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Conference Recap: Fellowship, Inspiration, and New Connections
I just got back from the conference and wanted to give a quick report while it was fresh in my mind. This is a brief summary of what happened but if you’re curious about some more details (including pics and videos!) check out my channel on the TACO Discord. Day 1: Arrival and Initial…
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How to be MAXIMUM Christian!
What’s the secret to living for God – for REAL? What steps do we need to take in order to discover God’s plan for our lives and how to live it out in an effective and fruitful way? This message might help. Podcast Version: https://anchor.fm/xtianninja/episodes/How-to-be-MAXIMUM-Christian-e1kltm3 I Need Your Support I’m doing this full-time and…
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Where the Rubber Meets the Road (The Sermon on the Plain)
Please turn to Luke 6:17 where we read about Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain”. We’re used to hearing about the “Sermon on the Mount”, but Jesus obviously preached the same message more than once to different audiences. So, this is the “Sermon on the Plain” and you’re going to see lots of parallels to…
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Withdraw to Desolate Places (Caring For Your Heart, Soul, Mind & Body in Difficult Times)
Service Video: Podcast Audio: Sermon Text: Please open up to Luke 5:16. We’re going to concentrate our efforts on one verse today and use it as a jumping-off point for something that I believe is important for us during this difficult time. Luke 5:16, “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”…
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What Do You Seek? (Gospel of John Series)
“The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’ And…
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Church Membership and Being a Good Church
Audio: Text: When we are saved by Jesus, He gives us a lot of gifts. One of those gifts is to become a member of His church, a family of believers spread throughout the world. All believers, everywhere are part of the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, the Universal Church both living…
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Let’s Do a Word Study! (Carnivore Theology Ep. 101B)
Part two of our Word Study episode. Steve’s away so Chad and Al get their nerd on with some talk about some free tools for doing Bible Word Studies. Podcast Audio: Tools We Discussed https://www.blueletterbible.org/ https://www.esv.org/ http://www.openbible.info/topics/ https://www.biblegateway.com/ https://www.logos.com/ https://www.bibleworks.com/ Home How Can You Help Carnivore Theology? 1. Pray for us! 2. Record a question in…
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Bible Word Studies: The Pleasure and Peril (Carnivore Theology: Ep. 101A)
Steve’s away so Chad and Al get their nerd on with some talk about the pleasures and perils of Bible Word Studies. Podcast Audio: How Can You Help Carnivore Theology? 1. Pray for us! 2. Buy some cool stuff from our new Merch Store! 3. Record a question in your voice on our SpeakPipe page! (We love this the most!) Or…
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Resources for Every Stage of the Christian Life (Carnivore Theology: Ep. 93)
We do a data dump of the best resources for every stage of the Christian life. Whether you are a new believer, have some years in the church, or are a longtime elder, you’ll find something to challenge you! Podcast Audio: The Resources: Pilgrim Theology – Michael Horton ESV Study Bible NIV Life Application Study…
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Pastor Al’s New Book (Carnivore Theology: Ep. 92)
Pastor Al tells us about his newest FREE book “The Foundations: What a Christian Needs, Learns & Does”. Podcast Audio: How Can You Help Carnivore Theology? 1. Pray for us! 2. Subscribe to and rate us on iTunes and watch us on YouTube!! (If you don’t have iTunes use one of these FeedBurner links) 3. Record a question in…
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Get My Latest Book Free!
Exciting News! My latest book “The Foundations: An Introduction to What a Christian Needs, Knows & Does” now available for download on your e-reader — and it’s FREE! Click here to go to the download page to learn more: https://artofthechristianninja.com/my-books/ Introduction: Jesus, in John 10:10, says that He has come to give…
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God’s Farm: Life As God’s Field Hand
There are a lot of illustrations that God uses to describe His people. Jesus and Paul, likely because they lived in an agricultural culture, often used natural illustrations. In John 15, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, God is the gardener who prunes and strengthens the branches, or burns the fruitless ones.…
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Called & Cleaned Part 3: A Biblical Case for Pursuing a Godly Life
Right now, and over the past few weeks, we’ve been working through an extended introduction to the first few verse of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. It begins as most letters began, by stating who the letter was from and who it was to. It reads: “Paul, called by the will of God…
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All About Baptism – What is it and Who’s it for? (Carnivore Theology Ep. 69)
Baptism is important, but there is a lot of confusion about it. What is it? Who is it for? Why are there different types? Where did it come from? What age should one be? Podcast Audio: Behind the Scenes: How Can You Help Carnivore Theology? 1. Pray for us! 2. Subscribe and rate us on…
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What is “A Good Church”? Part 2 (Burning Questions Series)
Last week I spoke what amounted to an extended introduction about answering the question, “What is ‘A Good Church’?” (We also did a Carnivore Theology episode on it!) We talked a lot about the huge variety of options and opinions that we have access to in our churches, and how that can give us…
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What is a “Good Church”? (Carnivore Theology: Ep 52)
Every Christian wants to attend a “good church”, but we all seem to have different ideas of what a “good church” looks like. The guys take on this question and give a biblical perspective. Podcast Audio: Behind the Scenes Video: How Can You Help Carnivore Theology? 1. Ask us a question in your voice on…
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What is “A Good Church”? (Burning Questions Series)
A while back, before it was interrupted by Thanksgiving, Children’s and Friendship Sunday, we were going through a “Burning Questions” series that was based on questions submitted by people here in the congregation. We’ve already covered a bunch of questions and I want to get back into it and finish it off over the…
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How Can Christians be “IN” the World but Not “OF” it? (Burning Questions Series #2)
Don’t forget to take a look at the Kickstarter for my new book! Click here to check it out! We’re continuing our Burning Questions series today and today’s question is one that is a wonderful, perennial, perpetual, question that believers have been asking themselves since time immemorial. It is simply stated: “How can Christians live in…
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Support Art of the Christian Ninja’s Kickstarter!
If you’ve been following the blog/podcasts for any time now, then you know about my passion for good, inspiring, Christian discipleship tools — and you likely know about my long-term writing project. Well, it’s finally ready to go, but I need your help! Why a Kickstarter? I know there are lots of great devotional…
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What Does it Mean to “Deny Ourselves” and “Take Up Our Cross”? (Mark 8:34-9:1)
The Bali Nine This week in Indonesia, a group of eight convicted drug traffickers who were caught, arrested, and tried, finally met their end at their execution. I can’t imagine there is much sympathy out there for a group of drug smugglers, and there aren’t too many people in the world who would have…
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How Important are Bible Schools, Seminaries and Other Forms of Formal Theological Education? (Carnivore Theology: Ep. 23)
The 23rd episode of “Carnivore Theology”. Formal Theological Education We live in the world where Google is a verb, student loans are reaching epic proportions and Ted Talks, how-to videos and info-graphics are everywhere. At the same time, people are giving up on institutionalized religion and theological schools are struggling. So, is formal, theological…
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Ground Yourself (The Parable of the Two Builders)
I’ve started a, sort of, impromptu series that I’m unofficially calling “Kick Off the New Year Right” or “How to Prepare for 2015”… or something like that. The series title doesn’t matter. What matters is that I want to spend a little while going over a few things that we need to make sure…
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Why to Study the Bible – The Four Core Christian Disciplines
We’re studying the Four Core Christian Disciplines right now. Can you remember what they are? Prayer, Bible Study, Church Attendance and Serving Others. Last week we talked about “How to Pray” which brings us to this week’s topic: “Why and How to Study the Bible”. Lets begin with “Why” and start with this question: How You…
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Intentional Discipleship: Preparing Our Heart with Psalm 51
(For a video of this sermon click here.) My intention when I started writing this sermon was to give some very practical steps on how to do the Four Core Christian Disciplines (Prayer, Bible Study, Church Attendance & Serving Others — first introduced here) successfully, but then God reminded me that I had missed…
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Intentional Discipleship: Building Endurance (3 Steps of Maturity)
(Click here for the video) Praise for AWANA Have you heard of AWANA? Essentially, AWANA is a biblical, discipleship program for kids aged 2-18. Each week they play games, memorize scripture, hear the gospel, have a small group discussion, and participate in local and global missions. It’s been around for around 60 years and…
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Intentional Discipleship: A Warning
[Click here for the video.] We’re in the home stretch of The Foundations Series. We’ve certainly covered a lot of ground in the past 9 weeks, and it is my prayer that it has been helpful and has given you a new understanding of the Christian faith, Christ’s church, your responsibilities as a believer,…
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Two Sheets of Paper that have Captivated my Life
I have a deep and abiding passion for intentional discipleship and designing a path to take people from “unsaved” to “church elder” has been my preoccupation for a few years now. The intensity of this fixation has increased recently as I have worked through a re-visioning process with the church I’m currently serving, and then doubled…
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The Complexity of Christianity
I was invited for an “Ask The Pastor” night last week and brought along this handout I’d been working on. I sat in front of the white board and asked myself “If I am going to help the people in this church grow as Christians, then what does a fully functional disciple of Jesus…
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Discipleship Fundamentals
I’ve always loved watching and playing sports. And anyone who does knows that there is one word phrase that pervades all sportsdom — “We’ve got to get back to the fundamentals.” If our team is on a losing streak, the answer is always getting “back to the fundamentals.” If you are practicing, you spend…