Archive for the ‘Baxter Kruger’ Tag
What Surprised Me About PATMOS
Filed under: By John Stonecypher | Tags: Baxter Kruger, book review, patmos
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One expects certain things from a Baxter Kruger book, such as really good theology, stories about fish, the phrase “truth of all truths,” and references to Cajun cooking. In this, PATMOS delivers as expected. Add to that some SHACK-like trini-magical realism, and the result is an edifying and enjoyable book full of Baxter’s familiar blend of God-talk and fart jokes.
What I didn’t expect was the Holy Spirit.
In PATMOS I found a Baxter Kruger book packed with pneumatology. For years I’ve heard him mention that he’s been doing some thinking on the Holy Spirit, but I never heard him say much more than that. Well now we can definitely say his thinking here has arrived at where it’s been going all these years.
This is welcome news for me, because I’ve had like a couple dozen pneumatologies through the years, and I’m tired of being so flaky about it. 
Baxter has a knack for casting his line to people like me who live in theologically flaky clouds, and reeling us in to land us on something solid, something like Rock. He’s done this to me a couple times now, and this could be Number Three.
As I now flop about, gasping, on this new ground, what I see is a sort of Krugerian thumbs-up to my Inner Pentecostal. That part of me who thinks I may have 1). Heard God talk to me a few times, 2). Healed a friend’s damaged kneecap, and 3). Spoke in tongues once. I’m hearing from Baxter that maybe that part of me is theologically legitimate, that this part of me fits in the real world of the Triune God.
That said, I’m not certain I agree with Baxter here. I’ve grown a lot less Pentecostal in recent years, and that has its benefits. For example, I spend a lot less time worrying about being crazy. But Kruger has steered me in good directions before, so I plan to give him a big fat benefit of the doubt.
There is such a thing as infantile greedy swindling Pentecostalism with big hair and small brains. I’m not going back to that.
But what I see in PATMOS is not that. I see the Apostle John live in easy rhythm with the Holy Spirit as his constant, real, practical connection to the Incarnate Son in face-to-face union with the Father. And it wasn’t smarmy or weird. It was kind of cool.
So yeah, I’m not done thinking about this. Give PATMOS a read, and tell me what you think.
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Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from SpeakEasy in exchange for an honest review.
The Trinity And Evangelism!
Filed under: Bible, By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Grace Communion International, Humor, Liturgy, Love, Ministry, Perichoresis, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture Paraphrases, Sermons, Song, The Dance and Dream of the Trinity, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized, William Paul Young, Worship | Tags: Adoption, Baptism, Baptism of Jesus, Baptism of Repentance, Baxter Kruger, Bible, blessings, C. Baxter Kruger, Christ in our place, Christ in us, Christian Calendar, Christian Living, Christianity, Church, compassion, disciples, disciples of Christ, Discipleship, Dr. Mike Feazell, epiphany, Evangelism, Forgiveness, Forgiveness of Sin, GCI, God, God Father Son and Spirit, god the father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, God the Trinity, God's adopted sons and daughters, God's good news, God's Grace, God's Judgment, God's Will, good news, Gospel, Grace, Grace Communion International, gratitude, Holy Spirit, human, Incarnation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, JESUS THE CHRIST, life, Love, Mike Feazell, new life fellowship, Participation, Participation with Christ, Pastor Tim, Pastor Timothy Brassell, Paul Young, Preaching, Questions, Reality, Receiving Christ, Receiving God's Love, Relational God Revealed, relationship with God, Relationships, repent, repentance, response, Resurrection, Salvation, Scriptures, season of epiphany, second coming, sharing your faith, Sinners, Theology, Timothy Brassell, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Will of God, William Paul Young, Worship
Comments (4) 
On this 4th Sunday after the Epiphany in the Christian Calendar (The Season Of the God Revealed in Jesus Christ), Pastor Timothy Brassell of New Life Fellowship of Baltimore proclaims the Good News of Jesus sharing the Good News in Mark 1:14 – 15. It is followed up with a conversation about Evangelism from Dr. Baxter Kruger, William Paul Young (Author of The Shack), and Dr. Mike Feazell of Grace Communion International. The conversation is centered in the Light of the character of God: Father, Son and Spirit Himself and the implications of this discerned.
Specifically:
- We discuss what evangelism is and what it is not.
- We discuss how knowing God as Father, Son and Spirit should affect our approaches to sharing our faith.
- We are reminded that The Father, Son and Spirit IS RELATIONSHIP and His dream and intent IS to draw humanity into His relationship so that it becomes as much ours as it is His!
Listen in and join the conversation!
photo compliments: the-trinity-group.net
Gospel Questions & Answers (Dr. Baxter Kruger)
Filed under: by Dr. Baxter Kruger, Christian Living, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Perichoresis, Relationships, The Plan of Adoption, Trinity, Uncategorized | Tags: Baxter Kruger, Christian Living, Christianity, Gospel, Incarnation, Jesus, Love, new life fellowship, Perichoresis, question and answer portion, Relationships, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity
Comments (1) 
Here is the Question and Answer portion following Dr. Baxter Kruger’s recent visit to New Life Fellowship of Baltimore Maryland on July 14th, 2013. If you have not seen them, please check out the free resources at http://www.thegreatdance.org or find Baxter at Grace Communion International. If you are living near the Asheville, North Carolina area, you may want to consider meeting up with Baxter at http://opentableconference.com/.
Where is Jesus Working?
Filed under: By Jonathan Stepp, Christian Living, Evangelism, Grace Communion International, Trinity | Tags: Baxter Kruger, Christianity, Evangelism, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Ministry, Missions, Perichoresis, Theology, Trinity
Comments (2) Everywhere.
Jesus is the union of the Trinity and Humanity. Therefore the Holy Spirit that comes from the Father, through the Son, is at work in our humanity because the Son shares in our humanity as the man Jesus. The Psalmist says:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, you are there. ~ Psalm 139:7-8
I believe that if we want to discern where Jesus is working, and join him in his work, then we have to see how every aspect of human existence has been embraced, enveloped, and permeated by the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit through the humanity of Jesus. We have to stop trying to divide the sacred and the secular and stop trying to divide the miraculous and the natural.
As most of you know, we at The Adopted Life are big fans of the work the Holy Spirit is doing with the theologian Baxter Kruger. One of the key insights the Spirit has given Baxter is the realization that the modern American church has not been taking Jesus seriously enough in the way we talk about the “ordinary” aspects of our lives, e.g. cooking breakfast for our kids, going to work, and spending time with friends.
If you have not read Baxter’s latest blog post entitled The Spirit’s Presence, I highly recommend that you go read it right now.
Here’s a quote to whet your appetite:
We either see ourselves and others as merely human, with an occasional dash of ‘supernatural’ inspiration, or we see ourselves and others as those included in Jesus Christ and in His anointing in the Holy Spirit. The former will produce pride and incessant striving, followed by more pride, then boredom and burnout, and the divisive minimization of our human existence as we chase the spirituality of the non-human god. The latter will produce dignity and hope, and a regard for one another beyond race, religion, and all prejudice. For we will see ourselves and others as brothers and sisters (blind as we may be) equally included in the Trinitarian life of God. We will look for the Trinitarian life emerging in and through the ‘humanity’ of others, and we will cherish, celebrate and do what we can to encourage its emergence.
We 21st century American Christians are yearning to know where Jesus is working and to join him in his work. But I believe we need to be educated first. We need to be educated to understand how Jesus is universally present, and we need to let his Spirit undo the false divide we have created between the sacred and the secular, before we will really be able to participate intelligently in Jesus’ ministry.
Reading Baxter’s post on the Spirit’s presence will help you in that education.
~ Jonathan Stepp
Trinity and Humanity 