Defining each, to balance them better:
Worship- Being aware of God constantly, and giving Him praise through song, prayer, and being in communication with Him through the Word.
Fellowship- Gathering with believers, in a way that will grow each other relationally in trust and brotherhood, but with a clever dash of fun to keep the scene alive.
Discipleship- Pouring ourselves into the next generation of believers, or even the next generation of your vocation. Also, it is a good idea to have someone pouring into you as well.
Evangelism- outreach into the community and the rest of the world, telling others the Gospel by word and action, a general principle to keep us from a retreat into the sanctuaries keeping with our fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Ministry- using your SHAPE (talents and personality type things) to serve the body of Christ. This could be in the form of a homeless ministry, or helping out on tech arts- or simply just being a ministering agent to individuals who have a need within the body of Christ.
Notice, every single one is mostly a duty to serve others. Thus in this, we fulfill our mission.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Problem With Purity
I don't know where the notion that good and evil are equals battling out for an unknown outcome because when they clash it is an even fight. Hasn't anybody watched Star Wars?
"...when you take the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."
-Yoda (Empire)
The expression, "Deal with the devil" comes to mind, we desire something, so we make a deal with ourselves to suspend our better judgment to obtain this wish of ours. An inherit quality of evil, is that it gives you exactly what you want at the moment you want it with no work on your part, the cost only being your soul (Not to say this is a bad in EVERY case, as I plan to go to the local amazing burrito establishment later tonight and popping an advil to kill my headache after I watch the presidential debates). I will go deeper into this on my purposedrivenposterchild.blogspot.com, but for now realize this difference, that although evil can have a lot of power it was gained at a speed not meant for our faculties to control it- that is why we have corrupt beings in this world, good however, is a different things entirely. To be a liar, you lie once, and you can then do it however many times you'd wish. The amazingly difficult thing about honesty, is all you need to do, is not do it once in order to lose your title as an "honest person."
Good, the road of the righteous, is a much harder journey, but in the end we must wonder why Jesus said, "repay good for evil," because He knew, that the only way to fight a bomb, is to diffuse it. "Anger will never bring forth the righteousness of God" must be taken as a blanket statement for all things that would gain us what we wish (even if it be justice, or "good" things), but must also be considered that Jesus knew exactly where we are. We're coming to this fight with our reserves empty, and not much hope of reinforcement on the horizon from ourselves. We still must consider that this powerul man of God said that love is what will defeat evil, not that love might defeat evil on the open battlefield if all things go right, he said it WILL...
Then the only logical explanation is the forces of good have not even begun to tap into the vast resource that carries their name. We compromise because our mission becomes our god, we get a glimpse of our goal, and the taste on the air makes us go crazy for it, we then are willing to sacrifice our purity of heart, one of the requirements for good, to get what that striving for good wants. We cannot do this any longer. Any time we compromise is one more step backwards that we cannot afford to take. Purity is not just a word to be used for preachers warning kids about the dangers of pre-marital sex but it is a word that was used for refining metals. Pure gold, is nothing but gold. Pure good, is nothing but good, this must be our striving, but herein is the problem- how many times have you set out with a commitment on your own strength- you know it is not possible. Only with the full power of the reserves of good can you do this, and the only way for this, for our final charging of the gates of evil, is to ask the One who first laid His Sword to the fiery metal and has been relentless on it from the moment of its construction. Let that reserve flow through you, let His love be your guide, do not give in to systems to keep you from sin, or to please your conscience that you did your civic or christian duty, let it be an outpouring of His Spirit and take up Heaven's charge as a Son of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ:
"on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it."
Gates of Hell overcoming? How can gates overcome unless they are moved? This implies that where the Kingdom of God is not, the kingdom of hell is. With the tools of good, we must work to push the gates of the Kingdom forward, and not allow there to be any pockets left whether it be in our lives, or in this world. I leave you with this, because you can't let God change the world, if you can't let God change your heart first:
"In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:4)
*Jesus sweat blood in a struggle against temptation to spoil His purity, its time we do.
"...when you take the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."
-Yoda (Empire)
The expression, "Deal with the devil" comes to mind, we desire something, so we make a deal with ourselves to suspend our better judgment to obtain this wish of ours. An inherit quality of evil, is that it gives you exactly what you want at the moment you want it with no work on your part, the cost only being your soul (Not to say this is a bad in EVERY case, as I plan to go to the local amazing burrito establishment later tonight and popping an advil to kill my headache after I watch the presidential debates). I will go deeper into this on my purposedrivenposterchild.blogspot.com, but for now realize this difference, that although evil can have a lot of power it was gained at a speed not meant for our faculties to control it- that is why we have corrupt beings in this world, good however, is a different things entirely. To be a liar, you lie once, and you can then do it however many times you'd wish. The amazingly difficult thing about honesty, is all you need to do, is not do it once in order to lose your title as an "honest person."
Good, the road of the righteous, is a much harder journey, but in the end we must wonder why Jesus said, "repay good for evil," because He knew, that the only way to fight a bomb, is to diffuse it. "Anger will never bring forth the righteousness of God" must be taken as a blanket statement for all things that would gain us what we wish (even if it be justice, or "good" things), but must also be considered that Jesus knew exactly where we are. We're coming to this fight with our reserves empty, and not much hope of reinforcement on the horizon from ourselves. We still must consider that this powerul man of God said that love is what will defeat evil, not that love might defeat evil on the open battlefield if all things go right, he said it WILL...
Then the only logical explanation is the forces of good have not even begun to tap into the vast resource that carries their name. We compromise because our mission becomes our god, we get a glimpse of our goal, and the taste on the air makes us go crazy for it, we then are willing to sacrifice our purity of heart, one of the requirements for good, to get what that striving for good wants. We cannot do this any longer. Any time we compromise is one more step backwards that we cannot afford to take. Purity is not just a word to be used for preachers warning kids about the dangers of pre-marital sex but it is a word that was used for refining metals. Pure gold, is nothing but gold. Pure good, is nothing but good, this must be our striving, but herein is the problem- how many times have you set out with a commitment on your own strength- you know it is not possible. Only with the full power of the reserves of good can you do this, and the only way for this, for our final charging of the gates of evil, is to ask the One who first laid His Sword to the fiery metal and has been relentless on it from the moment of its construction. Let that reserve flow through you, let His love be your guide, do not give in to systems to keep you from sin, or to please your conscience that you did your civic or christian duty, let it be an outpouring of His Spirit and take up Heaven's charge as a Son of God, by the blood of Jesus Christ:
"on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it."
Gates of Hell overcoming? How can gates overcome unless they are moved? This implies that where the Kingdom of God is not, the kingdom of hell is. With the tools of good, we must work to push the gates of the Kingdom forward, and not allow there to be any pockets left whether it be in our lives, or in this world. I leave you with this, because you can't let God change the world, if you can't let God change your heart first:
"In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:4)
*Jesus sweat blood in a struggle against temptation to spoil His purity, its time we do.
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