Recently we began talking about the gates of the city being the place of the elders that pronounced judgment. This word for elders or ruling council is translated "church" today.  When Jesus says He's setting up His Church, it is to be to administer His Judgments on earth.  We get into the importance of foundations, which are closely related to gates in this episode.

We continue to talk about the parallels of self-defense and spiritual warfare and the importance of being balanced in this process. We continue to get into the progression, being tested, weapons, and operating balanced as a team and not just individually. We also talk about the importance of our position in Jesus Christ when we find ourselves knocked down.

In this episode, we discuss fundamentals we learned in martial arts, military and law enforcement that demonstrated to us the importance of maintaining a proper balance.  In this episode we discuss the similarities in the process used in these disciplines and how it parallels to the walk of the believer in Jesus Christ.

We really start to get into our theme for this summer of balance. In the Bible, the phrase "turning neither to the right nor to the left" is used to describe those that followed God with a sincere heart.  Jesus also talked about the gate being straight and the way being narrow that leads to life.  So to walk this "straight and narrow" we need balance.   The good news is that the Holy Spirit is there to help.

We continue our discussion of what it means to acknowledge God and different ways in which we might do so.  We get into the age old discussion of works vs faith and show that rather than be two extremes, these actually compliment each other as a result of the Grace that Jesus provides through His Spirit.  We also talk about the importance of humility and integrity in acknowledging how God is working through both you and others.

This is part one of a two part discussion of what it means to acknowledge God.  Bones and I had both experienced testimony services where people got up in church and talked about what God had done for them.  This is a great way to acknowledge God but is it the ONLY way? Is it even the BEST way?  This is what we get into in this episode as well as looking at the way that Jesus Christ acknowledged His Father.  He is our example after all. 

We continue to talk about balancing detachment vs engagement by focusing on the importance of engaging.  We discuss how it can be easy to get so disengage that we forget to do Kingdom work.  This is exactly what happens in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  While we recognize that it is vital that we are able to detach when the Lord calls us to do that, it is for the purpose of reengaging at the right time and doing His will and showing the love of Christ and mercy of God to our fellow man.

This is the first part of our two part series where we discuss how to balance two vital aspects of Christian living: Detachment and Engagement.

We talk about what can happen if we neglect either one as well as go to the best example we can for a demonstration of these principles: Jesus Christ.

We also discuss how detachment and engagement are vital to one another and not exclusive concepts.

We also demonstrate the purpose of detachment and point to examples throughout the Old and New Testaments.

We conclude our discussion of Growing Up in the Lord and putting away childish things by examining some of what Paul and the writer of Hebrews cited as examples of being spiritually mature as well as what they declared were signs of spiritual immaturity.  We also discuss what these things look like in today's environment.

We start our two part series about maturing in the Lord with and examination of 1st Corinthians 13:10-12, Paul's admonition to put away childish things.  We look at what maturity in the Lord and what immaturity look like today and let the shoes fall where they may.