Today we endeavored to follow the Lord's command to minister "unto the least of these." We fed and shared the gospel message with about 30 individuals who visited our campus to receive help from the "With Love From Jesus" outreach. What a joy it was to see 12 people commit their lives to Christ, and benefit from the best of Christian benevolence.
But what was equally as rewarding was to see the faces of our church members as they excitedly shared food, help, smiles, and "God bless you's!" What do you think? Does discipleship take place in the lives of the people we share our food with? Are we discipling them? Or does discipleship take place in our own lives as we share? Who is really being discipled?
As much as I would like to think that we are making disciples of the "least of these my brethren" I really think discipleship takes place in the servant as he learns to serve. If Christ came to serve, and we follow His example in serving others, we are placing ourselves in an intentional path of discipleship.
Who knew that discipleship was so non-boring!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
A man had bought a new gadget that had not been assembled. After reading the instructions several times he still couldn't figure out how it went together. Finally, he sought help of an old handyman who was working in the backyard. The old fellow picked up the pieces and in a few minutes had put everything together. The man who had tried and tried said, "That's amazing. You did it without even looking at the instructions." "Fact is," said the old man, "I can't read, and when a fellow can't read, he's got to think."
I recently read that the average person has 10,000 different thoughts every day. That's encouraging to me being that I try to come up with a new thought to write about every day. Those who consider themselves to be computer geeks are familiar with the GIGO. It is an acronym for 'garbage in garbage out.' What is true with a computer is also true with the human mind. There are times when the mind seems to drift and suddenly you become aware that uninvited thoughts have entered your mind. A good example is when you find yourself singing or humming some tune of a song you were not purposely thinking of. I'm sure that is the basis of the old adage that you can't keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.
2 Cor 10:5 exhorts us to "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." If we fail to control our thoughts, our thoughts will control us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can change our lives by changing our thinking.
Col 3:2 encourages us to "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."
Phil 4:8 "Whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
Once again you can change your life by changing your thinking. Replace thoughts of despair with thoughts of hope. Replace thoughts of anger with thoughts of love. Replace thoughts of suspicion with thoughts of trust. Replace thoughts of gloom with thoughts of cheerfulness.
And so what do you think? What you think will greatly influence how you live. It has been said that youth are too happy to think. Adults are too busy or too worried to think. Those in declining years are often too old or too sick to think. And then when death occurs it is too late to think.
Rev. Kenneth Woods - Guest Blogger
(Mrs. Rhonda Summers' father)
I recently read that the average person has 10,000 different thoughts every day. That's encouraging to me being that I try to come up with a new thought to write about every day. Those who consider themselves to be computer geeks are familiar with the GIGO. It is an acronym for 'garbage in garbage out.' What is true with a computer is also true with the human mind. There are times when the mind seems to drift and suddenly you become aware that uninvited thoughts have entered your mind. A good example is when you find yourself singing or humming some tune of a song you were not purposely thinking of. I'm sure that is the basis of the old adage that you can't keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.
2 Cor 10:5 exhorts us to "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." If we fail to control our thoughts, our thoughts will control us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can change our lives by changing our thinking.
Col 3:2 encourages us to "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."
Phil 4:8 "Whatever things are true, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
Once again you can change your life by changing your thinking. Replace thoughts of despair with thoughts of hope. Replace thoughts of anger with thoughts of love. Replace thoughts of suspicion with thoughts of trust. Replace thoughts of gloom with thoughts of cheerfulness.
And so what do you think? What you think will greatly influence how you live. It has been said that youth are too happy to think. Adults are too busy or too worried to think. Those in declining years are often too old or too sick to think. And then when death occurs it is too late to think.
Rev. Kenneth Woods - Guest Blogger
(Mrs. Rhonda Summers' father)
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Commitment vs. Conviction
I have been thinking about the word, "conviction" as it relates to "commitment." Many times pastors bemoan the lack of commitment they perceive in their membership. They say things like, "Our people are just not committed like they should be." Or, "What the church needs is greater commitment." While I agree that commitment is a needed attribute among believers, what may really be lacking is conviction.
I have typically thought of conviction as that bad feeling when I have done something wrong - I was convicted of my sin, for example. But what I think is a more accurate description is "that which I believe to be right or true." Conviction is the thing that I am convicted of, the thing I live by no matter what. If my conviction is that marriage is honorable, then I will honor marriage. If my conviction is that truth is paramount, then I will be truthful. If my conviction is that God is a reality, then I will live according to His reality.
Should a believer gather with others at worship on Sundays? Yes, that is my conviction! Is worship more important than other activities? That is also my conviction. Does God deserve the best part of the first day of the week? My conviction tells me, "yes."
What are your convictions?
I have typically thought of conviction as that bad feeling when I have done something wrong - I was convicted of my sin, for example. But what I think is a more accurate description is "that which I believe to be right or true." Conviction is the thing that I am convicted of, the thing I live by no matter what. If my conviction is that marriage is honorable, then I will honor marriage. If my conviction is that truth is paramount, then I will be truthful. If my conviction is that God is a reality, then I will live according to His reality.
Should a believer gather with others at worship on Sundays? Yes, that is my conviction! Is worship more important than other activities? That is also my conviction. Does God deserve the best part of the first day of the week? My conviction tells me, "yes."
What are your convictions?
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