Blog - Page 79 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Gospel in Seven Words

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 13th, 2012|Categories: Gospel/Good News|

A recent cover story in The Christian Century featured an engaging contribution, offered by several well-known writers, that attempted to “put the gospel in seven words.” You can read executive editor David Heim’s article, and the various blogposts connected with this story, online. Heim rightly says that summarizing the Christian message can have practical benefits. Business consultants often call on leaders to have an “elevator speech.” I have believed this exercise and approach is important for many years. I admit, however, that I am not very good at it. Some years ago I was challenged to summarize the vision of ACT 3 in seven words. We came up with the following: “Equipping Christian leaders for unity in Christ’s mission.” Once we got that down on paper, and intentionally and carefully worked it over and over, these seven words helped me explain what I do and why I do it.

But what about the gospel itself? When asked to summarize the gospel most of us cannot do it. We try various words and ideas and then often […]

My Journey (5): Growing Up as a Christian Pilgrim

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 11th, 2012|Categories: Books, Discipleship, Faith, Personal, Spirituality|

On my seventh birthday, March 1, 1956, my mom and dad gave me my first Bible, at least one that was really and truly my own. (I’m sure I must have had previous Bibles but none were kept as mine!) In this birthday Bible they wrote on the presentation page: “John H. Armstrong: Our Little Pilgrim.” They also wrote: “Born Again” (February 10, 1956). Had my parents not written down this date I am not sure if I would remember the precise date all these years later. But what stands out to me, especially as I hold this same Bible in my hands more than fifty-six years later, is this reference made by my mom to me being “Our Little Pilgrim.” As I previously noted, this was undoubtedly a reference to the Protestant bestseller, Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan.

The full title of this classic religious book is: The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come. The author used an allegorical story of a single pilgrim to tell how a follower […]

My Journey (4): First Communion

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 7th, 2012|Categories: Discipleship, Personal, Sacraments, Spirituality, The Church|

I will always remember several things about the church building that I worshiped in while I was growing up in Lebanon at First Baptist Church. First, I remember that the sanctuary seemed so large to me as a child when it was actually a medium-sized church. (Baptists called this place we gathered in the auditorium, so far as I remember. I was always put off by that terminology. As I got older I became more sure as to why I found this term off-putting.) Second, I remember the Sunday, in my teen years, when our sanctuary was destroyed by fire early one Sunday morning. The fire began in an old furnace system under the choir loft. Thankfully the fire began before anyone had arrived that Lord’s Day. We worshiped in the parking lot that day. I’ll never forget it as long as I live! Third, I remember counting the lights (and tiles) in the ceiling when I was a child. I also remember trying to figure out what the few images in the building meant, what […]

My Journey (3): Childhood Faith and Encountering the Living God

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 6th, 2012|Categories: Discipleship, Lordship of Christ, Personal, Spirituality|

Growing up in a small-town, Southern Baptist, cultural background meant that coming to Christ was a prescribed formula that I knew about for as long as I can recall. The pattern was rooted in a Pauline type conversion experience. You realized that you were a sinner, you knew that you needed to be saved, you prayed and asked Jesus to save you and then you went forward at the end of a Sunday service during a “hymn of invitation” to publicly confess this inward transformation. My journey followed this path with one major difference, a difference that I shall always be grateful for as I look back on these early years of my life.

Before I elaborate let me be clear about this one important point. Coming to Christ in faith can follow many different patterns and paths. The end is to know Christ. The way we can come is not prescribed in the Bible, at least in so far as I can tell. Some children come to faith without ever knowing a time or place where they realized they were in darkness and needed to consciously […]

My Journey (2): Asking Questions About My Purpose

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 5th, 2012|Categories: Discipleship, Lordship of Christ, Personal, Spirituality|

I began, on August 30, an account of my life’s journey that I promised to continue. I will try to write these particular blogs as I have opportunity. I cannot produce a new entry each day but I will attempt to faithfully tell my story over time. I would like to slowly develop this story because I need to ponder the mercies of God deeply at this stage of my life. I hope that through such intentional pondering, and writing, several things will happen:

I will personally see the mercies of God afresh and marvel at God’s tender mercies and love day-by-day. I live by his grace and thus by this story of faith, hope and love.
I desire to share my story with readers who are interested, especially my friends who love me and pray for me faithfully. Many who read these words have shared in parts of my story and many who are reading them now will share more in my story if God grants me longer life. Our lives are interconnected in a remarkable way and with age you generally see these connections more clearly.
I […]

What to Do on Election Night

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00September 4th, 2012|Categories: Politics, The Church|

I am deeply distressed by the way national elections divide us as Christians. These political debates have continued to pour rhetorical and personal poison into the diet of the church for decades, especially since 2000. We are already divided from one another by a myriad of common problems; social, political, theological, moral and spiritual. Then every four years we go through this election process in which Christians take sides, bad mouth the views of each other in person or on the social media. They mock candidates and political parties with fierce cynicism on a daily basis. We then try to act like all of this makes very little difference to our unity as the children of the Sovereign King who clearly prayed for our oneness and communion together his people (John 17).

Mainline Christians, and more progressive Catholics, often act like Republicans are heartless, uncaring Christians with no brain and no social conscience at all. More conservative evangelical Christians, and their conservative Catholic counterparts, act like Democrats are involved in some kind of evil compromise with the […]

My Journey Into the Love of the Triune God

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00August 30th, 2012|Categories: Discipleship, Lordship of Christ, Personal, Spirituality|

In my seventh decade of life (b. 1949) I now see that my entire life has been a journey, a pathway that I’ve followed by God’s grace, a road that leads home. But home is not in some far off place that we commonly call heaven. I get ahead of myself a bit here but this is important to grasp. “In the sweet by-and-by” is not my understanding of the final end of this journey. Because Jesus is Lord over all creation, and because he has redeemed it all “by sacrificing his blood on the cross . . . all things in heaven and on earth” I/we will be brought back (home) to God. I am not denying that at death I will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ! I am simply saying what Paul says again and again about the realities that have come about because Jesus is “above all others” (Colossians 1:18). The ultimate destiny of all the saints is to be in his presence and raised in a glorified body to live in “the new heavens and new earth.” This, […]

The Best User-friendly Theology Book in Years

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:11-05:00August 24th, 2012|Categories: ACT 3, Biblical Theology, Books, Creeds|

The host pastor for our Chicago ACT 3 Cohort is Rev. Dr. George Byron Koch, pastor of Resurrection Anglican Church in West Chicago. George and I have begun to share this missional-ecumenical journey very deeply. George is the author of a fantastic book on doctrine and unity that I highly recommend, What We Believe and Why. This is the best theology book I have come across in years. George understands what is genuinely essential, and why, and then keeps his eye on the goal – Jesus Christ and his mission! Order a copy and you will thank me.

This is the terrific new book I mentioned above. It is $24.99 retail (it is a substantial book), but George gave me a discount code for my friends and readers. Get the book and read it, and then review it for your friends and readers! I wrote about the book in my blog, here:

My Blog about the book

The discount code is CGLS8DA7. It’s worth ten dollars. No one’s received such a discount before. Just you. […]

An Opportunity for Training in Healing Prayer

By John Armstrong|2012-08-23T04:00:19-05:00August 23rd, 2012|Categories: Prayer, Spirituality|

Christians are often tossed back and forth by the biblical idea of physical healing, the role of prayer and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Confusion abounds. Few churches actually equip people to pray for healing and fewer still encourage the practice. I have openly embraced balanced and faithful healing ministry for a long time. Why? Well, put very simply, I believe it is biblical. At the same time I have witnessed, like so many of you, the rampant imbalance and dangerous practices of some healers and their obviously over-hyped claims. So what should we do about this oft controversial subject?

My friend, Rev. Dr. George Koch, pastor of Resurrection Anglican Church in West Chicago, Illinois, is hosting a ministry training school for learning and practicing healing prayer. I heartily encourage you to check out this unique opportunity if you are interested. Some of you may actually be gifted and called to serve in such a ministry and thus this training would be immensely valuable to you. Others may just want to learn a more balanced approach to healing that is holistic and healthy. Below is a […]

Why Must Christians Defend Jesus By Lopping Off Ears?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:12-05:00August 22nd, 2012|Categories: Culture, Current Affairs, Jesus|

My good friend Tom Tollet lives in Memphis (TN) and was one of the very best friends my late mom and dad had in the final years in Memphis, before retiring to Huntsville (AL). Tom has been a friend since the 1970s and is a solid Christian leader and elder in his local Baptist church in Memphis. He worked for FedEx for many years and now operates his own small family business. When he recently sent me his reflections on recent Christian debates in public I asked for, and received, permission to publish this as a blog.

As I prepare to teach from Tim Keller’s “The Reason for God” I meditate on how the Lord was a friend of sinners while preaching an uncompromising Sermon on the Mount. How do I do that today? I suspect it won’t exactly look like August 1^st.

I understand the call to defend marriage and oppose the power plays of certain city mayors, but doesn’t it seem like we simply respond in kind to the opposition ….power for power, rhetoric for rhetoric, manipulation for […]