By
dpettitt on September 17th, 2008
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When I first moved to Las Vegas, my husband and I looked for a new church to join. We wanted to stay fairly close to home (believe it or not, Las Vegas is HUGE!), so we first looked in the phone book to find churches close by.
We set out one Sunday to drive by three local churches, just to see what we thought. The first church was SO small, we had a hard time even finding it. We decided against something so small. The second church was a nice size, but there wasn’t a white person to be found. We felt a little intimidated and out of our rhelm. The third church was HUGE, bigger than any we’d been in before. We weren’t sure how that would feel–would we be lost? Sort of like Goldilocks, but actually NONE of them seemed to fit!
Well, we gave the BIG church a try the next Sunday. Yes, it was huge. But we certainly felt at home with greeters welcoming us, etc. And once the worship began, and then the sermon, we knew this was the place for us. Except for the fact that it was about 6 times the size of our church in our old town, it felt just like home. The same music, same style, etc. So we decided to stay and have been there ever since.
We found it true, however, that you could feel overwhelmed in such a big church. And there were so many people. How do you get to know people?
Well, this church had an answer, and a very good one, I might say. They strongly urged their members to get into a small group. They had groups for everything you could think of. Quilting groups, men’s groups, a fold-the-bulletin-inserts group, all the “anonymous” groups, a finance group, etc. The interested things was that even the fold-the-bulletin-inserts group was a ministry in itself. You don’t just go to fold, you also go to share together, pray together, encourage each other and care for each other.
We quickly got into a small group ourselves. It was newly formed, based on the DNA of Relationships, and guess who got to lead??? (Not a task we were looking for!) We started with 4 couples and have been going strong ever since. We meet once a week. We decide what we’re going to study (a group collaboration). We pray, we pass around and share prayer requests which are taken home to be prayed over during the week. We talk about things going on in our lives. We lend an ear and sometimes advice. We call to check on each other during the week. We’ve nurtured a close bond among our members. And it’s through those members that we’ve met others and joined in on other things (volunteer opportunities at the church are abundant.)
Now when we walk into the main hall for our Sunday service, we see and greet familiar faces. We know we are cared about and prayed for. We’ve become part of the church family yet we don’t feel overwhelmed because we still have our small group.
If you’re going to a big church or, really, even a small one, I highly recommend getting into or starting a small group. There’s nothing like it.
By
dpettitt on September 14th, 2008
Posted in God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, The Trinity | No Comments »
When you’re a new believer (or even a non-believer), it’s often difficult to understand how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit can all be one. This is how I reconcile the Trinity for myself. I hope the explanation will help you understand. There is the Godhead (which we know as God). The Godhead, however, has three distinct personalities, if you would, each with it’s own purpose.
God is the creator and the adopter. He has adopted us into His family. We are His children. When we think of Him, it should be as a Father. Fathers (most) love their children unconditionally. They are not always pleased with their children, but they love them unconditionally nonetheless. Consider yourself. You love your children so much, you would do almost anything for them. But there are times when they do things you are not happy about. That doesn’t mean you love them any less. It’s BECAUSE you love them so much that you want to teach them the right things–you want to give them the best of everything. And in doing so, you know you must reprimand them at times. You do not do this because you are mean. You do this out of love for your children, in order to set them on the right path. When they do things that are wrong (expecially when they’re older and no longer under your roof), you will cry for them. You can teach them the right things, but you can’t MAKE them do the right things. And it hurts us as parents to see our kids doing the wrong things, especially when we’ve already been there and can impart our wisdom on them so that they don’t have to make the same mistakes. But they don’t listen.
Well, the same applies to God. In His loving way, He guides us. He gives us everything we need and cries for us when we make mistakes or when we get hurt. But He NEVER stops loving us! How wonderful is THAT! Unconditional love. No matter WHAT we do, God always loves us. He may not like what we’ve done, but He ALWAYS loves us!
Jesus is our Redeemer. Because of our sin, we were separated from God. Jesus came to Earth and lived a totally blameless life. He, like a sacrificial lamb, was slaughtered as atonement for our sins forever. Because He did that, we have been reconciled to God and can have a relationship with God. Before that time, we were not acceptable to God and could not have a relationship with Him. When Jesus said His final words, “It is finished,”, He did not mean sin was gone, nor did He mean He is dead, He meant that He had now taken on all our sin, taken on the judgement that should have been ours, so that we might live and have a relationship with God. Jesus redeemed us–He paid the price for our sins.
The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. He is given to us when we are born again as our guide, as our conscience, as our protector. Those little thoughts that creep into your mind all the time (i.e., you need to call so-and-so) are not intuition. They are from the Holy Spirit. When you do or say something, and you get this “feeling” in the pit of your stomach or a voice in your head that says, “you shouldn’t have said that”, THAT is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit CONVICTS us! Listen to Him! He is there to always keep your feet on the right path. He also gives you POWER to speak boldly for God. He gives you whatever you need. All you have to do is ask. Ask for strength. Ask for wisdom. Ask for knowledge. Ask for a loving heart. Ask for forgiveness. He will give it to you as long as you are sincere in asking and repent of whatever you may have done wrong.
Well, I could go on and on. But I’ll leave it at this. I am still learning. Everyday I learn something new. I’m just now learning about the Holy Spirit. Read Ephesians–it’s only 6 chapters–and you will learn all about the gift of the Holy Spirit that God gives to believers. It is so hard for me to even fathom how awesome God is. He has provided us everything we need. He loves us and has given us so much. And we don’t have to do anything but believe and accept His gift! Once you DO accept it, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell inside you. The Holy Spirit works on you to change your ways. We do not have to do anything to receive our gift, but once we have it, the Holy Spirit changes you inwardly so that you WANT to do things for God. You WANT to serve others. You WANT to love others. And you WANT to share that good news with others. That’s how God’s kingdom increases–you save one at a time for Jesus. And not necessarily with words, even. Your actions and how you live your life are a testimony in themselves.
By
dpettitt on September 9th, 2008
Posted in God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit | No Comments »
As a Christian, I know that God is a forgiving God, a loving God, who loves me so much that He sacrificed His only Son so that I might have life.
That statement is so powerful. Imagine, if you can, sacrificing your own child for the sake (soul) of another human being. I for one, do not know of any person who would be willing to do that. But God did–for me!
God tells us that if we sin, we are forgiven. There is one sin, however, that is “unpardonable.”
Read Matthew 12:31-32.
“And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
I’ve often thought, as a four-letter word slipped out of my mouth, that I had “blasphemed” and wondered if that meant I would never be allowed to enter the gates of Heaven and spend eternity with the Lord, but in studying this verse more fully, I have learned differently.
The “blasphemy” spoken of here is the refusal of God’s gift of grace or the denial that Jesus is the only way to salvation. It is a rejection of Christ and a crediting of His miracles to Satan. But because I am concerned enough to ask that question, I know that I have accepted, not rejected, God’s gift of grace and the Holy Spirit dwells inside me, a gift from God. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
I am saved indeed!
By
dpettitt on September 6th, 2008
Posted in Satan | No Comments »
On the way to work today, this thought came to me: if you have accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God and your Savior, and know that he died for your sins, you have been given the free gift of salvation. If you’ve been given the free gift of salvation, you can’t lose it. So, if you can’t lose your salvation, why then is Satan still worried about you and why does he keep attacking you???
Within a minute of that thought, I had my answer–at least one answer. The word “lose”. You cannot “lose” your salvation. You can, however, give it up by choice.
I took this information to work. I’m blessed–I work in a Christian, family-owned business (don’t tell anyone, but I can even bring my dog to work with me!) Anyway, my boss had an even better answer: so he can keep you from sharing the good news with everyone else. WOW! That’s pretty profound.
Daily I learn more about my friend and Savior, Jesus. I am at a roadblock right now. God is teaching me how to pray. So every day, I get up and read the Bible. Now I add a prayer that is directly out of the Word itself. I’m amazed at how many great prayers there are. I’m beginning to mark them so I can go back and read them again later.
I look forward to hearing your comments.
