Wednesday, January 9, 2013

16. What Crazy People Think

There was some foolish and crazy thinking going on in the Galatian camp. They were putting forth their own fleshly efforts, thinking this would help them maintain their lives in Christ, and Paul had some strong words for them to try to set them straight!


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6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the blog. Many pastors are now saying " The grace message that is being preached today is causing people to become passive."
    I recently received an article in the mail by Andrew wommack stating this very thing and he says God gave man control over the world and we have to do things, we can just sit around and say "I am just going to trust God."
    Please help, this gets so confusing when there are 2 very different views, one says trust God and the other says you have to do it. I want to trust God but I don't want to sit back and become passive either!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the blog. Many pastors are now saying " The grace message that is being preached today is causing people to become passive."
    I recently received an article in the mail by Andrew wommack stating this very thing and he says God gave man control over the world and we have to do things, we can just sit around and say "I am just going to trust God."
    Please help, this gets so confusing when there are 2 very different views, one says trust God and the other says you have to do it. I want to trust God but I don't want to sit back and become passive either!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thankyou, I really believe we are all (well, for sure me) starving to hear of God's goodness and grace. I was raised in church and was constantly told by the preacher to tithe, serve, put others first, go to curch every sunday and wednesday on, and on and on the list goes. I spent most of my life trying to do all of it and in the end i felt DEAD inside and i was mad at everyone else who wasn't doing what i was doing for God. About a year ago i read The Shack, He Loves Me and So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore. I think God used those books to invite me into His grace and i fell in love with God for the first time! I always thought God was mad at me or punishing me for all the wrong i had done in my life. Please don't stop spreading the Good News. We are all DYING to hear it! Thankyou! God Bless You!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thankyou, I really believe we are all (well, for sure me) starving to hear of God's goodness and grace. I was raised in church and was constantly told by the preacher to tithe, serve, put others first, go to curch every sunday and wednesday on, and on and on the list goes. I spent most of my life trying to do all of it and in the end i felt DEAD inside and i was mad at everyone else who wasn't doing what i was doing for God. About a year ago i read The Shack, He Loves Me and So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore. I think God used those books to invite me into His grace and i fell in love with God for the first time! I always thought God was mad at me or punishing me for all the wrong i had done in my life. Please don't stop spreading the Good News. We are all DYING to hear it! Thankyou! God Bless You!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hear you loud and clear on that.

    The church has burned a lot of people out with its focus on performance, performance, performance. There is such a huge focus in the church on teaching what to do and how to do it. The sermons, the small groups, the classes, the ministries, etc... are all centered one way or another on getting people to do, do, do, and to do it right - which of course means to do it their way.

    Of course, there's nothing wrong with "doing," in that God's grace does indeed animate us and not leave us stagnant. But the problem in much of the church is that they think that the essence of life in Christ is good works (doing, serving, ministry, activity, etc), whereas those things can be the natural fruits of knowing God but not the essence.

    I'm so glad to hear 'testimonies' like yours in which you've been freed from the performance-based mentality that has been put upon you in the church. It's very liberating to simply know God's love and goodness, apart from any pressure to perform for Him or for others!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hear you loud and clear on that.

    The church has burned a lot of people out with its focus on performance, performance, performance. There is such a huge focus in the church on teaching what to do and how to do it. The sermons, the small groups, the classes, the ministries, etc... are all centered one way or another on getting people to do, do, do, and to do it right - which of course means to do it their way.

    Of course, there's nothing wrong with "doing," in that God's grace does indeed animate us and not leave us stagnant. But the problem in much of the church is that they think that the essence of life in Christ is good works (doing, serving, ministry, activity, etc), whereas those things can be the natural fruits of knowing God but not the essence.

    I'm so glad to hear 'testimonies' like yours in which you've been freed from the performance-based mentality that has been put upon you in the church. It's very liberating to simply know God's love and goodness, apart from any pressure to perform for Him or for others!

    ReplyDelete