Just To Follow Up!
You know, I was thinking. Yesterday at church Pastor Tom's sermon was centered on love. Love for God, appropriate love for self and love for others! It is so funny how God's timing works. On the way to church on Sunday morning I had a message given to me by God on exactly the same topic. I do sermon outlines in my head while driving so I pretty much had everything ready to preach by the time I got to Tecumseh. Then, Tom steals some of my best material! It was almost point for point exactly what was going through my head that morning! Funny how God works sometimes. I was so geared up services that I couldn't hardly sit still and then to know that God allowed me to preview the lesson ahead of time really was amazing. By the time we got to ministry time, I was ready to minister! I was pumped up! There is nothing that I could possibly say that could make yesterday's message any more complete than what it already is, but I would like to follow up with a couple of thoughts. First of all there has been a number of comments in our little blogging circle about the existance of God! Now, for a beliver like me to experience what I did yesterday, it is easy to give credit to the Creator! What about those who don't believe? What do they give credit to for such "coincidences"? Pretty much dumb luck? What else could it be if there is not one great powerful being who is in control of the universe! To those who believe I have one tip for you, you can't prove the existance of the creator to those who do not believe there is a creator! They will always explain it away. They will always find another reason for what is happening. It takes faith to believe in God! So, instead of trying to prove God just begin to testify! Tell how much of a difference that God has made in your life! Tell them how God has changed you. You see, people cannot deny YOUR experiences! They cannot deny the changes in your life! Remember, Jesus with all of his miracles and signs could not convince everyone that he was the SON OF GOD. What makes us think we can? We need to try and pray steadfastly but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Be who you are and let the Father shine through! Be blessed today.
posted by Doug E. Pudge @ 7:32 AM
6 Comments:
So it wasn't just me?
I was able to attend some All Star festivities down in Detroit yesterday. While walking around I noticed some heavily inked dudes walking around wearing these shirts. There was a group of them, one was carrying around a big cross. It really caught my eye. I went up to one and told them I liked their shirt and appreciated their efforts. He gave me a piece of paper with some explanations and wrote down his phone number for me to get a shirt later. Here's the first two sentences of that paper:
In America we are a very achievement driven people. We strive to do the best we can and we measure ourselves by our accomplishments.
!!! Hello !!! Needless to say I got the message Sunday.
If you're interested in their ministry here is their link:
www.carrythecross.com
Wow..GOD sure was working yesterday. I did notice you were pretty fired up yesterday. I heard more AMENS and Come on Tom. Anyway, if other people see your faith and here your testiments, God will do the rest. The seed has been planted.
I like what Rick Warren said in one of the DVD devotionals we were using. "We are called to be witnesses, not the Defense Team."
God doesn't need us to defend Him. He is all powerful, and could and will demonstrate his power at the right time, not before.
Have you ever given a gift, and had someone say, "No thank you, I don't want it?" That's what people do to God with the gift Faith, and his Son. We wouldn't think of being so rude to another mere human, but we do it to Almighty God! Crazy isn't it?
DEP- well put...it reminds me one of my favorite movies, Contact. If you've seen it, you know that one of the central themes is God vs science. Matthew McConaughey plays a spiritual leader who has a continuous argument with Jodie Foster's character (a brillant astronomer)about the existance of God. She gives the argument about Occam's razor which states that the simpliest theory is usually correct. In her mind, it is simpler to believe the universe exists due to a series of specific explanable phenomena. As in what we dont know we simply haven't figured out yet. God doesn't exist because it can't be proven. Matthew's character responds to her by asking her,
"Did you love your father?"
She is taken aback by the question, but responds,
"very much."
"Prove it." He replies.
Sammy and Wowgirl, it's like you two are on the same page! That is exactly the point. We can only tell people about the love of the Father. We cannot defend his existance, he will handle that himself! We still work as those who are both convinced and convicted and allow His love to do the rest! You guys are awesome! BBT
Tom had a great message. So often we are to quick to draw our swords, like Peter, in an attempt of defend God and our beliefs. We need to be quick to draw on the scripture and use it to minister. LIke DEP mentioned we are convinced and convicted now we need to rely on God to work through us.
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