have you ever gotten to the point when you knew that you wanted to do something but you weren't sure if it was God's timing? It's that time when you say, we just need to wait and pray. How do you know when it is God's timing? How do you know that God doesn't want you to do it right now? Is it best to seek counseling or should you just wait?

I am struggling with this right now and have decided that for now, I should wait and pray and seek wise counsel.

it is the toughest thing in the world to consider everyone else as better than you. Now, it is not true that everyone is better than you, for the Lord loves us equally and created us to be equals. However, to truly model Christ, Philippians 2 says we must consider others to be better than ourselves.

That means that for anyone who is younger and less experienced than you, take the time to validate them as a person with real thoughts and real ideas.

That means that when your wife lashes out at you or is angry or is in the wrong, take the high road and seek peace and restoration rather than fighting to be right.

That means that when someone jokes around and hurts your feelings (accidentally or not) do not retaliate but figure out some way to reconcile the situation.

That means that with all your knowledge and training, look for ways to advance the body of Christ especially by helping young leaders be out in front instead of you.

That means that you put others' needs ahead of your own.

That means you die to self...

In preparing for this Sunday's church lesson, I have had the joy of studying a very simple and widely known passage in Acts 4:32-37. This passage is used many places to preach or teach about unity but alot of the time, the passage is not fully explained. I don't claim to know more than these other people but I have discovered some things that I have never heard before.

This is the passage that talks about the times after the day of Pentecost when things were going well for the Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ. It says that people were one in mind and spirit and therefore everyone was looking out for the other, in somewhat of a utopian society. It even goes to the extent of saying that many believing land owners were selling property and surrendering the money to the apostles to be distributed so that everyone would be living well. I used to think this was Christian communism but the difference here is that nothing was forced. Everyone shared and cared for others out of the true love of Christ that was in them. There was great unity throughout.

I observed that the passage seems to be saying that because people were caring for each others' needs then the apostles were freed up to preach the Gospel. This was a direct answer to prayer in the preceding passage when the believers had lifted their voices to God to request boldness in preaching the Gospel.

I think it is amazing how the believers prayed for one thing that was right in line with the Father's will and God gave them what they needed to accomplish that, namely, unity. In other words for the church to be effective in reaching the world for Christ there needs to be a sense of unity. Unity does not mean agreement. I already disagree with every Christian I have ever met on some point or another, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to be their friend and grow to love them as a brother in Christ.

The body of Christ is not restricted to Baptists, or Pentecostals or the Bible church movement. The body of Christ engulfs these different groups under the name of Christ in order that they might work together to reach the world for Christ. I am tired of hearing that people won't work outside their denomination. It is not the body of Baptists, it is supposed to be the body of Christ.

If there is no unity in the body, there will be a lack in the effectiveness of our preaching of the Gospel.

isn't it surprising how hard it is to explain the Holy Spirit and the Trinity to children. But the doctrine of the Trinity is essential to a proper understanding of God. For so long I have separated the Trinity and God. I know they are the same but in my mind I seemed to make a distinction between the two. However, in my time of seminary I feel I have developed a better understanding of God by studying the doctrine of the Trinity.

Something I have found is that many people in the church feel that it is too difficult to really teach people about the essential doctrine of God much less try understand the Holy Spirit.

Is the Holy Spirit an essence? Is is a wind? It is often described as a wind or a fire or a dove. Rarely is the Holy Spirit spoken of as a person, and yet He is.

I found this article which seems a little modalistic but it does a good job in describing the Holy Spirit to children.

HOLY SPIRIT

I was very interested in what i got to observe this past Sunday. Music and Scripture are integral and essential components of the Lutheran church. I was impressed how much Scripture and creeds were referred to or read through out the time. I loved how much singing and responsive singing there was. All in all it was very enjoyable.

However, there was a boredom factor that crept up slowly. Apparently every Sunday is a variation of what we did this Sunday, some things change slightly but that is all. On the other hand, our Bible church does variations ever Sunday too (worship, sermon, offering, go home...).

I think my biggest argument was the message. Though it was confirmation Sunday and everything seemed to be centered around it, the message was about divorce. Beyond that the delivery was awful. However, he did seem to show a genuine love for the Word and the congregation.

Having said all this, there is great admiration as to their great love for Scripture, the Sacraments and tradition. Three very important things that are often forgotten in the ever changing church of the 21st century.

Today will be my first day to go to a Lutheran church. We have some friends who are Lutheran and their daughter is being confirmed today. I am not quite sure what to expect though in my mind's eye I anticipate some large Catholic looking church, though I know they are much different than Catholics.

Questions I have going into the service today:

What is their view of confirmation? How do Lutherans do church? Are traditions a higher priority than Biblical doctine?

Most likely I won't find these answers out today but I will update what I do learn when we get home.

Labels: Lutheran church