Leaderboard

Recently the National Geographic has produced a TV series, The Search For God, with Morgan Freeman, which I have taped for later viewing. This morning I viewed the segment, Who is God? It had a short clip with Joel Osteen, which I found to be interesting. Joel Osteen is a very popular preacher whom many SDA's find to be attractive. He is the Sr. pastor of a very large congregation in Texas. One can view them 24 hours a day, every day of the year. He is on satellite radio. In his personal life he has not been accused of financial wrong doing and he has not been accused of dalliances with women to whom he was not married. In the clip that I watched today, I found a couple of his comments to be of interest as they relate to his Sunday services: 1) One of his intents is to give the 10,000 or so who attend his church something that will be of immediate help to them in getting t[hem through the day. For this reason, he does not preach what many would call doctrine. 2) In addition, he intends to give people faith that Christ can impower them and give them the strength to meet the whatever comes to them during the day. I will agree that such is both important and of value. Further, I will say that such is a first step in the Christian life and it is what many people need who have missed out in this during their Christian life. But, I will add to the above that there are steps in the Christian life that go beyond the above. Christian growth does not stop with what is above, Rather the above should be a beginning of growth in one's walk with Christ. I do not criticize Joel for not going beyond what he has stated he is doing. We are not indebted to only one human for our nurture in the Christian life. Rather we can advance as one leads us on founded on what had gone before. The Bible speaks to this sin mentioning John the Baptist who was to prepare for the coming of the Christ. It may be that Joel can do a preparatory work that can lay the foundation for the work that others will do. But, he is not the end of ones Christian growth.

perhaps there are more people in the world who need "milk," rather than "meat"... In a congregation, there will be a mixture of where people are in their spiritual growth. How does a preacher, such as Joel Osteen, minister to all of them? The ones that need "milk" would be lost with the deliverance of "meat." Yet the ones who cherish "meat" complain about the "milk." I think CoA has a good point. I think "milk" should always be a part of the preacher's service, but the onus is on the "meat-lovers" to take what they find and use it for their spiritual growth. They should be sufficiently able to scour for most of their own "meat." There are lots of places to find it — including C/A. When I first came back to the Message, if I had thought that there were some in the church who trivialized and turned up their noses at the "milk" I loved, not only would I have been crestfallen, I would have felt like they didn't want to associate with me because they were somehow on a "higher level"....

I think that's true of all pastors, evangelists, etc.

Every pastor has a different style. But milk or meat, it should at least be food. And the living water of Jesus.

The home we recently purchased was built in 2002. For most of its life, the person living in it was a woman who was in her mid-90s at the time we purchased it. The bottom line was that the yard had not been maintained. We are removing stuff that needs to be removed. We are reducing future water use and laying concrete. That requires digging. The roots and rocks are everywhere. Thursday a young man arrived three minutes before the time he was scheduled to arrive. He took exactly 60 minutes off for lunch. He left about 6 PM. HE worked long and hard and in temperature that reached into the 90s. He is a young man with a baby to support. the two of them live with his grandmother, due to his lack of income. NOTE: He is taking responsibility and doing everything that he can. I contacted the contractor and told him of his good work and suggested that he keep him.

Aubrey: That has been considered.

defunct? o dear It reminds me of when Wham broke up. Oh the inhumanity!

In Revalation 22:17 we are invited by the Spirit and the bride to come and drink of the water of life freely. He that hears is also supposed to invite to come and drink, too. Part of our role as believers is to invite others to Christ, not merely to be fed ourselves but to bring others to Him for this life-giving properties. As a shepherd, pastors are supposed to feed the lambs. Or at least that is what Peter was told to do. What pricks my heart these days are the words of warning to false shepherds, teachers and leaders. There is not a lot of mercy given to a leader who is feeding his people garbage, Biblically-speaking. So we need to be discerning.

An important observation, each has their appointed task. Should we ask each individual to give us the full meal? What is our responsibility?

Milk may be food, but I think I'm developing a lactose intolerance when it comes to this preacher. I do hope that those who love listening to him are "hooked" into looking deeper for all that God has for us.

Maybe that's the problem I have with Osteen. I've had enough milk. I want meat.

Unisex facilities are unacceptable to the LGBT Nazis. They want to trample our rights to personal privacy in order to promote their agenda and attack those with Christian principles.

The Bible is great if you are just beginning to seek God, or if you have known him for many years. I find that my days go way better after a quiet time with my Bible.

To me, the Bible is: The story of God (The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), in which details on Christ are given throughout the book, from beginning to end, so that we get more of the story and His activity and interaction with humans than just the part where He was on Earth in human form. It contains warnings for the future and is a guide for preparing for eternity. It is also a manual for obtaining victory over our lives and experiencing true freedom. It is a time traveling device which allows us to travel back in time to the beginning of the Earth, and even to the rebellion in Heaven, allowing us also to occasionally visit that glorious kingdom, and takes us to the present and the future as well. It is a comfort and a counsel, and I often find the morning devotion prepares me for challenges I'll face during the day, and as I read I can understand better and see things I may not have noticed before, depending on what I've been through in life and/or am going through, and see how it really applies. It is a description of God's love and character. We can learn a lot even just through what we read on the surface, but the Bible is a rich storehouse of treasures, intended to be explored and dug into. There's more treasure under the surface, and it is intended to be studied, and the meanings of some things to be searched out. I've discovered inconsistencies and realize that it only validates the credibility of the Bible, because two or more people are telling the same story, though it be from different perspectives. Even though they may not be on the same page as to exactly what happened, there appears to be more than one witness, so the Bible in that aspect establishes itself "by the mouth of two or more witnesses". It's full of little gems, or "easter eggs", adding to the adventure. It's also a way to escape temporarily from the stressors of life, leading us to the One who can give us peace, and also giving us counsel on how to deal with these stressors. It is so much more to me. It is my life.

Wonderful, exciting, deep. It brings me to the throne of God

The Bible is a small window through which we can take a peek at the Kingdom.

endeared, revered, feared

I have started a chat session with my neighbor women. No agenda, just get to know the ladies around my home. There are about 9 who are home in the daytime and they all have come at least once. It is just for an hour, and we just plan when the next one will be, otherwise we get to know each other better. We have had only been together 4 times but I can see one day someone will need something that we can help them with, or they may show an interest in something that I know about and can direct them in the right way. However, I don't want to run it with proselytizing in mind.