Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Questions
Where do you want to go in life? What goals have you set? What are you doing to reach those goals? Are you letting yourself get distracted from your long term goals? Are you choosing actions that do not help you reach those goals?
Can people trust your word? How have you taken steps to ensure that when people hear your name they think “Honorable. Trustworthy. Upstanding. Good example.”? Are you doing your best to improve yourself each day? Are you spending time reading material that will help you reach your goals? Are you spending time reading and meditating on God’s Word?
Are you choosing friends who will be a good influence in your life? Are you being a good influence in your friends’ lives? Are you taking care of your mind and body? Are you allowing God’s family to edify you? Are you working to edify God’s family?
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Power vs Authority
This has been mouldering in the back files long enough that I don’t recall where I got it. Don’t know if it’s an original thought or something I heard or read. STILL, it’s good enough I think it’s worth posting here. 
Power – the ability and means to inflict your ideas and values on others.
Authority – the right and ability to lead others in a certain direction.
OK – got the keys back
Well, I’m in the middle of a hard drive swap. And somehow misplaced the “keys” to this site. Finally got it unlocked again and so we’re back in business - such as it is.
We’re Baaaaaaack!!! :)
Well, we had a great visit to the US of A. 70 days. 11,000 miles. 25 different beds. It’s amazing what all can pass in a short period of time. This is just a brief note to try and prime the pump. Time will tell what all I will have time to extract from my brain and jot down here. It’s good to be home and it’s good to get back into the swing of our regular ministry as well. It was a blessing to share with the brethren in the US and to minister to many as well as to be ministered to. But our regular work is here and it’s good to be back and to see how God has worked in people’s lives while we were away.
“sin that so easily entangles”
The “Independent Christian Church Ministers” question of the week is about sin, specifically sins we don’t talk about as a church – if I understood correctly the question. And this is a great question because too often Christians act like they’ve “got it all together” and have no problems or sin and everything is hunkeydorey.
But from the beginning this has not been the truth. The truth is that Christians too commit sins. We also need God’s continuing forgiveness and grace and mercy. The Apostle John wrote If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. (I John 1:8-10) And the Apostle Paul wrote Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:5-10) Both John and Paul recognized that as Christians we have a lot of growing to do and part of that is in facing our earthly nature and “putting it to death”. Both of these passages were written to CHRISTIANS, folks who were already in the church, had already received forgiveness for their sins – and yet needed to be cleansed from their earthly nature. In fact, “the disciple Jesus loved” (John) included himself in the issue by using first person plural.
So, what can we as a church do about sin in our midst? In the past (and present in many cases) the custom was to throw out anyone who didn’t “toe the line” and who was thought to have “kicked over the traces”. And indeed it is important to not wink at sin and we SHOULD practice church discipline when folks refuse to repent and insist on continuing in sin when confronted biblically with the issue.
But I believe that we must start with ourselves. Each and every christian must learn to look critically AT HIS OWN LIFE and to seek out the earthly nature which leads us down to perdition and eradicate it systematically from our own life. Each and every aspect of our person and character must be held up before the powerful light of God’s word and examined critically – do I indeed measure up to Him or must I continue eradicate the sin that holds me back? Paul wrote to the Romans “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
It is easy to “conform to this world” because we see how this world works all around us. It is easy to imitate that which we see all the time. But God is calling us to a new vision – one that is only possible when we learn to renew our minds according to God’s Will and His Word.
Traditionally the church has been quite hard on visible sins. The drunk, the homosexual, the adulterer or fornicator has been an easy target because their way of life is obvious to all. It is the subtle sins that cause most problems in the church however. Wrath, malice, envy, hatred, gossip, lying, deceit, pride – these are the ugly secrets that cause divisions amongst us. The greatest common denominator amongst them is the issue of egotism. When “I” am the center of the universe then nothing works as it should. When Christ becomes the center then I can fulfill my proper place and I can learn to allow others their proper place as well. When Christ reigns supreme in my life I can submit to Him and renew my mind in all ways – giving up those sins that so easily entangled me when I was still seeking earthly things and learning to run the race He has set before Me.
The “worship wars” and other recent issues are sins which we as a Church have allowed to break the unity that Christ seeks amongst His people. When each side insists on doing things their own way without seeking a common ground for agreement then we have open warfare amongst us and the winner is the enemy. When we learn to love each other and to seek ways to work together than reasons to separate we can gain victory over the enemy of our souls.
There is no panacea for the sin that besets us because it is an individual issue that we as a congregation must help each other to face and over come. The closest we can come to a “one size fits all” answer is to learn to love each other as the Word teaches us to do and to help and edify each other in love so that Christ is exalted over all and all are submitted to Him in love and obedience.
It’s been nice and cold…
Well, the past couple weeks have been quite busy. Since I got up to the US the weather’s been interesting, just like I like it. 
Got some snow and ice and genuine winter weather. Haven’t had much chance to compute, but there’s an article or so in the works as time allows.
On pride and hubris
Ozymandias
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said–”Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart….Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Am I a coward?
I’ve not really published this blog abroad. It’s setting up there in “Cyber Space” but I’ve not gone to any effort to propagate it around the world. Why? Hmmm. Good question. Perhaps it is lack of self confidance. Perhaps I don’t want to bother with trying to debate those who disagree. When I started this blog it was as a “safety valve”. A place where I can “sound off” – kind of like stepping into a padded room, closing the door and screaming one’s lungs out. It’s a great way to unwind and let off some pressure.
At no time do I pretend that this is some “scholarly endeavor”. Not much time is spent in research (ha, ha, ha, ha – ROTFL) so the resulting stuff that spews across this site is based on various and sundry items I’ve picked up in listening to folks and reading about what’s going on around the world. In other words, it’s based on a very subjective viewpoint. Like one of the blind men trying to define an elephant. I do, however, recognize my limitations. I do NOT know everything. There. You’ve got it in writing. A true confession. 
So, am I a coward for not promoting this site? Perhaps. Still, I find it a restful place to hang out and talk with myself. If anyone hears me, well they’ll probably figure I’m nuts. That’s OK because I hope to be “nuts for the Lord”. I may not always do things right, but I do things with a desire to do what is right. Inactivity or silence would be the greater evil many times.
Most of all, I hope that those who stumble on this little corner of my world might be stimulated into seeing things from a different point of view.
Well, I’m off like a herd of turtles.
For some time I’ve considered setting up a small place on the ‘net where I can ramble, rant, scream or merely pontificate or ponder and folks can ignore me by droves.  I think I’m off to a good start. I’ll tweak and tug and pull and primp this installation and then I’ll let folks know where they can ignore me. It’s nice to have an add free place to put up whatever I want. I’ve never been much of one for journaling, but we’ll see how this ‘net version goes.
