There is a strong emphasis put on keeping those in the fold of the Church and going out and recruiting the heathens who do not come to Church. Instead Billings has so graciously broaden the prospective to show the Church that the people who are not coming should still be a part of the Church community and their needs are just as important as those inside the Church. The greatest opportunities for the Church are when the ‘outsiders’ decide they have a reason to come and use the Church as a resource. They may need the Church for a baptism, a wedding, or a funeral; these opportunities are great to show that the Church bears life and is there to support them. The present society appears to have an identity predicament with the Church, because there is a tremendous amount of self-help propaganda in this society; therefore they simply do not care about a commitment with the Church, but can read about how to be better people in the comfort and safety of their own homes.
One of God’s greatest desires is to have relationship with His creation, man. He wants nothing more than to be loved and believed. Our love and belief is demonstrated through worship and godly lifestyle. Many people have a form of worship, but with no substance or true understanding of what it is all about. Many minimizes worship simply as the singing of songs, or leaving it up to the worship team to “set the atmosphere”, without any participation from the congregation.
Spiritual gifts according to Dr. Elmer Towns are described as being “from the Holy Spirit, they are bestowed to all believers, for use in Christian service, spiritual abilities discovered when in proper relationship, and to be exercised by us.” Gifts are given to us by the Holy Spirit, to be used for the common good, that the church may be edified. When people are using spiritual gifts in ministry or to evangelize, the results are such that the individual cannot take credit for them. If you are working in your own power, there will be nothing supernatural about your works, When someone is working under the power of the spirit, it is spirit that has ability, not the human, this is evident in the works. Most people believe that spiritual gifts are received at the time of conversion; some believe that they are received at birth, either way; they can lie dormant to be developed at a later time. The number of gifts a person receives can differ from person to person and can grow as faithfulness is exercised.
Prayer is simply communing with God. Jesus set the perfect example for prayer when he taught his disciples what we call the Lords’ prayer. There are times in our life when we don’t know what to pray for but the word of God said that the Holy Spirit will make intercession for us. The Apostle Paul and Silas prayed and the Holy Spirit caused the ground to shake during their imprisonment. During the book of Acts we see not only the early Church praying but also the disciples.
I have been brought up in a very mixed society but in a Church of England school where religious education was compulsory, however we still studied various other religions and were taught to respect all people, and their beliefs. Prayers were a daily thing at the end of each assembly and whether or not I wanted to pay attention to the prayer time again I had to respect the people that did. Religion may affect people in many different ways, mainly because we all come from different backgrounds and are taught differently. However, it is important to respect how people honour their religion. I am an atheist however I still make time to talk to my clients about their religion and sometimes have prayer time with them, even though my own beliefs it is not something that I choose to do as I know it makes the client happy it makes me happy to do this as I know it is something that they feel so strongly in.
Soul Ties “What you surround yourself with is what you become!” In searching the scriptures you will find that the term “Soul Ties” is not actually in the Bible. Yet we find many instances of where God warned His people not to associate, marry or spend time with certain folks, cultures, rituals or traditions. Yet through scripture we find where God’s people obeyed at times and many times they didn’t. The times when they did, they were blessed. The times when they didn’t, they brought a snare upon themselves.
Tozer emphasizes the power of worshiping God. He criticizes a large number of Christians for their substitutes for worship. The reason for man’s existence is to worship God for how loving he is. What man does in the day must be somehow focused toward worshiping God in order to fill the role in his creation. Humans lack true worship for a few reasons.
Although this may be the case, again their faith over rules a skepticism. They turn their power less hand to the faith of the Lord in all cases. The last stanza says, “Yet year after year, Before his image they kneel, Margarita Josefina Maria and Isabel, All fervently hoping, That if not omnipotent, At least he be bilingual. This merely is saying as they pray if all of their prayers are answered or not they hope that he hears them and understands them. Again speaking in a spiritual
Returning back to school ENG 121 Compositions Laloni Christenson April 30, 2012 Returning back to school Beginning my day the same way every day was very hard for me to do. Day after day looking at my children wishing there’s was a way out of the everyday. Taking time to pray and spending time in my word really help me. One I was at work and, a respective from Ashford came and told me about their child development program. Uncertain if online school was really for me.
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) As a church we recognize that we serve the Triune God, and we stress the importance of developing our relationship with God and with Jesus, yet it seems to me that there is a lack of talk about our relationship with the Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? I believe many of us regard the Spirit as something of an essence or wind-like force that surrounds us and leads us to be like God.