Articles
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Helping someone become a Disciple of Jesus
To start out as a disciple, a person needs to understand what God has said (the gospel), and what they must do. They do not have to know everything, but they should have a clear grasp of the essentials, such as the following:
• Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He loves them and has died for them.
• They are in rebellion to him.
• God calls on them to turn away from their rebellion and submit their lives to Jesus as their Lord.
• God promises that they will be pardoned for all this rebellion and the sins that go with it, because Jesus has died for them. They must ask God for this pardon.
• God promises the Holy Spirit to those who belong to Jesus so that they can know God personally and live in the way he wants. They should ask for the Holy Spirit to be given to them.
It is one thing to understand, it is another to be willing. So the question is, “Are you willing to do this?” “Will you do it now?”
The way to do it, to become a disciple is by prayer.
Read more: Helping someone become a Disciple of Jesus 16 Jun 13
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
What is God’s Message to his World?
Paul the apostle claims that it is the gospel that saves people. He claims that faith results from hearing the message about Christ. If this is the case then we need to be clear what God’s gospel is.
It is ordinary Christians who are the chief speakers of the gospel. This shows how good God is, he uses ordinary people to speak his message. Certainly there are specialists and gifted evangelists who are able to make the message plain and convey it powerfully. But all of us tell the story, and so all of us ought to be clear what we are telling.
It does not seem much use to have been given a message to tell others and not know what it is. Or to be making up our own message because we do not like the original.
Understanding what the message is, is all the more important because of the church culture we operate in. There are many kinds of gospel messages around. Not all of them will make it clear to people what God wants them to know.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Next Year
The last year has been quite an adventure. At our Annual Meeting last year we discussed whether we should change our single congregation into two Sunday morning congregations. After quite a lot of consultation and discussion we agreed to have a go, and from the beginning of September we started two congregations in the place of the one. We made the choice that formed part of the challenge of last year.
We decided to make a move that will allow us better to carry out the great disciple-making commission that our Lord Jesus Christ has left us with. It is a move that the Spirit of God has provided us with. And thus it is one in which we must follow the Spirit.
Most of us have survived.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Holy Spirit
What do we need to know about the Holy Spirit? That he is God, I suppose, is the first thing. That Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God. That the Spirit of God has been part of the Bible story from the beginning, is another thing.
We Christians can get the impression that the Holy Spirit is a Christian possession who only turned up on the day of Pentecost. Nonsense of course. The difference after Pentecost is that now God has poured out his Spirit on all of his people, not just some, like the prophets.
Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would come as a replacement for himself. The Spirit would stay with the disciples, and not leave them like Jesus was about to do. He would come to continue the work of Jesus (actually it was the work of the Father). That meant continuing to teach them, and continuing to work through their deeds, and speak through their words.
And now?
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Seriously!
How does Christ build his church? He uses the church to build the church. The people, that is. All of them.
He builds it in two ways. In the first place, by adding to it those whom he is saving. He saves and adds by means of his powerful gospel, which he entrusts to every believer. To every believer, that is, to whom he has already given his Spirit. Because, of course, it is the Spirit who works in the disciples to tell the message.
This building by addition happens by his plan, according to his schedule – as long as his workers are ready and willing to do their bit. Qualified workers? The other day I helped lay some concrete, working alongside a Trades Assistant. He was much better at it of course. I asked him whether he wanted to study and become a tradesman. No, he was happy being an assistant. But he was a very good assistant. And even totally unskilled me didn’t tip the barrow over in the wrong place.
I think the qualification that is needed is that the workers work.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Seriously?
“We are the body of Christ.” Each week we make this claim. Does Christ agree? Well, it was his idea we think. At least his apostles taught as much.
But body in what sense? Are we his body from the neck down, with him as the head, and each of us different parts of the body (arms, legs etc)? Are we the body he owns, cares for, loves? Are we the body which is indwelt by Christ so that we are a kind of expression of Christ himself?
All of these ideas find support in the New Testament. And they all describe something strange and difficult. They all make “we” statements. “We” statements are very difficult to say. Difficult to mean, at least. They imply that what is important is the group. They give priority to the body over against the individual.
The difficulty lies in the fact that we live in a society that gives priority to the individual.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Sex and love.
Do they go together? Is sex about love? Or is it about desire? Or something else? Is sex the natural expression of love? If you love someone should you have sex with them?
It is possible that sex is about something else altogether.