I love this stand of trees. I drive through it every time I go to pick up Jayden. It's beautiful in every season and I always feel like I'm driving through a tunnel of sorts because of the way the tops of the trees lean in and form a canopy. I feel like God is giving me a hug. Bonus~this stand of trees is right before the entrance to Pigeon Creek, my new place to obsess about because of my newfound love of skiing! This week VPM continued to cover the Core Beliefs of the church. This week being the subject of salvation. I know that I have shared my testimony before about how I became a Christian when I was 14 by accepting Christ at a coffeehouse in Oregon City that was sponsored by the Foursquare Church. This was a hip hangout at the time since the "Jesus People" were in vogue those days! It was an experience that has carried me through the ups and downs of my life since and I have to say that for the most part, my fundamental beliefs have not changed but I have become less dogmatic over the years. I see more shades of gray vs the black and white extremes. I have always felt that my faith was an anchor. I view my relationship with God as a constant and a stabilizing factor. That too has evolved into a much closer partnership over the years. I have learned that God is faithful and He walks with us through whatever life brings. I have learned that I can fully rely on Him. Sooo...having said that, you'd think that I would really be digging this all-church teaching study. I am struggling! Partly because I just finished The Shack and that book left me reeling-STILL! I am processing things that come up almost daily. It shook up my world around the subjects of grief, loss, and forgiveness. Salvation though, I realize, isn't just that one act of accepting Christ as saviour. It isn't just about "fire insurance"=avoiding hell or making it to heaven. Salvation is a gift. Salvation is a realization of what has been done for us. It's about unconditional love. It's about sharing that unconditional love with others. I've been a Christian for so long that I think my resistence to going over these scriptures again has been that I think I know. When you think you know, then you don't remain open and let any more in or create a space for anything new to occur. So, I have pushed myself to go ahead with the study and read all those old familiar verses. And I'm asking God to show me something NEW about my salvation. If you are interested in hearing the message from Sunday, go to the Victory Point Ministries link on the sidebar of this blog and go to the MP3 files. You can listen to the entire thing right here on your computer. If anyone has thoughts about this subject, I welcome your input! Blessings!
2 comments:
Hi Lona,
Great topic for deep thought and reflection.This certainly created a great chit-chat with Doug late into the night last evening.These are my favorite talks, we are always staying up a bit later then we should talking away the night and then having a hard time the next morning rolling out of bed! We were talking about Matthew 22:14 . . .Many are called, but few are chosen.We talked about others as well, but this was found to be most interesting last night).
I think that for me Salvation is not something that I have already achived, but something I want to strive towards everyday throughout my life by surrendering to God. I certainly don't know the mind of God and would never assume that I've already been saved, but by the grace of God, and in the end,you never know!
You are so blessed that you get to learn about salvation again at your church in this teaching series, because what a great topic. There is always something new that can be uncovered.
Again, this was a good one for me. I know next to nothing of the teachings of the Bible and Doug is such a wealth of knowledge from his Bible studies that this made for a great deep talk about salvation.Take care.
TTFN. Jodee
I'll send you the Core Beliefs study booklet and you can download the messages on the Victory Point website(on my sidebar)if you want to study further on your own. You're right, we should all stay open to learning and not assume that we "know" it already! There's always a fresh way of seeing something...Good point!
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