Tag: Adoption

Pastoral MinistryLeave a comment

Helps Towards Appreciating Your Adoption: part two

joshnmarda

Being adopted by God is one of the biggest privileges we have as believers.  Yet, we don’t often appreciate it the way we should.  We are taking some time to think through what makes this spiritual blessing so important.   In a previous post we enjoyed the fact that our adoption means we are a child of God.  Now, we want to delight in the fact that our adoption means we are loved by God. This is one of the most important truths you can take away from this idea of adoption. Listen to what Paul says at the end of verse 4 … Continue reading Helps Towards Appreciating Your Adoption: part two

Pastoral MinistryLeave a comment

Adoption is War part four

joshnmarda

One lie that we are tempted to believe is, “I don’t have what it takes to do what God’s calling me to do.”     If you are an honest and humble person you will find that adopting and working with children who are in crisis situations can often seem overwhelming. Sometimes when we are feeling the weight of that pressure we feel like God hasn’t given us the resources we need to actually respond to the pressure in a way that honors him. And that is a terrible place for us to be, because if we doubt that God has … Continue reading Adoption is War part four

Adoption, MercyLeave a comment

An Apologetic for Orphan Care part five

joshnmarda

You sometimes get the feeling when you begin to talk about adoption with some individuals that they feel like you are talking about a lightweight doctrine.  Not so!  Adoption is one of the highest and most significant privileges the gospel reveals.  In fact, J.I. Packer once said if he were asked to summarize the New Testament message in three words his proposal would be “adoption through propitiation and I do not expect to ever meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.”  If you are able, we would love to have you come and explore why … Continue reading An Apologetic for Orphan Care part five

Adoption, MercyLeave a comment

An Apologetic for Orphan Care part four

joshnmarda

It is hard to believe Together for Adoption is less than two weeks away.  We are looking forward to a missions team from the United States coming at the end of this week, then a trip to Lesotho to help build a church facility and bang, the conference is here!  Please be praying that God will use this conference to encourage his people and to help fuel a movement. And oh yeah, if you haven’t registered yet, this is the week!  To motivate you, we have been working our way through James 1:27, trying to understand why James brings up … Continue reading An Apologetic for Orphan Care part four

Adoption, MercyLeave a comment

An Apologetic for Orphan Care part two

joshnmarda

It is one day closer to our first ever Together for Adoption conference here in Pretoria, South Africa.  We are hoping God will use this conference to increase our joy in our adoption and spark a theologically driven adoption movement here in South Africa.  I began yesterday working through several reasons we are convinced that it is vitally important we as believers reach out to orphans with the love of God.  The first reason had to do with the character of God.  Here are reasons two and three: ——————————————————————————- Second, a lack of concern for the orphan and widow is … Continue reading An Apologetic for Orphan Care part two

Adoption, Mercy2 Comments

An Apologetic for Orphan Care part one

joshnmarda

We are excited to be able to host a Together for Adoption Conference here in South Africa on March 1 and 2nd.  It is a great deal of work putting on a conference and is requiring a great deal of faith as well, trusting that God will make His name look great through our feeble efforts.  Over the next several posts, I thought I might share some reasons why we believe the way we respond to the orphan crisis in our midst is such an important topic for us to consider.  —– If you wanted to test the reality of … Continue reading An Apologetic for Orphan Care part one

AdoptionLeave a comment

Adopted into God’s Family

joshnmarda

I have been working through Trevor Burke’s, Adopted into God’s Family.  In a previous post I summarized chapter one.  I thought here I could just share some of my favorite quotes from chapter two.  “…on statistical grounds, not to mention the sheer range of vocabulary the apostle employs, the family is not only one of the most important metaphors but is also the most pervasive he uses to describe his communities.”  p.36 Quoting Robert Banks, he writes “More than any other image utilized by Paul, it  [family] reveals the essence of his thinking about community.” p.36 Quoting John Murray, “Adoption, … Continue reading Adopted into God’s Family

Adoption, ReviewsLeave a comment

Adopted into God’s Family: Book Reflections

joshnmarda

I recently read,  Adopted into God’s Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor by Trevor Burke and I thought it was a fantastic book. Which is why over the course of several months I thought I could give you some brief summaries of what I learned from it.  Brief Summary of Chapter One The Bible uses many different words to describe the relationship between God and His people.    One of the words that the apostle Paul uses to describe our relationship with God is adoption.  He speaks of it five times in three of his letters.  You will find it in Romans … Continue reading Adopted into God’s Family: Book Reflections