, often where traffickers used their addiction problems to coerce them.

Wikimedia Commons

 

The majority of all victims referred were female – 1064 referred; 790 were male and two identified as transgender.

Director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery for The Salvation Army, Kathy Betteridge said in a statement: “We have supported people from 86 different countries and every story is different. What is important is that anyone in this situation right now needs to know we are here to…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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Joyce Meyer Devotional 18 October 2018 — Double Blessing

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Topic: Double Blessing [Joyce Meyer Devotional 18 October 2018]

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. — Zechariah 9:12

Hope is a powerful force that will bring you through any storm. Our hope is in God; therefore, we can hope without any natural reason to do so. Hope is a positive expectation of good.

Practice saying, “Something good is going to happen to me today, and something good is going to happen through me today.” God is good, and He wants to shower His goodness on you.

There are times of difficulty, loss, illness, and disappointment in life, but if we will endure with hope in our hearts, we will be rewarded with a double blessing for our former trouble.

Let me strongly encourage you to refuse to be hopeless. Put your hope in God and things will always come around to being right in due time. I can’t guarantee how long it will take, and it may not be quick, but hope will strengthen you to face life with joy even in the midst of trouble.

Live daily thinking, Today may be the day of my breakthrough. It could happen suddenly…at any moment.

Hope is the anchor of our souls. It keeps us from giving in to wild emotions that attempt to lead us to do things we will regret later on. The wise man puts His hope in God. He listens for God’s voice and follows it, knowing that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. God is that Light, and He is urging you to be a prisoner of hope.

Prayer Starter: Father, anytime I feel discouraged or weary, help me remember that there is always hope. Help me to be filled with hope in You and positive expectation. You are good, and I believe You want to be good to me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Joyce Meyer Daily Devotional HERE’’

From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.

The post Joyce Meyer Devotional 18 October 2018 — Double Blessing appeared first on Flatimes.

Post-war gains of civility and respect under threat, warns Justin Welby

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Post-war gains of civility and respect under threat, warns Justin Welby

Speaking in the House of Lords, the Most Rev Justin Welby highlighted “a notable absence of genuine dialogue” and stressed the need to be able to “disagree well”.

Highlighting the benefits of diversity, the leader of the Church of England argued that monopoly views, be they secular or sacred, allowed people “to live in bubbles of mutual incomprehension and even ignorance”.

 

He made his remarks during a debate in the upper chamber on the challenges posed by religious intolerance and prejudice in the UK.

It came in the wake of the publication of figures that showed a sharp rise in hate crime last year.

Data from the Home Office revealed the biggest hike was in religious hate crime, which rose by 40 per cent from 5,949 in 2016/17.

Referring to the “rising tide” of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the Archbishop said: “This terrible storm-ridden climate is affecting people across a whole range of religious traditions.”

He said: “It’s clear that debate in Britain across a range of issues risks losing the gains we have made in the post-war period, gains of civility and respect.

“There is a notable absence of genuine dialogue and listening to different views.”

He told peers there were “many Christians with whom I disagree on the expression of their views in particular areas”.

“However, even where I disagree, I want to uphold the right of these people to say things that are…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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David Abioye Devotional 18 October 2018 – How To Maintain Relevance

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David Abioye Devotional 18 October 2018 – How To Maintain Relevance

Topic: How To Maintain Relevance [18 October 2018]

Standing firm and fast at your God ordained duty post is the only way to maintain your relevance.

Refuse to be attracted to what is popular.

Stay at your appointed place if you don’t want to suffer disappointment in life.

If you don’t want to loose your defence, stay in your place.

Your safety, defence and security is in your place.

Rather than looking for position abide in your already found place. Your stardom is tied to your place.

Instead of looking for recognition, maintain relevance. Relevance is far more important than recognition.

Your fruit is tied to your root, remain rooted to remain fruitful.

Everyone has his God given capacity to shine in his place of assignment. Therefore, stand in your place, take root downwards and bear fruits upward.

“Please click HERE to read other inspiring articles by Pastor David Abioye”

The post David Abioye Devotional 18 October 2018 – How To Maintain Relevance appeared first on Flatimes.

MFM Daily Devotional 18 October 2018 – Receiving Breakthrough Power

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MFM Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional 18 October 2018 By Dr. D.K Olukoya – Receiving Breakthrough Power

TOPIC: Receiving Breakthrough Power (Mountain Of Fire and Miracle Ministries, MFM Daily Devotional 18 October 2018)

FIRE SCRIPTURE: Luke 11:21-22

MEMORY VERSE: “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” – Zechariah 4:7

The MESSAGE:

A door way is a gate or an entrance into a place. A door is a movable, usually solid barrier for opening and closing an entryway, building, cupboard, cabinet etc. In the Fire Scripture, we have a warehouse with a wide and open door or a gate. This is our spiritual warehouse with a spiritual open door. Every one of us has this (warehouse) where all goods pertaining to our lives are kept, and we are expected to walk in there and pick what we need at every stage of our life. Unfortunately, the devil had succeeded in closing the wide open door to many people’s warehouses and handed the keys over to the “strongmen” to watch over the doors of the warehouse. Thus, pitiably, so many Christians are standing outside their warehouses, looking for ways to move in to possess their possessions.

A sister had a dream after serious prayers for marital blessings. She saw herself standing at the gate of a big beautiful house. Suddenly, the gate opened with a blast and she entered and saw a young man walking up to her. The man asked, “where have you been all these while?” The ‘old strong woman’ who kept me here died just now and I had my way out”. This was interpreted to mean that her husband has been locked up in that house, while she was busy looking for whom to marry. That was the warehouse Jesus talked about. When the sister entered with the young man, she saw so many beautiful things that were meant for her, apart from her husband. Most of us are presently standing at closed gates without the keys. Our assets to make it in life are locked up inside while we are crying for help, moving from one deliverance place to another with no solution. What are your needs? Where are they? Where is the money? Where is your marriage? Where Are your virtues? Where is your job? Where is your partner? When you have no access to any of these, then your warehouse might have just been shut. Jesus knew this could happen so He asked us to bind the ‘strongman’, collect the keys and open the doors to possess your needs.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE:
THE POWER OF GOD IS NOT FREE: THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY.

PROPHETIC WORD:
By the reason of the anointing, receive the power to break and pass through to possess your possession.

PRAYER POINTS:

MORNING
1. Father, I thank You for giving me the mandate to break through, in Jesus’ name.
2. The doors of affliction and confusion opened unto me, instead of doors of success, be closed forever, in Jesus’ name.
3. Gates of death opened to swallow me and my virtues, swallow your owners, in Jesus’ name.

EVENING
4. Every desire of satanic agents for my life unto destruction, die, in Jesus’ name.
5. Power to break through into the heart of my helpers, come upon my life, in Jesus’ name.
6. Power to break through to the next level and be celebrated, come upon my life, in Jesus’ name.
7. Anointing of ease to break the backbone of the ‘strongman’ in charge of my stolen possessions and to possess them, come upon my life, in Jesus’ name.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read MFM Mountain Top Life Daily Devotional HERE

MOUNTAIN TOP LIFE is a daily devotional by Dr. D.K Olukoya (General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Worldwide)

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

The post MFM Daily Devotional 18 October 2018 – Receiving Breakthrough Power appeared first on Flatimes.

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