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By Nate Keeler, @MBCArlington Campus Pastor
DEALING WITH YOUR BAGGAGE
Recently, I started a blog series addressing one of the biggest challenges facing millennials today: Delayed adulthood. This cultural epidemic is a destructive philosophy built on the false premise that you can wait until you are 40 (or older) to pursue maturity in various areas of your life without incurring any problems. To the contrary, delayed adulthood robs us of our true joy, purpose and significance during the most available and passionate years of life while sowing future seeds of destruction.
One way that many young adults delay adulthood is by avoiding their childhood baggage. And believe me, we have tons…
By Nate Keeler, @MBCArlington Campus Pastor
What is one of the biggest challenges facing Millennials today? Delayed adulthood. What do I mean by “adulthood?” Well, I’m not defining adulthood in a rigid way (ie: marriage, financial independence, house, kids or steady job). Adulthood has far less to do with these socio-economic factors and much more to do with a philosophical framework that we approach life, AKA—our worldview. It’s a worldview that rationalizes and celebrates a delay in facing serious, difficult and healthy rights of passage, and the establishment of these patterns in our youth. To make it practical, one of the most common phrases I hear from my generation is, “I’ll wait until I’m older to… (fill in the blank).”
What can you fill in…
Photo by Mars Hill Church
By Nate Keeler, @MBCArlington Campus Pastor
When I first heard the news last week that Mark Driscoll, Senior Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, had resigned under multiple allegations and criticism for his leadership and character, I had three immediate responses: 1) I grieved the fall of a church leader and the pain he and his family must be experiencing; 2) I was unfortunately not surprised given some troubling signs over the past decade; and 3) I prayed for him, his family and all those who are wounded because of the trust they placed in Pastor Driscoll to lead them spiritually.
Because we don’t have the full story I want to avoid speculation or…
By Nate Keeler, Campus Pastor @MBCArlington
The Pharisees, most of us know. They were the politically conservative, religious elite who opposed the Roman occupation of Israel and sought a return to strict observance of the Mosaic Law and their own regulations they heaped on top of the Law. They believed that religious observance and morality were the way of self-salvation. The Herodians we may be less familiar with. The Herodians, as the name implies, were a Jewish political party that favored the Roman control led by Herod. The Herodians were the politically progressive, moral relativists of the day. They wanted to bring the full Roman influence into the Jewish community of the day. They believed that self-discovery and the…
by Nate Keeler
Psalm 1:1-3
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree firmly planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
I once heard Tim Keller tell the story about what trees have done to the sidewalks of New York City. The trees that were first planted were weak and the thought of what they were capable of in the distant…
By Nate Keeler, MBC Arlington Campus Pastor
I recently had a conversation with a friend from MBC Arlington who asked me the question, “Is there an ideal way that discipleship should happen?” Great question. This one question leads to many: Is it one-on-one? Older to younger? Peer-to-peer? In a classroom? In a small group? Or is it in a mid-size Bible study? And what should we study? An inductive Bible study? Life topics? Systematic theology? This is just a sampling of the kinds of questions getting serious about discipleship will provoke. Often I will speak to people who are dogmatic and passionate about discipleship happening only one way, and they will have their example from Scripture to prove it! But…
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit… (Matthew 28:19 NASB)
So then, those who had received His word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41 NASB)
On June 25, 2005, I placed a ring on the hand of my new bride as an outward, symbolic expression of an inward commitment that we made to each other before God and all our witnesses. This imagery helps us understand the symbolism and significance of baptism. Jesus’ command in the Great Commission to baptize all disciples in the name of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) was designed to…