This sort of blew my mind. Years ago, I shared a house. The owner had the main floor, I had the back area which was previously a hair salon (yes, even had the 50's vintage linoleum floors), and a young couple lived upstairs.
Before too long, I got to know the young folks upstairs. Their cat even used to cruise into my place and claw me from time to time. Although we attended different churches, during the summer months, I would participate in his churches worship team. He was quite the drummer, actually if I remember correctly, he was also an instructor at the local college.
As the years past, they moved on to their own house, and then finally moved across the state. I moved as well, and we lost touch with each other.
I was back visiting my dad, in yet another state, and sure enough, his next door neighbor was my old friend and housemate from years ago. He is currently the pastor of the church my dad attends. Thats pretty cool... back when we were housemates, God was a huge part of his life, but I don't think either of us saw God calling him to pastoral ministry at that time. Otoh, God was giving him a wealth of life experience in his occupations over the years, and preparing him for ministry long before he even knew of such a calling. Thats really amazing!
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
I've been playing with computers since 1977, when I wrote a game on a DEC PHP11, and then migrated to an Apple II a couple years later.
I've been flying since 1983, and teaching people to fly since 1991.
Thursday, I got overwhelmed. Computers and aviation.
This was a little bit much. Cool for sure, but give me those 3 little gauges on the lower left and I'm happy. The rest of the computer screens and such are cool, but also overwhelming and quite the humbling experience for me. Its going to take a lot of study and sim time to feel half ways comfortable teaching such systems, but it is the way of the future. I guess I feel pretty old about now. I've heard that teenagers do pretty well with such systems with a very small learning curve. The problem is more so those of us who have flown for a while who have to learn new things. But alas, thats the life of a flight instructor, they are a student continuously, and thats one of the parts that makes instructing so cool.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
In the online world, we develop relationships with others. Its different, yet there can still be a connection. I met Tony about a year ago, and we bantered about on a few different things, Surprisingly, we would end up running into each other on other forums as well, with surprise much surpruise. Tony was a true man of God, and he has his testimony posted on his webpage. Since I don't know whether it will remain, or for how long, I thought I would share a key paragraph here, as its pretty powerful. Tony was shepparded by a Pastor, who apparently did not have all his ducks in a row, and when his pastor killed himself, it hit Tony pretty hard.
In Tony's word's I am just now getting out of my shell since 1993 because every God fearing word I heard from that man, every audible word he said came from God, seemed a lie. BUT, yes Lord, I know this is wrong, I WAS looking at man, not at God's word. I tried going back to church every so often. One church I went to, First Assembly of God, Phenix City, Alabama, •God• STOPPED service to have the preacher pinpoint me and make me take the first step again, and take me back, unconditionally. After what seemed an hour, everyone in the church not knowing why or who the preacher stopped the service to 'pray for someone' he said. Here I was, fighting, 'white knuckles gripping the top of the pew kind of resisting', to take that first step back to God. I went up and received another blessing and the burden once again lifted. God will ALWAYS take you back, no matter how many times you backslide, or turn your back on God. I have backslid since, I am trying to get back to church now, but as always, God wants you to take the first step, then he'll take it from there! Praise the Lord... Lord God forgive me for my sins. Give me the strength to fight this devil that is keeping me from seeking your protection and love. Show me the way, the truth and the Light. Amen.
You fought the good fight my friend, may God grant you much peace!
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
PastorZ has some cool writings, today, he talks about being addicted to Jesus, This is pretty cool.
I need to read God’s Word daily to remind myself that I’m a sinner dependent on
God’s forgiveness and to assure myself that my sins are forgiven
I need to pray every day to unload my burdens on Jesus, ask His forgiveness
and seek His will for my life today, tomorrow and in my future
I need to get together with other xians on a regular basis to share my
common experiences and receive counsel from them
I need to worship on a regular basis to remind myself that there is a God; that
He is all-powerful, all-loving, bigger than me and worthy of my obeisance
PastorZ's web site (this part is suitable for Christians, even very conservative ones, it is best not to click on other parts of his page though, as many may find it quite objectionable.... he has a goth street ministry) http://www.new-mercies.org/soup/
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
It should be, if not, maybe folks are not being brutally honest or are trying to hide something.
I was looking at 1 Corithians 5 today and a few things came to mind.
[bible]9 I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10 by no means referring to this world's immoral people, or to the greedy and swindlers, or to idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. 11 But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. 12 For what is it to me to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.[/bible]
If we are completely honest, no one could be on the in due to verse 11. Some have sexual issues, others can be greedy, yet others put many people places things as idols, and some are prone to excessive alchohol, and we all know those Christians who run a con game. Yes, even the Best Buy employees got into the swindling business on black friday with their bait and switch tactics. If you really really are honest, I doubt there is anyone who would meet the standard called for in verse 11 over a period of time.
If you put some Dove Raspberry Chocolate ice cream in front of me, I'm going to be pretty greedy about it. Now don't discount this as being trivial, it is sin, and its serious. It only hit home the other day, when I didn't share it with my wife, and it was intentional sin on my part. Only after I finished the whole container did I realize how wrong that was. Ok, for some this may seem trivial, but to me, its not, I was being downright greedy. of course on container #2 the next week, I learned that my wife didn't like it, so its now out of the picture. Should this cause me to be on the outside, yes, according to verse 11.
Or when I was involved with a Christian musical group. Money was a big deal, Eg if we didn't get enough in donations from a concert, it was noted not to come back to that location again. Sure, one has to look at a ministry as a business, but to automatically exclude locations as they fell far short when others might bring in 10 fold the amount of expected collection is cutting God short, and is greedy as well
The next thought was earlier in the chapter, specifially verses 6-8 where Paul talks about old yeast and contamination. Some look at this as a reason to be separate. Eg, the church should be pure and free from sin, or even the appearance of sin. However, if we look at verse 10, by doing so, that means that one would have to leave the world.
So the key is how to understand this, when Paul writes about his own sin, and yet admits he does what he should not do, and yet doesn't do what he should. Shoud he Paul be forbidden from the inside?
If we take a step back, perhaps the Lord's supper ties it together. [bible] 7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast, or with the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.[/bible]
The key imho is repentance. Sure, it would be good to put a sin down, and never pick it up again, after all, we are a new creation in Christ, but we still have our fallen nature, even though we may be seen as white as snow through Him. It is God's grace, and a very expensive grace that allows us forgiveness despite our hypocritical behaviors and action. We should try to keep out of sin, but by the same token, to be so prideful that we fail to admit falling short, in hopes of covering it up to create an illusion is perhaps even worse.
The hope we have through Christ comes to us through getting our hearts right with God during the preparation and the time of the Lord's Supper. So I guess that at the table, there are no hypocrites, although only for a fleeting moment in time. The rest of the time, there will be a church full of them. Personally I think thats fine, we can build each other up, as non are sinless. The body of believers is there to uplift one another, for good works, and spreading the gospel, not for boasting of either good deeds or bad, or creating false illusions.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
From my churches newsletter. This is pretty cool. Its a stark contrast to the world of tv ministries and way too many church stewardship programs. It will be interesting to see the reports coming up in the next couple months. The church is truely putting its faith in God to provide their needs, by giving back to Him. Sort of the reverse of many approaches. Fascinating.
Ron
Pax Christi launched The Kingdom Assignment on Saturday and Sunday,
November 12th and 13th. The Gospel reading shared the parable of “The
Talents. In this reading, three servants were each given talents. The servants with five and two talents each doubled theirs, while the servant with only one, buried the talent in fear of losing it. Bringing this gospel to life, parishioners were then asked to come forward and volunteer for a special project. Unbeknownst to them, the 100 volunteers were then each given $100 each, to utilize in a form of stewardship/ministry that speaks to them. Volunteers were asked to report back to Pax Christi Church within 90 days, sharing their stories and results of the assignment. Examples of projects may be sending care packages oversees, serving a local homeless shelter or food shelf, assisting visitors, and so on. The potential projects are limitless.
The only instruction participants were given were to:
1) Recognize that the money belongs not to them, but to God.
2) Realize that they are being trusted to make use of the money in a way that will extend God’s Kingdom, thus the name, The Kingdom Assignment.
3) Complete the assignment within 90 days, and then share the results with the congregation, either in person, through a written account, or by
telling someone their story.
It is the great hope of Pax Christi Church that the initial $10,000 investment will manifest itself over and over again repeatedly, generating a “pay it forward” type of ministry/stewardship environment. It should be made clear that the money should not come back to Pax Christi, but instead it should go out into the world, and be used to extend the gifts and talents that individuals have been given from God.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Wow, I just came across a website for Continental Singers alumni. It brought back a lot of cool memorys, and also made me feel pretty old. There are folks on there as alumni that are older than my highschool friends kids!
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Just read about cologne in the mens forum section.... Back when I was at the university, I used to wear Jet A and 100LL (aircraft fuel), mixed in with an occasional spray of Diesel.... (that stopped before I met my wife, but thats another story)
Its sort of funny how priorities change over time....
My wife and I watched Mr Hollands Opus last night, and to some extent, he felt a failure as he never got famous, or rich. Otoh, he had given many the gift of music, and yet failed to see it.
In stepping back further, being a witness for Christ is even greater... but probably most, but not all do not see it that way. We may think that unless we are the next Billy Graham, or Cardinal, we failed.
Yet, it is the common man on the street who sees us everyday, and sees the love of Christ through us, or the homeless guy we gave a burger to at Mac and Dons, or the other angels we might have entertained are the ones that recieve our witness. Way too often, one looses sight of that, and can become discouraged, just as Mr Holland did.
I think we need to step back, and take a look at what we are doing, not from a prideful stance, but as one of thanksgiving, that God has used us for his kingdom. Sometimes, God will even give us a glimpse of what seeds he may have sown through us, just as Mr Holland got a glimpse of when his past students played his Opus.
Apparently, even in my Jet A cologne, some words I said along the way were quite encouraging to a discouraged believer I met while visiting a church in WI. I got blown away when I met the same guy hundreds of miles away while visiting another church in IA, and he related what I had told him 5 years prior.. One never knows what can happen when God's word is spoken.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Last night we had an IM session, and I tend to sort of be in and out during such times. (I can always look at the archive you know.....) However, Pia, my cat does take an interest so she jumped on the keyboard and right in the middle she sends an IM
ulvgd
of which the responses come back
I love God
Pia is a smart cat, but that smart?
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
You fought the good fight my friend, may God grant you much peace!
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