{"id":2852,"date":"2012-03-02T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2012-03-02T09:45:56","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T15:45:56","slug":"the-cross-church-atchitecture-and-spiritual-disciplines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/the-cross-church-atchitecture-and-spiritual-disciplines\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cross, Church Architecture, and Spiritual Disciplines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted excerpts from the free books that will be given to Clarus attendees during the conference (Book 1<\/a>, Book 2<\/a>, Book 3<\/a>). The last book,\u00c2\u00a0compliments of Cruciform Press<\/a>, has a title that matches our conference theme nicely.<\/p>\n

Cruciform: Living the Cross-Shaped Life<\/a>,<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0by Jimmy Davis, is rich with quotes like these:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here in the 21st century we need more cruciform churches. Not lavish cathedrals but living communities of disciples being shaped by the cross into the shape of the cross for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors, the nations, and the next generation. Our best hope is to cooperate with The Architect, who promised he would build his church, as we join him to form our families, small groups, and churches into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cruciform communities.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Such com\u00c2\u00admunities visibly show and verbally share the message of the cross because they are made up of people who have been vibrantly shaped by that message.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At one particular point in my life I realized I had been practicing \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccross-less devotions.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I was working hard at spending time with God while forgetting the very gospel that permits and prompts me to do so. We are not to practice Bible reading, fasting, solitude, prayer, and other disciplines to make God happy with us but to make space to hear how happy God is with us because of Jesus. When I have a quiet time in order to get God to love me, I am a legalist who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slaves away\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to earn the favor of God, not a loved son who enjoys fellowship with his Father.\u00c2\u00a0The purpose of spiritual disciplines is to make room in my life to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153repent and believe in the gospel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d . . .Cross-shaped spiritual disciplines enable me to hear God the Father say that I already have his accep\u00c2\u00adtance and approval through God the Son, so that I can now work with him in the resurrection power that God the Spirit supplies . . .When my spiritual disciplines are shaped by the cross, then whatever spiritual discipline I practice, my aim is the same: to feed by faith on Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Visit the Cruciform Press<\/a> website for more books by this fine new publisher, and read about their unique vision<\/a> for publishing. Conference discounts will be available on numerous books by\u00c2\u00a0Cruciform\u00c2\u00a0Press<\/a> in the Clarus Books and Resources Room.<\/p>\n

Clarus<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is a Regional Conference of The Gospel Coalition taking place March 9-11 with speakers D.A. Carson and Fred G. Zaspel. Visit the\u00c2\u00a0Clarus page<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for more information or to register<\/a> for this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted excerpts from the free books that will be given to Clarus… Continue Reading ›<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2941,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions\/2941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertspringschurch.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}