No, not semi-regular. Just Sunday. One day per week. If you're really on fire for God you might go to some mid-week function on Wednesday, but I suppose you could stretch 2 out of 7 to mean "semi-regular" attendance upon the Lord.
Oh no, we have weekly church services. When I said "service days" I meant that the church explicitly organizes events to help needy places in the community, and that happens semi-regularly, and is announced during the church services.
Nope, you don't need to assume anything. I laid out the conditions in the hypothetical. Tom is a regular at the church. But, regardless of what Tom has heard from someone else, the point of the hypothetical was about what you plan to communicate to Tom based on what you have heard from the teachings of Jesus.
I'd repeat parts of that sermon as I would be led, then.
You might recommend that someone else talk to Tom about his storing up treasures here on Earth?
If I'm going to imply that he shouldn't be keeping them (such as in Luke 12:33-34) I'd need to have an idea of whom he should give them to. I'm not going to tell somebody to give something away without an idea of whom to give it to, unless specifically led to do just that. Involving someone else who is more in the loop than I am in for community needs for this earthly treasure seems like a logical choice.
This sentence implies there might be a reason why he could not give away his model car collection. Tom would probably be pretty happy to hear that...
Actually, if we both know of a place that could be blessed by him giving them his collection, that takes away his excuse to not give it away. If there's nowhere that I know or that he knows to give it to, then he's got his excuse for keeping it.
Jesus said not to store up treasure here on earth. I guess you're suggesting taking that teaching seriously doesn't quite measure up to "need"?
No. If Nursing Home A has no need of the collection but Nursing Home B could benefit from it, Nursing Home B would be the logical choice to give it to.
Isn't that the crux of luke-warmness, though; people considering whether or not their open to obeying Jesus in this area or that area? I mean, if he's not open to selling the treasure he's stored up here on earth, what would you do about it?
If he's not open to obedience, I can't open him. My assumption is that if God is leading me to say something, he has a purpose for it. While it
might be to test my obedience and nothing else, I find that unlikely in the context of this particular teaching of Jesus, and so I'm assuming that God wants to use his collection to bless one or more other people. Therefore, I'll do my best to achieve that end with what God has allowed me to know. After all, he expects a return on that (Luke 12:48).
Why would you not be part of the conversation? In the hypothetical, God has laid it on your heart to talk to this man about his need to obey Jesus if he wants to be a Christian. Why would you leave it up to some other dude's wife to maybe do it for you?
I'll do my part, but this doesn't mean that no other believer also has a part, especially someone who is both positioned to know where he might give that collection to, and who is also very gifted at initiating spiritual conversations.
Nope, not "if". The hypothetical clearly states the Lord has laid it on your heart to confront this man with the teachings of Jesus.
In which case, I'd have a clearer idea of what to say than when I'm answering a hypothetical in a forum post. My imagination is no substitute for what the Holy Spirit would tell me to say at the moment.
Quite honestly, I think the spirit of your post already indicates that you know what words he's most likely give you; (or, according to what you've described, what he'd give the wife of some other guy you'd lean on to go and do the work for you). You understand that he'd most likely have a problem giving up his treasured collection. That's what makes it his treasured collection; he loves it. You'll need some backbone if you want to genuinely confront him about this.
Sticking my nose in other people's business isn't backbone. Especially since we're talking about someone who might be resistant, I need to know where that collection ought to go to in order tell him who the Holy Spirit wants him to give it to. This is so that I can clearly lay out to him that he needs to give it away, make the point that this is from the Spirit instead of just some human opinion, and strip away his last excuse (that he would admit) for keeping it. Anything less than that would be less obedience than the Holy Spirit deserves.
