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One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 9/24/2003 5:59 AM (GMT -6)

Okay, people! I'm requesting some more prayer, y'all. As the Lord leads, please mentioning me in your times with God.

Next weekend, I'm going to be preaching again at Woodland Hills. Same thang in effect, y'all. It's only by the power of the Spirit that things will pop off the way God feels they should. I want to make myself as "transparent" as possible to let God work in and through me. I know that a significant reason why last time was such a blessing was because of y'all's prayers. So, I humbly request your prayers to the Holy One again!

Again, I'm praying that this will be a word that encourages, challenges, and speaks to us ALL...such that none of us will be the same afterward.

Thanks in advances, brothers and sisters.

Your brother and servant,
Dwayne E. Polk II

di
Registered Member

Date Joined Nov 2002
Total Posts : 49

Posted 10/5/2003 5:18 AM (GMT -6)

Thangs totally popped Meph! Awesome message (Saturday night)! God was definately working in and through and I was and am personally challenged by the word of truth He brought to us. It hit hard. Thank you brother!

Love, di

One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 10/5/2003 1:10 PM (GMT -6)

Hey, peeps.

I just wanted to send a shout out to all the people that kept this weekend in prayer. God showed up and showed out! I truly believe that God spoke to us all this weekend in a life changing way and I’m grateful to God’s Spirit for using me in such a capacity. I know that it would have not been possible without so many of your prayers and thoughts, so thank you. To God be all the glory and honor. True dat. Big Smile

Your brother and servant,
Dwayne

PS: Di, thanks for the kudos. It means a lot. Be blessed!

"I've been converted three times. The first was to traditional Christianity; the second to honesty and the third was to the Love of God and man (humanity) The third was the real conversion. The first two were preliminary."

--Nels Ferre, a theologian speaking of his spiritual journey with the Triune God

rossfadeinout
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 428

Posted 10/5/2003 4:49 PM (GMT -6)

Meph,

Your message better be on Woodland Hill's website soon! I was certainly blessed by your last message and I'm sure that God used this message also!

Ross

"Let us remember how common the folly is of going from one faulty extreme into the opposite." -Thomas Reid

GregBoyd
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818

Posted 10/6/2003 1:15 PM (GMT -6)

THE DUDE ROCKED!

"The responsibility is with the chooser -- God is blameless." Plato, Republic, 10.

Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 10/7/2003 5:09 AM (GMT -6)

Darn it all! I was sick this weekend, so I missed your preaching again. Satan sure must not want me to hear your message! You MUST be a good preacher! Cool

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 10/7/2003 8:03 AM (GMT -6)

Yo. I was reading this...and I thought it was pretty interesting, in that it pretty much goes along with my message this past weekend. Check it out.

From the Q&A section of the Orthodox Church of America...

quote:

Q: If this is so, how do you understand life in this world right now? What is it that men should do?

A: The purpose of life right now is for men to become saints; to begin to share, right here and now, in the divine life of God; to become "holy as God is holy."

With this as the goal, however, men must know that this effort is total. It is both personal and social. It is both inward and outward. It works within the soul of man as well as within the life of the world. And men must know that this effort, as a total one, ultimately requires a total self-sacrifice. It inevitably brings pain and suffering and perhaps even physical death. This is what "bearing the cross" means, and why it is at the heart of the Christian ethic.

The pattern here is Jesus Himself. There is no rule of Christian morality except the life of the Lord. The rule therefore is total love, the greatest expression of which is the laying down of one's life for the other in obedience to the truth and love of God. The rule therefore is also nothing other than the cross, which cannot be "taken up" except by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Christian view of what man should do is, at bottom, the fundamental morality for all men. Every ethic must be the expression of what is true and good. All men must live this way. And inevitably, when they do, whether they are consciously Christian or not, their actual goodness and righteousness leads them to some sacrificial suffering on behalf of others. In this world where evil abounds, the Cross is certainly the rule.

For us to say that Christian discipleship in the midst of a Diabolical, Matrix-like world system doesn't entail suffering is for us to deceive ourselves in the most insidious of ways.

Evil

DLW
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 2457

Posted 10/7/2003 8:33 AM (GMT -6)

Yeah, but in what ways should we suffer?

the concrete specifics of this are not clear...
dlw

Niebuhr thought that sustained moral energy in politics depended on religion's power to mobilize reason along with self-transcending love. The prophetic tradition, meanwhile, gave Jews and Christians some protection against the temptation to identify their social causes with God's will. Lincoln's second inaugural address expressed the prophetic insight, "The almighty has His own purposes."

Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 10/7/2003 8:40 AM (GMT -6)

quote:
Originally posted by MephEternal

Yo. I was reading this...and I thought it was pretty interesting, in that it pretty much goes along with my message this past weekend. Check it out.

From the Q&A section of the Orthodox Church of America...
quote:

Q: If this is so, how do you understand life in this world right now? What is it that men should do?

A: The purpose of life right now is for men to become saints; to begin to share, right here and now, in the divine life of God; to become "holy as God is holy."

With this as the goal, however, men must know that this effort is total. It is both personal and social. It is both inward and outward. It works within the soul of man as well as within the life of the world. And men must know that this effort, as a total one, ultimately requires a total self-sacrifice. It inevitably brings pain and suffering and perhaps even physical death. This is what "bearing the cross" means, and why it is at the heart of the Christian ethic.

The pattern here is Jesus Himself. There is no rule of Christian morality except the life of the Lord. The rule therefore is total love, the greatest expression of which is the laying down of one's life for the other in obedience to the truth and love of God. The rule therefore is also nothing other than the cross, which cannot be "taken up" except by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Christian view of what man should do is, at bottom, the fundamental morality for all men. Every ethic must be the expression of what is true and good. All men must live this way. And inevitably, when they do, whether they are consciously Christian or not, their actual goodness and righteousness leads them to some sacrificial suffering on behalf of others. In this world where evil abounds, the Cross is certainly the rule.

For us to say that Christian discipleship in the midst of a Diabolical, Matrix-like world system doesn't entail suffering is for us to deceive ourselves in the most insidious of ways.

Hmmmm...not the happiest message is it? Sad

Maybe being sick at home to miss this wasn't so bad after all! Wink

Just kidding! (Although I did do a little barfing, which is never fun.)

The message that loving others like Christ does requires sacrifice is a good thing to be reminded of in our wealth-obsessed, self-absorbed, consumeristic culture. It's also encouraging as a lot of Christians who do suffer for their faith might not understand why they're suffering. Plus, they don't need their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to add to that suffering by preaching a prosperity Gospel at them.

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 10/7/2003 8:54 AM (GMT -6)

Tell y'all what.

The sermon should be on the website either today or tomorrow. Check it out...and then we can discuss it online possibly. Whatcha think? Wink

rossfadeinout
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 428

Posted 10/7/2003 9:10 AM (GMT -6)

I'm looking for it on the website and then I'd love to discuss the message. Smile

Ross

"Let us remember how common the folly is of going from one faulty extreme into the opposite." -Thomas Reid

Modes of Thought
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 817

Posted 10/7/2003 10:29 AM (GMT -6)

In my mind, the message was perfect for us at this time. God used Meph to remind us of what God has been saying and then add the emphasis. The "mood" and tone of the message matched the content and their were no self-endearing deviations to distract. It was one of the best sermons I can remember. Bar NONE.

Well worth a serious discussion.

"I don't feel a real urgent burden to get all the details of my ethics worked out until I've got the profundity of my love worked out in a Christ-like way." --doc

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 10/8/2003 1:22 AM (GMT -6)

Is a sermon for a time and a place?

Could it be that MephEternal's message is only relevant to the culture he presently exists within?

What is pop, anyway?

peace, don

One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 10/8/2003 3:02 PM (GMT -6)

Ok. The sermon is up. Eeek.

Check it out. It's at the bottom

"Deciding to Follow Jesus"

http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_161.htm

rossfadeinout
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 428

Posted 10/10/2003 4:46 AM (GMT -6)

EVERYONE WHO WASN'T THERE NEEDS TO DOWNLOAD MEPH'S MESAGE!!!!

Meph,
I downloaded the sermon and listened to it last night. I just wanna echo what Modes said, the message was exactly what we need as the church, and I also appreciated your honesty in saying that you were preaching to yourself just as much as to the congregation. It's too bad that I'm here in Nashville, I would love to be a part of what God is doing at Woodland Hills. But I'm very thankful that I can here the messages on the website.

If I get a chance thi weekend I have a couple of points that I would like to discuss about the topic of the message.

Thanks Meph for letting God use you in a big way...

Ross

"Let us remember how common the folly is of going from one faulty extreme into the opposite." -Thomas Reid

Tigress
Registered Member

Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1252

Posted 10/10/2003 8:10 AM (GMT -6)

Well, I can't download the sermon but I did read the Study Guide and I spoke with my friends who heard the sermon, since I couldn't be there because I was sick. One of my friends had brought a non-Christian friend to church this weekend, and she was like, "Why would I want to become a Christian if I have to do all that?" after she heard the sermon. Although, I'm not sure if she actually said that, or if that's what my friend was afraid she was thinking. Either way, though, it's a tough call. I mean we don't want to scare people away from accepting Christ by preaching to them that they have to sacrifice everything for Him. But Jesus actually preached that way so I guess we probably should, also.

Tigress

"Name a shrub after me. Preferably one that's prickly and difficult to eradicate."

-Captain Jack Aubrey
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

Modes of Thought
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 817

Posted 10/11/2003 7:56 AM (GMT -6)

Better a person count the cost right away and understand that Christ calls imitators not admirers. Too often people get taked into faith or the deceive themselves into thinking you can be a Christian and not be radically transformed. I prefer being clear about what the life of faith entails, like Meph did, and then let the chips fall where they may. There WERE people who came to faith under this message and THOSE people will have a good survival rate in my mind. They know what this decision entails. This is why Jesus' invitations were less than inviting. You had to KNOW that you NEEDED Jesus to live to come under those circumstances (i.e. eat my flesh and drink my blood or you will have no part of me, follow me and let the dead bury the dead...stuff like that).

"I don't feel a real urgent burden to get all the details of my ethics worked out until I've got the profundity of my love worked out in a Christ-like way." --doc

pig pen
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2003
Total Posts : 13

Posted 10/22/2003 5:46 PM (GMT -6)

An out standing sermon meph the wife and I have heard you preach on two occasions and we loved them both keep up the good work and may the lord shine his blessings on you. King

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