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| "... proof that Christ is alive ..." |
| 05.28.04 (1:17 pm) [edit] |
I found this and wanted to see if anyone agrees.
By: James M. Campbell
In that supreme moment when Christ was revealed to Paul, and entered with saving power into his life, the mystical message of Paul was born. The mystical, transcendental Christ was henceforth the only Christ he knew; the only Christ he sought to make known to others. The human Christ he had not known, except by hearsay; nevertheless, as Wernle says, "it was he who best understood him." He did not belong to the favoured circle of disciples among whom the Lord went in and out. Upon the blessed face of the Master he had never looked, the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth he had not heard. He knew Him as we must know Him if we know Him at all, in the reality and power of His spiritual presence.
It is noteworthy that Paul makes hardly a reference to the earthly life of our Lord. The only exceptions are when he refers to His birth, death, and resurrection, and those he makes for purely doctrinal purposes; yet he must have been familiar with the events of that life, especially if the Gospel of his pupil Luke was written, as is generally believed, under his influence and direction. But so absorbed was he in the glory of the risen Christ, whom he had seen and heard, that he declared, " Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet we know Him so no more" (2 Cor. 5:16). With something of impatience he answers the boast of those who gloried in the fact that they had been acquainted with Christ in the flesh, saying in effect, "That is now behind you; it belongs to a past condition of things: you can no more live upon it than your forefathers in the desert could live upon the manna of the day before; you can know Christ in that way no longer; you can know Him now not as the Man of Galilee, but as the living Christ who holds personal contact with your souls." It is in that way that the world must know Christ today.
Since the time of Paul down to the present, the testimony of the Church to the presence of the living Christ has been continuous and cumulative. It has been the bridge which has connected the past with the present. The Church has lived because He has lived within her. Throughout the centuries she has toiled, and suffered, and triumphed, because of the unshaken assurance that her heavenly Bridegroom has not forsaken her. She has looked upon her indwelling Lord as her actual ruler and leader, the source of her illumination and strength. Her power has waxed or waned in proportion as this assurance has been bright or dim. Every revival in the Church has been a revival of the sense of the Master's presence.
During recent years the historical method of New Testament study has been somewhat closely followed, with the result that the evidential value of the experience of the living Christ has been in a measure obscured. The historical method sends us back to the first century to find our Christ. It puts Him more than nineteen hundred years away. It does not give us a Christ who is alive today. It sends us to seek the living among the dead. All that the Gospel story can give us is the evidence of the Christ who was. To find evidence of the Christ who is, we must look elsewhere. That evidence is found in the working of His Spirit in our hearts. That Christ is here, that He has not left His people in a state of orphanage, that He has fulfilled His promise made at the time of His departure, "I will not leave you desolate, I will come unto you," is a matter of present experience. "Serious, sober-minded men may still be found the whole world over, who say that they are conscious of this presence as a fact; while as the result of this power and presence the same things are being done and suffered in the Apostolic and every after age."
The supreme proof that Christ is alive is that He is living with us and in us. Ever since He left this earth His people have been able to give confirmation to the words, "Whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory " (I Pet. 1:8).
From: Paul the Mystic: A Study in Apostolic Experience. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1908.
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| Exactly Jesus |
| 05.27.04 (11:41 am) [edit] |
If your aim is fixed on being used by God, how often do you hit the target? Could there we a better focus for your life?
I love disc golf. I talk about it constantly, and play it every chance I get. It is the same sport as golf, but played with a Frisbee. My favorite is to play it with professionals, because I am still an amateur player. And often I pick up important pointers that tremendously help my game from the professionals that I play with. Some of those pointers help me with the physics of the game, but the ones that have helped me the most are the ones that coached me mentally.
When it comes time to "hole-out" in disc golf, you have to putt; and putting is mostly mental.
The "hole" is a suspended canopy of chains above a basket like entrapment. The only way to finish the hole is to make your disc land in the basket or hang from the chains, so the goal is the basket and the target is the chains. I used to just aim for the general "hole" and evaluate success only as "holing-out." But, that was before some of the advise that I received.
How do you evaluate chapters of your life? Does it matter only if you somehow get through it? Is there more to it, or are you only interested in "holing-out?"
"Don't aim for the canopy of chains," one of the professionals told me, "find one chain above the basket and then focus on that. Then find one link on that one chain and block the rest out of your mind. Focus on that link, and make the disc strike that one link. Then evaluate your effort based on that link."
"But what about holing-out?" I asked.
"You will hole out more often when you focus on that one link."
And he was right.
What is the aim of your Christian walk? Do you just want to "make a difference," or "be used?" Well, those are noble goals. Maybe you just want to wind up alright at the end. So, how much progress are you having? Are you wasting needless effort, trying to hole-out, because of lack of focus?
The true single spiritual target is not a nebulous goodness and well-being, nor even to somehow avoid transgression. But you can have all of that if you set your aim on the one link which is above those goals. That one link is EXACTLY Jesus Christ, not "like Him," not "as He might have done," but EXACTLY Christ.
Is your focus one exactly Him?
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| Who needs the Bible? God doesn't. |
| 05.26.04 (12:05 pm) [edit] |
"When Phillips Brooks first spoke to Helen Keller of Christ, she at once exclaimed, " Oh, I never knew His name before, but I always knew Him." She was acquainted with Him as the Christ of experience, the Universal Christ who lighteneth every man coming into the world; but she did not know Him as the Christ of history, the Christ who lived a human life in Palestine long years ago. Alas! There are many who know Him as the Christ of history who do not know Him as the Christ of experience. They know His name, but they do not know Him. They are familiar with the facts of His earthly life, they accept His system of teaching, they follow Him as an impersonal and abstract ideal, but they have not experienced the dynamic power of His living personality. They know Him as the Christ who came, but they do not know Him as the Christ who is here. The complete knowledge of Christ is possessed by those alone to whom the Christ of history has become the Christ of experience" By: James M. Campbell - From: Paul the Mystic: A Study in Apostolic Experience. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1908.
If I had a small god, then I would say to you that one person could go to jail without a bible, and another could go home and read the bible on a regular basis and without exception the one that went home would grow more.
I don't want that god. I want a God that is not so easily limited. I don't want a god that was impotent until man invented the printing press. I don't want a god that is dependent on a King named James, in order to reveal Truth.
I want Helen Keller's God.
I want the God that bombards our cosmos with His Word and can only be avoided by the real blind people - those who prefer the darkness.
How many people have worked in vineyard their whole life and could not see Jesus right in front of them? For it is written "I am the vine," not "I am like the vine."
Every vine that has ever grown in the world, has preached Jesus to them that have ears.
They took away what should have been my eyes
(But I remembered Milton's Paradise).
They took away what should have been my ears,
(Beethoven came and wiped away my tears).
They took away what should have been my tongue,
(But I had talked with God when I was young).
He would not let them take away my soul -
Possessing that, I still possess the whole.
-Helen Keller
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| Does faith [receive] or [produce] the things of God? |
| 05.24.04 (4:15 pm) [edit] |
Eyes receive light. Eyes do not produce light. Imagine how hard it would be to sleep if your eyes produced light. Same with ears; They receive (not produce) sound.
I think that faith is like ears and eyes. Faith is like the organ of the innermost being. It is the organ that recieves the things of God. One must see to have faith and revealation is what is beheld. One must hear to have faith, and the Voice of the Shepherd is what is heard.
Thus being receptive, listening, etc. is all that is required when you have ears to hear what God is saying to the willing spirits of those predestined for redemption.
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| Only as weak as your strongest link |
| 05.23.04 (9:11 pm) [edit] |
Did you know that the good of your flesh is the worst of your flesh?!? Whatever it is at which you excel is the last thing you will entrust to God. Compare the frequency of your prayers for help in the company of your enemies or harsh family members to how confident you are amongst people that don't give you problems ... yet where do you fall, and in whose company? The good of your flesh is the enemy of God's best.
Should a Christian avoid evil work?
Duh.
Should a Christian avoid good work?
You tell me.
If the law of the Spirit of life is operating in me in this moment, then it is setting me free from the law of sin and death. The written law is not intrinsically useless, but in the moments that God is living through me there is nothing (not even obedience to the law) that can compare. At those times, it is not me, but Christ living in me, and His strength will be manifest in my weakness. All He is waiting for me to say is the two most precious words in His ears: "I can't." Then I don't have to get by with any less then His best.
After all, I am only as weak as my strongest link.
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| No Good Christians! |
| 05.23.04 (11:02 am) [edit] |
There are no "good" Christians. All Christians are the same. They all have the same struggles and weakness. They all have the same portion of the same hope.
But, even Christians look for some "hero of the faith" - an icon of some ideal. I guess we hope that one of us finally "makes it." - whatever that means. But, we are equally interested in the fall of the same people that we previously exalted. Perhaps, we really do want to know that they are just like the rest of us. Strange, eh?
So, no Christians are any better then any other Christian. We only really have 'strong' Christians that imagine an irrelevant God, and we have 'weak' Christians who know God's power.
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| King - A Second Time. |
| 05.22.04 (9:27 pm) [edit] |
If there is one thing that most scoffers have in common, it is propensity for demands. Most of all they demand rights. Some of these people have said that Christianity just didn't work, when they gave it a try. But what did they really try? Their words frame an attitude towards rights. But what attitude? How could they have called Jesus their King and still dictatorially disregard His rule, by upholding a personal-rights ultimatum?
If you have never read a medical waiver, my advise is to not read it. Just sign it, and be done with it. You are signing all your rights away, so just embrace it. Once you have signed it, you have agreed to be content if the doctor severs your head during hang-nail surgery on your small toe. You are basically saying that you are at the surgeon's mercy to fix what he can fix with no retainage of your rights to interfere or grumble about his methods. But, refuse the waiver; and you refuse the cure.
The first time that I made God my Lord, I screwed it up. I did not sign the waiver. I held my rights.
What would you say about someone that grumbles and calls a surgeon fraud because he couldn't cure a thing? What if this same miserable patient didn't tell you that the surgeon did not cure them because they refused to trust his fix, and refused to sign away their rights? Does their criticism of the surgeon hold water, or did they simply count the costs as too high? I was just such a patient.
1 Chronicles 29:22
They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the LORD that day. Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, ...
Who was the cause of my misery? What was the cost of my cure?
When you are desperate, you find that even the right to be well, is not too much of a cost to surrender.
Spiritual men and women don't complain saying things like, "It's a common theme throughout the bible that our lives here are worth nothing, and should be spent in slavery...er...worship to God.."
Now you know why.
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| Being, Whom You Have Become |
| 05.22.04 (8:49 am) [edit] |
What is victory?
*If a man turns off a dirty movie because his wife or kids come into the room?
*If a man turns off a dirty movie because his pastor comes over?
*If a man turns off a dirty movie because Christ died for the sin of lust?
*If a man turns off a dirty movie because he doesn't want to answer for that in judgement?
*OR if a man turns off a dirty movie because he wants to?
Victory in Christ means living a holy life because that is what you have been made.
Satan and God have two opposite definitions of hypocrisy. Satan says when you did something righteous, you are a hypocrite because you are just a sinner. God says when you did something sinful, you are a hypocrite because you have been made holy. See the difference?
Is Christ's life a holy life? Is your life - Christ's life? Then is your life a holy life? These answers cannot differ except to reveal unbelief.
I can prove someone is holy, even though they don't always behave in perfect holiness. Here is how: I want you to dress like a baby, and drink from a bottle and only gurgle and cry and giggle for the next week. Then go (crawl) amongst your friends, spend time with the family, and visit the neighbors - all while pooping your pants and acting like a baby.
Now, why is that uncomfortable? You would struggle because that is not who you really are, right? You are an adult, so acting differently makes you uncomfortable. Now, is this not the same for those that have been made holy?
If you have been made holy, how does it feel when you behave differently? Are you irked by it? Does wickedness that you see in yourself vex you? Why? Simple! Because you really are holy!
Now, go and be the person that you have become. Let your outer life match the inner reality.
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| Weaknesses never contradict God |
| 05.21.04 (6:07 am) [edit] |
Is it the weak, that contradict God? The unlearned? The not-so-bright? The young and immature? The ignorant? Is it they that oppose God?
Never.
Pride always opposes God. Weakness is always a prerequisite for God's grace.
Humility is not saying "I am nothing." It is saying that "I have nothing."
So, what is your boast? What do you posses? Do you HAVE what it takes to do anything of lasting value? ... or are you dependent/humble/needy?
If you have something that nobody else has, then welcome to the fringe of the Kingdom or worse. Welcome to the windy, dry, and cold pinnacle of the pyramid of your own boastful accomplishment, while the rest of us sit below as pathetic losers. Right?
WRONG.
The grandiosity of piety knows no end, and relies fully on your strength. Ability is the boast of the proud.
Meanwhile, those that lack - will find. The weak will be strong. The needy will be filled. The gentle will be victorious. The burdened will have rest. ... for they have a huge God.
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| God is ... |
| 05.20.04 (5:29 pm) [edit] |
If God dazzled all of creation with knowledge and wisdom, but was not love, then the display is just fingernails on the chalkboard to me. If God unveiled all mysteries of His metacosmic wisdom, and endowed me with His abilities, but not love, then I haven't been shown anything, because God could have granted the creation any manner of charity, but without knowing His love then what is the point? No matter what I do, say, or believe I am bankrupt without God's love.
God never gives up.
God cares more for others than for self.
God doesn't want others to fail in order to highlight His success.
God doesn't strut,
God doesn't have a swelled head,
God doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,
He never flies off the handle,
God won't keep score of the sins,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
God takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
God puts up with anything,
God always is trustworthy
He always looks for the best,
God never looks back,
But keeps going to the end without failing or giving up.
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| Abandon the mask |
| 05.20.04 (5:18 pm) [edit] |
Am I best defined by how I behave under the worst circumstance or under the most ideal circumstance?
Here is my Christmas-wish-list of the ideal impression that I want to leave. (is yours like mine?):
Handsom
Brilliant
Spiritual
Family-man
Entertaining
Calm, cool, collected
Confident
Flexible ... and more
At my worst, I am this list. (is yours different?):
Foolish
Perverted
Angry
Selfish
Afraid
Hopless
Rigid
Carnal
Disgusting
Boring ... and more
The effort to mask my condition with external deception is called "charm." Wouldn't you rather know how someone behaves during hardship? Even if I somehow leave the proper/desired impression, then I am only a hardship away from revealing my other list. The impression is not reality. "Charm is deceiving."
(Sidenote: Consider Jesus during hardship - "Forgive them, for they know not what they do.")
So, I will pull you close with one hand and push you away with my other. I want you to be impressed with me, but I want you to not get so close that you figure out what I am really capable of.
The deception is that by reforming my behavior, that I can change my inner self. Even God did not attempt that. The hope of the Gospel is that I can exchange my inner self (Adam) for God's life (Christ.) ... and this new life will express God's characteristics instead of mine, moment by moment as I rely upon Him. Can you imagine what a relief it is to abandon the mask?
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| I am a sucker for cults. I have been in loads of them. |
| 05.20.04 (6:00 am) [edit] |
I hate to admit that I am a cult junkie
I have belonged to alot of cults. What can I say ... I guess I am a sucker for them. They are alluring to me. And, though I hate to admit it, I have been a part of heaps of cults.
I bet you did not know that. However it is true, but what am I calling a cult?
Cults are not defined by their system of beliefs. A cult is a cult because of their attitude. The cultish attitude is this: "You have to do things the way that I do it, and you cannot go outside the boundaries that I set up. I strip your freedom from you, and you have to do it the way that I say that you have to do it. God has to work in your life the way that He worked in mine."
Did you know that Jesus Christ was into something completely different? Christianity is about freedom, and those that abide in Christ will find out that as they abide in Christ they are agents of freedom. They will say, that "God will work in your life different then He worked in mine, and I won't strip your freedom from you to make you like me." Instead they celebrate uniqueness, and want God to work within your uniquness in a special way.
As soon as we fashion a mold for others and try to press them in it so that they become as moldy as you, then you are opperating a cult, and are not functioning within Christian freedom.
I can be released from all of the cults that I have found myself a part of, because of freedom. How? By adopting a new attitude: "Thy will be done."
So, I don't have plans for you, and how you can wind up like me. I am not particularly concerned about all of that, because I don't know. I don't need a plan, because my plan is to welcome God's will. So going left or going right is not the question for me. My question is to abide or to not abide, and what difference does it make if while abiding I go right or I go left? The point is that I am abiding, so it is great if I go either way. How can I take a bad step when my steps are wrought in God? How can I think that you can take a bad step if your steps are wrought in God? So I don't want you to follow my steps! I want you to abide in Him and let Him direct your path. I would hope that you find freedom, but I won't twist your arm to make you take it, and neigther will God.
Some will say that a life like that won't work, but my answer is "Fine! Alright, but don't drag me into your unbelief." Maybe that is true for you, and the God that you have wouldn't let that work, but I don't want your God. I have a God that is a good shepherd. I have George Muller's God, but I can't know that if I am not weak and without.
With plans and goals come all kinds of manipulation, because we have to see that our plan is brought about. But, without a plan, I am free from a cult's mindset. As I remain restfully available, I don't need to fix the world around me, and the problems that come against me. Rather I can let the it fix me, and the problems to drive me into God's presence.
I am through using the force of my will to manipluate those around me to comform to some notion of fulfillment that I made for them. ... but I might need to remind myself of that tomorrow. ... the cults are calling.
;-)
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| A truth, The Truth, untruth |
| 05.19.04 (6:17 pm) [edit] |
Whenever a truth, is THE Truth, it is an untruth.
When I get ahold of the Way, then He leads me to all the answers. Jesus is the Way, and every other way, isn't the Way.
When you teach mathmatics, you don't teach the answers. Math instructors teach the way to the answers, and once a student has the way, then they won't ever lack an answer.
I don't have all the answers. Infact, I don't believe that Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the way to all the answers.
I'll say alot of things that are just plain wrong, but what did you expect? I am not the answer-man. Those things that I say, that make you want to question everything that I previously said is a wake up call to you that I don't have the Truth in a doctrinally packaged form.
Those wake-up calls in your life are given to keep your eyes on Christ, instead of men.
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| Today's Christ is Tomorrow's Worms. |
| 05.18.04 (9:58 pm) [edit] |
Christ must be gathered everyday, even every moment. You can never surplus His supply.
He is the true bread that comes from heaven and like the manna of old ...
Exodus 16
18but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no extra and those who gathered less weren't short--each person had gathered as much as was needed.
19Moses said to them, "Don't leave any of it until morning."
20But they didn't listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and smelled bad.
Still trying to coast on the Jesus that you gathered before? What does yesterday have to do with your need for Him today?
God needs to love us every year, and every week, and every day, and every hour, and every moment. And likewise, I need Him every moment of every hour of every day of every week of every year.
There is no subtle floating between stages in growth. We are either carnal in this moment (relying upon our own resources) or we are spiritual in each moment - (relying upon God's nourishing supply.) And when that moment is over, we have a new one the next moment.
When I used to fall, I waited for about five months to reunite with God's presence, and would spend that time beating myself up and wallowing in guilt. And after that time, I would return and God accepted me. Then I tried 3 months of away-time. God accepted me. Then I decided that I would go a week or two of penitence before reuniting. Then a week, then a day. God accepted me. Now, I just turn to Him with the very next moment. And did you know that God accepts me, and His acceptance is changing my life. I can't find that acceptance anywhere, so I turn to Him more and more quickly ... more and more often.
Is it any different for you?
God blesses those that draw near to Him every moment, and not be satisfied with the Jesus that they gathered the moment before.
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| Is Christianity Imposed Upon People? |
| 05.18.04 (1:52 pm) [edit] |
"The Bible is a set of scruples imposed upon humanity to keep it from functioning naturally and normally." ... or that is what the quote in the newspaper said.
Is it an outward force? If so then I can escape it or at least try. But what if Christianity is imprinted within you? What if Christianity could be revealed through us, not just another religion that is imposed upon us?
Christianity should be an exposition of God, not in imposition by God. One is God adopting you, and the other is you adopting religion.
Freedom is the hallmark of true faith. Bondage to rules and styles of living are the hallmarks of empty form and pride. One gives life and the other brings death.
The gospel is not about a new lifestyle. The Greek equivalent to "lifestyle" is "bios." From that, we know that biology is the study of how animals live, and what they do. Biographies are the written record of what someone did and how they went through life. But bios is not the word for the life that the Gospel is about. God is not imposing a bios upon us. We are not adopting a lifestyle. The word for the life that God offers is "Zoe." Zoe is defined by a person. Jesus said, "I am the Zoe."
What kind of life do you find in the core of your faith? Are you latched on to an outward imposition, or are you finding life inside of you and working it's way out? Is Christ your life, or are you just looking for a better lifestyle?
How many people can combat that definition that is found in the newspaper?
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| Do Christians Know the Way? |
| 05.16.04 (10:41 pm) [edit] |
Does your way work? Has your doctrine, methods, meetings, retreats, seminars, proper teaching, emotional experiences, and self examination, and what-have-you done anything to free you from anger, old-habits, slander, the desire to be something, and self-centeredness, and frustration?
Has your way set you free? Has it brought you peace and contentment? Where is the way to the perfect life?
Jesus gives a sermon on the perfect life. What are the ingredients?
*be poor in spirit
*mourn
*be meek
*hunger and thirst for righteousness
*be merciful
*have a pure heart
*make peace
*have joy when treated badly
*be the salt and light of the earth
*be devoid of anger
*be prompt to reconciled to your brother
*hold nothing against another
*have a spirit of agreement
*have truth in speech and attitude
*turn the other cheek
*go the second mile
*love enemies
*pray for those that persecute you
Does your way produce the kind of life that Jesus was talking about?
What Jesus does not mention as part of the perfect life is this:
*understand how you have been a victim
*understand why you react to certain people in certain situations
*be justified in what you do
*be doctrinally correct
*memorize scripture
*understand co-dependency / and self-realization
*never fail
*change your behavior
*obtain new and painful realizations about yourself
*know what denial means in relationships
*hand out tracts
*defending Truth against the heretics
*get a divinity degree
Some of you are going to say that you think the second list is an important list. Well, I did not say that it is not important. But, the second list is full of secondary - lesser truths. They are eclipsed by what Jesus says is important in the sermon on the mount.
I'll be happy to talk to any of you about the second list. We can also discuss homosexuality, and political science and abortion, but first I want to know if you have discovered the answer for the 18 things that Jesus says is important first. Have you found that life?
If you say that your way works then your way better result in the manifestation of the sermon on the mount. If we emphasize anything less then the sermon on the mount as the proof of the validity of the way that you live then you are just avoiding a deeper issue.
Will your wife confirm the things that you say matters, and the things that you hold dear when comparing the impact of those things on your life to the 27 things that Jesus mention? Will your neighbors confirm that? Will your children confirm that?
Jesus' simple sermon reveals the effectiveness of your method. And any other method will be revealed by comparison as something carnal, (maybe pious and nice) but nothing more then a false hope and despair.
Are you learning to love your enemies? Are becoming meek? Are you making peace? Do you mourn? Are you developing a pure heart? Then don't tell me about your church or doctrinal proof. You are unaffected by your way, if you are not being moved into the life that Jesus describes. What is included in your creed, and how does it differ from what matters most to Jesus?
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| When a Christian is fully-evangelized ... |
| 05.16.04 (3:38 pm) [edit] |
The difference between a spiritual Christian and a carnal Christian is not found in whether someone is capable of failure, but in how failure is handled when it happens.
If you stand before God holding Jesus in this bag and your deeds in another, how will you handle defeat? If you fall into sin, does it make you shrink back from God, or run to Him? How do you handle the failure?
The person that shrinks back from God when they fail reveals whether their faith is in their works or it is in Jesus. If bad behavior makes them feel as though they have less standing before God, then how can they say that their faith is in Christ? Are they not carnal?
The spiritual Christian handles failure differently, and therefore fails less often. Falling into sin for a spiritual Christian is a catalyst for nearness to God. It causes them to run to Him as the Author and Finisher of their faith. They know that He will complete the work that He began in them, and they run to Him in their defeat. The resultant nearness keeps them from falling further, and in the nearness they know that they have every possible sin latently within them.
Is there anything that nearness to God cannot cure? Is there any reason to shrink away from Him wen you fall if your faith is in Christ alone?
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| I am becoming unteachable. |
| 05.14.04 (7:51 am) [edit] |
The concrete is starting to become pretty hard. I don't want to pretend. I have to admit it. I am not going to move from my gospel, and I am not asking you to move into mine.
There is only one Gospel. But to as many have allowed it to transform them, there are just as many different ways that Gospel is worked out of them. Your gospel is the way that The Gospel has worked out of you, and it is not the exact same as my gospel.
I don't want you to try to preach my gospel, nor should we preach anyone else's gospel. We will never be able to give a good defense for someone else's gospel. God has worked in you in a unique way, and those unique ways never compete against each other, they complete each other.
Here is my gospel:
*God cannot love me more and He will not love me less.
*God's love is pure, and not a bargaining chip to get something from me nor a reaction to my loveliness.
*Surrender is all nor nothing. We don't amputate areas of our life progressively, but willingly give it entirely this moment.
*Faith doesn't produce anything; faith receives with gratefulness.
*"Thank you," is the language of faith. "Please" is the language of mistrust.
*To be filled, all I can do is show up - empty. ... and that is where our work ends and His begins.
*Whenever I work for something, then I prove by my efforts that I don't think that I have what I am working for.
*I can never need more then God's grace, and I've never been forced to get by with less.
*I don't have what you need, but I can show you to Jesus and He has all that you need.
*Truth is unavoidable. I can either accept it or ultimately prove it.
*If I set out to break the law, it is a matter of time before I break myself against it.
*God does not consider me by their deeds, but by my heart.
*Behavior does not equal motive, and temptation does not equal desire.
*God's discipline is never satisfied with a change of behavior, rather His discipline is designed to deal with inner wickedness.
*What wickedness I can see in me (and despise,) I am able to see in others (without disdain.)
*I an under-qualified to be my own Holy Spirit, much less anybody else's Holy Spirit.
*The Christian life is simple: It is Someone living in someone.
*Jesus is not the answer; He is the Way - and every other way is not the way.
*The deepest spiritual life is for the poorest person - the person that says, "I can't."
*God's commands are worthless apart from the command giver.
*Christ has become my life.
*Legalism states that obedience equals acceptance, but acceptance is only found in Christ's life.
*The only way to depart from Jesus is sadly.
*We loose our self-life to gain life for ourselves and others.
*I don't loose abundance when we move from a teaching, but we loose an abundant life when I move away from Jesus.
*The greatest struggle is to struggle not to struggle.
*No matter what anyone does to me, I have no excuse to be offended.
*Sin sends nobody to hell; pride does.
*Faith says rest.
*There is no one-time fix, but a moment by moment walk.
*God will never prepare me to overcome the worst, but Jesus has already seen the worst and overcome it ... and His overcoming life is my only preparation.
*To be in Christ is normal (and fit for eternity,) and to be otherwise is to only remain natural (and decaying.)
*God does not send situations to me so that I can fix them, but He permits pressure for me so that I'll be fixed when I dependently find Him bigger then the problem.
What has the Gospel meant to you? What is your gospel?
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| Berg Beheaded video - download link |
| 05.13.04 (7:48 am) [edit] |
OK, you heard that they beheaded one of our boys. This is the video. Don't watch it on a full stomach. In fact ... don't watch it unless you are completely able to take the worst kind of "faces of death" type graphic violence. This is NOT for everyone, and not everyone should see it, but if you think you can handle it ... don't say that you were not warned.
http://people.delphiforums.com/trentfuller/nickbergb eheadingvideo-Warning-Gra phic" title="http://people.delphiforums.com/trentfuller/nickbergb eheadingvideo-Warning-Gra phic" target="_blank"http://people.delphiforums.co...!.wmv
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| The miracles of Muhammad (sarcasm) |
| 05.12.04 (11:13 pm) [edit] |
I thought it would be nice to list all the miracles that Muhammad performed. I have a talley, but if I forgot any, then please add to my list.
The list of all the miracles:
Uh.
...
ahem.
...
umm.
...
.
Well, that concludes my list of the miracles of Muhammad . The only thing that I wonder about is why do Muslims habitually pray for the blessing and peace of Muhammad's soul!?!?! I mean do they really need to add that to their prayers? Isn't it obvious that someone so miraculously touched by God has no concerns about peace in the afterlife?
So many miracles, and yet the Muslims still are interceding on Muhammad's behalf. Weird!
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| Turn Your Eyes upon Saddam (parody) |
| 05.12.04 (10:59 pm) [edit] |
Turn Your Eyes upon Saddam
(sung to the tune of "Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus")
O saint, are you weary and jaded?
No use for the Gospel you see?
There's a thrill for a look at Saddam,
More fun the reality T.V.!
Refrain
Turn your eyes upon Iraq,
Look at Saddam's twice foolish face,
And the things of God will grow strangely dim,
In debate, when to bomb Iraq's base.
Through CNN into news everlasting,
There's Rush, and don't forget Drudge;
The Bible, we'll discuss only in passing --
Let's revisit Babylon's grudge!
Refrain
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| Are you a wimp? (like me.) |
| 05.12.04 (10:52 pm) [edit] |
How much can you take?
What does it take to bring you down?
*A letter of lying accusation
*Finding drugs in your kids belongings
*Picking up other people's garbage for the 50th time today
*There isn't support for your plan
*Someone promised to change for you, but that was just the latest disappointing deception
*The disillusionment of personal failure
*Opening the Visa bill.
*Someone you love makes another bad decision
*Your view is unappreciated and shot down as soon as it comes out of your mouth
*You hate what you see in the mirror
*Someone cuts you off on the highway or beats you to the spot you wanted
Can you relate to what I am saying, here? It seems like the most insignificant thing can send our fragile selves into a spiral. Why do I let those things take me to the bottom? Is it not written that the Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and He rescues those that are crushed in their spirit? But, we are not overcoming the world, when the world overcomes us. Why are there so many suicidal rapturist?
God's promises mean nothing to us and the trouble we are in is the only thing that we consider relevant. Now tell me, do you rule your believing or does your believing rule you?
A man goes into a bar in Texas, and orders a beer. After the bartender tops off the glass he asks the guy to wait while he rips open the corner of a tiny packet and sprinkles a white powder around the glass. "What is that for?" ask the man. "That is a very good powder, an expensive powder," the bartender went on, "when I sprinkle it around your glass, polar bears stay out of the bar."
"Well, there are no polar bears in Texas!" the man explained.
"I know. I told you that is a very good powder!"
:-)
How can you cure a man of that? He is being ruled by his believing and the only way to confront it is to bring in a polar bear and have it stand upon the ring of powder in his bar.
So, what do we believe about God? Where does He end, and what do we have to do because He can't or He refuses to do it for us? Do we have a tiny God that won't help us, or can't overcome our distress? How can God fix that? How can God free us of our believing so that we can adopt a bigger system of belief?
When the problem seems bigger then what we believe about God, then we have crisis. But, the good news is that God is bigger then the problem whether we want to believe it or not. Overcoming is not fixing the problem, but yielding to God within the problem. If greater is He who is in You, then you will find that you are more then a conqueror.
Maybe God will fix the problem, more likely you will be fixed by it. But, one thing is for sure ... you will be left with a belief system that outlines a bigger God then you had before. ... but still smaller then He really is. The question is whether or not you will try to fill in the gaps in your small believing with self effort, because you think that you have to push back against the pressure. "If you won't do it, who will?" - we wonder, because we think that God is dependent on us, instead of the other way around.
Numbers 16
...two hundred and fifty ... gathered themselves together against Moses ... And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face ... and [you really should read the rest for yourself].
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| Do you hear the Lord's voice? |
| 05.12.04 (10:46 pm) [edit] |
"My sheep hear my voice ..." - Jesus
Nobody twisted His arm to say that, but once He did, it was as immutable as He is. That statement is an absolute.
His sheep hear His voice. If you are His sheep, then you have been hearing it.
Ever read a verse or passage and then unexpectedly find the words in bold relief? Maybe you have read those words 100 times, but now something is different, it means more then you ever imagined. Guess what! You heard His voice.
You have always heard His voice as long as you have been His sheep, and He - your Shepherd. The trick is discerning His voice from that of the butcher's voice.
There are two people that have anything to do with sheep: the shepherd and the butcher. What are the characteristics of the Shepherd's voice, and how does it differ from the butcher's. What sets them apart, and how do you tell the difference?
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| (the unspectacular) |
| 05.12.04 (7:10 am) [edit] |
Carnal teaching emphasizes the big/spectacular things. You can expect to hear bold testimony. Name it and claim it. Blab it and grab it. I did this, I did that. I had great faith and this is what I received. Wonderful stories about life-changing dramatic and supernatural giant events.
Spiritual teaching focusing on abiding in Christ is the exact opposite. Success for the spiritual disciple is in the small/insignificant things in life. Do you have a kind word for the people around you? Can you resist being defensive? When someone cuts in line or spills something on you out of carelessness ... when you are treated with disrespect, does that take you to the bad-place or can you rise above it? When you mate has failed you, can you still hug them and kiss them, or do you resort to manipulation and shame?
But most of the abundance of life is found in the small things not the big things. I can get on with life if I do not have a new truck. Anyone can. But how are you coping with the new scratch on the piece of crap that you currently drive? If our teaching can bring you to the place where the little things don't send you in the downward spiral, that you can really enjoy more of life.
You can have success in the big things of life and still have a failure of a life. I remember hearing a major evangalist that gave the testimony that when he drew big audience, he used to beg not to go out and shake hands afterward. He did not want to see anyone, because of the inferiority that he felt. He was a success in the big things but the small things were ruining his life.
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| Do you ask for forgiveness? |
| 05.11.04 (2:36 pm) [edit] |
I don't.
Rather, I am quite thankful for the forgiveness that I have in Christ.
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| What your church forgot to tell you about satan ... |
| 05.11.04 (7:21 am) [edit] |
***Who is Satan?***
The entity that led most of us to Christ. He is a greater evangelist then Billy Graham, or the apostles.
***Why is Satan the enemy of human beings?***
Because he thinks that right is wrong, and wrong is right.
***Why Satan is not destroyed or punished?***
God is using him. It is like the live-bait store that put a predator in the tank with the fish .. his fish are more healthy, then those without the predator, because in the comfort of safety, the other fish quit swimming. ... besides, we all know how comfort can destroy if we have too much ... just look at the kids of wealthy parents - usually only 2 % are productive.
***What does Satan think to achieve by destroying the image of god?***
Satan can't destroy anything. Every pit that he ever dug for me to fall into, was a waste of his time. God spun me around and showed me the mound of dirt to heaven. The only way that God can get Satan to mound a pile of dirt to heaven is let him believe that God will let me fall into his pit that he is digging.
***Why Satan is not forgiven and redeemed therefore tamed?***
Because pride cannot hear, and Satan is refined pride. He hears nothing! He is deaf. I could put my arm around him and say, "haven't you ever heard of the lake of fire? Does the bottomless pit mean anything to you?" ... and he would not hear a thing.
***What are demons?***
Persons.
***What caused Satan to rebel against God?***
Self-admiration.
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| (the quick fix) |
| 05.10.04 (8:14 am) [edit] |
Carnal teaching will emphasize the immediate fix. "If you just follow these steps then you will make a quantum leap in growth." Haven't we read the "how to" books, gone to the seminars, listened to the tapes and still be left in our same condition?
But, spiritual teaching will emphasize a moment by moment abiding. The only fix that is immediate and that is one time, is abiding in Christ. As we abide in Christ we are not undone, but Christ overcomes. And as we abide longer, we overcome more, but one moment drawing on our own resources and we are just as weak as we have ever been.
You might even look at this as toadstool vs oak. The landscape can change overnight, but only by growing mushrooms, not oaks. But when the sun beats down, the mushrooms can't take the heat, and what changed everything overnight will wilt and disappear. Toadstool has very little value in the long term.
Spiritual teaching emphasized the oak. I want you to be firmly rooted, and able to grow little by little to your full potential. I want you to have substance by growing steadily over time.
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| The only type of church that I would get excited about |
| 05.09.04 (6:03 am) [edit] |
I don't get excited about being a spectator and hearing only what some elitist has to say ... a paid professional ... a "money changer" so to speak. But that is what churches are these days. I would prefer that everyone brought their own message in their heart and a song on their lips, and that the worship was led by the Spirit, and not by some sheet of paper. So the only type of morning worship that I would get excited about is if the clergy kept quiet unless they were either led by the Spirit to speak something and then shut-up right after. So it would be a place where all people could suggest a song, or stand up and share what God has taught them .. and how God has delivered them from evil that week.
I also don't get excited about a church with million dollar building budget. To me that is sad to see a pristine building in a delapitiated neighborhood. What a slander of Christ's message! I would perfer that the church building be the least of the buildings in the community. Does every memeber and every neighbor have air conditioning? If not, then the church should install it in their house BEFORE they install it in the church. Do all the homes have a new paint job and cut grass? Well the the church should fund the painting and cutting of their properties BEFORE their own. This would be a church building that I could really get excited about ... the one that is the least, and the last to be upgraded. Because I know that in that building are people that put themselves last, and they shall be the first in the kingdom.
We can call it Last Baptist Church in ______ (your town here.) Wanna come?
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| (equality) - You won't understand this if you are a part of organized religion |
| 05.08.04 (2:34 pm) [edit] |
One of the things that stinks about carnal teaching is the persistent hierarchy that is presented. Carnal teachers are unbelieving teachers that always point to what they have that you don't. "Look at how I have memorized scripture." "Look at my divinity education." "Look at my spiritual gifts." "I've done more then you, so I am above you and you are under me. If you do as I say or follow my example then one day you might be able to attain to the level of spirituality that I have achieved." Sound familiar?
But, the thing that I like about spiritual teaching is that it always points to equality, and doesn't attempt to be served, but instead wants to get behind (not in front) and push them closer to Christ. Spiritual truth will emphasize that the redeemed are all complete in Christ, with nothing lacking. It will emphasize the acknowledgement of what you already are, not trying to make it seem like you could ever need more then Christ as your Savior.
A pastor had a good answer as to why the saints with whom he served were so mature and spiritual. He said, "I hold a crown over each one's head and let them grow into it."
Did you know that when you hold a boy, that you are holding a man? If you can't see it that is your problem. Faith sheds the constraints of time and will see fullness of what really is. An oak is an oak. You might be an oak ankle high, or you might be an oak towering overhead, but you are still an oak. Whereas carnal instruction makes you feel like a weed turning into an oak.
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| (sameness) - the churchy mold and how to avoid it. |
| 05.07.04 (7:01 am) [edit] |
Worldly teaching emphasizes the mold way of production, and spiritual instruction emphasizes the assembly line.
You know, only very low tech things are build by a mold, and all of the items look just alike. If you press two things in a mold, then how are they different from each other? Secondly, the mold will produce INSTANT results, and MASS quanitities of LOW quality.
However, assembly lines can produce assortments of things. God uses assembly lines. If we were all in a room and I passed around a lump of clay so that we could all put our mark on it, then there would be as many different results as there were lumps of clay. Some of us would over-think the issue and not put a mark until we knew exactly what we were trying to say, others would just take the clay and sqeeze it and still others might try to repair and smooth out the shape. But the bottom line is that we could never duplicate the result by ourselves, it takes each of us to leave our unique mark. So don't try to leave more then your mark, and let God choose who makes the next one ... the END PRODUCT is HIS responsibility... not yours.
On God's assembly line, He has many tools at His disposal - Angels, Saints, History, Fear, Satan, Truth, Revelation, Deception, Peace, Calamity ... etc. etc, to include all things. And for each of us, He calls forward all the parts that need to leave a mark on us, in due time. Each of us unique ... no mold at all! Sometimes I think that it is my place just to tell people to stay on the assembly line, and that God is not through with them yet, and sometimes I think that I play a bigger roll ... but there are many, many people for which God does not want me to interfere, and I won't impact them at all.
This idea of the assembly line can help keep you from being weary of doing good, as it will focus on God rather then the results. The results are up to Him, not us ... we all have a small part to play in His economy though, and in order to be ready when we can be used ... it is best to be RESTFULLY available.
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| (delayed fulfillment) |
| 05.06.04 (6:56 am) [edit] |
Carnal teaching will always emphasize immediate fulfillment of a promise. ... that if you have a promise of God, then you should immediately have that promise fulfilled or there must be something wrong with (dun, dun, dun) you. This attitude always make someone introspective as if they could thwart the fulfillment by hindering God's will for their life. But, nothing God promises depends on you.
Over and over you see an opposite thing happening in the Bible. You see a promise of God, then a total reversal, and then in the fullness of time - a fulfillment of the promise by God in a miraculous way. Abraham was promised to be a father of many nations, then the reversal ... they grow older then child bearing age ... and finally the miraculous fulfillment. Look at Joseph, who was promised that his family would bow to him, and what happened next? He was torn and bloody in a pit being sold into slavery - that was the reversal. But, in due time the promise was fulfilled, miraculously.
Spiritual emphasis is placed on the reversal, not the immediate fulfillment. The emphasis is on rest, and waiting. If God promises it, then it is not up to you to bring fulfillment. The measure of one's faith is not in what they have received, but in how long they can wait and receive absolutely nothing. Spiritual instruction completely avoids emphasis on the fulfillment and specializes on the waiting and reliance upon God - restfully dependent.
Faith is not a common word in the Old Testament, only appearing twice. But the word "wait" appears over 250 times. But, we are to look at faith and waiting as the same thing. Thus, we emphasize waiting on God, and restful reliance, rather then unbelieving impatience desiring nothing short of immediate fulfillment.
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| (knowledge) - the fruit of the wrong tree. |
| 05.06.04 (6:44 am) [edit] |
Spiritual instruction will not emphasize a full head, but a full heart. Spiritual instruction is completely devoted to moving what we know in our head eighteen inchs to our heart.
Everyone that I have met has admitted to knowing more then they are doing. But what do we hear when we sit under carnal instruction except more data about what we could do that is bad, and what we could do that is evil. Do they really think that we don't know that cheating on our spouse is bad? Is knowing that info the solution? How many people have affairs because they just didn't have that information?
When my brother was a teen, he told me that after reading over a dozen books for teens about purity, that he knew exactly the best reasons for not having sex before marriage. "... Because it just doesn't make sense," he said. When I heard that he was relying on reason instead of Christ, I knew that the carnal conclusion would fail him. Within 2 years he had moved in with his unwed love interest.
Carnal teaching will emphasize a full notebook, a full plan, a full formula to life. Under that kind of teaching you will come have the impression that knowledge of good and evil is the key to righteous and godly living. Are they not eating from the wrong tree?
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| (cruel conformity) - no instant maturity |
| 05.04.04 (7:31 am) [edit] |
You are accepted, you are "in," you are instantaneously approved as soon as you go along with the list of beliefs and doctrine of carnal teaching. They will quickly take you through their discipleship by simply imparting all the points and proofs of their doctrine, and once you quit questioning them and start enforcing their dogma on others, then you have completed all the discipleship that they have to offer. The fullness of maturity in carnal teaching always centers around theology, and you are condemned and judged if your compliance is not 100 percent like what they believe.
Spiritual discipleship emphasizes compassion. We allow you to fail over and over and over again. We allow you to be confused, wrong, and fail ... because we know there are things to be learned in failure that cannot be learned through victory. Rather then try to imbue a bulletproof dogma on youngsters in the kingdom, we want them to develop a soft heart and a sincere/openness about their weaknesses - what they do not do, and what they do not know. Being in tune with your weakness is the key to tapping into God's strength.
One of the best ways to irritate a 3 year old is to manipulate and condemn them for not working the farm and driving a tractor like their teenage brother. And, we know what harm can come from being afraid to learn to stand until you think you are ready to run. First things must come first, and maturity takes time with many stages along the way - each just as important as the next.
We go as we grow, and we grow as we go. There is no way to instantly mature by repeating someone else's creed.
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| (kingdom heavyweights) |
| 05.04.04 (7:26 am) [edit] |
Spiritual teaching emphasizes love, and that you can have everything going for you, but if you don't have love then you are a lightweight in the Kingdom. And if you are waiting for others to be worthy of your love, then how long will you wait?
Here you don't really have a clashing emphasis in carnal teaching, except to say that it does NOT emphasize love, and instead emphasizes the alternatives. One of the big alternatives is knowledge. But, I know counselors that know people that are in severe defeat, even though they know the most. Do you think that seminary graduates are better off then the illiterate? Is knowledge really what it takes to find peace? And you can apply the same logic to all the other alternatives: revelations, understanding, purity, gifts, etc, etc...
I think that it will be interesting when all things are revealed to find out who is the greatest in the Kingdom and who is the least. I wouldn't be surprised to find out if the greatest don't know how to read ... but, I think that we will find that they have been compelled by God to seek the highest good for those around them.
There was a man who owed a million dollars, but was forgiven. Then that forgiven man when out and beat a man that owed him 50 cents. That man was a lightweight no matter what else their credentials say.
Does someone owe you 50 cents? What are you going to do about that?
I want to emphasize over and over, - love, love, love!
If you don't "feel" like loving someone, then determine to love anyway, if that is how you want to feel. If you don't want to "feel" love for those around you, then there is a deeper problem.
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| (focus factor) - Can you defeat sin by focussing on it? |
| 05.03.04 (6:50 pm) [edit] |
The two best ways to have alcohol rule your life is to either focus on it as an obsession to have, or focus on it as a prohibition, but both ways make it the focus, and it will dominate your life.
Now there are a lot of good things to focus on that are not the best. Carnal teaching focuses primarily on the prohibition of sin and the book. Take those two issues away and there is no focus for carnal teaching. I often say that you can eliminate the word "Jesus" from carnal teaching and there is no difference from when you include it. Jesus is just a remote prop that gets the credit if everything works out, or conjures fantasy fear as an appraiser of what we do, but God is not really relevant to the carnal as more then an appraiser of lonely toil.
However, the primary, secondary and auxiliary focus is Christ when you are under spiritual teaching. He is all that matters, and only exactly Christ Jesus will pass muster. We can not sit around and pat each other on the back for prohibiting ourselves from something bad, or doing something good. We also know that learning the book is no replacement for knowing the Author. God's activity in us and nothing less will do. We must have exactly Christ, or we must repent. Thus, Jesus is not only essential to spiritual instruction, we continually focus on Him as the Author, who is supreme to the book, and as the only "Life" we have.
As He is the focus of our life, there is nothing that He cannot cure.
Now, pay attention next time you hear "Focus on the Family" or some other so-called Christian broadcast and see if you can scrub "Jesus" from the teaching and have anything different then what you get day in and day out.
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| (God's work?) |
| 05.03.04 (7:35 am) [edit] |
Carnal teaching seems mostly to be emphasizing the list of tasks that man must do to secure God, while spiritual teaching seems to emphasize what God is doing to secure us.
At a pastor convention the guest speaker asked hundreds of pastors this question: "What can a Christian do to grow closer to God and secure a vibrant godly family life and witness?" The hands went up like rockets - church attendance, devotions with family, read the Bible, pray, evangelize, and the list went on and on ... But the next question did not get a single response in all three groups of pastors. Not a single person could muster a response to this question: "Now, what does GOD do to grow us, and secure a vibrant family life, and testimony to the world? What are some of the things that GOD is involved in?" Well, you could have tasted the collective confusion.
What does that tell me about that group of pastors? Well, I think that they are involved in carnal discipleship ... and their teaching will be like trying to cut down a tree with an axe handle but no blade ... it is wood upon wood, and no edge to cut through problems.
The Spirit does all the work, and the cutting edge is Christ ... we don't swing wood upon wood. We are not going to say that we have a God and live like we don't.
Very few people have not heard that Christianity is said to be different then all the world religions because it tells the story of God reaching down to men, rather then man reaching up to God ... but if that is true then why could they not go on and on about what God is doing, and not have a clue what we must do to grow, and get on with life and godliness?
It is good to have a Shepherd and know that whatever I am doing to grow, is being met with God's work and that is administered 100 times my pathetic attempts.
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