To All My Friends

I am sure I have brought disappointment to you at some point during our acquaintance. I reach this conclusion on the basis the lack of personal contact from some of you for a long extended period. You may have placed me on a high pedestal and I failed to live up to your expectations. Sometimes the perch is extremely difficult and often precarious.

 I will admit my human frailties often interfere with good decisions. I offer my apology and request forgiveness. I will admit that events in my life have brought me to a fresh new perspective on what Christianity is to be. My shortfall was adhering to traditions. This was a comfortable but not necessarily a proper or essential position to the call God placed upon my life.  

My foundational faith is not cancelled or forgotten.  I want to build upon the past if it is a good base. All dross must be removed from my thinking and activity. Maturity should come to all of us as a process, a process of being tried like gold. This is an continuing need, because impurities filter into our lives at all stages. Learning never ends.

If I used Scripture to enforce or influence you to believe it my way, I offer sincere apology.  I appreciate exuberant worship as much as anybody, however, it must be done in decency and order to avoid the creating a stumbling block. I want balance in my life with respect to living godly.

Firework displays are things of beauty empowered by a force. I don’t know the details of how it is done nor could I replicate the splendor. Our spiritual fireworks must illustrate His glory and draw the observer in, not push them away. This doesn’t imply the “shout” or “amen” cannot be expressed, but let it be done in order and relevancy to the occasion. God wants us to be in tune to effectuate His concepts, not our own. When we transform our thinking and renew our minds we can fulfill this service.

Freedom from the traditions of men is actually experiencing God’s awesome grace. Hell-fire and brimstone sermons without the balance of grace and the beauty of salvation only frighten one to disregard the message. The true seeker will find God’s mercy and grace as so often illustrated in the Bible. The unnecessary fierce vociferous declarations harm the reception of the message. The excitability of the hearers will not endure the true test that follows in the days ahead.

Ministry is more than acquiring a pulpit to proclaim in, it is more than being elected to service in a spiritual office. It is serving the needs of others without worry of title or attainment of prestige. We are not a congress to legislate; we are ministers to announce good news. Nor are we judges to castigate the sinner, instead we are attorneys to advocate mercy.