Are You Disciplined? Part 3: Worship

 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John: 4:23-24

  Years ago, while I attending classes for pastors in California, we pastors were given the book "Celebration of Discipline" copyright (c) 1978, by Richard J. Foster. This well-known book, has been, over the years, very helpful to many Christians both laity and clergy alike.

With that acknowledgement, I would like to offer in my own words, as best that I may, what I have gleaned from Mr.Foster’s work"Celebration of Discipline". Mr. Foster's book  speaks to believers about how Christians can avail ourselves of the "Spiritual Disciplines" and grow in the Christian life thru a relationship with Jesus Christ by way of the "Spiritual Discipline"

Spiritual Opportunities

The Spiritual Disciplines are not Religious Duties,  but rather,  are Spiritual Opportunities which aid in the Christian life and bring us ever deeper intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ and through Jesus into an ever growing relationship with the Holy Trinity , the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Again, the "Spiritual Disciplines" do not earn us salvation, our salvation is accomplished thru and by Jesus alone on our behalf. He has accomplished it all for us, Jesus has done what none of us could ever do. Jesus has saved us.

What the "Spiritual Discipline" are, are Spiritual Opportunities for each and all of us to have Communion with our God in times of deep personal intimacy which brings us to see that he is with us and wants us and loves us.

Worship

To worship is to experience realty, to encounter Jesus in a unique and personal way. Worship is to encounter the Shekinah of God, the very glory and radiance of God among his people. To be immersed into and to be aware of the abiding realty of the manifest presence of God thru the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel of St. John the Apostle. St. John records Jesus' famous words to the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well regarding worship. 

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Jhn: 4:23-24

Jesus tell this woman, and all of us,  that the "Father seeks" worshipers; this is spoken in a verb, which tells us that it is something which the Great God is active in doing, that God is actively seeking worshipers not just there two thousand years ago but even to this very day, and on into eternity.

Worship is the result of God's seeking after  worshipers, and our response to his seeking and his divine initiative in seeking us.

Worship is not the result of the right liturgy forms, that is not what worship is about. The focus of our worship is not how our worship services are structured, or what style of music that we use. Worship is about God's Holy Spirit touching our human spirit and focusing our minds and hearts upon the great Triune God in the Person of Jesus as the object of our worship.

When we are drawn to Jesus Christ and come to see him for who he is, as the eternal Son of God the second "person" of the Holy Trinity , and yet thru the incarnation, that is God taking on our humanity , Jesus is fully human even as he is fully God, we can have no other response but to worship. This is, as the Swiss Theologian Karl Barth articulated, "right Theology leads to the right Doxology".

  Worship only God

Jesus, in the wilderness temptations, tells Satan, and us, that there no other that is deserving of worship but for the God who speaks to us from the pages of the Holy Scriptures. This is also, thru it's setting in the wilderness, during a time of temptation, that is when we find ourselves in a spiritual wilderness of our lives and when we might find ourselves being tempted , that we should turn to God and worship him.

"you will worship the Lord and him only will you serve" Matt:4:10

 This holy place of worship and adoration belong only to God, only he is worthy and worship is for God and God alone. It is a focus upon Jesus with our whole minds and heart. All our songs and hymns, words and adoration should be focused upon the Lord Jesus thru whom God, the Holy Trinity has revealed himself to us. 

Anticipate Encountering God

When worship, whether alone, or with others Christians in a local assembly, we should anticipate encountering our Lord. We should come with expectancy into worship. How do we cultivate this expectancy in our worship?

This individual and corporate expectancy is ours when we live each day in a personal state of worship of our God in all that we do. That is we see our lives and their living out as an act of worship, with our minds, words and thoughts looking to Jesus. That is our personal lives reflect to what happens when we gather collectively together as an assembly.

When we have experienced his manifest presence, which only shows us what is already true, that our Lord is with us. Our Worship does not "work up" the presence of God, but rather opens our eyes to see the truth, that he is with us. We see the reality of God's abiding glory, his very Shekinah, and the more we see him the more we will desire him.

Focus Upon Him

When we abandon all that encumbers our focus upon our Lord in the person of his Holy Son Jesus, when we can leave behind the world and all of its distractions and for those few moments consider in whose presence in which we dwell we will find moments of great refreshing will fill our souls. 

We serve a God so great. A God of eternal power, knowledge, wisdom, of love. A God worthy of all honor and adoration. This God has come to humanity in the person of Jesus. 

When we worship, if Jesus would bodily appear to us would we not want to reach out and touch him, to tell him what he means to us, to thank him for all that he accomplished for us?

Bound Together

In the Primitive-Apostolic Church there was a true sense of community which drew them close to one another in worship of the Lord Jesus. They knew that they lived in and gathered in his presence. They knew that were before God in their assemblies. As a group they experienced and shared the fellowship of common essence which transcended the flesh into the spirit, that is Koinania. 

This is why the writer of Hebrews wrote that Christians "should not forsake the assembling of your selves together" 

Those early Christians risked their lives to come together with others believers and to worship, to sing, to read the Scriptures, to pray, to worship together. They made it a priority.  Jesus is the one who in truth leads us to worship as our Great High Priest. 

"Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.He says,“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”And again,“I will put my trust in him.”And again he says,“Here am I, and the children God has given me". Heb: 2:11-13.

Jesus is with us thru the Holy Spirit every bit as much as he was with the Apostolic Disciples before and after his death and resurrection.  Jesus is the one who's perfect worship of the Father makes our weak and limited and imperfect worship acceptable before God.

Jesus is here among us leading in the hymns and songs of praise, prayers and the proclamation of the word.It is Jesus there thru the Spirit and the Word.

It is Jesus who speaks into our spirit as we worship. It is his voice the Kol Yahweh , the voice of God that we hear. If something we hear whether it be in song, hymn, prayer or reading draws our attention then it is God speaking to us. The Kol Yahweh.

 A Life of Worship

Worship is not just when we gather, it is a way of life. How we live being led by the Holy Spirit. To walk after the Spirit and live in the Spirit. To live a life worthy of our divine calling. When we give over our whole life, our whole life, all our life, all our life with our hearts stayed upon Jesus, every word, action, thought led by the Spirit then we are living a life of worship. Rm: 12:1, Rm:8:4

Praise

David wrote in Psalm:22 :3 that "God inhabits the praises of his people", many Christians have learned that where God is praised his presence is manifested. In many Christian fellowship God is worshiped with exuberance and vitality, with shouts of joy.

God wants us to engage us fully when we worship him at every level of our beings, body, mind, spirit and soul. He wants us to celebrate what he has accomplished for each and all of us thru Jesus. 

In His Presence

Worship brings us to see the reality of the abiding presences of God in our lives individually and collectively as we gather together in a local assembly, it is in these moments of worship where our God touches us and transforms us bring us ever closer to him.  

Benediction: May each and all ever join in the glorious worship of our great God, today, tomorrow and forevermore .Amen

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"

Are You Disciplined? Part 2: Prayer

 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, 

faithful in prayer'‘. Rm: 12:12

 Years ago, while I attending classes for pastors in California, we pastors were given the book "Celebration of Discipline" copyright (c) 1978, by Richard J. Foster.

This well-known book, has been, over the years, very helpful to many Christians both laity and clergy alike. With that acknowledgement I would like to offer, in my own words, as best that I may, what I have gleaned from Mr. Foster’s work

It speaks to believers about how Christians can avail ourselves of the "Spiritual Disciplines" and grow in the Christian life thru a relationship with Jesus Christ by way of the "Spiritual Discipline"

Spiritual Opportunities

The Spiritual Disciplines are not Religious Duties, but rather, are Spiritual Opportunities that aid in the Christian life and bring us ever deeper intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ and thru Jesus into an ever-growing relationship with the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Again, the "Spiritual Disciplines" do not earn us salvation, our salvation is accomplished through and by Jesus alone on our behalf. Jesus has accomplished it all for us, Jesus has done what none of us could ever do. Jesus has saved us.

What the "Spiritual Discipline" are, are Spiritual Opportunities for each and all of us to have Communion with our God in times of deep personal intimacy which brings us to see that he is with us and wants us and loves us.

The Discipline of Prayer

Prayer is so simple, yet has such a profound impact on our Christian life of believers. Thru prayer Christians have not only communication but Communion with God himself, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the creator of all things. Prayer is far more than an exchange of information it is relationship.

All Christians can pray, laity and clergy alike, young and old, nothing is required but only the joy of Communion with God and the desire to experience his abiding presence in our lives.

To pray is to change and be transformed, to be ourselves transformed and in the lives and circumstance of those around us. When we conclude our time of prayer there should be transformation having be enacted. 

As we pray, we will grow ever more aware of our Lord's abiding presences in our lives and grow ever deeper in it and intimacy with our Lord and our need for him.

Thru prayer we can have influence on a scope greater than we might ever image, on people and circumstances around the world.

This is what the Apostle St. James meant when he wrote to the early Church in his Epistle.

"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you" Jam: 4:8

Our Lord wants that we should reach out to him, to have a close relationship with him, after all we are, that is each and all of us are the objects of his divine love and affection.

Ask

Many go thru life without receiving many blessings simply due to the fact that they do not ask for God for them or they ask amiss, that is, they ask what is not good for them. St. James address this long ago, for it is not a new problem limited to only we in current times but has been from the very beginning. 

"You ask but do not receive, for you ask according to your passions" Jam:4:3

The answers that are right are those which come from a change of passions, that is God's passions become ours, our Lord has transformed us brought us ever deeper into what the Primitive-Apostolic Church called "Deification” meaning taking on the image of Christ. 

Deification

This "process", for lack of a right word, of "Deification" is what our Lord does in us, we are transformed in the very image of his Holy Son Jesus. God transforms us. We begin to have divine view point; we see the world and others as Jesus sees them. We  look upon the lost and broken with the same compassion and mercy filled grace as Jesus.

Time for Prayer

Jesus in his vicarious humanity, is the perfect human response for us God-ward and in his humanity, Jesus lived out the perfect human life and showed us what a perfect human relationship with God looks like which includes prayerful Communion with his Father.

Gospels all carry accounts of Jesus' prayer life that it was a vital part of his life that Jesus would at times withdraw from others and be alone with his heavenly Father in times of prayer. Mk: 1:35

Other Biblical personalities made prayer a part of their life as well, David often prayed and many of his Psalms are the record of his prayerful exchange with God. Ps: 63:1

 The Apostles cited prayers as a part of their "Job Description”, they made prayer a priority. Acts: 6:4

Many others thru out the centuries have lived lives characterized by prayer, persons like Martin Luther, John Wesley, David Brainard, John Hyde, Oswald Chambers and Andrew Murray and many, many others. 

Some may feel that prayer is only for the clergy, missionaries, evangelist, pastors and elders but prayer is for all Christians.

Christ Will Teach Us

The Disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, if we ask Jesus will do just that. Lk: 11:1

Jesus will show us the way to an effective prayer life, when Jesus prayed his Father answered. Jesus' prayers were full of power for Jesus never wavered in his faith that God would answer.

In the Gospel of St. John, in Jesus' high priestly prayer found in John:17, Jesus tells us that he abides with and in us thru the Holy Spirit bringing us into divine union with the Holy Trinity giving each and all access to God's help and provisions and blessings.

Prayers Unanswered 

When God does not answer our prayer request in "dramatic" ways or the answer seems to be no, then what should we do? When our prayers are unanswered, at least from our point of view, then we should consider our request, meditate on it and ask is it in accordance with God's purpose and will for us at this particular time in our lives and does it seemed to be in any way outside of the word of God?

We should listen to the voice of God and not assume that what we want is God's will for us. Remember that our Father answers out of love for us.

 Prayer is Simple

Some have made prayer a complex ritual or insist that we use a special "prayer language" in order to be heard by our God.  Some feel that God answers only prayers for his "work" upon the Earth or that only certain "gifted" intercessors can be heard on high. It is true that there are gifted prayer intercessors with in the Church who are truly gifted and given to prayer, but that does not preclude the prayers of others, all of us can and should pray.

Prayer is simple just talk to God he is always willing to hear us.

When we come to our Father we should not do all the talking, but rather prayer is a time to listen is silence to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit who will bring to our hearts and minds needs or persons or situations that God wants us to be in prayer about.

There may be times when all our Lord wants for our prayer time is to rest in silence with him in quite communion.

There are time when we can go boldly to God and ask in the name of his Son Jesus Christ for his divine assistance, other time we can be as David and "pour out our complaint before him" , that is tell our God how we feel, God is not shocked by us, he knows what we are.

Prayer is for each and all of us. We have a great God who desires us to come to him and ask for his divine help and blessings.....

Our Lord bids each and all of us to come before him in the communion of prayer.

Benediction: May we each and all receive every and all blessings and have a  communion of deep abiding prayer with our Lord and God , today, tomorrow and forevermore Amen 

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"

Are You Disciplined? Part 1: Meditation

 "Therefore, I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."1 Cor:9:26-27

  

Many years ago, while was I attending classes for pastors in California, we pastors were given the book "Celebration of Discipline" copyright (c) 1978, by Richard J. Foster.

This well-known book, has been, over the years, very helpful to many Christians both Laity and clergy alike. With that acknowledgement, I would like to offer, in my own words, and as best that I may, what I have gleaned from Mr. Foster work

It speaks to believers about how Christians can avail ourselves of the "Spiritual Disciplines" and grow in the Christian life thru a relationship with Jesus Christ by way of the "Spiritual Discipline"

Spiritual Opportunities

The Spiritual Disciplines are not Religious Duties, but rather, are Spiritual Opportunities that aid in the Christian life and bring us ever deeper intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ, and thru Jesus, into an ever-growing relationship with the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Again, the "Spiritual Disciplines" do not earn us salvation, our salvation is accomplished thru and by Jesus alone on our behalf. Jesus has accomplished it all for us, Jesus has done what none of us could ever do. Jesus has saved us.

What the "Spiritual Discipline" are, are Spiritual Opportunities, for each and all of us to Communion with our God in times of deep personal intimacy which brings us to see that he is with us and wants us and loves us.

Need for Maturity

In the Church of today there is great need for spiritual maturity. Superficiality is a problem facing many in some quarters of the Church Universal, that is all Christians, wherever they are gathered, under whatever name they are assembled.

It is unfortunate that some Christian, after years of believing are still limited in the Christian life, (we all are to some degree, "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God") There is a real need for maturity if we are to cope with growing demands of this life and shine forth as lights in the darkness.

The Great God has called each and all of us into a relationship. This relationship should be one of depth and fullness. But how can we experience this blessed condition which lifts us up above the superficiality that plagues so many within the Church of today? 

Some have concluded that they are beyond the very basics and too sophisticated and have no need, believing, that once they have come to accept the saving work of our Lord that is all there is. They have embraced a form of “liberal grace" which cheats them out of so much that our Lord has to offer us, it is already ours thru Jesus, and Jesus freely offers it and yet some have embraced this "liberal grace" that does not full utilizes the "Spiritual Disciplines”, they are un-Disciplined.

Some Christians have, however, embarked on a regimen of "good works" which they believe will help them build Christian Character hoping to overcome the pulls of the flesh thru the strength of will, "helped" by the Holy Spirit. They approach the Holy Word of God as if it is a self-help book.

Do not misunderstand, good works are a part of the salvation that we believers experience, but good works do not produce that salvation, rather, they are a result of that salvation as we live that salvation out in our daily interactions with those around us. 

In the end both ways fall short of the promised results and produce in some a deep sense of failure and condemnation.  the Scripture tells us; "all (that is each and all of us) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Rm: 3:23 With that truth, that each and all of us fail, what hope do we have then when we come to the truth that we can never be "righteous" on our own?   Thankfully for all of us that our gracious Lord has made provisions which takes into account that we all are unable to be "righteous"   apart from him.

Understand that St. Paul tells us that "righteousness" is a free gift from God. Rm: 5:17. This all comes from him; it is not generated by the power of the flesh. 

Again, some have received this truth but have gone no further in the Christian life, they have remained spiritual Children concluding that there is nothing more for them.

"Deification"

So how do we grow into the image of the son of God, this "growing” was what the Post-Apostolic Church called 'Deification”, which means becoming Christ like? This is what the "Spiritual Disciplines" bring us into, and advance us in the Christian life.

We need to grasp that it is God himself who must transform us and work with us.

St.Paul wrote to the Church two-thousand years ago, and to believers down thru the ages , of choosing to allow our God to form the life of his Holy Son Jesus in each of our lives. When we look to Jesus and set our hearts upon our Lord than we will reap the spiritual fruit of our choice.

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Gal: 6:7-8

The principle here is, that when we focus upon Jesus, the things of Jesus are produced in our lives, that is, sow to the spiritual, reap the spiritual.

Thru the "Spiritual Disciplines" we are sowing to the spiritual. Paul thru his relationship with Christ grew and gained mastery over his own body of the flesh using the image of a struggle to impose restraint and balance and conditioning of the body of a boxer.

"Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."1 Cor:9:26-27

Meditation In the Old Testament there are two words that are used to speak of Meditation these word carry with them implication and meaning,  they when considered , speak of Mediation as:  Hearing the Word of God. Considering God's Works, Rehearing God's Acts, Considering God's Instructions for us. These are what we can Meditate upon.  

David wrote of his Meditations in his Psalms

"I love your law; it is my Meditation all the daylong" Ps: 119:97

David thought deeply about the Law of God and what it meant for and in the lives of the people of God. How it directed their lives each day. David sought to truly understand God's divine intent behind the Law of God. David sought to be faithful to his God in every situation and circumstance.

In the Night Watches 

David would often ponder the things of God in the quite hours of the night watches focusing his heart and mind upon God.

"I think of you in the night watches" Ps: 63:6

We too can do the same. In the stillness of the night when life's activities come to a reduced pace we can think of the Word of God and what our Lord is saying to us as a whole and to us personally.

God will at times "visit" us, so-to-speak during the quite hours of the night watches when our minds are still. At times our Lord may do this unexpectedly and call us to rise up and pray or to read the Bible, it is in these night watches when we might be more receptive to his "visitation". 

God called the child Samuel in the night watches as he slept, summonsing him to serve him.  Samuel heard the voice of God calling in the night mistaking it for High Priest Eli, and when the Old High Priest Eli discerned that it was voice of the Lord who called Samuel, he instructed Samuel to answer him. 1Sam: 3:1-18

If our Lord calls us in the night, we, like the boy Samuel, should answer. When his voice calls us answer.

Jesus Alone With God

Jesus, the very, divine Son of God would often find a quiet place to be alone with his Father and consider the things of God.  Matt: 14:13

Meditation gives believers the place of Communion with God in the privacy of our own beings, here, even the midst of others we are alone with our God in the most personal of ways. To hear God speak to us in the very midst of our own being is a very personal and powerful experience; to be aware of the truth our Lord is with us at all times. God is always speaking to us so we should always listen.

When we focus our minds on Jesus in the privacy of our own being we can have a most profound spiritual experience: we can truly experience our Lord and come to know him ever deeper.

He calls us to fellowship with him, in fact the whole message of the Gospel is an invitation to fellowship.1Jn:1:3

How to Meditate

How do we meditate? Speaking of what the culture of day thinks of Mediation, that of an emptying of the mind and entering into an "altered state” of mind or being "detached from reality”?  No, on  the contrary , our minds will be filled with the person and thoughts of Jesus and his Holy word to us and we will be full aware of who we are and where we are.

We will reflect on all that our God has and is doing with and for us, we consider our relationship with God and others around us, we think of the Scripture and what it means to each and all and at all times our mind is stayed upon Jesus not on some "cosmic" realty , but upon the divine Son of God thru whom our God reveals himself to us. Our Focus of our thoughts is upon Jesus.

We should set time apart For God- "Sanctify" it so-to-speak, try to let nothing prevent us from our time to think about our God. When we meditate expect to beware of him and his presence in our lives. 2Sam: 7:18- David "sat before the Lord"

·         Review your life and God's intervention in it.
"What is my house that you have brought me this far" that is what God has done for us. 2Sam: 2:18

·         . Think upon God, how great he is and what and who he is. 2Sam: 7:19-21   "This is a small thing in your sight". 

·         Review His Promises "you have promised your servant" 2Sam: 7:28

·         Ask Him for what you need. "Now therefore, let it please you to bless" 2sam:7:29 

Make time to spend with our minds focused upon our God consider his acts of Salvation for us all not just in times past but within each and all of our lives. Consider his act and words focus upon Jesus. Listen for his voice and know that he will never speak contrary to what is revealed in the Holy Bible or if Scriptures are brought to mind if there are read them and meditate upon them how they might apply to you.

  Mediation , a Spiritual opportunity to grow in the Christian life and knowing  the Lord who have given us his holy Son.

The Benediction:  May we each and  all have our mind and heart be ever stayed upon our Lord Jesus Christ today, tomorrow and for ever more . Amen

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"

ReSpect=to See Again

 The word “respect” comes from two words: Re-meaning “again” and Spect-meaning to “view or to see”. Spect is the word we have derived the term spectacles, or glasses, which help us see the world around us, the lens through which we see others.

Respect literally means to “see again”, or to have a “new view” or to take a “second look”, to see others in an all-new way; giving others an all-new higher value in our minds worthy of high regard. It is the lens through which we see others.

Respect is something which God has called us to have one for another in our dealing with others and for any and all with whom we interact. 

We should treat others with a view of high regard of high worth and value. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. 1Pet: 2:17a

We can see in the world in which we live attitudes of condensing views and treatment of others, of esteeming others as having less and of little value. This is the lens by which they view the world.

Often, these attitudes are learned and are taught and reinforced by the given social strata in which we live and move.

 It can be seen that these attitudes are founded upon economics or vocational accomplishment or some other shared association, such as schooling and or other like experience which lead some persons to view others around them, who are not a part of their shared association as being less then themselves or of less value, forming an “echeloned society” creating an “us and them” mentality, this is the lends by which some view the world.

At times this “echeloned society” leads some persons, even Christians, to disenfranchise others around them, often in a deliberate effort to emphasize the unique value which some see in themselves and their associates. This spawns favoritism. Jam: 2:1:1

This “echeloned society” view and way of seeing others as “undervalued” sadly has even found its way among some Christians and their view of others who are not a part of their “valued social echelon” both in the world and in the Church.Jam:2:2-4

This “echeloned society”, which manifest itself in attitudes of disrespect toward others is not the way our Lord Jesus lived during his life upon the earth. Philp: 2:1-4

Jesus treated all people with a great value and deep respect. Jesus saw all humanity as valued objects of his Father’s divine love, knowing that this eternal divine love assigned great value on the lives of all humanity; this is the way that Jesus saw everyone; this is how we should see all others that of having great value for all others. 

That value which all have to God should be manifested in our dealings with each and all persons, this is the attitude and how we see others around us. Philp: 2:5

We, each and all, need to see the people around us as being or having great value, to have a new view of them and to show them great respect as valued objects of our Father’s divine love.

Seeing people around us again or in this new way puts an end to the “us and them mentality” and deconstructs the “echeloned society” which breeds contempt and disenfranchisement of others. This lead will us to honor each and all as valued objects of God’s love. Rm: 12:10

We all need to “see others again” as God see them, with an all-new respect, as they are all highly valued objects of our Father’s divine love this should be our lens.

Benediction: May We Each and all ever see others as our Heavenly Father see them, Today, Tomorrow and Forevermore. Amen.

 

Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor 

Topinabee Community Church

Topinabee, Michigan 

If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.

https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html

You Can Follow Topinabee Community Church on Face Book 

https://www.facebook.com/Topinabeecommunitychurch

                    "If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"