Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable
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Pastor Gary
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Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable
My thoughts today on comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
"God is excited to show you mercy. He rises to give you His compassion." (Isaiah 30:18)
"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:12)
"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:12)
Stats don't lie...but they don't tell the whole truth either.
Here is what I concern myself with when I am in a "leadership role"
I could care less about those in front of me listening and partially doing what I am saying. I don't want anyone to do anything...they will do it of their own free will and cheerfully or not at all.
What I consider to be a better and the real goal of leadership is to get them to witness and to tell how good the God that we worship really is...and be excited to have the chance to do so. Then...if I have done that I have achieved "success"...the giving and sharing of the blessings that come from God will be an extention of their faith...
After all...this is a long walk and not a momentary quick sprint...and I or you can't be in as many places as a whole congregation can during a week.
And 82% (or something like that percentage) of those that have been asked by a friend to join them on Sunday will actually go.
Here is what I concern myself with when I am in a "leadership role"
I could care less about those in front of me listening and partially doing what I am saying. I don't want anyone to do anything...they will do it of their own free will and cheerfully or not at all.
What I consider to be a better and the real goal of leadership is to get them to witness and to tell how good the God that we worship really is...and be excited to have the chance to do so. Then...if I have done that I have achieved "success"...the giving and sharing of the blessings that come from God will be an extention of their faith...
After all...this is a long walk and not a momentary quick sprint...and I or you can't be in as many places as a whole congregation can during a week.
And 82% (or something like that percentage) of those that have been asked by a friend to join them on Sunday will actually go.
I want to die like Grandpa, quietly and in his sleep; not like the passengers in his car, they were all panicking and screaming.
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Pastor Gary
- Kahu Gary, Benevolent Dictator
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Okay, but...
JohnDB wrote:Stats don't lie...but they don't tell the whole truth either.
Okay.
But I am not at all sure what that has to do with my post about rich Christians ignoring the plight of the poor and excusing their way out of the responsibility to do more.
"God is excited to show you mercy. He rises to give you His compassion." (Isaiah 30:18)
"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:12)
"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:12)
OK...but can five loaves and two fishes feed five thousand?
I have seen a million dollars not be enough to even start construction on a small, simple building.
Don't aim low for results in heart changes...
And let God worry about the money...after all...He was it's creator too.
And we got the Keys to the Kingdom.
There is a verse somewhere about if God's people prosper how much more so the wicked will prosper...and some in the pews aren't so righteous...
I have seen a million dollars not be enough to even start construction on a small, simple building.
Don't aim low for results in heart changes...
And let God worry about the money...after all...He was it's creator too.
And we got the Keys to the Kingdom.
There is a verse somewhere about if God's people prosper how much more so the wicked will prosper...and some in the pews aren't so righteous...
I want to die like Grandpa, quietly and in his sleep; not like the passengers in his car, they were all panicking and screaming.
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dolfan
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The church is the one and only institution on the planet capable of doing justice and equity because it is the only one called upon to do it as a matter of calling, a matter of love, a matter of obedience to the benevolent Creator of all there is, a matter of recognizing the sacredness of one another.
For all the rantings of myself about government, it remains true above all else that to follow Jesus means to do what He did and said to do and be. While no earthly, civil government is organized in any way around those principles, nor can it be, the church of Jesus must be or it isn't the church of Jesus.
You're right.
For all the rantings of myself about government, it remains true above all else that to follow Jesus means to do what He did and said to do and be. While no earthly, civil government is organized in any way around those principles, nor can it be, the church of Jesus must be or it isn't the church of Jesus.
You're right.
Human government bears the same relation to hell as the church bears to heaven. (David Lipscomb, On Civil Government, 72).
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