‘Gut-Level’

I am not a good steward of my finances. I am selfish with my money, so selfish that I cannot even save money for own selfish needs, without spending most of it on my own selfish desires. I typically spend money on fun nights out to the movies, or meals outside of the café, even though I get free meals at the café.

My bank account does not connect with my affirmation of faith. I do not give any money to the church or to charity. I am ashamed that I have been so selfish. If I will not give my part to those who need, then how can I expect others to give. If I do not contribute, then no one will, and thus many will go without when I should go without.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

http://www.thefellowship.info/Missions

                This video is all about the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or the CBF. The CBF is responsible for missions worldwide, whether they are on the opposite side of the planet, or whether they are right next door. They bring together Baptist churches, communities, organizations, and conventions in order to accomplish things that none could do on their own.

BGCT Ministries

As I have searched through the BGCT website, I have found that the BGCT has a point that someone can input a question about the Bible, and someone on staff will answer them. This is interesting because it can do so much good, however, it can also bring harm. It is good to be able to answer someone who has a genuine question; however, if the answer is biased, or is claimed as absolute truth when in reality it is a convention’s interpretation of the truth, it can be a problem.

Baptist Standard: Communion

In the Baptist Standard I read a story about communion in church, and Lifeway has created a percentages chart showing how many Baptists respond to communion in what way, whether their church is open in communion, closed off, or somewhere in between, and when churches usually do communion. I learned that it is more common to only offer communion to those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ, however, it is also nearly as common for churches to restrict communion to Baptized believers. This story is important, because it allows discussion over the topic. My church allows any confessing believer to partake of communion, whether they are baptized or not. I find it unnecessary to restrict communion from believers just because they have not been baptized.

The Baptist Standard is a great tool for Baptists to use to follow up on current Baptist news, and grow in their denomination.

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14317&Itemid=53

Community

According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we are to be brothers and sisters in Christ. In Christ we share our grace, and our grace is shared in Christ. We as Christians need one another because with one another, Christ’s works can be accomplished. With Christ’s works being accomplished by the community of Christians, the works will be the only thing that the community is focused on, thus there will be a community of brothers and sisters, wholly set on fulfilling God’s plan and fulfilling our purpose.

The Empty Minister

It is not only possible for a minister to stray away from his/her relationship with Christ, but it is most prominent. Ministers can convince people all day that they are close to Christ and walk with him every day, when in reality they are far away, and lost. A lot of the times, ministers get themselves confused with what ministry is about. Ministry is meant to help people, but more importantly it is meant to bring all of humanity closer to God, this including the minister. I believe that ministers forget their own relationships between God, family, friends, and self, while desperately trying to convince themselves that they are doing what God would want them to do. This is harmful to the minister because the longer it is allowed, the harder it will be to bounce back. This is very harmful to the family. As a minister, spouse, and parent, the priority should be to lead those around you in a Godly way, and if you are only fooling yourself with a pseudo relationship with Christ, your loved ones will do the same. The same goes for your congregation if you are a pastor. An ‘Empty’ Minister will show characteristics that are un-godly. For example, they will lie a lot to protect their image. As minsters, we must strive to desire God more and more, and never forget why we are ministers.

Politics within the Church

1)      Politics are a tricky thing to have, because they can cause a great amount of grief, however, without politics, there cannot be equality. We should have politics within the church to govern and lead the church for the church. Politics become bad when a certain individual or group of individuals decide to use the political system within the church to gain an advantage over other people. The point of politics is to bring equality, once equality is lost, politics have failed. The upside to politics is that we can decide as a church or convention what we want as a whole, whether that be adding or taking away a new position, mission, or theological belief.

Division within the Church

1)      I wish that I could just blindly say that denominations are evil, and not necessary, however, I strongly disagree. I believe that denominations are a good thing because it encourages Christians to follow God in a manner that they have interpreted from God’s word. If we did not have denominations, there would be no furthering of our understanding the Bible. Although with the upsides to denominations, there must be some downsides, one being disunity. Unfortunately, the interpretation of the denomination takes the blame, when most of the time, the blame should be placed on the individuals. We have a difficult time accepting an opposing idea. We should be more unified with other denominations than we are, but we should also protect our understanding of the word of God. We should not, however, argue that we understand the word of God more than another, just because of a different opinion. If a person has a legitimate point, and just about all of the other denominations have a point, we should not dismiss them just because we don’t agree. By being separate, we can reach more people, and have a reason to seek answers from the Bible that we haven’t had before. The line should be drawn at the point of disagreement, but not overstepped to the point of argument.

The Baptist Life

1^st Principle: Religious Toleration

                Baptists have always been religiously tolerant, seeking freedom of religion, rather than forcing religious beliefs upon one another. Thomas Helwy, one of the founders of the Baptist belief, wrote the first document written in English to argue for religious freedom. We as the continuation of the Baptist believers need to remember that we should seek religious tolerance for all.

2^nd Principle: Love for Missions

                Baptist’s main concern since their beginning has been missions. Baptist’s primary funding is headed to mission opportunities. The Baptist’s today still tend to support missions above all else. We still support the Charlotte Diggs (‘Lottie’) Moon and the Annie Armstrong foundations.

Prayer Life

I tend to be too formal in my prayer life. Often I catch myself asking God to bless my food when I am not even eating. I am trying to become less formal, but it seems that when I am less formal, I’m not sure what to ask for. I find myself getting stuck in prayer, unsure if I am being clear enough, or if I am really communicating enough. I believe that if I could really learn to talk to God, rather than just pray, I would benefit from it tremendously. I plan to be extremely informal and get used to talking with God as if He was just another person in the room, and once I am comfortable with that, I will work on getting more formal. I believe that this is the best route for me.

The Cost of Time

I would like to spend more time reading my Bible. I struggle with finding time, and quite honestly the drive to read the word. I love the Bible, and I will spend weeks in constant study of it, if there has been an interesting study on my mind, but lately I have not been active in my personal studies. I truly am saddened by this, I love studying in depth topics, but I am out of study ideas. I think what would be best for me, is to grow in my prayer life more, and pray for God to give me a desire for all things in the Bible, even the things that do not interest me right now.

A Vigorous Passion

My studies here at ETBU have been enriched by my spiritual life, but even more so, my spiritual life has been enriched by my studies. I no longer believe in a pseudo evangelism. I have grown in my walk with the Lord, and found a more sound belief system thanks to my vigorous studies.

My Cross

My most problematic area mentioned in "The Dark Night of the Soul" is my humility. I struggle greatly with Pride. As I was reading, I could not help but relate to every word said about Pride by John of the Cross. I have been exactly what he said, and I feel the conviction. This man obviously understood these things himself, to be able to write so honestly about them. I pray that God rob me of my pride, and enrich me in humility. For those who read this, please pray for me as well, it will be extremely hard for me.

Sister Blog Summary-Ashley Pollard: God’s Love

On Ashley Pollard’s Blog “God’s Love”, she discusses about God’s love for her and in turn her love for people. However, she says “I love others because God does, and He calls us to do so.” I find myself in the exact same mindset. I have never been a people person, in fact people were the main reason I was skeptical to the faith before my conversion. I have to fight my disgust of people daily, because I struggle with loving others. I used to be much worse, but one day it hit me between the eyes, when I realized that my unloving attitude towards people would hinder my love towards God. I knew the verses telling me to love others so that we can love God, so it wasn’t a biblical passage that changed me, but a long drawn out patience test. I lived in the same room with the worst possible combination of person for me. It was so difficult, but throughout the test, I found myself being able to deal with others in longer time frames, not because I was so used to having problems, but because I realized that there will always be someone that you do not like, and that doesn’t like you. We can give out a pseudo love for people, pretending that it is real, but when you come to the understanding that through an unloving attitude, we can understand what love really is. Love is not a feeling, or a certain emotion placed in a timeframe, but rather, love is a commitment through thick and thin. We are to love one another, not because we want to, but because we are told to. I am proud to say that by myself, I DO NOT love people, but with God, I CANNOT help but love them. If you disagree, look at Luke 14:26. I am not talking about a vengeful hate, a hate that lingers in your heart, but a hate of what is not Holy and Righteous. This includes the unloving, hateful, attitude that was once in me, but is now replaced with a godly distaste of nothing more than the sin found in people.

You may see this as a churchy response, but I believe that the majority of those who read this blog will find themselves uncomfortable, unsure about whether what I am saying is correct. However, if we are honest, we all can relate to the words I am saying. I do not HATE people, but I do HATE when people choose to sin. I hope and pray that all who read this blog would read it carefully and understand the reality of the human nature, and grow in understanding from the truth found in our everyday situations.

The Fearful Deceiver

The one great fear of the deceiver is that his secret deceits are confessed and that his intentions are made known. When we are facing a problem, no matter how severe or crazy, it is best to be completely open and honest, because if you are talking to a responsible Christian, who you trust has your best intentions in mind, they should not let you down. If it is a sinful calling of great proportions such as whether or not you should have an abortion, or convince someone of having an abortion, or anything of a serious life or death situation, it is highly recommended that you seek counsel before making any rash decisions, however, all sins should be treated similarly equal. Whether it seems small or big, it will most definitely have an effect on those around you. Everyone should have someone that they are open with, however, trusting is hard. I find myself many times unwilling to trust another person, thus causing myself much more grief that I have to face by myself. I commit to this day to strive for excellence, including confession of sinful desires. I pray that all would do the same.

3 Gifts

I desire quite a bit of things from God, most unfortunately selfish. I desire things like a running vehicle, and a happy life, but when I reflect on such desires, I honestly believe that beyond the material desires I have, that there are spiritual things that I desire more. The three things that I desire most from God would have to be…

1.)    That God make use of me and that in my use I would honor Him. I do not want to be useless. I do not want to waste time. I want to use every bit of my time to be useful and productive towards the Kingdom of God.

2.)    That God would continue to lead me down the path of righteousness and justification, as he has done recently. I do not want to return to my old ways, and for that I am thankful to God.

3.)    That God would reveal Himself to me more and more each day so that I will continue to burn the fire in my soul and edify my spirit by the knowledge and understanding only granted by God, for God.

The Demands of Christianity

Reconcile all problems with one another- If we do not reconcile with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not even try to approach God with love, because the kingdom of God is all about community, and relationships. If we are not willing to fix the relationships here on earth with the little time we have, how can we do the same if we are to worship God for all eternity.

Do not resist an evil person- Most of the time we are told to resist evil, and flee from it, but here Jesus tells us that an evil person should not be resisted; now yes the evil itself should not be accepted, but to deny the person who is in clear need of something beyond themselves, is a cruel misunderstanding of our purpose.

Bill Lenz- “If we truly believe what Scripture teaches about Christ being the only way to the Father and the only way to salvation, how can we not share the gospel with those of other religions? In my opinion, the question is not if we should or not, but how.”

The First Love

                Bernard’s four degrees of love give 4 different kinds of love within a faith based relationship. There is the love of self for self’s sake, the love of God for self’s sake, the love of God for God’s sake, and the love of self for God’s sake. In 1 John, John Mark explains that we should love God for God’s sake, because he first loving us gave us love to experience with Him.  As long as we are serving God and loving God for God being God, then we can at least have confidence that God loving us, is a very secure reason for us to love ourselves.

The Commands of Christianity

1.       Rejoice and be glad

2.       Shine the light inside

3.       Reconcile all problems with one another

4.       Make friends quickly with any enemies

5.       Do not look upon another with a lustful eye, or heart

6.       Do not divorce, except for reason of chastity

7.       Do not marry those who have been divorced

8.       Do not make any oaths

9.       Do not resist an evil person

10.   Give to him who asks

 

"Little Christ's"

                Though my personal experience with modern churches haven’t always been pleasurable, and though my home church is not one to boast about by any means, I will say that my home church and most churches that I know of have been very good at teaching the basic fundamentals of our Christianity. If I must be honest, I have not experienced to this day a church that I personally feel is on the right track. Most churches either have a lot of members, yet not many ‘disciple’ members, or have few members that are ‘disciples’, but have little resources or time to give to the church. I would love to attend a church that in my opinion is actually behaving as the church should, and there are a lot of good, honest churches, but it seems that church is no longer about the people of God and what God wants from us, but rather about business of the people and what the people want from God.

Giving All To God?!?!?!

The idea of giving all to God is not a troublesome idea, in fact many if not most would agree that the idea itself is not the problem. I want to give all to God, and I try with every being in my fiber, daily, to give all to God. It is, however, very problematic. For us to give all to God, would mean to lose all of ourselves. We may say that that is not an issue, but it is. I find C.S. Lewis’ excerpts very compelling. Ever since I was saved, I have been behind the scenes of the church, and have seen firsthand the mess. It is disappointing and disheartening to work for people who claim such authority, yet live as if they have no responsibility to anyone but themselves and the people of the church. They assume that God is behind them, just because they have the position of authority. On a personal level, I agree completely with C.S. Lewis, but have been worn by the years of ‘service’. I pray that all who read these excerpts will understand it in its entirety.

                “C.S. Lewis-Excerpts from ‘Mere Christianity’”