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Pastor Mark’s sermon for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost:
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Listen to > Upon this Rock has He built His Church
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Thank you, Pastor Mark.
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Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon, Upon this Rock has He built His Church |
The Old Adam Lives! 
He thinks Peter got it? Isn’t Peter a reflection of all of us of how we are transformed into the likeness of Christ by saying yes each and every day? Saying yes is work and we must work to say yes.
When Jesus tells Peter, “Blessed are you Simon Peter, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.”…
that seems to say that it is NOT our work…but the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the so often faithless and wavering.
So are saying Peter was faithless and the Holy Spirit lives in faithless people?
It was your yes to begin with wasn’t it? Did the Holy Spirit make you say yes? God’s grace is a one time event?
When you say we have to do nothing in our faith do you also believe we do not have to pray, or worship God, obey His commandments or be thankful? God’s grace doesn’t come through this work?
Seems very contrary to what scripture says what we must do. From a simplistic point of view it all sounds great, kind of like being on autopilot, but that is not reality nor what was taught.
“In our faithlessness, He is faithful.”
Hmmm…
He gathers us for worship. He leads us to repentance. He calls us. He chooses us. He intercedes for us in our prayers. He completes the good work in us that He started.
If you prefer to call attention to yourself and what you are doing, even in some small measure, that is your business.
We prefer to give Him all glory and honor. We prefer that He increase. And that we decrease.
Thanks, Joseph.
Of course He is always faithful when you said Peter was faithless I took that as having no faith. Of course he had faith but not the fullness of faith. I don’t call attention to myself, I must die to self. I do this by saying yes to Him in all matters and I transform my mind by letting Him in. This is the interior life that we must work to say yes to and let Him transform us.
God can’t do anything in us if we are not willing to. It’s still our yes. It’s not one yes its a yes each of every day til we die.
Appreciate your time in this discussion.
Joseph,
You have a much smaller god than the God that I have.
My God does not come begging at the door for us to “please…please make a decision for me.”
Our God acts for sinners before they even know what is going on. Like Saul on the road to Dasmascus. God just knocked him off his horse and said (basically), “You’re mine. End of discussion.”
God saves us in spite of our “help”…not because of it.
Thank you, friend.
So are your saying believers are merely puppets on a string? Once we say yes we are controlled the rest of our lives? Sounds like slavery to me and not what I have come to learn.
There are no strings on me. Are there any on you?
What is this “say yes” thing you keep mentioning?
We hear, and come to faith…by God’s grace. “Faith is a gift of God.”
“We are NOT born of the will of man…” (Gospel of John)