God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Aggravating all of these areas (of legalism) is a class of people who have come to be known as “controllers.” These are people who are not willing to let you live your life before God as you believe He is leading you. They have all the issues buttoned down and have cast-iron opinions about all of them. These people only know black and white. There are no gray areas to them. They insist you live your Christian life according to their rules and their opinions. If you insist on being free to live as God wants you to live, they will try to intimidate you and manipulate you one way or another. Their primary weapons are “guilt trips,” rejection, or gossip. These people must be resisted. We must not allow them to subvert the freedom we have in Christ.
Thom Rainer did a study a number of years ago asking formerly unchurched people the open-ended question, “What factors led you to choose this church?” A lot of surveys had been done asking the unchurched what they would like in a church. But this study asked the formerly unchurched why they actually were now in a church. The results were surprising: 11 percent said worship style led them to their church, 25 percent said children’s/youth ministry, and 37 percent said they sensed God’s presence at their church. For 41 percent, someone from the church had witnessed to them, and 49 percent mentioned friendliness as the reason for choosing their church. Can you guess the top two responses? Doctrine and preaching – 88 percent said the doctrine led them to their church, and 90 percent said the preaching led them there, in particular, a pastor who preached with certitude and conviction… When it comes to reaching outsiders, bold, deep, biblical preaching is not the problem. It’s part of the solution.
DRESSING
I've made a few more recipes from Gabe Mirkin's book. The Cranberry Beans
and Kale was a dud for me (and so not posted here), but I liked the Asian
Salad. It also gave me a chance to use my nice Japanese slicer: the
Benriner. As with most his recipes, this makes a lot, you may want to halve
the recipe.
Mix vegetables in a bowl. Mix vinegar and chili-garlic paste together. Pour
dressing over vegetables and toss.
Posted to fatfree digest V97 #295 by Michelle Dick <artemis@rahul.net> on
Dec 14, 97
A Message from our Provider:
“Conviction is not repentance; conviction leads to repentance. But you can be convicted without repentance. #Martyn Lloyd-Jones”
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