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Rules of Thumb for Keeping Unity In Your Local Church – #11-15

08 Mar

Here’s the latest installment of my “rules of thumb.”

11.  Praise others openly.

12.  Treat others with the same love that God treated you when He went to the cross – selfless and unconditionally.

13.  Bear in mind you will understand more tomorrow than you do today.  This will save you from much embarrassment.

14.  Remember for some people walking through the door, this is the only house they enter all week where they won’t suffer abuse.  Don’t give them a reason to hate God’s house too.

15.  If you pray for each other, you won’t fight with each other.  (Paraphrased from Charles Spurgeon)

 
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Rules of Thumb for Keeping Unity In Your Local Church – #6-10

05 Mar

Some of the comments I saw on my first post in this series were interesting.  I never imagined that controversy would be stirred up with this subject…

…ok, maybe I did.  I figured there were some people who would try to interpret this as encouraging the destruction of doctrinal integrity.  I also figured there were people who take themselves waaaay too seriously and see themselves as professional amateur theologian.  Regardless -

Here are Rules of Thumb #6-10:

6.  Learn to give up your rights for the rights of others.

7.  There is no “corporate ladder” in the church.  You do not get promoted based on what you know, who you know, or what you do.

8.  True worship has nothing to do with the quality of the music, the talent of the singers, or the type of instruments played. (This applies to both “contemporary” and “traditional” persuasions)

9.  Find a spiritual mentor who can be your friend and your confidant.  Hopefully, this is your pastor.

10. Register your complaints with the pastor in private.

 
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Is It My Life? – Romans 8:10

04 Mar

(Romans 8:10)  “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

In 1978 singer Billy Joel released a song that had a melody that just stayed in my head for weeks.  The title of the song was “My Life.”  It was the theme song to the television series “Bosom Buddies” (with a really young Tom Hanks).  All but a few of the lyrics were memorable.  The one line that sticks out even today goes like this – “I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life.”  If you remember the song too, you probably remember the emphasis on the word my.

We’re taught to “live life to its fullest.”  We’re encouraged to live with “no fear” and “without regrets.”  A while back, Nike told us to “just do it.’  Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…”  We feel we are missing out on something if we don’t sample everything.  Students across college campuses today are living a life thinking that fulfillment comes from filling up their past with experiences.  Young adults just out of high school believe their maturity is based on what they’ve done.  These students are then translated into middle aged adults who still search for that fulfillment.  This is the definition of life for most people.  We are led to live in a way that says, “This is my life.”

Christ redefines all of this for us.  The world’s definition of fulfillment is shown to be empty when we truly experience Christ in us.  He is our fulfillment.  After we experience the reality of the cross, what we do has real purpose and divine direction.  It is at this point we come to the great realization that the “Spirit is life.”  The word “life” in this verse is a noun.  It is something.  The Holy Spirit gives meaning to that something.  My life and your life become defined by Him.  We are no longer the sum total decider of what is meaningful and what holds purpose.  Death is an adjective describing the true state of the flesh.  Yes, He defines life because we are declared righteous.  Our identity is provided for us.  It is not something we need to search out, discover, or provide for ourselves.  His life is now our life.  This is the definition of life for the Christian.

Renewed Thought – The greatest relief you can have is to realize you don’t have to fulfill or define your own life.  Allow God to do it for you and you will experience the greatest sense of fulfillment and purpose possible.

 
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Rules Of Thumb For Keeping Unity In Your Local Church – #1-5

02 Mar

We live in incredibly challenging times.  Many of us are going through some really difficult times.  It’s always amazing to see how much more difficult we make it on each other in the local church.   It’s also amazing that there are Christians who just can’t seem to get along in a local body of believers.   I’ve seen believers walk into a church just for the purpose of causing a disruption and disunity.  I’ve seen believers walk out of a church just because they don’t like someone.  Through the years, I’ve been accumulating some thoughts on keeping unity in the local church.  You may not agree with all of them and that’s okay.  Some of these may seem similar to things others have said.  There is no intent to plagiarize.  I will try to give credit where it is due.   These are not in any particular order of importance.  Here are the first five.

  1. Agree on what you know to be true.  Figure out everything else in eternity.
  2. 90% of the hills you think are worth dying on are just insignificant molehills.  It takes some maturity to see the mountains from the molehills.
  3. Pastor – remember you are just a man.  Congregation – remember the pastor is just a man.
  4. Remember the Bible is God’s revelation to man.  You do not understand all of it.
  5. Every discussion is not a battle for spiritual superiority.
 
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Unintended Absence

26 Feb

I apologize for the long absence.  Lot of stuff going on right now.  Trying to cram everything in doesn’t work.  You only end up with mediocrity.   Be back soon!

 
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Posted in Miscellaneous

 
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