I was invited to attend the Pastors and Church Leaders Mentoring group hosted by Pastor David Kemp and the Fort Mill Church of God. In short, it was a great day. I’m sincerely grateful for the opportunity to connect with fellow pastors and church leaders. They are truly and inspiration. We were blessed to hear on the topic of race relations as well as compassion fatigue. Frank from Fort Mill had great insight and delivered a convicting message on race relations. Dr. Bill Leonard, Director of Ministerial Care with the Church of God (Cleveland, TN), offered stirring statistics as well as practical insight. We also were blessed to hear from our State Administrative Bishop, Thomas Gillum, who offered some concluding remarks and led us in communion. It was definitely a soul stirring day.
Monthly Archives: June 2015
Today’s Spiritual Battle (Emotions)
Emotions are where today’s spiritual battles are being faught. Emotional pain is as big an issue with the current 20-30 something crowd as was drugs for the baby boomers.
-Pg. 49, Quitting Church, Julia Duin (2009)
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Being Content No Matter What: Sunday’s Sermon Summary from Philippians 4:10-13
Sunday, May 31, 2015 Sermon Summary
Being Content No Matter What – Philippians 4:10-13
Pastor George Tallmage
North Aiken Church of God
When you hear the word of God, when you receive the Word of God, when God speaks to us through his word, he doesn’t want us to keep it to ourselves. He allows us to grow in order that we may be a conduit to help someone else grow.
The phrase, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength is inappropriately applied when we say it in order to further praise ourselves for our own accomplishments. The depths of Paul’s words are much deeper. God’s desire (for us as believers) is to learn to walk (in spite of the chaos, problems, and issues in our life) with complete contentment in Jesus Christ. Discontentment with the outcome of life has caused many people to make drastic life changing decisions. When the going gets tough most often we look for a way of escape. Christ has not called us to escape he has called us to draw closer to him.
Contentment is more than just looking for the positive in the bad. Sometimes life is just too bad to find any good. It’s when life is too bad to find any good that we can rest in the knowledge that God is good. Contentment in Christ doesn’t mean we are dismissed from life’s problems. But, in the middle of life’s problems we have a comfort and hope in Christ. Contentment is resting in the truth that we have a good God in spite of the bad things going on in our life. In the middle of my problems it’s not about me finding the positive in the bad, it’s about me finding a good God in spite of what I’m facing.
Contentment isn’t something we simply walk into or that is passed on to us. Contentment is a learned trait. We “learn” to be content. Paul would say, “no matter what situation you find yourself in learn to be content. Contentment is developing a godly outlook not necessarily a positive outlook. It’s not about what I can do; it’s about what Christ can give you the power to overcome.
Further, contentment is more than just living; its living the life God has planned for us in Christ. We cannot find lasting contentment in temporal things. Temporal things produce temporary contentment. Eternal things produce eternal contentment.
In Conclusion, being content in this life; starts by making the right life changing decision, a life changing decision with eternal impact. It’s the decision to follow Christ. We can only live the life God has planned for us in Christ. We can only learn true contentment by following Christ.
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Life Of Pursuit 