Hello everyone, Michael Keller here (the son that's helped run Dad's social media since we started in 2013). Thank you so much for all the beautiful memories, stories, and tributes written over the past two weeks about Dad. The original vision for creating these social media 1/3

The gospel doesn't compete with our deepest longings. It fulfills them. —Michael Keller zondervan.com/p/the-stories-…

What are the core elements of doing ministry in New York today? Focus on: a) reordering the loves of the heart with the gospel, b) loving the city in word and deed, c) contextualizing and culturally engaging without compromise, d) preaching to both Christians and non-Christians at the same time because we welcomed and expected non-believers to be present with us constantly, e) using language that is accessible, not ‘insider’ pious-talk or unnecessary technical doctrinal-talk, f) speaking about non-Christians when they are not present exactly the way we talk to non-Christians when they are present, g) “majoring in the majors” rather than constantly arguing about topics where Christians differ, h) emphasis on surmounting racial barriers and forming a loving multi-ethnic community, i) loving our neighbors through deeds of mercy and justice, j) reasoning with non-believers as Paul did in Acts 17 and 1 Cor 1:22-23, with a strategy of “subversive fulfillment,” that is, showing non-believers that their best aspirations are idolatrous but their true needs can be fulfilled in Christ, k) combining things that confound non-Christians’ expectations--such as [1] speaking unpopular truth yet doing so with patient, open-to-criticism, non-coercive love; [2] vigorous, active evangelism and yet calls for justice; [3] strong contention for historic Christian doctrine with and openness to and emphasis on the arts; [4] a belief in the authority and inerrancy of the Scripture yet a deep appreciation of and willingness to learn from non-Christian thought (the practice of “common grace”); l) an emphasis on both deep involvement in church and Christian community with an integration of faith and work in the public sectors of society, m) being ‘movement minded’ and willing to cooperate with other Christians rather than being sectarian and separatist, n) practicing servant-leadership and openness to ideas and criticism rather than coercive, abusive, and top-down leadership. More in Center Church. I would argue this is the DNA most churches should strive to implement.

If you live long enough or accomplish something that leads some people to regard you as a 'great man' or 'great woman'--you will laugh and laugh at the ludicrousness of it. Or I should say I hope you will laugh at it. Otherwise it will eat you alive.

To glorify someone is to praise, enjoy, and delight in them.

When you create an identity by despising other groups, ironically, the "other" becomes part of who you are. And so if something threatens your one-dimensional, negative view of them, it shakes your very foundations. buff.ly/31KS0wx and amzn.to/3saerWW

How Tim Keller Rearranged His Life in His Final Years An excerpt from The Stories We Live By: Seven Cultural Myths That Fail Us and the Story That Never Will. chrst.today/4hg46k7

RT @TGC: The best way to remember Tim Keller is not to try to replicate what he did. The most honoring thing is not to point back to him. T…

If a person has grasped God's grace in his heart he will do justice-If he doesn't care about the poor it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced and at worst he has not encountered the mercy of God-Grace should make you just buff.ly/2MyA8HK

Today we're celebrating the release of The Stories We Live By. Can the stories shaping our culture account for both the beauty and brokenness of life? My hope is that this book helps readers discover a story true enough to explain reality and strong enough to carry us through life and death. Available now. buff.ly/kJkPP5q —Michael Keller

The cross is the place where the Judge takes the Judgment.

James Cone taught theology at Union Theological Seminary in NYC and he required students read Machen's "Christianity and Liberalism". Did he agree with it? No. But it was clear, well reasoned conservative theology and he wanted students to grapple with it. Those were the days! If James Cone recommended his students read Machen as one of the best presentations of conservative theology, why wouldn't it be good for both liberals and conservatives to read him too?

I cannot prove beyond doubt Christianity is true, but I can demonstrate that it is intellectually and rationally formidable. Those on my Twitter threads who simply dismiss it have not read Augustine's Civitas Dei or Thomas' Summa or Taylor's A Secular Age. In my 46 years of ministry I have never met an unbeliever who has read two of these three books and didn't have great respect for Christianity. One example: The resurrection narratives. If someone was making them up at the time, women wouldn't have been the first eyewitnesses. Many other aspects of Jesus' resurrection accounts could have hardly been fabricated. See buff.ly/3m0v5od

Habakkuk 3 is a great example of how to respond when God says something in his Word that you don't want to hear.

In the non-West, what the Bible says about sex is welcome but what it says about forgiveness is offensive. In the West, it's the reverse. The Bible is able to critique every culture. It offers its own 'biblical critical theory'. Augustine used it in Dei Civitas. We can too.

The way to find your calling is to look at-- your ability, affinity, and opportunity. What are you good at (that others affirm)? What do you enjoy doing? What doors are open to you?

Why do our culture's stories resonate so deeply? Perhaps because they contain echoes of something true. The Stories We Live By explores how modern stories about identity, freedom, happiness, truth, and progress point beyond themselves to a larger Story. Preorder now. buff.ly/kJkPP5q —Michael Keller

When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an 'idol,' something you are actually worshiping. When such a thing is threatened, your anger is absolute. Your anger is actually the way the idol keeps you in its service, in its chains. Therefore if you find that, despite all the efforts to forgive, your anger and bitterness cannot subside, you may need to look deeper and ask, 'What am I defending? What is so important that I cannot live without?' It may be that until some inordinate desire is identified and confronted, you will not be able to master your anger. (Counterfeit Gods) buff.ly/s27eAe1

Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of greed.

When work is your identity, success goes to your head, and failure goes to your heart.

If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.