Union with Christ Real Presence, All the Time

“We evangelicals are deeply committed to the Gospel, evangelism, and missions. Rumor has it, however, that spiritual hunger is endemic in the church,” observed Bruce Demarest, professor of Christian formation at Denver Seminary. “The evangelical church has not been suffering from a lack of effort,” according to Demarest, “but our regimens of

First, the renewal of interest in the spiritual disciplines in evangelical Protestant circles in the last generation, and especially since the publication of Richard Foster’s seminal book of 1978, Celebration of Discipline. Second, the growing religious pluralism of American culture and the growing interest in Asian religions and Buddhist and Hindu

Evangelical Christians are understandably wary of uncritically adopting Eastern religious practices, but as Simon Chan has reminded us, evangelical Protestantism has its own rich heritage of biblical meditation, and this heritage needs to be retrieved and adapted to today’s spiritual needs.[25]

Communion with God in an Age of Distraction

Brought Near by the Spirit Temple of God, “Abba, Father”

“If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. . . . by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Rom 8:9, 15). “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Gal 4:6).

New Developments in Biblical and Systematic Theology

attending church and hearing good sermons, while certainly of great value, do not in themselves lead to the deeper encounters with God through the Scriptures that produce lasting personal transformation.