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 - Endorsed - Indifferent - Contested
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| The Nashville Statement
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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
My complete profile...
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Daniel's posts are almost always pastoral and God centered. I appreciate and am challenged by them frequently. He has a great sense of humor as well.
- Marc Heinrich
His posts are either funny or challenging. He is very friendly and nice.
- Rose Cole
[He has] good posts, both the serious like this one, and the humorous like yesterday. [He is] the reason that I have restrained myself from making Canadian jokes in my posts.
- C-Train
This post contains nothing that is of any use to me. What were you thinking? Anyway, it's probably the best I've read all day.
- David Kjos
Daniel, nicely done and much more original than Frank the Turk.
- Jonathan Moorhead
There are some people who are smart, deep, or funny. There are not very many people that are all 3. Daniel is one of those people. His opinion, insight and humor have kept me coming back to his blog since I first visited earlier this year.
- Carla Rolfe
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email
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| Mind Sets, and Double Mindedness... |
Scripture speaks of the man who has his mind set on the things of flesh, and again of the man who has his mind set on the things of the Spirit. It also speaks of the double minded man who is unstable in all his ways.
Sometimes I like to connect the dots for people.
The double minded man is the man who refuses to set his mind on either, and because it is not set on one or the other, he flips and flops between both depending on how he is feeling.
The double minded man is really an immature believer, and you can be immature even if you have the whole bible memorized, and someone in their ignorance has made you an elder or a pastor. In fact, let me vent a bit on that last note. Somewhere along the road we started choosing pastors based on interviews and resumes - as though God suddenly started raising up leaders everywhere else but in our own congregation. We started qualifying our candidates based on their academics, and their table manners. The bible sets the standard at "must be filled with the Holy Spirit" - but since most of the people on the pastoral search committee aren't spirit filled, and don't even know what that really means, they just assume that every sincere believer is spirit filled, and the main qualifier becomes a no-show.
Anyway, my point is that setting your mind on the Spirit means you stop acting like obedience is going to fall out of the sky one day and find you. Instead you get judgment-day-honest with God about how carnal you are, and make it your point to beg God daily to strengthen your "inner man" - that is, to strengthen your resolve to set (as in setting something in concrete) your mind on the things of the Spirit, then you do it. Taking up your daily cross means never giving in to the flesh and its desires. That is what setting your mind on the Spirit looks like. Here is the kicker - your mind is set on the flesh by default, so you don't have to make a choice to set your mind on the flesh - if you aren't struggling day by day to keep yourself in the Spirit at all times - then (by default) your mind is set on the flesh.
When your mind is set on the flesh, your spiritual life is reduced to little forays into obedience - you aren't perfectly obedient to the flesh, but have little fits of spiritual obedience - usually just until a good habit is formed, but once you have formed enough good habits, your spirituality starts to fade in power, since your more concerned with pacifying God by your good deeds than you are about fellowshipping with Him through ascending the holy hill. When we are like that, carnal with fits of spirituality - we are double minded and unstable in all our ways.
It isn't rocket science. How does scripture say it, again and again? Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve - then serve whom you choose. Here is a little life wisdom for you, gleaned from a walk that has taught me this: You can't serve God half heartedly, if you try you will only (in truth) serve the flesh, and pay lip service to God. That little nudge there... that's the Holy Spirit saying, Amen. |
posted by Daniel @
6:41 AM
 
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| 3 Comments: |
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Daniel, I thought you didn't believe in search committees?
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I know I'm being nudged because I keep coming back to your blog. I'm not at the point where I want to beg God for strength because I know that the life lived in the Spirit is more difficult than the carnal life. I want to want it, but I guess I'm waiting for a huge shove instead of just the little nudge.
Thank God for Jesus and God's mercy because if it were by works . . .*shiver*
-Jen
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Nice post. Maybe this is why Paul said, "Pray without ceasing."
I would think our personalities play a role in our keeping our mind on the things above, and not on earthly things. Not completely, but doesn't God work within our personal traits?
I wish I was like Daniel, Paul, Joseph, and others. But I'm more like David, Peter, and even Lot at times. I'm not like Jonah, but I can be like Jacob and Timothy, who were timid.
I try to always remember this though, Christ, the Good Shepherd, loves His sheep, and He calls us, and we follow Him. When one wanders off He will gather this sheep to Himself, and He will protect us from wolves, and hirelings, and He will use His crook on us at times, for one reason or another. He has great faithfulness to His promises. And this doesn't make me any more lax, but it does help me have joy, contnetment and peace.
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Daniel, I thought you didn't believe in search committees?