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Abiding In The Doctrine Of Christ (2 John 9)

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Whole Person Knowledge

Posted on April 28, 2019 Written by PreacherNorm Leave a Comment

Recently, a Bible Q-n-A viewer posted a comment regarding the difference between the Pentecostal Church and “the Churches of Christ.” The main difference, according to the viewer, is that the Pentecostals view everything through the lens of emotionalism and the “the Churches of Christ” view everything strictly by reason and logic. That’s
not a complement! After reading the comment, it was clear to me that this viewer had, at best, an incomplete view of how we study and apply Scripture. Based on my exchanges with this viewer I am more inclined to believe that the comment was purposeful and biased critique of the church. Following is the response I posted to their comment.

“I believe you have incorrectly portrayed the view of ‘the churches of Christ’ in your post. We do not appeal to reason alone to the exclusion of anything else. We use all the
human faculties to “rightly divide the word of truth.” We also correctly recognize the place of these faculties. Reason/logic – experience – emotion.

Just as Christ is Head of the church (Eph. 1:22, 23), reason is the head of understanding. While a true – deep – understanding of God’s word includes experiential knowledge, that still must begin with reason and logic (2 Tim. 2:15). To truly know Christ in our lives we must experience Christ in our lives (cf. Matt. 11:29). We do that by
living out His word properly understood and applied (1 Jn. 2:3-6).

When we use reason and logic to understand the text and apply (experience) it in our lives it produces the correct emotional response, which again deepens our complete knowledge of Christ (Acts 2:37, 41; 8:39; 16:34; et al). That complete knowledge of Christ involves the complete human faculty – not anything alone.

Jesus said that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart (intellect, including emotion), soul (life), and mind (the psychological faculty of understanding, reasoning, thinking, and deciding— ‘mind.’ – Louw & Nida). The problem we have with denominationalism in general – more clearly expressed in the charismatic/Pentecostal denominations – is the tendency to discredit the clear meaning of the text because they put emotion and/or experience before reason.

There is a proper order to everything, including a full, rich, and deep understanding of about any information, especially biblical information. Reason comes first then the
emotional response to knowing the truth and a deepening understanding – appreciation – of the truth by experiencing it in practice (reason, emotion, experience).”

 

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Filed Under: Norm's Notes, Norm's Notes Video Tagged With: Christian Living, Faithfulness, Knowledge, Personal Growth, Religion, Sermons

Recommended Reading: Leadership Promises

Posted on January 10, 2017 Written by PreacherNorm Leave a Comment

“Leadership Promises for Every Day: A Daily Devotional” by John C. Maxwell is a must have for anyone who believes that personal growth and leadership development is an intentional activity. That is John’s 1st Law, of the “15 Laws of Personal Growth,” i.e. “The Law of Intentionality.” Personal growth, and leadership development, “doesn’t happen by accident.” And, John C. Maxwell is one of the top leadership coaches writing today.

“Leadership Promises” is a collection of short snippets from Maxwell’s large library of leadership and personal growth books arranged into a daily devotional. Each month begins with a leadership quote that provides a great point of focus for that month. Every day begins with a short Scripture reference, from the New King James unless otherwise noted, and a connected leadership principle. If the day’s leadership principle is a quote from another Maxwell book, the reference is given. If there is no reference given then the devotional is unique to “Leadership Promises,” though the majority of them are quotes.

Each day’s reading contains a wealth of leadership advice in a very concise format. All of them are what I would consider gold quality readings in leadership principles, so picking out some favorites isn’t easy. I’ll provide a few samples that really stuck with me.

Who you are precedes what you do… Leadership begins with the heart.

“Being a leader is more than just wanting to lead. Leaders have empathy for others and a keen ability to find the best in people … not the worst … by truly caring for others.” Henry Gruland as quoted by John C. Maxwell

Show me a leader without vision, and I’ll show you someone who isn’t going anywhere.

Honestly, if I was going to give my “favorite” quotes from “Leadership Promises” I would have to quote the entire book. And, I would get in trouble for doing that ;). I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Every elder, preacher, deacon and anyone who wants to be a better leader – and we can always be better – should have this book.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: Book Reviews, Leadership, Personal Growth, Productivity

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