I AM NOT A FAN
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
I guess there may be many things today that are not high on my list of favorites in this world. Its funny how over a period of time that list has grown, but the most noticeable is the way it has grown. In Christ I started out with a set of core values that have never changed. These values and the teachings of Christ that have been given to me through the power of God's Spirit have been unchanged from the very beginning. What has changed has been almost unnoticeable to the world around me, but over the years I have been changing on the inside {at first} which has dealt with my responses sin based advertisements or lute comments or jokes which are centered in an attitude that shows disrespect to my Lord.
Over the years of my walking with God there have been a great deal of changes made in this world with regard to what we have shoved in our face as we walk down the streets or drive along in our cars. The general subject matter has changed from selling a product on its own merit to using temptation, sex or out and out deception to sell product. Over the last years in this country the distractions come on a daily basis to pull our minds back into a gutter that we may well have worked years to climb out of.
Many years ago I felt " if the world is so successful with what it does in attracting the population why shouldn't the church use some of the same tactics?" It wasn't long before that very kind of thing started to show up within the church because the world was starting to see the church as irrelevant even then (which was the 70's) and quite frankly no one within the church had a clue as to what to do about it. It was then that we began a "SEEKER SENSITIVE" concept of trying to get peoples interest. It dealt more with a club atmosphere than a church or worship atmosphere, and the come as you are concept tore down at least some of the excuses that were out there as to why people were not coming to churches. While we lost some of the real legalistic things within the church that had been fought over for centuries we also lost some of the message. It was that same message that God had taught me through His Spirit years before and remained unchanged within me.
I think it interesting that within the 1 Corinthians 13 chapter we read about love we find that so many of the traits that have held us to God in the past have passed away except for the message of love. Jesus warned us that the last standing element of who we are in Christ will deal with our love. While I am not a fan of the ways this world has changed toward goodness and cleanliness of life; and I am not a fan of how the world has twisted the nature of real love for one another I still am a fan of God's love for us. We will be speaking about these things this week...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
I guess there may be many things today that are not high on my list of favorites in this world. Its funny how over a period of time that list has grown, but the most noticeable is the way it has grown. In Christ I started out with a set of core values that have never changed. These values and the teachings of Christ that have been given to me through the power of God's Spirit have been unchanged from the very beginning. What has changed has been almost unnoticeable to the world around me, but over the years I have been changing on the inside {at first} which has dealt with my responses sin based advertisements or lute comments or jokes which are centered in an attitude that shows disrespect to my Lord.
Over the years of my walking with God there have been a great deal of changes made in this world with regard to what we have shoved in our face as we walk down the streets or drive along in our cars. The general subject matter has changed from selling a product on its own merit to using temptation, sex or out and out deception to sell product. Over the last years in this country the distractions come on a daily basis to pull our minds back into a gutter that we may well have worked years to climb out of.
Many years ago I felt " if the world is so successful with what it does in attracting the population why shouldn't the church use some of the same tactics?" It wasn't long before that very kind of thing started to show up within the church because the world was starting to see the church as irrelevant even then (which was the 70's) and quite frankly no one within the church had a clue as to what to do about it. It was then that we began a "SEEKER SENSITIVE" concept of trying to get peoples interest. It dealt more with a club atmosphere than a church or worship atmosphere, and the come as you are concept tore down at least some of the excuses that were out there as to why people were not coming to churches. While we lost some of the real legalistic things within the church that had been fought over for centuries we also lost some of the message. It was that same message that God had taught me through His Spirit years before and remained unchanged within me.
I think it interesting that within the 1 Corinthians 13 chapter we read about love we find that so many of the traits that have held us to God in the past have passed away except for the message of love. Jesus warned us that the last standing element of who we are in Christ will deal with our love. While I am not a fan of the ways this world has changed toward goodness and cleanliness of life; and I am not a fan of how the world has twisted the nature of real love for one another I still am a fan of God's love for us. We will be speaking about these things this week...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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