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| Dear MyChurch, |
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I have been grappling with the frequency with which I hear Christians blogging about an offensive comment made toward one another... usually in connection to the use of scripture. I have wondered from time to time if those complaints were intended for certain people to read... in order to correct a destructive behavior, and have been uncomfortable in the uncertainty with which this complaint has been directed. So, in effort to clear the air, I would like to talk to you a little bit about my concern. For a time, I struggled with some of the ways in which people here on MyChurch were ministering to one another. The times I have been troubled, I have spoken gently, but plainly to them in effort to rectify a perceived problem I had concerning a representation of God or His Word. Every time, with a clear conscience toward you I have gone to great lengths to tactfully weigh each word... steeping them in a careful cup of love, humility, reverence for God, and respect toward you... observing to the best of my ability the law of Truth in love: I sincerly hope this is the way I have been received. However, keep in mind a couple of things about me: As much as I love you, I love God more. In the end, then He gets all the glory..and I don’t. I pledge to you that I will always do my best to defend Truth in a world that is more interested in conforming the Word of God to their own personal perspectives, rather than conforming theirs to God’s Truth claims; self-sacrificially. DID YOU KNOW THAT THE BARNA GROUP REPORTS THAT "ONLY 9% OF "BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS HAVE A BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW?" Why is this happening? If given the occasion and ability to do so, I am compelled to shine light into darkness, wherever that is found...as others do in me. I understand that I do not know all there is know about God and His Word, however... It is wrong to throw up our hands and say to ourselves, "lets leave this work to the ministers" because they are the only people in authority to do so. We ought to be out of a deep and sincere love for each other, serving one another from the heart for the edification of the Church. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 Since these satanic seducers are going to continue, what should the Christian do? Continue to be faithful to the Word of God. The only answer to Satan's lies is God's truth. If every local church would get back to the Word of God, and if every pastor and Sunday School teacher would teach the Word of God, Satan's disciples would be defeated. What is the purpose of the Bible? Of course, salvation is the first purpose (v. 15), but Christian living is also included. The Word is profitable for teaching (doctrine), conviction (reproof), setting right (correction), and discipline (instruction). It enables the child of God to become a man or woman of God, matured in the things of the Lord. "Perfect" (v. 17) does not mean sinless; it means mature." And "thoroughly furnished" means "fully equipped" (vv. 16-17). So, the Bible transforms the child of v. 15 into a mature person in Christ; it equips the saints to be servants. It is fine for Christians to take study courses and learn methods of ministry, but the best way for them to equip themselves to serve God is to study and practice the Word of God. Study books tell us how, but the Bible gives us the motivation and power to live what we learn. It is interesting to compare the uses of the Bible with the order of the epistles: doctrine - Romans; reproof-1 and 2 Corinthians; correction - Galatians; instruction in righteousness - Ephesians and Colossians. The great need among churches and Christians today is to return to the Bible. If the churches do not get back to God's Word, the satanic deceivers will take over and millions of lost sinners will go to hell because they were led astray by religious lies. (from Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Copyright © 1992 by Chariot Victor Publishing, an imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved.) I HOPE TO MINISTER TO YOU, AND TO BE MINISTERED TO: I LOVE GODLY DISCOURSE AND STRIVING FOR A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER AND THE LORD JESUS, TOGETHER...
IN LOVE.. UNITY... AND TRUTH.
Let us look at what it is to be a minister of the faith:
Minister : A distinctive biblical idea that means "to serve" or "servant." In reality, all believers are "ministers." The apostle Paul urged the true pastor-teacher to "equip the saints" so they can minister to one another (Eph 4:11-12).... ...All the saints are responsible for loving and ministering in various ways to one another, using the spiritual gifts distributed to each by the Holy Spirit. (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers) Eph 4:11-16 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. NKJV Paul Prefers Gentleness 2 Cor 13:7-14 7 Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete. 10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. 11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. NKJV I hope you will continue to read my blogs, and will welcome my comments... and if you ever find ME in error, love me enough to correct me with the kind of gentleness and love that is fitting for such a holy union in Christ. Remember, from my last blog... when the work here is over, my "treasure" is and will be Christ!....... and you.
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| To add a comment to "Dear MyChurch," |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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AWESOME...Tonya and this was needed. Thank You for sharing Your Light.
Great Morning Devotion. Love You Much
God Bless You
As much as I love you, I love God more. In the end, then He gets all the glory..and I don’t. |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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| Awesome!!!! |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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| great word Tonya |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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| Tonya, you are right on target when you love God more than man. And you are right about correction should be done in gentleness and love. Thanks for the bible study! |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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| Good word |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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This is so awesome, Tonya. It has bothered me as well. I have very strong opinions about a lot of things, and honestly, feel that all other Christians should agree! : ) But we MUST speak with gentleness and love. We can do so much damage to our Brothers and Sisters in Christs' walks, and especially to unbelievers, with our attitudes, actions, and words. We must speak plainly and gently, while still being true to the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
This is so profound: "The great need among churches and Christians today is to return to the Bible. If the churches do not get back to God's Word, the satanic deceivers will take over and millions of lost sinners will go to hell because they were led astray by religious lies."
We really, really need to think about that. Thanks, Tonya. |
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| October 30, 2008 |
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| As long as you speak the truth in love I can't see how you can go wrong. |
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| October 31, 2008 |
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Dear MyChurch friend,
It gave me great relief to write this blog. I am reassured and encouraged greatly by your responses, esp. Terry's. I am very busy today...but would like to follow up later... please check back if you think of it! I will comment again over the weekend.
In Love, Unity, & Truth,
~Tonya |
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| November 03, 2008 |
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Dear Friends,
I have heard it said that "It is not what I don't know about the Bible that gives me the most difficulty, but it is which I do know and resist putting into practice that I have the hardest time dealing with."
This blog really helped me clear the air in terms of communicating what you can expect from me...and unraveling some frustration about the observations I have made since entering into this social network atmosphere. But, the fact is the Truth can be very offensive...and it is our job to speak it, esp. in a forum where the underlying principle is that we are all seeking to hear it.
Can Truth be known? I contend that the Bible says it can, and it is found within the pages of it's "God breathed" message that He and it will be found. There really are fewer "disputable" matters than we often claim there to be in effort to persuade people to see it "our way."
I really hope that we will offer our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength to the Lord as we fellowship, exhort, edify, and ultimately glorify the Lord as we "press on" together in days ahead.
May our words be seasoned "with salt, grace, mercy, forgiveness, understanding, wisdom, and LOVE..." but always seek first to stay Biblical as we disciple one another until the Day of the Lord's catching away of HisChurch."
Thank you sincerely, with love in Christ.
~Tonya
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| November 05, 2008 |
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| Great blog..and real talk. |
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| November 05, 2008 |
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wow. only 9% of Christians have a Biblical worldview.....
perhaps it's due to the fact that even many church-goers have their opinions shaped
through their personal experiences. For these 91% it seems that their interpretation of the Bible is clouded by
life scenarios, inherited traditions, and the opinion of their church/organization leadership.
So even if you use the Bible to correct errant opinion, it may create an even bigger debate in some cases
due to the varying interpretations.
Before being enlightened, Saul of Tarsus read the same Bible as Stephen the martyr, but they saw radically different things from the same book. It was their experience based interpretations that made the difference.
The Truth is, is that the only thing that will change errant interpretations and opinions of stubborn religious people is a real encounter with Christ and the Holy Spirit, and not just being a "church-going christian".
It's hard to be a Christian without Christ.
The Bible is very clear in many places, and it's easy to impart Truth and/or correction in some instances. But in many other cases, people have room to debate with you til the cows come home! : )
With the Bible scriptures we use to admonish, rebuke, correct, or edify, we also need an extreme level of God's Grace and His Spirit to confirm (or, backup) our words with his anointing.
We are coming into a day where it is becoming more difficult to admonish saints and outsiders alike, due to dispute over interpretation and unbelief due to logic and rebellion. I believe that it's gonna take God to do God's job. Any thing He calls us to must have His backup. We can't do it without Him.
Tonya, blessings to you in your fervent zeal in imparting Truth. Keep doing good for The Kingdom!
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| November 07, 2008 |
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Joe ~ It is good to know you read my blogs! Thanks for the encouraging word. I hope you will always find me "keeping it real."
Benjamin ~ Your well thought out response is very refreshing... I can really appreciate a good dialoge...or monologue!
I do think however, that we need to remember that God gave us His word so that we all might have the same interpretation: The right one! I do think it is achievable, and weigh my views against other "tested" Christians who can either confirm or deny my interpretation. We need to do all we can to cast down the "Emergent Church's" view that the meaning of a text is subjective or cannot be known. God establishes order; not disorder and confusion. We get tripped up when we think that scripture is left to our own private interpretation.
2 Peter 1:16-21 The Trustworthy Prophetic Word
(Matt 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35) 16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
NKJV
May we all strive to fulfill our responsibility this end with our God-given authority, in unity, grace, and love: Proclaim the knowledge that by the grace of God, the Truth can be known!
Ben, thanks for your tremendous encouragement here on MC.
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| November 07, 2008 |
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Hey Tonya, yeah, I do agree that the "unity of the faith" and "speaking the same thing" is acheivable. I find that sometimes it takes a chain of references to do so (and a few hours) : ). Jesus' method was much simpler. He took one seemingly irrelevant verse and extracted a mindblowing meaning out of it that no one would ever even think of. So yes, I do believe that either through the "chain reference" style or the "revelation" method, you can refute any type of logic or nonsense. Your comment on the Emergent Church is interesting. I have ran accross a few associated with that type of movement. Order is the very thing that a number of them don't want. I even find that a number of them have been hurt in Church experiences and reject absolutes or spiritual authorities. I believe in personal revelation, but I also believe that God places those in the Body to lay a solid foundation of understanding. Without the authority of scripture or the authority of ministry gifts(Eph 4:11), everyone is open to interpret and do as they please, in the name of "the priesthood of all believers". No jabs at Luther, but even priests have absolutes and high priests. |
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| November 07, 2008 |
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Benjamin ~ You blow me away... It is good to hear all you had to say. I'm not sure what you mean by "personal revelation" though... Could you elaborate on that point more?
I am so glad to hear you are familiar with the "Emergent" movement. It seems like the Church has some catching up to do there on that term/problem... and the lies and destruction associated with it. I am saddened by the ones who have been hurt or led astray, but it only goes to show that God must remain our ultimate authority...and place all else under His Lordship and direction by the power of the Holy Spirit given to us.
I believe that if we are truly born-again and consecrated unto Him...seeking holiness and a renewed mind, God will provide what we need to discern: Through is Word.
I hope you accept my invitation to learn and grow alongside each other here on MC whenever possible.
Thank you sincerely for your detailed and reference to our High Priest and His Authoritative Word: Jesus Christ!
"Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess...." Right, brother? Amen!
~Tonya |
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| November 07, 2008 |
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| Hello dear lady ~ Our Canadian neighbor! Thanks for the comment; I agree, this has been a fruitful blog. PTL!!! |
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