tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post6754559945630877393..comments2016-12-19T08:46:09.488-05:00Comments on Together In His Word: Wednesday April 16, 2014 Matthew 7:21-23Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13039747211389274719noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post-66809156385722940162014-04-18T18:48:31.533-04:002014-04-18T18:48:31.533-04:00Have I changed my political positions?
As a boy, ...Have I changed my political positions?<br /> As a boy, with limited church exposure, I was unaware of how badly so many people have life.<br />As a young man, I was a fiscal conservative and social ignoramus.<br /><br /> As I aged, I became a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.<br /><br />I now a fiscal liberal, and a social very liberal.<br /><br />For the past ten years I have taken many programs on finding spiritual gifts.<br /><br /> I am seeing increased enrollments in our United Methodist Lay Servant programs, which from the first course member emphasizes finding your gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to you.<br /><br />It has been a great joy to see so many people realize their gifts, and go on to use them to build up the body of Christ.<br /><br />I was thrilled when Pastor Julia gave a sermon series on the gifts of the Spirit, culminating in that beautiful service that called on each of us to put symbolic tokens of our gifts on the altar. I have witnessed some people taking on new ministries as fruit.<br /><br />Praise be to God!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11400065846688624569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post-31820765152882575142014-04-17T10:31:56.059-04:002014-04-17T10:31:56.059-04:00Thank you Nikki. As a lay person I have humbly ob...Thank you Nikki. As a lay person I have humbly observed the church expends tremendous energy developing and running programs to bring people in and keep them satisfied once they're there. There's nothing inherently wrong with this per se. But I don't think spiritual formation is given nearly the same level of effort and care as program ministries. For me the irony is that volunteer problems and material resource problems in the church are really at their heart often spiritual formation issues. If the church helped more people go farther and deeper, we might run fewer, better programs but actually accomplish a great deal more within the church and within the communities in which we're planted. Transformed people transform communities. Linda Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11766818173186708291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post-92160272826910576532014-04-16T23:10:31.278-04:002014-04-16T23:10:31.278-04:00I really appreciate your comments, Linda. I feel ...I really appreciate your comments, Linda. I feel deeply that a church community should be tasked most prominently with the job of challenging its congregation to take their discipleship farther and deeper, to constantly give space for folks to evaluate where they are in their faith journeys, and to provide the resources to step out and stretch their faith. I don't think many churches do this.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04727852301958179569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post-30860728887245524472014-04-16T07:51:07.977-04:002014-04-16T07:51:07.977-04:00I've been that person too. :-)I've been that person too. :-)Linda Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11766818173186708291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2149709971452198046.post-87258258777254469352014-04-16T07:08:15.568-04:002014-04-16T07:08:15.568-04:00AMEN Linda!
"It’s possible to have a great m...AMEN Linda! <br />"It’s possible to have a great moral performance, attend weekly Bible Study, sing praise songs on Sunday with your hands raised high, listen to Christian radio, go on mission trips, and do everything imaginable in the parallel Christian sub-culture and still miss Jesus as Savior and Lord." <br />This is so true and I know very personally because of the many years I spent in that place. Way. Too. Many. I used to be so busy with "church work" I had no time for a relationship with God. In that He is God, The Lord knows us in the deepest way, which will be to our detriment if what He sees is nothing but a "whitewashed tomb". Thank God, literally, for the fact that through Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit, He is willing to pursue us so that we may come to know Him in all His glory both in this world and the next!Tracyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13039747211389274719noreply@blogger.com