JoanG

I do believe that a person cannot serve God and money at the same time. A person that is intent on making money will work toward making money. They will lose sight of everything that is important in their lives. They will spend every precious moment worrying about stock market reports. The government rules, legislation and other things that will influence their financial growth. Their lives will be spent around money. they will eat, sleep and talk money. They tend to brag about savings account balances and other sums of money. However, I have seen recently where the wealthy in this country have started to wake up to the fact that money is not everything and have really started to share what they have with others. And yes, they have stopped worshipping money and have opened their hearts, minds and souls to God and the people around them.

We store up treasures in heaven by doing good deeds here on earth. It is important to share all of our worldly possessions with those that do not have as much. We need to use all of our resources wisely. We need to do little acts of kindness. We need to use the gifts of the spirit that God has graced us with. I think that Christians find themselves in a position to believe that heaven in the ultimate reward. They feel that all that is promised is there. I do not feel that they want to have less than some else because of rewards. I feel that people see complete equality as the way heaven will be. They might not look at the statement that Jesus said about heaven having many rooms, as a division of rewards.

Yes, Jesus spoke in all of these ways. This is a very strong message. Though it is not a new message, it is meant for the past, the present and the future. The Old Testament taught this message in many ways. What we have here will be of no good to us when we die. We need to use all that we have today for the best of everyone.

Jesus condemns the man because of his greed for worldly riches. The man has plenty of food already stored for himself but he goes ahead and plans on building bigger storage areas for his worldly things. However, the man never once seems to care about his heavenly riches. He seems to ignore the fact that he can share his over abundance with those less fortunate. he does not rejoice in his good fortune by thanking God and praising God. he wants to lock away all that he was given for himself away from those that could be helped by it. I feel that verse 20 is the key to the passage. It stresses that God is still in charge of everything. We can try and store up worldly wealth but only God can provide for us all that we need. Jesus is trying to tell us to look to the future and to look to God as our provider.

The mind of Christ is an all knowing knowledge that comes from God the father. It is the true understanding of the bible and the messages that God intended for us to understand and comprehend at that time. It is a wisdom that go past worldly knowledge. It is a wisdom that speaks to our souls. The Holy Spirit can be a very active part of our lives by opening up doors and windows into our hearts and souls where we can be open to the working of the Father and Jesus to allow us to grow more into the person that they want us to be.

Paul wanted to be true to the word and with the word. he want the word to stand on it's own merit. He wanted people to be inspired and he wanted the Holy Spirit to work with the hearts and souls of the people just like it did for him. Paul did not want to be credited with the conversions of people. He knew the power of God and wanted God to get all the credit. To repackage the message is a grave mistake. 1) We run the risk of losing the true message that God intended. 2) We run the risk of our human egos taking over and we start believing that we are the ones that have changed people. We get a false sense of pride.

Christ represents wisdom of God because his words and thoughts are true. They are above the level of comprehension that most people can fully understand. They never change the thoughts or lessons. There is a timelessness of the words. Christ represents God's righteousness because he is pure. He is free from and of sin. He never did anything wrong. He is above all men. Christ is the ultimate billboard for holiness. He is the perfect role model. He put his life on the line to follow the will of the Father. Christ is the sign of redemption. He brought all of our souls back to God. He put his life on the cross to save us. I believe that these are the basics of the whole Christian faith, principles and philosophy.

They stumble over his death. And the reasons he had to die. They have a hard time to understand how God could have his son die. They have a problem understanding about forgiveness and grace. The idea of the trinity is also a stumbling block. I also know people that have real problems with the idea of a virgin birth. I think that we have to be creative and sometimes make concepts overly easy because of the education levels of those we are talking to. However, I also feel that Christian education is a very much on going lifetime of learning. As a person becomes more mature, then we can truly help them to understand more fully what the bible is really saying. We can not allow these people to flounder and find help or answers from wrong places. I believe that it can be considered watering down the gospel for a beginning to help new Christians to understand complex concepts that theologians continue to fight about today. I do not believe by simplifying teachings for people, that we are changing the essence of the message. We need to make sure that we are keeping the message. This does not have to change due to culture. The message just needs to be made true to the word.

1) love one another versus I need to be number 1 2) Help the poor, share your wealth versus I need the best of everything 3) Idolatry versus worshipping the one true God. 4) the glory of witchcraft versus belief in the bible and the miracles of the bible.

Once we have recognized our sins, we need to confess and repent for those sins. These help us to receive the forgiveness and grace from God. It allows us to recognize where our own weaknesses are and help us to grow in our character and also spirituality. We can find our triggers and we can avoid sins in the future. Ultimately, we can grow from our mistakes. If we do not confess and repent, we will possibly continue to do the same sins again. There will be nothing to make us want to stop.

I feel that once we have confessed a sin and have received forgiveness for it, it is gone. We do not need to keep rehashing those. Each time we examine ourselves we are to look for those things that have not been confessed. And those are the things we need to repent for. We are only to judge our thoughts and actions. We are not to be critical of our whole self. We need to remember that we are children of God and that he loves us. If God loves us, we have a lot of worth. We must remember that God does not create things that are unworthy to be called his children. Especially since he chose us to be his. To sum it up, we need to be critical of our actions not of ourselves.

God is trying to get the people of Corinth to take notice to his lessons. He is trying to bring them back to the proper heart and soul. In my life, I have noticed that God will try to move us into the right directions with simple nudges, but if we ignore them, he will become harsher and harsher until we finally take notice. God will usually use degrees of discipline to help us grow and move along the path of life where he put us. However, if we continue to do wrong and not listening the discipline will turn into punishment just like a parent will do to a rebel child today.

When we partake in the Lord's Supper, we need to approach this with a holiness that is all encompassing. We need to make sure that we are right in our heart and soul. We need to have confessed all of our sins. And we need to be right with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to make sure that we come to the table as equals. We need to help those that are maybe a weaker Christian. We need to be sure that all are treated equally. I feel that not discerning the body is one of the greatest sins. We need to totally examine not only ourselves but also those that are present. We need to be true to all for the grace of God to fall on us. We cannot be critical and judgmental in negative ways.

I feel the concept of ultimate peace and love every time I think of seeing his face. I sense the end of pain, the end suffering and the end of needing or wanting. I should want to think about this every time I partake in the Lord's Supper. Jesus should be the only thought that is in my mind.

The Lord's Supper points to the past as a reminder of all the lessons that Jesus taught the Apostles and all of his followers. We are to remember that great sacrifice that he gave to us. We are to remember how he died and how his death actually started the Church we now belong to. He made it possible for people to approach God in a more personal way. Today, we are to gather in a brotherhood with our fellow brothers and sisters in the ever present living Christ. There is to be a feast of the unity that we share together. It is to be a time of healing and a time of empowering ourselves to live more like Christ in every day of our lives. It points our hearts and souls to the future where we will be in heaven with our Father and Brother. Where there will be eternal life in heaven.

The ultimate meal will be the one that true Christians share with our Father and Brother at the end of times. Every time we hare now in the breaking of bread, we should long for the final meal. We should pray for our hearts to be set right with God at this time. We should pray that Jesus would grace us with his love throughout our whole soul that we can become more like him.

I believe that Jesus wanted us to be able to see a much bigger picture that just what is before us on a daily basis. There is a reason and a purpose to our lives that is bigger than the day by day existence that we live now. I feel that the Great Banquet is going to be the ultimate reward for all true believers in Christ. It will be a time of great rejoicing and of complete fulfillment.

I feel that my congregation would be a more loving and caring group of people. They would be less concerned about the turf wars of the working of the Church. There would be less power struggles. There would be a more of a meaningful worship. People would actually pray with intent, love and purpose. God would be in the center of all activities. I feel that my life would be most fulfilled. I would have all that I ever needed because God would make sure that I was provided for.

To be filled with the Spirit is to allow our whole being filled with the love of God and Christ into the very depths of our souls. We can experience this fullness everyday of our lives if we are willing to continue to learn about God to accept his teachings and to allow ourselves to grow in them. We must be active in all of our quests. We need to be open to all of our faults. We need to accept all consequences that our past actions have cost to us and to others. I believe that it is easier to be filled with the Spirit than with God. I feel that God would cause us to be more perfect than we might ever imagine. The Spirit is there to help us to deal with our life's failures. he is preparing us to be filled with God.

I feel that we miss out on Christ's love because of our lack of insight and faith. I believe that we live in a very self-centered culture. We do not comprehend how we can be happy by giving to others equally. We tend to hold grudges and deal with people in very negative ways. We always look at the faults of others instead of what is good in them. We do not open up ourselves to Jesus but try to put Christ into a mold that fits our world. When we open up our hearts and minds to let Christ take hold of them. I imagine we would see miracles happen. There would only be a constant flow of love to all people,. We would be a true family with all people. We would want what is best for everyone. There would be true equality to all. I would find more inner peace in my life. I would be more understanding to people and I would be much more forgiving that I already am.

To me, these two concepts are completely different things. But in the end, they come together to make a new person. The Holy Spirit, to me, is an indwelling part of my soul and conscious being. Some people might express it as a guardian angel, an inner voice that keeps them from doing wrong. This is a very inner personal thing. It is there for one purpose, to aid me as an individual. Christ dwelling in our hearts is not only personal. It only helps us to love and appreciate ourselves, but it also aids us in how we view and treat the world. We are more open to our actions towards others. We shine of the love that Jesus had for the world. We treat others the way that Christ directed us to do in the bible. We show a love for God in all our thoughts and actions. So with both parts, we grow into a complete Christian with the love of God, and Christ and we love all people like ourselves.

Right now, the biggest battle is between contemporary and traditional services. Without a pastor, we are in a constant power struggle. We have members who allow their egos to take over instead of their brains. There is a lot of people that need constant praise and glory for all they do. those that have money feel that they should make all the rules and be in charge of everything. They feel that theirs is the only opinion that counts. We allow the church to be run like a corporation instead of in faith and to the glory of God. There is also a constant bickering of the way the worship should be done. Some people what a connectively flowing service where everything is centered around a common theme. Others want to just keep the status quo. Corinth is no different than we are today. there seems to be a struggle on what principles to follow. Who has the best philosophy to match our way of thinking. Who was the best teacher. These are still very much present today. I really think that we need to find a common ground and unite on that and pray that we can overcome our differences for all to see.

God give us strength but we have to nurture this strength within ourselves. We have to pray for God's guidance on how to best use this power. We have to follow God's words through the bible for this is the gateways to our ultimate salvation and reward in heaven. We need to associate with other members of the faith in order to learn how to love others as were commissioned to do. We were given the forgiveness of our sins. However, we cannot go through life without growing ourselves to the full potential that God sees in us. I really need to do more in the way of fellowship and strength. I find that I lack in the ability to associate with like minded individuals. I am very critical of their honesty of beliefs and faiths.

I find that I fall very short on my thanking of God for all my blessings. Those that can be considered good and those that might be considered bad. I really have never thanked God for my enemies. I realize that I have so much to learn about God, Jesus and the authors of the books of the bible. Paul is one person that I should try to emulate in my daily life. He is much more a saint than I have ever thought to be. He thanks God for the Corinthians ability to speak about Christ and the knowledge with which they speak of him. And he does this even after they spoke really bad things about him.

Called to be Holy or called to be saints is that God has personally selected us to be his. He has called us forth to live our lives according to his will for us. We are to be examples to all people. We are to hold ourselves higher in our thoughts and actions. We are to not give into simple temptations but to shine as the true children of God. We are to be an elite class of people. However, people find it a lot easier to just give into all the temptations and to live that ways of the earthly realm. They refuse to try to give up old habits to be better people.