this is a work in process :: thoughts expressed are current personal opinions and are not necessarily final statements :: i reserve the right to disagree with myself and/or change my mind at any time :: it is a reflection on spiritual growth / formation :: and a little bit of just about everything else thrown in
Rest is the ultimate act of submission; because in order to rest we have to admit that God can get along without us.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Ministry of Death
Have you ever wondered:
Why some people have bad feelings towards 'c'hristians?
Why some church bodies are experiencing decline in numbers?
Why are there so many 'church runners' ('c'hristians who frequently are on the move from church body to church body)?
I love this quote. It seems to have great deal of truth and effectively answers these questions.
'Abiding in Christ cannot be separated from expressing the life of Christ. Any grape that abides in the vine is both experiencing and expressing the life of the vine. Many want to produce and expression of Christian ministry without abiding in Him. The result is empty religious ritual, which produces a ministry of death. When the "Christian religion" is lacking the life of Christ, it has no more power or status than any other religion. Don't miss the point. When the "Christian religion" is lacking the life of Christ, it ceases to be Christianity and becomes nothing more than a moral religion that teaches people how they should behave. Biblical Christianity is an expression of the life of Christ through His church of this world."
(source: Steve McVey's Grace Walk p.173)
Personally, I believe there are 'c'hristians that have not yet realized how much they need to appropriate Christ's life. I believe that they miss it - they deny themselves 'the power of Christ'.
II Tim 3.2-5 states: 'There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.'
Without Christ you have nothing! You have empty religion lubricated with strife and misery - who needs that? You might as well do something more productive with your time and money!
RoG is right on. If I were a gambling man, I would put money on the fact that a large majority of people who call themselves Christians do not know who they are in Christ; do not understand the authority nor the power that is theirs because of all that God did in Jesus and that God is doing through his Spirit today.
2 comments:
Ministry of Death
Have you ever wondered:
Why some people have bad feelings towards 'c'hristians?
Why some church bodies are experiencing decline in numbers?
Why are there so many 'church runners' ('c'hristians who frequently are on the move from church body to church body)?
I love this quote. It seems to have great deal of truth and effectively answers these questions.
'Abiding in Christ cannot be separated from expressing the life of Christ. Any grape that abides in the vine is both experiencing and expressing the life of the vine. Many want to produce and expression of Christian ministry without abiding in Him. The result is empty religious ritual, which produces a ministry of death. When the "Christian religion" is lacking the life of Christ, it has no more power or status than any other religion. Don't miss the point. When the "Christian religion" is lacking the life of Christ, it ceases to be Christianity and becomes nothing more than a moral religion that teaches people how they should behave. Biblical Christianity is an expression of the life of Christ through His church of this world."
(source: Steve McVey's Grace Walk p.173)
Personally, I believe there are 'c'hristians that have not yet realized how much they need to appropriate Christ's life. I believe that they miss it - they deny themselves 'the power of Christ'.
II Tim 3.2-5 states: 'There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.'
Without Christ you have nothing! You have empty religion lubricated with strife and misery - who needs that? You might as well do something more productive with your time and money!
Spoken in love - RoG
RoG is right on.
If I were a gambling man, I would put money on the fact that a large majority of people who call themselves Christians do not know who they are in Christ; do not understand the authority nor the power that is theirs because of all that God did in Jesus and that God is doing through his Spirit today.
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