This excerpt is from the book of Bishop Mack B. Stokes entitled "Major United Methodist Belief's". Be it our guiding principles in reading the Bible.
First, the bible is to be understood as the church's book. It has its being and meaning in and for the community of prayer and faith. The church has authorized it, preserved it,k used it. The church through centuries of prayerful study and reflection, has understood its central meaning as the revelation of god's redemptive love coming to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In a balanced way, then, we United Methodists place ourselves as interpreters of the Bible in the mainline of Christian tradition.
Second, the Bible is to be understood not merely on the basis of a single verse or a few selected passages. Instead, we must rest our beliefs on the total insight of the biblical revelation. This total insight, as the church has understood it, includes as a central feature the revelation of the purpse of God for humankind in creation, redemption, and consummation. god is revealed in nature - that realm reality known to us through sense - experience. In a unique way, god is revealed through the Bible - the realm of the spiritual world of prayer, worship, and grace.
Third, the Bible is to be understood as revelation for response. We may study it as literature or as history or in reference to scientific accuracy. From the standpoint of the deeper moral and spiritual meaning of the Bible, however, these miss the mark. For the point is that the Bible is God's living Word. A word is for communication. This living Word is communication from God calling for our response. The Word becomes effective when we begin to ask as we read, "What is god trying to say to me today through this passage?" or 'What is God summoning me to do?" For the Bible is revelation for response to God.
Fourth, the Bible is to be understood as confirmed in Christian experience. The bible is, in large measure, the witness of people over many centuries to what god has done. Its promises, its great passages, its insights, its practical teaching - all these are at last comprehend in their deeper meaning in the ongoing lives of believers. This keeps the Bible from being just another book and makes it the dynamic word. It addresses itself to us now and in our particular circumstances today.
Monday, September 29, 2008
"Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Noah's Ark"
Something to share to everybody. I give credit to the person who write this, who ever he is.
One - Don't miss the boat.
Two - Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three - Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four - stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five - Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six - Build your future on high ground.
Seven - For safety's sake travel in pairs.
Eight - Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine - when you're stressed, float a while.
Ten - Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven- No matter the storm, when you are with god, there's always a rainbow waiting.
One - Don't miss the boat.
Two - Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three - Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four - stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five - Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six - Build your future on high ground.
Seven - For safety's sake travel in pairs.
Eight - Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine - when you're stressed, float a while.
Ten - Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven- No matter the storm, when you are with god, there's always a rainbow waiting.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
“Dependent on God’s Presence”
From the
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United
“Those who wait on the Lord… shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31)
There is on thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength. The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person – “…John … looking at Jesus as he walked… said, ‘Behold the lamb of God!’” (John 1:35-36). There is nothing abstract or obscure in the Bible; everything is vivid and real. God does not say “Be spiritual,” but He says, ‘Walk before me…” (Genesis 17:1)
When we are in an unhealthy condition either physically or emotionally, we always look for thrills in life. In our physical life this leads to our efforts to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit; in our emotional life it leads to obsessions and to the destruction of our morality; and in our spiritual life, if we insist on pursuing only thrills, it will result in the destruction of our spirituality.
Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on
Monday, August 11, 2008
"The Holy Suffering of the Saint"
From the church I'm attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him n doing good..." (1Peter 4:19)
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing god’s will – even if it means you will suffer – is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.
The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us: in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose. He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels. (Luke 15:10)
Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His like by how or where he was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him n doing good..." (1Peter 4:19)
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing god’s will – even if it means you will suffer – is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.
The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us: in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose. He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels. (Luke 15:10)
Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His like by how or where he was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.
Monday, July 28, 2008
"The Way To Knowledge"
From the church I'm attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"If anyone wills to do His will, He shall know concerning the Doctrine..." (John 7:17)
The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience. If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be the guide. but if one desires knowledge and insight to the teachings of Jesus Christ, one can only obtain it through obedience. if spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in life. Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey.
No one ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test regarding it. We disobey and then wonder why we are growing spiritually. Jesus said, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). He is saying, in essence, "Don't say another word to me; first be obedient by making things right." the teachings of Jesus hit us where we live. We cannot stand as impostors before him for even one second. He instructs us down to the very last detail. The Spirit of God uncovers our spirit of self-vindication and makes us sensitive to things that we have never even thought of before.
When Jesus drives something home to you through His Word, don't try to evade it. If you do, you will become a religious impostor. Examine the things you tend simply to shrug your shoulders about, and where you have refused to be obedient, and you will know why you are not growing spiritually. As Jesus said, 'first...go..." even at the risk of being thought of a sfanatical, you must obey what god tells you.
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"If anyone wills to do His will, He shall know concerning the Doctrine..." (John 7:17)
The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience. If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be the guide. but if one desires knowledge and insight to the teachings of Jesus Christ, one can only obtain it through obedience. if spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in life. Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey.
No one ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test regarding it. We disobey and then wonder why we are growing spiritually. Jesus said, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). He is saying, in essence, "Don't say another word to me; first be obedient by making things right." the teachings of Jesus hit us where we live. We cannot stand as impostors before him for even one second. He instructs us down to the very last detail. The Spirit of God uncovers our spirit of self-vindication and makes us sensitive to things that we have never even thought of before.
When Jesus drives something home to you through His Word, don't try to evade it. If you do, you will become a religious impostor. Examine the things you tend simply to shrug your shoulders about, and where you have refused to be obedient, and you will know why you are not growing spiritually. As Jesus said, 'first...go..." even at the risk of being thought of a sfanatical, you must obey what god tells you.
"The Price of the Vision"
From the church I'm attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord..." (Isaiah 6:1)
Our soul's personal hisotry with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discourage. Let me think about this personally - when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, "I saw the Lord." there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God's surgical procedure - His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be god first, god second, and god third, until your life is continually face to face with god and no one else is taken itno account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "in all the world there in no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."
Keep paying the price. Let god see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord..." (Isaiah 6:1)
Our soul's personal hisotry with God is often an account of the death of our heroes. Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place, and that is when we falter, fail, and become discourage. Let me think about this personally - when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character. My character determines whether or not truth can even be revealed to me. Before I can say, "I saw the Lord." there must be something in my character that conforms to the likeness of God. Until I am born again and really begin to see the kingdom of God, I only see from the perspective of my own biases. What I need is God's surgical procedure - His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification.
Your priorities must be god first, god second, and god third, until your life is continually face to face with god and no one else is taken itno account whatsoever. Your prayer will then be, "in all the world there in no one but You, dear God; there is no one but You."
Keep paying the price. Let god see that you are willing to live up to the vision.
Bible Reading and Reflections
Net Bible First Edition
Psalms 16:1-8
A prayer2 of David.
16:1 Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you.3
16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,
my only source of well-being.”4
16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much5 –
16:4 their troubles multiply,
they desire other gods.6
I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods,7
nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.8
16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity;9
you make my future secure.10
16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields
or received a beautiful tract of land.11
16:7 I will praise12 the Lord who13 guides14 me;
yes, during the night I reflect and learn.15
16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord;16
because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.
My Reflections:
How often did we give praises to God? I think only few. Most of us are preoccupied of our “busy life” or of the things around us that we often neglect and forget to give praises God. Some of us only give praises to God on Sundays and sometimes we’re too lazy to go to church. It really hurts to face the fact that though we’re Christians already laziness is still the number problem in us and that’s what the devil uses to us. Let us be like David praising God in everything that he does.
Psalms 16:1-8
A prayer2 of David.
16:1 Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you.3
16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,
my only source of well-being.”4
16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much5 –
16:4 their troubles multiply,
they desire other gods.6
I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods,7
nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.8
16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity;9
you make my future secure.10
16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields
or received a beautiful tract of land.11
16:7 I will praise12 the Lord who13 guides14 me;
yes, during the night I reflect and learn.15
16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord;16
because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.
My Reflections:
How often did we give praises to God? I think only few. Most of us are preoccupied of our “busy life” or of the things around us that we often neglect and forget to give praises God. Some of us only give praises to God on Sundays and sometimes we’re too lazy to go to church. It really hurts to face the fact that though we’re Christians already laziness is still the number problem in us and that’s what the devil uses to us. Let us be like David praising God in everything that he does.
"Regeneration"
From the church I'm attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
“if your right hand causes to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).
Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that “if your right hand causes you to sin” in your walk with Him, then it is better to “cut if off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His percept, then “cut it off”. The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.
When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristics of being maimed. There are a hundred one things that you dare not do – things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, “What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!” There has never yet been a saint into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else.
The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but in verse 48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life – “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
Another food for the soul.
“if your right hand causes to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).
Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that “if your right hand causes you to sin” in your walk with Him, then it is better to “cut if off.” There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His percept, then “cut it off”. The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.
When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristics of being maimed. There are a hundred one things that you dare not do – things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, “What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!” There has never yet been a saint into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else.
The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but in verse 48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life – “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
"Don't Plan Without GOD"
We want to share this article to you (readers) and we hope that this can help you in your spiritual growth.
From the church We're attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5)
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were into chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him – that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, every day issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love … thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…”(John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command – “Let not …. “ To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
From the church We're attending
Good News Times
Weekly Newsletter of Puno United Methodist Church
“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5)
Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were into chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him – that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.
In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, every day issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love … thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.
Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…”(John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command – “Let not …. “ To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
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