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| September 30, 2007 |
Pride
Jeff Sluder @ Sep 30, 2007 10:01 PM
Have you ever sat in a sermon and wondered why the preacher dedicated an entire sermon to one of your faults? In today's sermon, Jim and Josh talked about the various kinds of sinful pride. One was the "I'm better than you" pride and the other is the "I can do it myself" pride. It's the second one that had me pegged. Not that I'm always guilty of this, but it is an area that I have to watch and the humility to give credit to God instead of saying "I did it" or "I can do it by myself" is something I need to watch.
God has taught me some valuable lessons and the longer I walk with Christ, the more I realize it's really not all about me but it is all about Him an dseeking HIs will. We all need a reminder of this very simple fact and today, Jim's sermon was just the reminder I needed and I'm sure I was not alone.
Jim, thanks. Not only for today, but for all you have done for our chuch.
Jeff
God has taught me some valuable lessons and the longer I walk with Christ, the more I realize it's really not all about me but it is all about Him an dseeking HIs will. We all need a reminder of this very simple fact and today, Jim's sermon was just the reminder I needed and I'm sure I was not alone.
Jim, thanks. Not only for today, but for all you have done for our chuch.
Jeff
| September 29, 2007 |
First entry
Jeff Sluder @ Sep 29, 2007 10:39 PM
Wow, first entry in the blog.
Went fishing at Brookville today. I caught 3 Brown Trout but nothing to brag about.
Leslie and I were talking about the state of our Church today. I'm so full of hope for our church but I what I continue to see is a lot of apathy, especially in the serving. It's sad when our children are serving more regularly than many of our adults. I really do not know the answer but it seems to be a cultural thing. For so long, there has not been a culture of serving at EBC that we seem to have become too comfortable and taken a collective attitude of "let someone else deal with it." It's very sad.
Our Church Mission is to introduce people to Jesus Christ and develop His followers to Christlike maturity. I think a start is to evaluate every mission and program against that mission. Any that are not living up to the mission need to either be revised to support the mission, or we should stop doing it. It's far more honoring to God that we do a few things with excellence than to do a lot of things poorly. Perhaps if we were laser beam focused on a few things and committed to doing them with excellence, we would have more volunteers.
I believe people would be more willing to be a part of something that is successful and wanting to be on a "winning team" than we have today. There are so many needs that it's like looking at a mountain and tryingto figure out how to move it. People are overwhelmed by the need and the needs are so great that they may be thinking one person will not make a difference.
We need some "new stuff' some "new people", and a "new heart".
I have great hope for our church. It's not too late. God has great plans for His people. We have a choice to make; are we going to be part of His great plans, or are we going to be inwardly focused and let our enemy win?
Jeff
Went fishing at Brookville today. I caught 3 Brown Trout but nothing to brag about.
Leslie and I were talking about the state of our Church today. I'm so full of hope for our church but I what I continue to see is a lot of apathy, especially in the serving. It's sad when our children are serving more regularly than many of our adults. I really do not know the answer but it seems to be a cultural thing. For so long, there has not been a culture of serving at EBC that we seem to have become too comfortable and taken a collective attitude of "let someone else deal with it." It's very sad.
Our Church Mission is to introduce people to Jesus Christ and develop His followers to Christlike maturity. I think a start is to evaluate every mission and program against that mission. Any that are not living up to the mission need to either be revised to support the mission, or we should stop doing it. It's far more honoring to God that we do a few things with excellence than to do a lot of things poorly. Perhaps if we were laser beam focused on a few things and committed to doing them with excellence, we would have more volunteers.
I believe people would be more willing to be a part of something that is successful and wanting to be on a "winning team" than we have today. There are so many needs that it's like looking at a mountain and tryingto figure out how to move it. People are overwhelmed by the need and the needs are so great that they may be thinking one person will not make a difference.
We need some "new stuff' some "new people", and a "new heart".
I have great hope for our church. It's not too late. God has great plans for His people. We have a choice to make; are we going to be part of His great plans, or are we going to be inwardly focused and let our enemy win?
Jeff