I’m almost finished with Piper’s new birth series and thought this was a great excerpt out 1John 5:1-5.  It’s interesting to ponder how this relates to a church’s role in a city.  For me, I think about how it relates to what Eternity will do in Jefferson City.

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Or at least that’s where we will live in about 30 days. A major family injury, a new tire, and an incredibly funny family joke later, we believe we have landed where God would have us be.
I look forward to memories of Christ-exalting conversations and friendships deepened in this house.  Above all, I want it [...]

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Continuing to work through the new birth series which has been truly amazing.  Wanted to share this excerpt of Piper talking about John 1: 11-13.

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One of (and the most important) of our values at Eternity is the Gospel.  One of the great tragedies in Christianity today is the absolute abandonment of both the justifying and sustaining power of the Gospel.  I preached out of 1Corinthians 15 a few weeks ago on this very topic, but as I was going [...]

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This weekend was quite possibly one of the most trying and challenging weekends that Backes family has encountered in a while. Nothing flowed. Nothing clicked.
We had a great dinner Saturday night with some folks who are looking at being a part of Eternity. Also, my wife’s father was baptized at the age [...]

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I’m continuing to work through Piper’s new birth series and in his exposition of Titus 3: 1-11, (You can watch the whole message here) he has the following to say about how we are wired to think about our salvation and our part in it:

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I know I’m on a YouTube kick this week, but it’s been a great week for content.  I wanted to share this discussion that Ed Stetzer (Church Planting Guru) and Adrian Warnock (British Blogging Extraordinare) had regarding “Theologically” minded churches and “Evangelistic Effective” churches.  What Stetzer says about four minutes into this about wanting it [...]

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I’m a huge fan of Pardon The Interruption on ESPN and as I was watching this message by John Piper in his series on the new birth, I thought these would be five good minutes for you to spend:

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If there is one heart cry (and there are many) that I have for Jefferson City and central Missouri as we begin Eternity, it is best captured in the following video clip. I don’t think you can say it any better.

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I want the world to get the real deal. I want them to get it better from me. I want to validate my new birth with greater authenticity in my family, my neighborhood, my church, and this world. (John Piper “You Must Be Born Again: Why This Series And Where Are We Going” [...]

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