To Whom It May Concern

I’ve been coming across the importance of community lately in my scripture reading and discussions in class and with friends. And I cannot get over how central the church is to each Christian. You see, I feel like it is a current trend to think that “I don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian.” That is such a legalistic attitude. What? Yes, a legalistic attitude. And it’s funny because the people who say, “I don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian” are saying that because they think going to church every Sunday is legalistic, when really they are missing the picture completely. Going to church is not a matter of legalism, it is a matter of the heart. The bible makes it clear that Christians desire to be with other Christians. It is one of the main functions of Christians. God called us to be one in Christ. You can’t be one in Christ if you never express a desire to be with other believers. There are plenty of passages in the bible that show us the importance of being in the community of faith. It would take forever to comment on each one so I’m just going to list some passages I’ve been reading lately that stress the importance of being apart of the Body and meeting together, and assume that if this post concerns you, you will read them. Hebrews 10:24-25 “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some”, 1 Corinthians 14:26 “when you come together”, Paul assumes that the Christians at Corinth come together regularly, Ephesians 2:11-22 especially in 16 he says “and might reconcile us both to God in one body though the cross” both meaning Jew and Gentile, what this passage means is that we must reconcile with other believers, so we can become one body, in order to be reconciled to God. Still some of the strongest support for being apart of the church is found in 1 John 4:20-21 “if anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” How can we love our brothers and sisters without meeting together to worship our Lord regularly. Loving non-believers is great and necessary, but it cannot come at the cost of loving our fellow Christians. It is clear that our priority as Christians is to meet together with other Christians and worship God. If you are struggling with why you should go to church then you should read these passages as a start. I’m learning this myself, but it is a true sign of spiritual maturity to view church as somewhere you want to be rather than somewhere you have to be. It is a heart issue.

Evangelistic Encounter

My last post was about an assignment for my Spiritual Disciplines class. This post will be no different. Seventy five percent of my grade for this class is to keep a journal this semester. There are a number of requirements for the journal, it’s not just a “journal everyday” or “journal whatever you feel like” thing. It’s journaling….for the purpose of Godliness and the professor requires certain journal entries that he feels will help us in the process of journaling for the purpose of Godliness. As hinted in the titled we have to journal about an evangelistic encounter from that occurred during this semester. Here is my entry…

It’s Thursday 11:59 pm, about forty five seconds from Friday. Last night, Wednesday night, I had an evangelistic encounter with a guy at work. Devon is one of the store managers at my work place, which is Snappy Tomato Pizza. I started working there when I moved up here last August. I think it was September by the time I actually found a job. Anyways Devon started working there shortly after, in November I think. Upon meeting him I could tell he was not a Christian, or at the very least not at all concerned about being one. The first conversation I had with his wife, Jenny, she told me how she despised the Church because of its big buildings and wrong use of funds. Needless to say neither where interested in God, although they said they believed in “God”, I think they meant more like “a god”, because it is definitely not the living God of the Bible. Through talking with Devon over the last couple of months I gathered some information about his life. He went to Church until he was seventeen. He married at nineteen, but already had a kid by someone other than his wife. He stopped going to church because he thought it was bogus and he loves all things about wrestling, hard rock, and using foul language. But I have been praying for Devon, praying that God would allow me to talk to Devon and share the gospel with him. Wednesday night I got that opportunity. I was praying, it was a slow night and we were making dough for the next day, which normally would be a one-man job, but because it was slow and the other driver had left I was helping Devon because, as a driver, I had no other responsibilities. He said something about his sixth anniversary coming up soon and mentioned the church he and Jenny got married in. I saw my door, “what kind of church did you go to back home”. “A Quaker church,” he said. Seeing the door opening further I asked, “do Quakers have any unique beliefs?” It was quite amazing, what followed was genuine interest in my schooling and beliefs about God, the Bible, Jesus, and other God-related stuff. I was able to tell Devon that the Bible was true and the it accounts for people suppressing the truth that God is real and that he made the world and that sin is real and that God must punish sin, and Jesus was sent to save us from our sin. I was able to present the full gospel, and the highlight of the evening was when towards the end of the night he said, “well I’m sure I’ll sit down one of these days and think about all that stuff.” My response was surprisingly bold, but I think given to me by the Holy Spirit. “Well Devon I think when you finally do you’ll know in your heart and mind that what I’ve told you is true.” At the end of the night he was still holding his ground and resisting the Holy Spirit, but I’m praying that God will be gracious to him and allow him to see the gloriousness of His Truth, and the Light of the Gospel.

I’m sharing this with you now, so that you can be in prayer for Devon and his wife Jenny, that they may be saved and turn to Christ. Next I want to invite them to church so you could be praying for that too.

Floating Exam

In my Spiritual Disciplines class we have a floating exam that can be taken any time during the semester. We have to write out the books of the bible in order and spelled correctly, the ten commandments (short hand version), and quote 1 Tim. 4:7 and 1 Tim. 4:16.

Pretty easy right?

Well the reason the professor has this exam is because of a story he heard about a Ph.D student study for his oral exams. It takes a good six months to study for the exams and this student spent months and months cramming for this exam. When the time came for him to stand in front of the exam committee they said, “okay we’ll start you off with a warm up question, a “gi’me”, so just state the books of the bible in order please”. He couldn’t do it. After all of the study and knowledge he had learned about an abundance of different subjects he couldn’t give the books of the one book he was devoting his life to.

So in the spirit of not wanting to be like that fellow, here goes my studying, this is with out looking, completely from memory. Check me for order and spelling and let me know if i get any wrong.

*Note: Read as if the books were arranged in columns. Apparently wordpress doesn’t want to recognize the spaces that I inserted.

Genesis Ecclesiastes
Exodus Song of Songs
Leviticus Isaiah
Numbers Jeremiah
Deuteronomy Lamentations
Joshua Ezekiel
Judges Daniel
Ruth Hosea
1 Samuel Joel
2 Samuel Amos
1 Kings Obadiah
2 Kings Jonah
1 Chronicles Micah
2 Chronicles Nahum
Ezra Habakkuk
Nehemiah Zephaniah
Esther Haggai
Job Zechariah
Psalms Malachi
Proverbs

Matthew 1 Timothy
Mark 2 Timothy
Luke Titus
John Philemon
Acts Hebrews
Romans James
1 Corinthians 1 Peter
2 Corinthians 2 Peter
Galatians 1 John
Ephesians 2 John
Philippians 3 John
Colossians Jude
1 Thessalonians Revelation
2 Thessalonians

I cheated on the spelling of Philippians and Zephaniah.

Ten Commandments
1. No other gods before me (The Lord speaking)
2. No idols
3. No Lord’s name in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing
9. No false witness against your neighbor
10. No coveting

1 Timothy 4:7 “Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness”. (NASB)

1 Timothy 4:16 I don’t know yet, I haven’t looked at it intently for a while.

Just a little more studying and that’s the easiest 100 I’ve ever made.

Of course I say that, but I probably spell something wrong on the test.

Spiritual Disciplines

“The Spiritual Disciplines are the God-given means we are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of Godliness.”

1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”

As Christians we are called to pursue godliness. It is not an option or a track that super-Christians can choose. It is a God-given decree that we become more like our Savior, Jesus.

I’m in a class this semester that is devoted to teaching us the Spiritual Disciplines. We will cover the Spiritual Disciplines of Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning.

I’m really looking forward to the class because God knows how bad I need discipline.

My professor, Donald Whitney, is where I got that first quote from, the second one was from his book too, but first from the Bible of course. He’s written several books on the issue of the Spiritual Disciplines, and is very serious about the pursuit of godliness (AKA: Christ-likeness, spiritual maturity, and self-control).

I am fully expecting this course to crush me and convict me and teach me and guide me in the Spiritual Disciplines, which is awesome because that is exactly what I need.