More Wandering of an Old Man

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

 

When this verse came to my inbox the other day I thought; "Well here may be the Body of Christ's problem!"  Do we let our roots grow deep into Christ?     Are we doing what it takes to get rooted in Christ?  Are we seeking that deep water source which is in Christ?   I know in the real world that when the heat hits plants, even mature trees that are not rooted into a DEEP SOURCE of water will die. I wonder about us as the Body of Christ?  Do we let our lives be built on him?  Do we look for that good foundation that is Christ?   Again, as we are have temperatures in the mid low thirties I have heard of our local community college's contractor continuing to pour the foundation for a new building on campus; I am not sure this is good planning but I am not in the concrete business nor the building business.  I am in the building the Family of God business and I wonder about our foundations? 

 

Doing these two things, rooting him Christ and Building on Christ,  will allow our faith to grow strong in the truth we were taught, this leads to another question, which is "What truths have we been taught."  Have we been taught G*D'S TRUTH or have we been taught some one's interpretation of G*d's Truth?   Personally, I think it is likely a 50/50 thing.  Half of what we were taught is G*D'S TRUTH and the other half is interpretation of G*d's Truth.  I know that from time to time as a pastor I will have to plead Guilty to the latter and be held accountable for not doing the former.  Again, I wonder.  I wonder if we need to do a better job of having a mindset like the people of Berea (Acts 17:11)?  

 

The last thing the verse says is "we will overflow with thanksgiving" if we are rooted and built.  So; I wonder are we overflowing with thanksgiving?  If not we need to work on our rooting and building site!

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.

New Living Translation (NLTPsalm 105 (NLT)

 

More wondering of this Old Man

Deuteronomy 6:1-8

6 The Lord your God has directed me to teach you his commands, rules and laws. Obey them in the land you will take over when you go across the Jordan River.  ² Then you, your children and their children after them will have respect for the Lord your God as long as you live. Keep all of his rules and commands I’m giving you. If you do, you will enjoy long life.

³ Israel, listen to me. Make sure you obey me. Then things will go well with you. Your numbers will increase greatly in a land that has plenty of milk and honey. That’s what the Lord, the God of your parents, promised you.

⁴ Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is the one and only God. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength.

⁶ The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts. ⁷ Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up. ⁸ Write them down and tie them on your hands as a reminder. Also tie them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses. Also write them on your gates.   (NIRV)

This is at least the second time God repeats the idea in the first three verses.  The time I saw this evening was in chapter 4 but I digress for my wondering.   My wondering thought is; Is this where we have messed up today and why the world is going to . . . down the tube."  Are we teaching anything let alone the commands of God to our children?    Well this is the wonderings of this old man!

Interesting 2!!!!

Dan Edelen wrote a response to the Out of Ur article I looked at Friday 032212.  I love it when some one prove the left wrong!!!!!!

Interesting!?!

Interesting Out of Ur Article

I like Peter Berger idea it reminds me of a teaching in Matthew 7:13 & 14  ¹³ "Enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the road is wide that leads to hell, and many people enter through that gate. ¹⁴ But the gate is small and the road is narrow that leads to true life. Only a few people find that road.

I wonder if practice what you preach is not the mantra of the younger set?  I see the Body of Christ at times being right in their thoughts but wrong in their actions.  Homosexuality and Abortion being the two that come to mind.  We have handled both as if they are Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit; unforgivable.  It is the one place we as the Body of Christ will allow hate speech; both from the pulpit and from the pew.  This cause the young folks to call Bull Manure alert and Rightfully so.  We need to look at Berger's, as well as Campbell and Putnam's, thinking and deal with the whys and hows of the matter.

Here is  Berger's full response

Fank and Ernest nails it.

Saw this in todays paper; just thought it was worth a repost for those who missed it.

Seeking GOD

Hebrews 11:6c (New Living Translation) [GOD] rewards those who sincerely [diligently] seek [God].

So, my  question is just how sincerely, diligently, do we seek God both as individuals and as a body?  The word sincerely, means "without wax".  It was used to tell the buyer that a carving had not had places repaired or cracks find with wax mixed with stone dust.  So are should be with a mindset of really seeking God not just paying lip service to the idea.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diligently?show=0&t=1326916591 defines this way : "characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort : painstaking".   I think of a Bloodhound on a scent.  I have heard of Bloodhounds running the pads of their paws raw refusing to give up on a scent.  Do we seek God in a way that would make us "bleed"?

Just wondering?   Again no wandering involved!

Have an Attitude 2

I wonder what would happen if the organized church had this attitude;

You’re welcome just as you are.

Your thoughts are welcome. Your doubts are welcome.

We’re all in this together.

The first one I think most churches (i.e. mainline churches) feel they have this attitude.  I am not quite sure that this is true.  Yes, we are willing for new people to come and be part of the gathering; we may even be willing for them to join but at some point they need to look like the rest of the ducks!  We want the wood ducks to become mallard ducks; those new comers need to assimilate and look like us, talk like us and especially worship just like us!!

I happen to be part of a denomination of which some one said "You can worship Buddha; as long as you say 'Jesus is Lord'!"  Well that may be true in some of our churches but I  can tell you it is not true in all of them.  If you want a good church fight just bring up the idea that a persons baptism is not an issue.  To join the church of which I am a member you are to be immersed (I think that the constitution reads that it has to be a baptist baptism but we ignore the baptist part as long as you have been held under the water.)  We especially have an issue if you doubt certain teachings of the baptist doctrine!

I do think that the idea of we are all in this together is done well; we are willing to do ministry with the other churches in the community; the building is used for a weekly community dinner.

Now for the last part of this statement "God is here, ready to connect with you in a fresh way."  All God's people would say "YES!  AMEN!" to the part up to the comma; God is here!  "Connect in a FRESH WAY!?!" "Wait a second here buddy!!"  Fresh way means we may have to do things we are not comfortable with!  I might have to do something that I am not comfortable doing!!

I do think this is the attitude we need for the mainline churches, our churches, to grow.  I think that the body of Christ need to move out of their comfort zone and do ministry in this attitude.  The minimum we must do is support ministries within and without the four walls of the church that have this attitude!  Here it is in it fullness

You’re welcome just as you are.

Your thoughts are welcome. Your doubts are welcome.

We’re all in this together.

God is here, ready to connect with you in a fresh way.

This is a sign inside Lifetree Cafes or Lifetree's site

We have a HOPE!!

1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 18 (New Living Translation) ¹³And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.  ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. ¹⁵We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.  ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves.  ¹⁷Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.  ¹⁸So encourage each other with these words. 

The above passage is one that I have used for years as I did funerals; especially for believers funerals.  I see it as a comfort for the family, both blood and Spirit.  I would comment about the fact that Paul does not tell us not to grieve but that we are to grieve as a people of hope.  That hope is the knowledge that we will see the loved one when we see Jesus face to Face.

When I returned from a vision committee meeting Sunday I began to think on the vision statement we had arrived on; "Bringing the HOPE and LOVE OF JESUS to [insert city's name here] and the world.  This passage and how I and many pastors use it struck me.  If we have a hope that changes how we grieve, should not that same hope change how we live? 

I see the "sermon" starting with the passage as usual but then putting a missional twist on the passage, which I have only done at one funeral (and only backhandedly at that).  That twist would be if we have a hope which changes our grieving and we believe in that hope of Jesus then should we not be sharing that hope with others.  Meaning, are we not obligated by that hope to tell people that Jesus want to have a relationship with them?  Should we not tell them that Jesus want to know them and lead them so that at some point with when the person dies and go to heaven or when we meet Jesus in the air; that person will  also get to meet Jesus as well? 

It has been funny (not in the Ha ha concept) that in the last couple of weeks I have been able to get a word in about knowing where I will go.  On both occasions a person said something about my going to Hell.  I responded with "No thanks, I have reservation for the other place!"  Both people just looked at me and laughed but knew what I meant.

We have a hope!  Why not share it with the hopeless?!?