I have written a book that deals with some of the topics I will discuss: “Unbelieving Believers”, it is an e-book, anyone who can’t afford it can e-mail me at christianreed101@yahoo.com and I will send you a free pdf of it.
Anyway, I have come to a conclusion over the last year with conversations with Christians of the various types I come across, that conclusion being; that Christians – Believers and Followers of Christ Jesus need to get past their denominational / theological / sectarian brainwashing teaching and / or indoctrination, and get to understanding the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the essential message of Christ above and in spite of that indoctrination.
Seriously, I am glad I wasn’t raised in the “church” (That being the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, the Orthodox Church, the Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Church, the Black Church, the White Church, the Evangelical Church, the Liberal Church, Church’s Fried Chicken, whatever church!), because people get waaayyyyy to caught up in their church’s traditions, dogma, theology, doctrine, politics, etc., etc. and quite often miss the point of scripture, and more importantly, they miss real relevant spiritual growth.
Further, I have found that many people have left the Christian faith and more importantly abandoned their relationship with Christ, because of some of the hurt that they have received from within the established traditions of the Christian faith. These are some of the issues that I will be addressing in this series, however the first issue I would like to deal with the “Unbelieving Believers” (An oxymoron that is painfully often a truism), is: “Spiritual re-birth should lead to Spiritual growth”.
People, if we call ourselves Christians, if we say we believe what is communicated in scripture, then SPIRITUAL GROWTH is something that we should be striving for. If we claim to be “Spiritually” reborn, then as with anything that is born, we should GROW, in this case: “Spiritually grow”.
There is a point where we should listen to the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God which is in those of us who profess to be followers of Christ. THIS IS NOT the same as “COMMON SENSE”. Anyone, believer or non believer can have “COMMON SENSE” (or not have it). Wisdom from the Spirit of God that is IN us is a gift to the Church from God, a gift that it seems many of us choose to squander.
1st Corinthians 3.16 communicates a serious truth which we as Christians should embrace: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of GOD DWELLETH IN YOU?” which is a reiteartion of Jesus’ own words in John 14.17: ““Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: BUT YE KNOW HIM; FOR HE DWELLETH WITH YOU, AND SHALL BE IN YOU” It appears that this is a concept that people who claim to follow Christ are avoiding. Why we are avoiding it? Perhaps some folks fear to leave their "religious" comfort zone, others may wish to rely purely on intellect and their own personal theologies, I am sure the reasons are many.
At any rate, if you are happy being religious and have no desire to try to grow spiritually, you can feel free to ignore my next question, that being; "If we are reborn spiritually, and the Spirit of God is in us, why are we not listening to God’s Spirit and / or following His leadings? I’ll leave it at that for now, feel free to comment.
Hello!I like the topic It's sad but sometimes God has to apply some pain to stimulate our spiritual growth, too... When trouble comes into our lives, we sometimes feel as if we've been hit with a BIG BLACK BELT that's in Gods hand and He's control how many whacks to give us...most of our growth comes from some kinda of pain and in desperation we will seek Him.
ReplyDeleteOne possible reason is that God using a painful experience to get our attention. Sometimes God using pain in our life to lovingly persuade us to change. We all know that the season of trouble will not be easy, but if we let ourselves be trained by it, new growth will result to a better "us".
That's the one problem I have with the prosperity gospel is that it's not real and true to Christ...We have to bear in mind that affliction for God's people can be the pruning knife to prepare us for greater fruitfulness.
"No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but... it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11
Blessings to you on your e-ministry!
ReplyDeleteGood point about 1 Cor. 3:16. Our Associate Pastor makes a good point about that passage. The church often uses it to make "don't drink / don't smoke / don't have sex outside of marriage" kinds of points. Those are valid, but they ignore the greater wonder that Christians are literally living at the intersection of Heaven and earth: Still here for now, interacting with the world, but filled with the Holy Spirit.
P.S. to readers: I highly recommend Richard's book. I read it all and found it to be very approachable, highly relevant and biblically sound.
Hey, DJ, I'll be watching this space to see how it goes. Thanks for the time you spend on this, I know it will make a difference for Him
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