Mike Raburn: Recent Episodes
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After many days of dangerous denial, it seems most people are finally taking COVID-19 seriously. That means Christian leaders are starting to offer their regular religious responses and reflections on the worldwide pandemic. There are common things Christians tend to say in crisis situations like this and wow are they somewhere between unsatisfying, terrible, and … Continue reading Time to Pray (Even If You Don’t Believe in It) →
I devoted chapter 2 of my PhD dissertation to an examination of John 16.8-11. I’m attaching that here for interested parties to read. Raburn Convincing the World – ch2 Paraclete
This is a basic structural guide for reading the Book of Revelation as a series of sections describing reality in several layers. It’s based on the book Apocalypse by Jacques Ellul (among other resources) and is the basis of a sermon series I’m preaching at Gainesville Vineyard this summer (you can listen here, or subscribe here). … Continue reading Revelation structural guide →
John Wimber, as quoted in Carol Wimber, The Way It Was, 180-1: During the period of the prophetic era and on into the new renewal, our people quit starting small groups, they quit prophesying, they quit healing the sick, they quit casting out demons, because they were waiting for the Big Bang, the Big Revival, the … Continue reading My God! We’ve made an audience out of them. And they were an army! →
(This is the text of the sermon Amy and I preached at Gainesville Vineyard‘s Christmas Eve 2017 service.) So here we are at the Fourth Sunday of Advent. We’ve been focusing all Advent on God speaking to the various people in the Christmas story, Zechariah, the shepherds and astrologers, and Joseph. All of that has … Continue reading Christmas Eve 2017: Mary’s Prophetic Song →
On this episode of AM Radio, Amy and I discuss our move to Florida, Jen Hatmaker and the #wifey trend, and Amy’s enneagram discovery. Check out the website to the Gainesville Vineyard and the Enneagram Institute.
My sermon this afternoon addresses what happened in Charlottesville yesterday in a real way but not as directly as this moment warrants so I want to talk about it directly up front, even though we’ll come back to it as we go. I started this series last week so you would know what your new … Continue reading Life with the Paraclete: Trust →
On this episode of AM Radio, we explain why we’re going to the Women’s March on Washington, Michael tries to convince Amy he’s not a flaming liberal, and Amy tells us why she done with thankfulness.
We recorded this back in September and I finally got around to editing it tonight. The podcast itself explains some of the delay. The rest comes down to our grief at letting VNorth go. You can almost hear it in our voices but we get through it pretty well. Here are some links to things … Continue reading AM Radio 29: We Were Never A Snake Handling Church →
A bit of dialogue from Return of the Jedi popped into my head the other day (as it sometimes does). The Emperor tells Darth Vader to go to Endor and wait for Luke Skywalker to come find him. Vader questions this and the Emperor responds, “his compassion for you will be his undoing.” The Emperor was right … Continue reading May Compassion Be Our Undoing →
Here are some excerpts from a talk I gave at the Society of Vineyard Scholars conference in 2014 – an Ode to the Not Yet. I’m attaching a PDF of the full paper if you wish to read it. 2 Cor. 4.10-12 states: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so … Continue reading Lovers of the Dead: An Ode to the Not Yet →
If you are poor we will help you. If you need something we will give it to you if we have it. We won’t hoard for ourselves and leave you with nothing. We won’t leave you homeless and hungry and without clothes. Seriously, do you want a sandwich? If you’re mourning we will mourn with … Continue reading Be at this (itudes): A To Do List For Followers of Jesus →
All forms of worldly power are false because they are always at some level coercive, self-serving, and manipulative – and thus self-condemning and self-defeating. This is true of governments, businesses, churches, families, and personal relationships. A main theme in the Gospel of John is that the way the world rules is condemned. True power is what empowers, … Continue reading true and false power →
Do you ever feel guilty for asking for things when you pray? Me too. But I wonder why we feel this way? My young sons comes up to me all the time with requests: “I need a snack,” “Play with me,” “I want to watch a show,” and not once do they exhibit the slightest bit … Continue reading pray without guilt →
To my friends who are skeptical that people can live in the U.S. without a photo ID, imagine the following scenario. Lorraine was born in 1936 at home, in a small farm house in Durham County, North Carolina. She graduated from Hillside Park High School in 1954, just before the new wing was added on. … Continue reading Let Lorraine Vote →
Read this today and had my heart broke all over again. We watched them until they were out of hearing. And we listened for a long time after that. At those sounds. Whether the sounds we were hearing were those of a buried or modified culture, merging with another as the dirt road merged with … Continue reading Will Campbell: Jesus sounds →
Do you ever wonder why you do the things you do? Do you question your own motives? Motives are tricky. We don’t always know our own true motives until we reflect on our actions after the fact. This is the way of it. We make moral decisions in real time and then we engage in … Continue reading motives are tricky →
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. – Jesus No one has a salt meal. Salt makes all meals better without ever being the … Continue reading salty leaders →
I frequently hear students and pastors express great fear regarding the survival of the church. Each time, I try to point out the deep theological flaw in such worried thinking. The church is not in any jeopardy of disappearing from the earth because its existence is not up to us but up to the Holy Spirit … Continue reading the church is not in jeopardy →
We live in a culture fundamentally marked by, even ordered around, fear. As Paul told Timothy, the Lord doesn’t give us a spirit of fear. Instead, the Lord gives us a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. Fear is the opposite of all those things. Fear robs us of love. Fear disempowers us. … Continue reading the opposite of fear →
In 1994, John Wimber gave an interview to the British magazine Worship Together. Here is an excerpt that really spoke to me: Over the last six months I’ve spent time re-reading some of the evangelical classics, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith. I was given a copy the third week after I … Continue reading do we want a career or Jesus? →
Pelagianism is theological shorthand for any mode of thinking and acting that depends on us making something happen. The classic argument between Augustine and Pelagius was whether salvation was a free gift of God’s grace or something we could earn by our own efforts. That same up-by-the-bootstraps mentality finds its way into other aspects of … Continue reading No Pelagian Revival →
I am sick to death of hearing church leaders complain about the “feminization” of culture (whatever that purports to name). It presumes definitions of femininity and masculinity that should be interrogated in light of the Gospel. Jesus was so gentle he wouldn’t break off a reed already bent or snuff out a smoldering candle wick and yet he … Continue reading my manly heroes →
On this episode of AM Radio, Amy and I react to Andy Stanley’s claim that we hate our children, we give an On the Homefront Update, and we talk about Easter at Vineyard North.
In The City of God (XIX, 23), Augustine explained where to find justice: Justice is found where God, the one supreme God, rules an obedient City according to his grace, forbidding sacrifice to any being save himself alone; and where in consequence the soul rules the body in all people who belong to this City and … Continue reading Where justice is found →
Todd Hunter in Bill Jackson’s The Quest for the Radical Middle, p.366-7: One of the reasons we are increasingly without a voice in our culture is that we’ve “dumbed down” Christianity to a ludicrous level. Perhaps it’s time we help people begin to learn a new vocabulary, hear some new stories, and experiment with some … Continue reading intriguing life as evangelism →
The Gospel message is that through his Incarnation, ministry, death on the cross, and resurrection, Jesus Christ has secured and begun the process of reconciliation. He reconciles us to God, us to each other, and us to our own selves. These vertical, horizontal, and internal healings progress together; they must, this is a theological commitment. … Continue reading reconciliation litmus test →
We held this episode of AM Radio for a while (it’s a long story and not all that interesting). We continue talking about our life altering news from the last episode, about finding the Presence of God in the process, and the relationship between performance and worship. If you enjoy it, please leave us feedback … Continue reading Give God an Inch →
I read often about church leaders needing to cast vision. Many experts name this as the most important thing a leader does. All I can say to that is. No. That is not what we see in Scripture. Moses’ didn’t cast the vision. The burning bush did. The early church didn’t cast the vision, they … Continue reading casting vs. catching →
When the Spirit breaks the kingdom into our present, there are three basic markers that always show up. They don’t show up fully and they usually don’t last all that long. Our way of doing things has a way of reasserting itself and pushing the kingdom back. But on the whole, the kingdom advances with … Continue reading marks of the kingdom →
What will we do with this one wild and precious life? The Summer Day Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who … Continue reading one wild and precious life →
I hear honest, well-meaning pastors talk about wanting to focus on their personal relationship with God first, before they minister, so they be more effective and true in their ministries. While I appreciate their sincerity, this is thinking about the whole thing wrong in a couple of key ways. This is not a before/after sort of … Continue reading fix me first? →
Did you know your heart thinks? Proverbs 23.7 says: The way a person thinks in his heart, determines who he or she is. In order to access what we think in our hearts we have to work backward. We think we know what we think but our actions reveal what our hearts actually think. Ethics names … Continue reading what my heart thinks →
I often hear Christian leaders talk about evangelism as inviting non-Christians to join us where we are, to adopt our ‘lifestyle’ and/or our beliefs. I think there’s a serious problem with that sort of thinking. There is no arrival point at which we are only doing kingdom work and not also doing internal work. Remember, Jesus … Continue reading working projects are inviting →
The mission of God is to draw all of us into communion with God and with each other, to reconcile us to God, to each other, and to ourselves. These happen together or not at all and they are a life long process. Salvation marks the beginning of our participation with that process but it … Continue reading lingering in the doorway →
I grew up Pentecostal. One of the things I was taught (early and often) was that only believers could receive the Holy Spirit and even then that was a separate step not all believers got to enjoy automatically. Only some got to level up (okay, they never used video game lingo but this was the … Continue reading the unreserved Holy Spirit →
If you believe in God – if you believe to the point that you forgive others and live in the vulnerability that entails, trusting God with all things – then your sins are forgiven and your prayers are answered. No need to bring sacrifices, no need to buy the approval of (too often greedy) religious … Continue reading Withering and flourishing →
Ever wonder why Jesus told people to keep his miracles a secret? Seems like a strange thing to do and usually no explanation is given. But there is one instance in Matt. 12 where we are told why Jesus did things this way: But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, … Continue reading keep this miracle a secret →
One of the best resources for pastors I have found is the book Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition by Thomas C. Oden which is available free online. Here is an excerpt from chapter four that gives practical wisdom regarding pastoring people toward forgiveness. The Actively Guilty and the Passively Guilty Those feeling guilt … Continue reading Care of Souls: Forgiveness →
Remember that grace comes first. You are loved and accepted by God just as you are. The growth you need is for your benefit, not God’s. You will enjoy life more once you move to a deeper place with God. Don’t beat yourself up because you don’t read the Bible enough, pray enough, etc. Condemnation, … Continue reading grace comes first →
You already know this but I think I should remind you. Remember that prayer is not just saying things, not just asking for needs to be met, prayer is also quiet time with God. Carve out some time just to be with God, not to ask for anything other than God’s Presence close and perceptible … Continue reading prayer is rest in God →
Jackson Browne: Ever since the world’s existed There’s one thing that is certain There are those who build walls And those who open doors Ah but this my love I’m thinking you already knew For some it’s always winter While others have the spring Some people find good fortune While others never find a thing … Continue reading walls and doors →
I’ve been reading Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations. (If you follow that link, you can receive daily emails. Doesn’t get any easier than that.) Last week he wrote that Christians don’t typically believe in resurrection all that much. That’s a point I’ve made many times. In class settings or even conversations, I often note Christians describing … Continue reading Niggle’s Leaf part 1 →
After I claimed in the last post that we all have a theology or two, my colleague Matte Downey asked me this question over on Facebook: Thinking about theological integrity myself these days, but in a slightly different way. How do we translate the theology inside our heads into practical action? How do we flesh it … Continue reading 7 steps to turn theology into action →
Humans reflect on God. We think thoughts about God and the nature of reality. That’s what theology is. Sometimes it is good theology in that we have thought through it well and grounded our thought in Scripture and the teachings of the church. Other times it is bad theology because we haven’t thought through things, … Continue reading you have a theology or two →
I knew this would happen but I didn’t think so soon. Blogging every day is quite the commitment. I made it a long way in 2013 before I missed a day. But then I had something set to share daily unlike now where it’s catch as catch can. But the reason it’s been a couple … Continue reading Regrettably yours →
On this episode of AM Radio, we update what’s been going on with us since our last podcast (at the end of August, sorry!), Michael tries to convince Amy about his sermon plan for 2016, and we do sermon prep for Acts 2. Thanks for listening.
In my experience churches are receptive to solid biblical teaching. People crave truth (meat as Hebrews calls it) and flock to it when they find it. The trouble is, they do not find it often enough because our leaders are not as biblically active as they should be. Many feign biblical activity, but not enough … Continue reading teach the Bible please →
Last night, Amy and I went to the Raleigh Vineyard to catch the last session by Peter and Mary Ellen Fitch, pastors of St. Croix Vineyard in New Brunswick, Canada. We fell in love with them when they came a year ago and were grateful to get to spend a little time with them again. … Continue reading learn to unlearn →
My little post from yesterday about the meteorite struck a nerve. A number of people shared it, liked it, and commented on it. I appreciate the encouragement. I also had to laugh thinking about what the experience of writing it was like compared to how it came out and was received. As I wrote Monday, … Continue reading sacredness of small moments →