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You are here: Home / Resources / Library / Church & Theology

Refined to Reflect the Refiner

June 2, 2011 by Mike Goeke

Instead of working so hard to achieve a change in our circumstances, maybe what we need more is a change in our perspective.

Recently I went through a low time where I found myself struggling in several areas of my life.  As pressures mounted, I did what I am prone to do.  I began to focus on how to change my circumstances.  My brain began to be filled with ideas, plans and schemes designed to get me to a more comfortable place.  And, as usually happens when I try to manipulate my circumstances, I just got more frustrated and less content.

It seems to me that most of us respond to the issues we face in very similar ways – our focus becomes all about changing the circumstances that are troubling us.  Even our prayer life can be all about asking God to ‘fix’ something to make our lives more pleasant.  But while we think our efforts to change our circumstances will make our lives better, the truth is that we just end up exhausted and no more at peace than when we started. Instead of working so hard to achieve a change in our circumstances, maybe what we need more is a change in our perspective.

Recently my pastor defined wisdom, which God promises us if we ask for it (James 1:5), as a change from a human perspective to God’s perspective.  To have God’s perspective on the difficult things in our lives would be to see those things through the lens of God’s design, purpose and way. God never promises that life will be easy, but His word says that He works everything to good for those who love Him.  If we saw every ‘negative’ situation in our lives as a means for God to work ‘good’ in us, maybe we wouldn’t focus so much on manipulating our circumstances to ‘feel’ better.  Maybe, instead, we would begin to see our issues, trials and struggles as opportunities for God to do something transformational in our lives.  And maybe the prospect of God at work in our lives would change us at a level deeper than the surface issues that so often derail us, even when our circumstances never change.

[Read more...]

Tagged with Beauty, Bible, Change, Fear, Forgiveness, God, Heart, Jesus, Joy, Lies, Life, Love, Men, Mothers, Pain, Prayer, Relationship, Sacrifice, Sin, Soul, Trust, Truth, Women

Identity Matters – Letter from Alan Chambers for March 2011

March 16, 2011 by Alan Chambers

This letter from Alan Chambers appears in both our offline and online newsletters. To receive this letter along with the full newsletter online via email or offline through the postal service please sign up here.

—

Dear Friends,

In the last few years Exodus has seen many Christians and churches soften their truth-only response to the issue of homosexuality and instead have embraced Christ’s example of communicating with absolute truth AND grace.  What God is He is fully. He isn’t 50/50 on anything.  He was, is and forever will be complete in everything that He is.  Completely good.  Completely just.  Completely truth.  Completely grace.  For a large segment of Christ’s Bride to become more like Him is a wonderful thing.

Unfortunately we are now seeing a pendulum shift in which some Christians have moved beyond the truth-only stance to embrace a grace-only view.  This shift is affecting how homosexuality is being viewed and is just as damaging as a truth-only response.

First, there are many Christians who now believe that chastity is the only answer for those with same-sex attractions.  They believe that people are either gay or straight and that their identities, in that regard, are fixed.  If someone is gay then the only option, according to these Christians, is celibacy.  Everything else that comes with gay life, however, is acceptable.  So, as long as someone remains sex-free they are able to hang out in gay bars and identify fully as gay.

Here is the problem with that line of thinking.  We are so behavior-driven as Christians that we believe as long as we keep our pants zipped and legs crossed that we are doing well.  Sexual sin is not the beginning of a problem; it is the result of one. While some do fall into sexual sin because of a momentary temptation, the majority of individuals stay in sexual sin because it seems to satisfy a deep core, God-given need for intimacy and relationship.  However, sex was never meant to be a substitute for relational intimacy with God, others, or even our spouse.  Sex is a beautiful, natural and godly expression that flows out of healthy intimacy, within the confines of heterosexual marriage.  As our creator, God defines the parameters for sexual expression and intimacy.

[Read more...]

Tagged with Alan Chambers, Bible, Change, Christians, Church, Clergy, Culture, Devotion, Exodus International, Faith, Fear, Friends, Gay, Gay Christian, God, Grace, Heterosexual, Holiness, Homosexual, Homosexuality, Identity, Intimacy, Journey, Life, Love, Marriage, Men, Mothers, News, Redemption, Relationship, Scriptures, Sexuality, Sin, Spouses, Straight, Temptation, Truth, Women

Learning From the Past and the Future – Reflections After 2010 Lausanne Congress by Mike Goeke

February 15, 2011 by Mike Goeke
This article was written after the 2010 Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa
—
Learning From the Past and the Future
Mike Goeke, October 2010

This past October, I participated in the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.  I was part of a team representing the Exodus Global Alliance, an international network of ministries helping people find freedom from homosexuality and helping churches address homosexuality with hope and redemption.  During the course of the week, we presented several sessions on issues related to homosexuality and reaching the gay community with the Gospel.  The Lausanne Congress was comprised of over 5,000 delegates and volunteers from all over the world – all gathered to discuss issues related to the evangelization of the nations.  It was an eye-opening event.  In some ways, my eyes were opened in encouraging and inspiring ways.  In others, my eyes were opened in ways that were dark and discouraging.  As I process what I experienced, I believe there is much to take away and much for us to learn as American evangelicals.

I brought many things home from Lausanne, but one thought that resurfaces over and over in my mind is the place that we, as Western evangelicals, find ourselves in the big picture of global Christianity.  I believe that Africa, whose vocal church is generally legalistic and legislatively focused, represents where we have been as the “American” church.  Canada and Europe, whose vocal church is generally highly pluralistic and secular, represent where we are going.  This question resonates in my mind; can we do anything to stop the momentum before we end up in a place where we have either completely capitulated to culture or completely lost our ability to relevantly speak into culture?

[Read more...]

Tagged with APA, Canada, Change, Christianity, Church, Culture, ECA, Faith, Finding Freedom, Gay, Gay Community, God, Gospel, Grace, Heart, Homosexual, Homosexuality, Hope, ideology, Jesus, Perseverance, Redemption, Relationship, Scriptures, Sexuality, Soul, Testimonies, Theology, Truth, Worship

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