In Sunday's sermon I spoke about the church (and its members) being the temple of the Holy Spirit, a place where God himself dwells, and that we as that temple can be a place where others meet God. Yet, to accurately 're-present' Father, Son and Holy Spirit to another person, we must be in an intimate relationship with that God by the Spirit who lives in us. How?
Intimacy with another human being necessarily involves
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Jesus Is our OEM
Long ago, in a land far, far away, I owned a car that was having some mechanical issues, so I took it to the garage down the block. They replaced some parts, and the problem got worse. I took it back and asked what had gone wrong, and they finally admitted using after-market parts instead of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer, for those who don't deal with it much). The mechanics replaced the after-market parts with the OEM versions, and suddenly the problem went away!
Without listing all the scriptures, (and knowing all analogies fail eventually) we could say that the gift of our renewed humanity from Jesus, is that he is the OEM for our humanity. He takes our shoddy after-market parts -- which got us in trouble in the first place, and still don't work right -- and provides us the factory original, shiny and new. He even 'takes it out of the box' for us and installs new thinking in our heads by the Holy Spirit. You could say the "new parts" still have the factory lubrication (the oil of the Holy Spirit) that helps them run smoothly.
Having trouble in life? Poor thinking leading to poor actions that end up hurting yourself and others? Let the Master Mechanic take the after-market parts out, put in the OEM, and everything starts to run more smoothly. Slow down, 'open the hood' of your mind and emotions, and surrender to his loving ministry in your life. You'll not regret it!
Without listing all the scriptures, (and knowing all analogies fail eventually) we could say that the gift of our renewed humanity from Jesus, is that he is the OEM for our humanity. He takes our shoddy after-market parts -- which got us in trouble in the first place, and still don't work right -- and provides us the factory original, shiny and new. He even 'takes it out of the box' for us and installs new thinking in our heads by the Holy Spirit. You could say the "new parts" still have the factory lubrication (the oil of the Holy Spirit) that helps them run smoothly.
Having trouble in life? Poor thinking leading to poor actions that end up hurting yourself and others? Let the Master Mechanic take the after-market parts out, put in the OEM, and everything starts to run more smoothly. Slow down, 'open the hood' of your mind and emotions, and surrender to his loving ministry in your life. You'll not regret it!
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