Thoughtful about faith
Passionate about Jesus
Welcome to the podcast of Bright City Church, a community of faith in Raleigh-Durham, NC. If you would like to learn more about Bright City, or about how you can get involved, visit us at brightcitychurch.com
What are you willing to give for the sake of the kingdom? Listen to Pastor Josh tell the story of Jonathan, who, in spite of deadly consequences, shows amazing love to David in his time of need. In this message, you’ll find helpful ways to practice loving your neighbor as yourself.
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Seeing By The Light
How can we understand God’s revelation to us?
Throughout the church’s history, theologians have often answered this question by appealing to a doctrine of illumination whereby the Holy Spirit shapes our knowledge and understanding of Scripture. Without denying the role of the Holy Spirit or the cognitive role of illumination, Ike Miller casts a broader vision of divine illumination and its role in the Christian life. In his constructive approach, Miller argues for a fully Trinitarian view of illumination that forms not just our intellect, but also appeals to the affections and encourages our ethical action.
In order to develop this theology of illumination, he explores both Augustine’s and Karl Barth’s readings of the Gospel and Epistles of John, including Barth’s previously untranslated lectures on the Gospel of John. In light of his careful study of both the Johannine literature and the theologies of two giants from Christian history, Miller lays out a doctrine of illumination whereby we are enabled to know the Father and participate in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
An important point on boundaries:
We do not set boundaries “on” others to control their behavior.
We set boundaries to predetermine our own behavior when our emotional property lines are trespassed.
Culture eats vision for breakfast.
You can have an incredible vision for your organization, but if the culture’s toxic it will ultimately undermine the execution of the vision.
To have the “mind of Christ”(Phil. 2), we must also think about how the mind we currently have was formed.
The context in which our mind formed (childhood) informs much of what we take for granted about our actions & beliefs toward God and others now.
The Bible is not only a text that communicates about the triune God.
It is also a context for communing with the persons of the triune God.
First indication we’re not being our authentic selves:
We’re operating in an area that isn't our strength, but we feel we can't tell anyone it's not a strength.
The underlying assumption is not only are my gifts different, I'm worse b/c of this difference.
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