Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

Mark D. Roberts

The Sacrifice God Desires READ Psalm 51:1-19 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Psalm 51:16-17 In yesterday’s reflection on Psalm 50, I noted that…

A recent news story revealed a surprising discovery. The British have another original copy of the Declaration of Independence. This copy, one of only 200 that were initially printed, brings to 26 the number of copies in the world today. It was found, sensibly enough, by an American doing research in the British National Archives…

Part 7 of series: Missional and Formational? Permalink for this post / Permalink for this series In my last post I showed that formational and missional realities were both present in Jesus’ own ministry, as he took time away from the crowds to pray, and these sessions of prayer guided Jesus in his mission. One…

Part 6 of series: Missional and Formational? Permalink for this post / Permalink for this series If you read through the Gospels looking for connections between formational and missional, you’ll discover plenty of them. In today’s post I’ll cite and comment on one pregnant example. Consider this passage from the Gospel of Mark: 35   In…

Part 5 of series: Missional and Formational? Permalink for this post / Permalink for this series Today I’m returning to the series I began last week: Missional and Formational? So far I’ve looked briefly at some connections between missional and formational in the Old Testament and in the early life of Jesus. Today I want…

We had a fantastic lineup at Laity Lodge last week. Our musicians were Ashley Cleveland and Kenny Greenberg (for the second retreat in a row). Our speakers were Dr. J.I. Packer and Andy Crouch. I expect most of you have heard of J.I. Packer. His book, Knowing God, is one of the most respected Christian…

The Inevitability of Death READ Psalm 49:1-20  Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind. Psalm 49:10 Psalm 49 isn’t exactly what you’d call cheery. Its main point is that the rich will die just like everybody else. The psalm ends on this note: “People…

Part 4 of series: Missional and Formational? Permalink for this post / Permalink for this series In my last post I mentioned that Jesus, as a carpenter, would have had to operate his business with integrity if he were to succeed in a small village such as Nazareth. Speaking of Nazareth, Jesus spent most of…

Part 3 of series: Missional and Formational? Permalink for this post / Permalink for this series It’s always risky to try and speak of the forces that formed Jesus and his ministry. Partly we face the problem of his uniqueness as someone who was both fully human and fully God. But efforts to account for…

As the mission of God unfolds in the Old Testament, he enters into covenant relationship with key partners is mission. In each of these covenant relationships there are both missional and formational components, and they are closely related. Abraham God chose to be a central player in his unfolding strategy for redeeming the world. In…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners