We have been listening to, and we are still not finished with a set
Jimmy
Evans put out called lips of life, tongue of trouble"  It is all about the
power of our words and so on.
Its the first time I have run into any teaching of his, which had something
in it I am uncomfortable with.
In one part he talked about speaking in tongues and how it was one of the
gifts from god and how much he believed in it.
I think I have already told you my thoughts about it but anyway, he believes
in it quite a lot evidently.
I was surprised to hear him speak on it.
The rest of that set which I have heard has been real good.
He addresses what we should do if we see that someone within our church is
going wrong.
He says that you should bring up your concerns to the person and tell them
what you think and if the behavior continues, you discipline the person if
necessary.
Evans also says we shouldn't gossip, be tail bearers or try to sew discord
within our christian group.  Well, I guess within any group really.
I guess I'll throw in my thoughts on speaking in tongues here in case it
wasn't this group I shared my thoughts with.
First off, and most importantly, it makes me uncomfortable because it's
different.
Secondly, I see it as a sort of attention getter.  An, I guess my last
thought on it is that it puts me in mind of these people who say that god
tells them things which he is not communicating to others and that they have
been sent as a messenger, another attention
getter in my opinion.
Jesus told us in John, that after the cross, he would be our only
intercessor to god and I think this is the whole reason, when we pray, that
we ask all things in Jesus name.
I think the people in the old testament talked directly to god and this is
where things got messed up.  They asked, god gave and they got lazy or
infantile.  It's like these kids whose parents give everything they ask.
Where are they to learn responsibility?  Life's just a big ol exploration
without many consequences.  So they racked up the sins and jesus died to
erase them.  Of course, we still have our sin nature, but jesus gave us the
ability to erase our sins by asking him to operate as an intercessor to god
for us.
What do you think about all of this?


Matt

praise of one's spouse is a disablin.
Attitude to take, for the rest of your life, I am your biggest fan.
Matt

Psalms 4 4
Be angry and do not sin.
meditate within your heart on your bed and be still.