Thanks to all who came and participated in our evening of Worship this past Sunday afternoon at Quamba Baptist Church. Here is the recording of Dr. Caneday’s sermon on Forgiveness and Repentance, taken from Matthew 18:21-35. Enjoy! Use the player below or download the audio file here
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31, ESV
Whenever a biblical phrase goes viral across the Christian landscape, I get a little suspicious. And when that phrase is employed in a moment of confusion to help Christians reach the exact same conclusion as those who hate Christ, I add some natural crotchetiness and unnatural cantankerosity to my suspicion and this, quite naturally makes me a very pleasant person.
Continue reading “Long-term Neighbor Loving”The audio for the Common Slaves Fall Conference “Let us Run With Endurance” is now available under the Conference Audio tab. I’m hoping the videos will be up shortly, and will let you know. Thanks again to Dr. Ardel B. Caneday for this significant presentation.
Also, be sure to subscribe to our podcast, “A Place for Truth,” where you’ll find cultural conversations with Drs. P. Andrew Sandlin and Ardel B. Caneday, and hopefully we’ll get the conference sessions up on there too. Look for it wherever you find your podcasts. If you’re an Apple snob like me, you can find it here.
With many thanks to Dr Ardel B. Caneday and P. Andrew Sandlin for joining us, along with Pastors Bob Dalberg and David Smith to discuss one of the more pressing issues in the church today, and to David Gonzales for putting the conversation in an attractive format.
This evening several of us were blessed to be able to visit with Drs. Ardel Caneday and P. Andrew Sandlin as they worked through biblical teaching concerning matters of the relationship between church and state.
Nowadays it’s like life’s autopilot is broken, and so much of what we used to do automatically we now have to figure out all over again. I’m thankful for these two brothers God has gifted with good minds and courageous hearts to help us think through this, um, what shall we call it, brave new world?
Watch the conversation here
You’ll need this password to access it: 1j$@^=S#
Keeping in mind that 1527 is not 2020, Wittenberg Germany under Charles V (if memory serves – and it may not) is not Central Minnesota under Trump and Walz, and the Black Death is not COVID-19, basic human nature remains identical across the ages, medical mysteries still persist, the need for careful thinking and wisdom remains as persistent as ever, and the voices of the past whose value is proven by the fact they continually echo down the corridors of history nearly five centuries later are still worth hearing.
To that end, I encourage you to read some Luther as he wrestled through the advice he would offer to those seeking for a wise course of action during a time of plague. Basically the question was “stay, or flee?” I give you a sample here, at no expense to me, and hopefully great benefit to you:
We must pray against every form of evil and guard against it to the best of our ability in order not to act contrary to God… If it be God’s will that evil come upon us and destroy us, none of our precautions will help us. Everybody must take this to heart: first of all, if he feels bound to remain where death rages in order to serve his neighbor, let him commend himself to God and say, “Lord, I am in thy hands; thou hast kept me here; thy will be done. I am thy lowly creature. Thou canst kill me or preserve me in this pestilence in the same way as if I were in fire, water, drought, or any other danger.” If a man is free, however, and can escape, let him commend himself and say, “Lord God,
Martin Luther
I am weak and fearful. Therefore I am running away from evil and am doing what I can to protect myself against it. I am nevertheless in thy hands in this danger as in any other which might overtake me. Thy will be done. My flight alone will not succeed of itself because calamity and harm are everywhere.
Read the entire piece here (and I say this more by way of command than information).
The lazy may check out Dr. Steve Nichols’ treatment of it in five minutes, with a little Cranberries intro music thrown in here. Your indulgence will be smaller, but something is better than nothing.
I’ve (finally) updated the “What I’m listening to” page with various and sundry shiny things that have caught my eye, to tragically confuse and conflate the senses.
Thanks to those who have shown interest in and picked up Alice in the Palace.
The pastors and churches associated with the Common Slaves get together every couple months to worship and fellowship together, and we are doing so again this Sunday evening, June 30, 4:30PM at Quamba Baptist Church. Pastor Ken Carlton from Providence Community Church in Crosslake, MN will be opening the word for us. Join us if you’re able!
The Common Slaves Network is excited to invite you to attend our Spring Conference, to be held on Saturday, April 27th, 8:30AM at Lifespring Church in Crosby, MN.
Our keynote speaker is Dr. Peter Jones, who will be addressing the theme of the conference, Only Two Religions: Understanding All the Worship in the World. Continue reading “Common Slaves Spring Conference”
We want to make you aware of a tremendous opportunity available to all of us here in Rural Northern and Central Minnesota:
On Saturday afternoon and evening, April 21, Pastor Eric Anderson and Lifespring Church in Crosby are hosting a conference on God and The Christian Mind: The Biblical way to think, discern and walk in this present world. Drs. Paul Helseth and Ardel Canaday from Northwestern University in Roseville, MN will be presenting. For more information, including schedule and registration (it’s free!), see the conference flyer.
This conference is open and applicable to all, but may be of particular interest and benefit to those of high school and college ages. This would be a great and dare we say especially relevant conference to invite youth and young adult groups.
Common Slaves 