And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (II Corinthians 3:18).
Spiritual formation is a fashionable topic these days. It would be a mistake to think that Spiritual formation is not occuring if the church is not specifically programming for it. I have been involved in Christian ministry for nearly fifty years. One of the things I know about living the Christian life and the life of the church is that is cannot be done by our own "steam." If Holy Spirit is not in us, molding, shaping, empowering and leading us, all of our programming is simply perpetuating a social club or a service organization.
Certainly, Holy Spirit will not be present where disrespect, gossip, fighting, selfishness and immorality are present, but I do understand that we can assume Holy Spirit's active presence when a place is made for Him. Having said that, I'm going to share ten verbs from the New Testament that describe Holy Spirit' work in our lives and in the church.*
1. Holy Spirit fills us (Ephesians 5:18). 2. Holy Spirit teaches us (John 14:26).
3. Holy Spirit reminds (John 14:26). 4. Holy Spirit guides us (John 16:13).
5. Holy Spirit searches (I Corinthians 2:10-11). 6. Holy Spirit testifies to us (Romans 8:16).
7. Holy Spirit helps (Romans 8:26). 8. Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Ro. 8:26-27).
9. Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8). 10. Holy Spirit enlightens (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Our Father's Love,
Tom
*These verbs were taken from an article in the Christian Standard (Feb. 2013) by J.K. Jones
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
YOUR ATTITUDE IS SHOWING
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).
The third in a series of sermons from Philippians is about attitudes. How would you define attitude? If one is in aviation, attitude, or the position of the airplane means everything--it is the difference between flying safely or crashing. It is a little tougher to define what a human attitude is. I have read a half dozen different definitions in dictionaries and on line and each one has a little different shade of meaning. But one thing is consistent with the attitude of an airplane; it is the difference between flying safely or eventually crashing. More than any other factor, attitude determines a person's success.
Here is my definition of attitude that, I think, is true to the grammar of the scripture text and fits human experience as well: Attitude is a settled way of thinking and feeling that is reflected in a person's behavior. Attitude is not simply a result of intelectual exercise, emotion is involved as well. And, it should be mentioned that, sound thinking drives healthy emotions rather than emotion driving the thinking. If a person is primarily emotionally driven, crashing and burning is a virtual certainty.
Attitude development is a project that a Christian should work on each day, checking our thoughts and feelings so that they are consistent with the word of God. In verse 5 Paul strongly suggests that you check your attitude with Christ's. If one's attitude conforms to the attitude of Christ then: . . . the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (4:7).
Our Father's Love,
Tom
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).
The third in a series of sermons from Philippians is about attitudes. How would you define attitude? If one is in aviation, attitude, or the position of the airplane means everything--it is the difference between flying safely or crashing. It is a little tougher to define what a human attitude is. I have read a half dozen different definitions in dictionaries and on line and each one has a little different shade of meaning. But one thing is consistent with the attitude of an airplane; it is the difference between flying safely or eventually crashing. More than any other factor, attitude determines a person's success.
Here is my definition of attitude that, I think, is true to the grammar of the scripture text and fits human experience as well: Attitude is a settled way of thinking and feeling that is reflected in a person's behavior. Attitude is not simply a result of intelectual exercise, emotion is involved as well. And, it should be mentioned that, sound thinking drives healthy emotions rather than emotion driving the thinking. If a person is primarily emotionally driven, crashing and burning is a virtual certainty.
Attitude development is a project that a Christian should work on each day, checking our thoughts and feelings so that they are consistent with the word of God. In verse 5 Paul strongly suggests that you check your attitude with Christ's. If one's attitude conforms to the attitude of Christ then: . . . the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (4:7).
Our Father's Love,
Tom
Thursday, October 03, 2013
TEARS OF JOY
. . . always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:4-6).
I'm working on the 2nd in a series of sermons from the book of Philippians. In the first, I pointed out that the Church, and individual Christians, are out-posts of Heaven. Like the city of Philippi was an out-post of Rome, committed to Roman law, culture and defense, so the Church, and its members, are committed to Jesus Christ, his law, his culture and his defense--For our citizenship is in heaven . . . (3:20).
The 2nd in the series, I am looking at joy as the theme. How are we able to be joyful in the face of adversity? The culture of Christ is not one of "gloom and doom" in times of adversity and trials, but of optimism and joy. I will freely admit that there are times when the trials come that we are "misty optics" rather than "optimistics" as we look at life through a vale of tears. In a recent Christian Counseling Today I read an article written by Gary Oliver called, Lessons Learned from the Doorstep of Death. In it he chronicled the deaths of his dad, wife, son, sister and his own personal battle with cancer. As a result of his tribulations, Dr. Oliver shares this wisdom, I have discovered there is a big difference between surviving and thriving and know Christ did not die and rise again for us to merely survive. Just treading water is not what He meant by "becoming more than conquerors." (emphasis is mine)
In faith we draw on a resevoir of Divine grace, hope and fellowship so that we can live out our days, until His return, with joy. The Christian does not deny the pain of tribulation in his life, but, while acknowledging it, chooses to be joyful because Christ is working in us and he will keep his promises.
Our Father's Love,
Tom
I'm working on the 2nd in a series of sermons from the book of Philippians. In the first, I pointed out that the Church, and individual Christians, are out-posts of Heaven. Like the city of Philippi was an out-post of Rome, committed to Roman law, culture and defense, so the Church, and its members, are committed to Jesus Christ, his law, his culture and his defense--For our citizenship is in heaven . . . (3:20).
The 2nd in the series, I am looking at joy as the theme. How are we able to be joyful in the face of adversity? The culture of Christ is not one of "gloom and doom" in times of adversity and trials, but of optimism and joy. I will freely admit that there are times when the trials come that we are "misty optics" rather than "optimistics" as we look at life through a vale of tears. In a recent Christian Counseling Today I read an article written by Gary Oliver called, Lessons Learned from the Doorstep of Death. In it he chronicled the deaths of his dad, wife, son, sister and his own personal battle with cancer. As a result of his tribulations, Dr. Oliver shares this wisdom, I have discovered there is a big difference between surviving and thriving and know Christ did not die and rise again for us to merely survive. Just treading water is not what He meant by "becoming more than conquerors." (emphasis is mine)
In faith we draw on a resevoir of Divine grace, hope and fellowship so that we can live out our days, until His return, with joy. The Christian does not deny the pain of tribulation in his life, but, while acknowledging it, chooses to be joyful because Christ is working in us and he will keep his promises.
Our Father's Love,
Tom
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