Comments on: The Sermon on the Mount, Day 15 http://ikoncommunity.com/exercises/the-sermon-on-the-mount-day-15 A new Christ community in San Diego Sun, 25 Apr 2010 01:15:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jason Coker http://ikoncommunity.com/exercises/the-sermon-on-the-mount-day-15/comment-page-1#comment-48 Jason Coker Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:31:49 +0000 http://ikoncommunity.com/?p=173#comment-48 Cindy - Excellent insights and great story, thanks for sharing! It's so vital for us to keep in view that fact that Christ isn't merely trying to rehabilitate us into people who are more morally stringent. The intense problem of humanity can only be addressed by creating a brand new creation, a new humanity on earth, and that can only be accomplished from the inside-out, not from the outside-in. Your story is a great example of how a genuine internal transformation in you came to infect and affect, through God's work, the same kind of transformation in her. Nice! Cindy – Excellent insights and great story, thanks for sharing!

It’s so vital for us to keep in view that fact that Christ isn’t merely trying to rehabilitate us into people who are more morally stringent. The intense problem of humanity can only be addressed by creating a brand new creation, a new humanity on earth, and that can only be accomplished from the inside-out, not from the outside-in. Your story is a great example of how a genuine internal transformation in you came to infect and affect, through God’s work, the same kind of transformation in her. Nice!

]]> By: Cindy http://ikoncommunity.com/exercises/the-sermon-on-the-mount-day-15/comment-page-1#comment-47 Cindy Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:51:00 +0000 http://ikoncommunity.com/?p=173#comment-47 Yes, Jesus and Paul are in cahoots. I noticed in 2 Cor. 5 that Paul is telling the people to not look at the surface of what he is doing, what is seen, but for them to look at the ministry of reconciliation he is bringing to the hearts of the people(which of course is what Jesus did) "We know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God and I hope it is also plain to your conscience." 5:11,12 Paul is telling those wanting to minister that they need to focus on what is in the heart and not on what is seen. Which is definitely what the beatitudes are getting at. From a worldly eye(what is seen) the people mentioned appear to be a waste of time but when looking at the heart(Jesus' way) there is so much beauty, amazing potential, the image of God. 16- "from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view." And I love the commission in 18- "All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us ministry of reconciliation." 2 Cor. 5:18 Once I was driving with a friend and I started telling her about something I had done in my past, and how I had been able to be reconciled to God and to my husband. It was something I had hardly ever shared but somehow my lips started moving and soon I was well into sharing. She was actively listening and asking questions. When I got home I told my husband I don't know why but I just shared my struggles with my friend. fast forward. A year later my friend confessed what had been going on in her life for more than a year. I found out that at the time I shared my story she was at the exact cross roads I had shared in my past experience I'd shared with her. God knew she needed to hear that story, I didn't have a clue why but I had to share it with her -God knew. I suppose you could say that I helped someone just by being with God, I know that God was using me, while I was unaware, to give this friend an opportunity to get out earlier. She didn't choose to, but God was pursuing her through my telling and I had no idea until a year later. I like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and learned a few things. Blessings, Cindy Yes, Jesus and Paul are in cahoots. I noticed in 2 Cor. 5 that Paul is telling the people to not look at the surface of what he is doing, what is seen, but for them to look at the ministry of reconciliation he is bringing to the hearts of the people(which of course is what Jesus did) “We know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.” 5:11,12 Paul is telling those wanting to minister that they need to focus on what is in the heart and not on what is seen. Which is definitely what the beatitudes are getting at. From a worldly eye(what is seen) the people mentioned appear to be a waste of time but when looking at the heart(Jesus’ way) there is so much beauty, amazing potential, the image of God. 16- “from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.” And I love the commission in 18- “All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. 5:18

Once I was driving with a friend and I started telling her about something I had done in my past, and how I had been able to be reconciled to God and to my husband. It was something I had hardly ever shared but somehow my lips started moving and soon I was well into sharing. She was actively listening and asking questions. When I got home I told my husband I don’t know why but I just shared my struggles with my friend. fast forward. A year later my friend confessed what had been going on in her life for more than a year. I found out that at the time I shared my story she was at the exact cross roads I had shared in my past experience I’d shared with her. God knew she needed to hear that story, I didn’t have a clue why but I had to share it with her -God knew. I suppose you could say that I helped someone just by being with God, I know that God was using me, while I was unaware, to give this friend an opportunity to get out earlier. She didn’t choose to, but God was pursuing her through my telling and I had no idea until a year later.

I like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and learned a few things.
Blessings,
Cindy

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