More Confusing than Molecular Biology

“Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”-1 Corinthians 14:19

When I was in high school I took Molecular Biology.  THE MOST CONFUSING CLASS EVER.  Not only was it utterly confusing, but it was also totally boring.  My professor however did not feel the same way about Molecular Biology.  She loved it, she was ever enthused and could not get enough of Molecular Biology.  She was so passionate about it that often she would talk and talk and talk about things that were not on the test and use terminology that was not in the book.  Her excitement super ceded her purpose for being there……which was TO TEACH.  Now granted there were some in the class that did understand and did do well, however a majority of the class (that being about thirty four students out of a class of thirty six) did not do well; in fact the class average with two test down and two to go was a majestic 52%.  Now Molecular Biology could have been boring to me because Molecular Biology is boring; but without proper understanding I will never be able to draw my own conclusion on this matter.  My professors enthusiasm influenced her to speak, think, and lecture on a level that I could not comprehend and therefore all of her knowledge was voided and my ability to decide whether or not Molecular Biology was for me, also was voided.  Now I ask you……Do you know any preachers like my Molecular Biology teacher?

What I have been thinking on this week is the dangers of over intellectual preaching, in short preaching “over the head” of the congregation.  There are people who can connect Moses to Daniel, Daniel to Joseph, Joseph to John and John to Jesus Christ.  They could preach up one theological truth and down the other.  Wow you with enough Bible knowledge that by the time their done, there is no doubt where they spend their time.  However, if you ask the common sinner in the congregation “So, how do you get to heaven?”  They would say, “I have no idea.”  Immediately the bible scholars say, “Well that’s because they don’t have ears to hear.”  Perhaps, however consider this; you don’t have a heart to preach!  I would not begin to say that I know the proper way to preach so that the world will flock to the alter.  However, I know what the Bible says on the matter.  If you go to expound Biblical wisdom and all you say is something that will impress those around you (or behind you).  Then you have missed the boat.  My professor loved to talk about Molecular Biology, more than she loved to TEACH Molecular Biology.  She was more concerned with voicing her knowledge; when in reality she should have been concerned with whether or not we understood her knowledge.  Her enthusiasm was drawn from the love of how much knowledge she had obtained.  She was by far the smartest professor I ever had.  Duke educated, for her Bachelors and Masters; had her doctorate degree and a resume littered with impressive field work.  She published many books and found no need to use the textbook, basically, because she knew the thing by heart.  She was the smartest professor and the dumbest teacher. 

God help us to love the understanding of the sinner, more than the ability to articulate the message; to strive to communicate the gospel and not become encumber with profound oration; to have a heart to do God’s will and be sent by him.

Consider the overly intellectual preacher, I ask you, is this a danger in your church?  If it is how do we identify it?  What can be done to avoid it?  Are we more concerned with voicing our knowledge of the Bible or communicating our knowledge of the Bible?  This is just what God’s been giving me, what has he been giving you?

(Respond and/or Follow…..Please Follow and/or Respond.)

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What I been thinking on Week of 4-1-12

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Matthew 16:24

Well….it’s Easter and CHURCHES love Easter.  What Christmas is to a department store, Easter is to a Church.  Folks flock to churches on Easter morning.  They buy new garments, just for Easter Sunday.  If you ever have a chance to get people out to church, Easter morning will be that chance. 

                This Easter I have been thinking about the difference between the testimony about the cross and the testimony of the cross.  Whether mainstream Christianity likes it or not; there is a difference.  Let me first offer this example before I write further.  Have you ever met a Vietnam vet?  Somebody who was there, on the front lines, fought in the battle and saw real bloodshed?  Now, compare this man’s testimony about Vietnam to a man who read about it in a book, or perhaps watched a hour long special about it on the History channel.  Odds are good the History channel guy will have a different story, a different level of conviction and one man’s testimony will ring a little truer than the others. 

                This is the difference in a testimony about the cross and a testimony of the cross.  To many: pastors, preachers, teachers, and citizens of this country have testimony about the cross (and many more with no testimony at all).  They can tell you when Jesus died, what he died for, who was there.  They can tell you the time period it was in, the height of the cross, the size of the nails, why some may even be able to recite to you his last words in Latin.  They can tell you everything you want to know about the cross and sound good doing it, but I wonder, have they ever experienced the cross themselves?  Now consider the testimony of the Cross.  Like the Vietnam Vet, this is a man that has seen the front line.  Fought in the battles.  He has bleed for his country and sacrificed so that “others may live.”  He has a testimony of war.  I submit to you that if you want to go to heaven you must have a testimony of the Cross.  You must have crucified your hopes, wishes, dreams, capabilities, knowledge, all things YOU thought YOU could do or wanted to do.  Furthermore, you must crucify all relationships: mother, father, sister, brother, girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband.  In short You are dead and NOW living in Christ.  This means that everything that he wants for you now is your main desire.  This is the testimony of the Cross, you have been to a alter and died to sin, raised unto a life of holiness and godliness and ever willing to live for him.  Like the solider, this choice brings, pain, battles, suffering, reproach, persecution and sorrow.  However, it also brings, joy, peace, contentment, satisfaction……it brings every positive human emotion, both throughout the course of life, and sometimes ALL at one time.  You can be so overwhelmed with blessings from God that words fail to descried your feelings, because you are using earthly terminology to descried a heavenly experience; it just doesn’t do it justice.

                Now I ask you, do you have a testimony of the Cross or about the Cross.  Does your preacher have a testimony of or about?  What do you think the world needs?  Of or About?  That’s what I have been thinking on this Easter week, what have you been thinking on? I would like to know.

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Pgcollins65@gmail.com 

My Sword and Your Sword

“Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

The Word of God is our one and only offensive weapon; and it is all we ever need to fight the enemy.  I have been doing a lot of reflecting this week, on life, and on days past.  In this reflective thought process, God brought to mind many “battle tested scriptures”  from years back.  Verses in the Bible that came to me in difficult times.  Verses I used to fight the enemy; that I quoted day in and day out.  There are many wonderful and encouraging scriptures we can use to fight the enemy with, but these are “my” scriptures. 

                What I have been thinking on this week….are MY verses; my victory verses, and I would like to list them in hopes that they may give you victory or perhaps encouragement:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and  lean not to thine own understanding.  In all thy way acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path.” –Proverbs 3:5-6

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” -Matthew 6:22

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

“Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” - Psalms 139 23:24

“For do I now persuade men or God?  Or do I yet seek to please men?  For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ.”- Galatians 1:10

“If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Galatians 2:18

“Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?”- Galatians 5:7

“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”- John 6:68

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.”-Galatians 6:14

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”- Romans 8: 38-39

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:16

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” –Isaiah 26:3

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”- Psalm 19:14

“Draw night to God and he will draw nigh to you.”-Part of James 4:8

And finally……………

“But Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” –Matthew 6:33  (this verse is the secret to life)

This is a short list of my “battle tested” scriptures.  God has richly blessed his people and will continue to do so. 

What I have been thinking on this week is the way the Lord has led me and the Word of God that guided me. 

What have you been thinking on?  Perhaps there are a few scriptures that took you through a rough time?  If so please feel free to write them down and reply.  I would love to read them.

“May we know God so well, that we need not ask his will.”-Anonymous

Please reply to pgcollins65@gmail.com

 

"Dude you’re not promised tomorrow." "Really? News to Me."

Time is so precious.  We know this fact to be true.  Never is this so evident than when you see a young man lying dead and lifeless in an open casket.  Many remark and many more think “He was much too young to die.”  Indeed, anytime a man or women dies before they are old they are too “young” to die, but please ponder this alternative view point.  We are not promised tomorrow.

What I have been thinking about this week is Do we REALLY believe that we are NOT promised tomorrow?  Do we really live like we are not promised tomorrow?

First and foremost I would like to come forward and recognize that this thought pattern is as cliché as it can be.  Way to many: songs, books, poems and speeches have been made on this thought, I can imagine many of you might be thinking that I am about to pull out the proverbial stick and begin to beat the proverbial horse.  But please hold on, I would like to offer a different spin on a very old record.  If we all accept the fact that our time is precious; instead of contending for “living it up” and trying to make the most of OUR time.  Rather, put your time into the areas that will bring forth the most profit.  So now comes the question that I have been asking myself all week:  Where can I invest my time, so that I will see the greatest return?

Some years ago a group of sanctified folks went down to Mississippi to hold a revival.  In this period of time revivals were held in the open air, “tent meetings” if you will.  It took a great deal of effort to do something like this.  A venue had to be acquired, the tent had to be erected, you had to drum up interest in the community and on top of that; it was hot and muggy, not the air conditioned indoors that we experience today.  Sanctified folks endured all this to try and get a revival going and win some souls for Jesus.  However, during this particular “tent meeting” in Mississippi, not one soul came out.  Not one person from the community……..NOBODY.  This left one dear sanctified soldier feeling down and discourage, and as he sat on the alter rail, that they had fashioned with two by fours, he thought to himself; “are we wasting our time?”  Now,  this same soldier went on many years later to start a church in Jemison, Alabama.  One meeting after he had preached a sermon a man walked up to him and said “Hi, my name is (actual name removed for confidentiality), do you remember setting up a tent in Mississippi?”  “Yes.” Replied the preacher.  “Well me and my mother sat on the porch every night and listen to you’ all sing……never have we heard such pretty, spirit filled, singing.  We would have come on to the tent meeting, but for the fact we didn’t have a car, but I am here now.”  Folks I am here to tell you that, the man who listen to the sanctified folks sing and preaching got sanctified at a alter in Jemison, Alabama, some ten years after a little tent meeting revival in Mississippi, where no one showed up.

Why am I telling you this story?  Because simply put, you can’t waste your time doing the Lords work.  It may seem to you and to everyone around you that you’re wasting your time.  It may not be as glamorous as sky diving or rocky mountain climbing; as bull riding or hiking through Patagonia.  It’s a humble way, time spent in the Lord; a “quiet and peaceable life.”  And I submit to you on the faith of God’s word, that your name may never be mentioned in a newspaper, never seen on a T.V. program, never announced at an awards ceremony; but if you spent your life in the service of God; Brothers and Sisters you DID NOT AND CANNOT, WATSE YOUR TIME.  Why, you made the best use of every breath that was loaned to you.  You maximized you time on this earth, because God hath said “my Word shall not return unto me void, but shall PROFIT wither so ever I send it.”  So send the Word out: in tongue, in deed, in spirit and in truth.  Whether it be a life lived or a sermon preached; or both.  Sanctified people, near and far, let us spend and be spent in the service of God.  For we are not promised tomorrow!  So let us invest our time in fields that will yield returns long after we are dead and gone.  If you cannot waste your time doing the Lords work, then, are we better to spend our fleeting minutes in the Lord’s work?.........Yes Indeed.

What I been thinking on this week is: where my time is going?  Is it in God’s field of labor or my own? What about your time?  Your efforts? 

That’s what I been thinking on this week.  What have you been thinking on?

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"Let GO! Let GO".......I'm trying

Nothing is more uncomfortable then sitting in the passage seat of a car, whist that car hurdles towards the rear end of another car.  We all have been there, instinctively your hands shoot forward, partly because the humanity in you is bracing for impact and partly because your mind is saying “Swerve! Swerve!  Grab the wheel and turn this thing!”  Along with this reaction you naturally begin to slam your feet to the floorboard in hopes that the break peddle magically switched over to your side of the floor.  As humans, it is imbedded in our control system to have a wantonness to take control of a situation; especially when that situation is both out of control and involves our own wellbeing.  The same is true in our spiritual lives, many of us have, or are having, a serious case of “back seat driver” or in this analogy it would be “passage seat driver”.  So the question now becomes:  

How do we let go?

Drawing from my own experience (because it’s the only one I can speak authoritatively on) I offer this point of view (take it or leave it…………I understand if you decide to leave itJ). 

When a person arrives at a point where the strength of the conviction is more powerful than the fear that holds you back; when the unction from God is so profound that the future of one’s spiritual experience hinges on it, i.e. if a person does not act or move according to the will of God he becomes a hypocrite, because he is now blatantly disobedient.  You can conclude that, although:  fear, doubt and uncertainty are there; it is irrelevant to the decision, because God’s will is now the only thing that is relevant.  In short, I believe, that a man or women truly “let’s go” when they come to the point where they believe that God’s will is better for them than anything they could drum up for themselves; and then they act and move in that faith.  This expression of acting and moving “in faith” could manifest itself in many different ways, it could be: cutting ties with that man or women that is holding you back, visiting a prison yard even though you feel unprepared and/or  ill qualified, stepping out and testifying to that friend, loved one or co-worker, starting a song that might be “a train wreck” but you feel God has those words for someone in the house, the list goes on and on and the manifestation of belief and faith can/could be great or small. 

When you truly believe that God’s will is more perfect for you than your own then you truly “let go” ALL decisions are subject to his will and therefore ALL glorying is yielded to him, and if you truly believe God’s will is a “must” in your life, then all fear, doubt and worrying is irrelevant.  For truly the question still stands today: “Where is your faith?”  (See Psalms 118:8)

What I been thinking on this week is:  Have we really let go?  If so, is it manifested in our lives?  If we have “let go”, how can we help others to? 

That’s what I have been thinking on, what have you been thinking on?  What do you think about this business of “letting go”? 

My verse for the week:

 “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  -Nehemiah 8:10

(Please respond to the e-mail below, follow, comment.) 

Pgcollins65@gmail.com

"Yes, Uh, I would like one order of Mentors please."

What I been thinking on…….

About two years ago a dear Brother of mine said something to me that really has stuck. He said (not a direct quote but the gist of it):

“In the Bible most of the time the apostles had mentors, one example being Barnabas and Paul, then Paul and Timothy, do we have this kind of mentoring in the church?”

We rolled the question around together and came to the conclusion that we do…..and we don’t.  I feel that there is mentoring and discipleship in the church, for those who seek it out.  This can be a daunting task for the ones who have not an outgoing personality, or perhaps low self-confidence.  Most of the time young people are just that, young, and the idea of approaching and talking to someone older is terrifying.  I can think of certain ones who are older than me that, through the process of time, I have developed a relationship with.  The kind of relationship where I can call them and talk about: scripture, church culture, relationship problems, family problems, how to help my local crowd or their local crowd, battles I am facing, whatever is on my heart and mind.  These relationships have SAVED my LIFE.  I don’t know where I would be without some of these mentors.  This type of relationship is beneficial in many ways:

1^st) Having a open conversation about the Bible enhancing your spiritual experience, encourages you to “read more” and best of all exalts Jesus in your mind and life.  Your conversation helps your conversation (life).

2^nd) This type of relationship builds a mode of trust that allows for open exhortation.  If you’re like me, solid exhortation is not always comfortable; furthermore, giving solid exhortation is not always comfortable.  A true mentor/mentored relationship will allow for more “exhortation experiences”, this is good because whether we want to accept it or not exhortation MUST be in the church for the church to prosper.

3^rd) The likelihood of backsliding will greatly decrease.  I will not say that it will stop all together because humans can fake just about anything, but if the first two points are true and consistent then it will decrease backsliding (I hope and pray).  For “A two fold cord is not easily broken.”(I recognize this is slightly out of context, but work with me here.)

To sum up……….I realize that nothing can replace the personal one-on-one time with God.  Nothing will do more good for a person than having ample spiritual communion.  What I am thinking on is how to promote that.  I ask you to stop and think.  Do you think this is needful, beneficial?  If so, are we doing it?  If we are, how can we do it better?

What are your thoughts?  What have you been thinking on? (Please reply to my direct e-mail listed below, comment or follow.)