Wow!! I came away from Higher Grounds so filled with the Holy Spirit!! I find it remarkable that out of such a small congregation that we are blessed with two such fine teachers/speakers-Gary Stembal and today -Beth Mattocks. Beth`s message today was about nuturing the seed planted by the Holy Spirit and I think she was an embodiement of that nuturing today!
Thru Beth, Our Lord Jesus had much to say.I wish to mention two seperate analogies that were presented. The growth of seed to maturity and the choice of two bank accounts.
The Seed of Christainity is planted in us by the Holy Spirit. In order for this seed to grow into the Fruit of Jesus we must nuture it. This growth is enhanced by prayer, the reading of scripture, the being in the presence of other Christians and going to church.
We are given choices. We either build up a bank account of non-Christianity or a bank account of Jesus. Our flesh(the physical body) cries out for us to make deposits in the wrong account. If we yield to this, then when it comes time to withdraw in times of emergency we have way too little in the Jesus` account and that flesh account just ain`t a gonna do us much good!!
As a continuence from Beth`s earlier talk the result of nuturing the seed and the deposits of goodness come back to us. The more we do good Christlike things the more blessing we receive and the more we have to give to others and in the end the more blessings we get back!! Golly its a good circle!!
Provacative question of the week-Is a person who has a non-Christian demeanor and attitude really a Christian?
Y`all put your actions and beliefs in the right bank account and water them seeds!! Have a great week, God bless.
3 comments:
Tony- You are awesome! You do an unbelievable job of capturing the strong points of the lesson. Thanks for taking the time to let God use you and the gifts He has blessed you with. Keep up the great work... like you said... Golly, it's a good circle! Thanks Again and may God continue to bless you- Beth
Wish I knew the answer to your question, Tony. A few weeks back we heard about an group who did NOT identify THEMSELVES as Christians, but rather were identified as Christians by others made visable by their works. Seems like a very good principle.
James 2:14-20 says that Faith without Works is dead. Martin Luther apparently had a problem with this...and did not translate this. James writes in 2:18 "But someone will say that you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
The question is can Christ be in us and not be seen by our works?
Also in James 2:24 "You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only." This is the controversial passage for Martin Luther. He believed that man was justified by faith alone.
2:22 "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect."
Bottom line -- Biblical scholars have been questioning this issue for centuries. Clearly, the manifistation of Christian is apparent in our works. As the song goes, "They will know we are Christian by our love."
More later
Tony,
Thanks for the blog!!!! This is awesome. In response to your provocative question....all of us must consider Jesus' response to those pleading "Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, we did mighty deeds in your name"
Jesus responded "get away from me I never knew you."
Paul says to continually examine yourself...to see if your faith is genuine.
I suspect in heaven there will be some great surprises! We may be surprised by who is there and who is not!!
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