Members Come And Members Go....

[The Glory Land]

This does happen here, and is happening in many churches. It is very important that we please God, and not man. Man will always let you down or fall short to the glory of God. I am not looking for a pat on the back, neither should you. Have a nice day. once your are gone, there will always be a new one, too replace you and me.

[John81]

Yes, but we should always look at who is leaving and why (whether here, our church, elsewhere).

 

Are we losing good folks for preventable reasons?

 

Is it only the hyper-sensitive leaving, or liberal or secular Christians?

 

Are the reasons folks leave cause for concern?

 

Who replaces those who leave? Solid Christians, secular Christians, cultists, pet peeve Christians?

 

What are we doing right and what are we doing wrong? How can we keep the good members? How can we help or weed out the bad?

[Covenanter]

I'm still here  

[Arbo]

I am here as well, though some who would prefer IFBs only cringe at the idea.

[Genevanpreacher]

I'm a stickn round 2!

[OLD fashioned preacher]

Even when I'm here --- I'm not all there

[Genevanpreacher]

Even when I'm here --- I'm not all there

 (me too!)

[The Glory Land]

(me too!)

I don't get it.

[candlelight]

I don't get it.

 

GP was just responding to OFP's joke about not being all there, TGL.

[heartstrings]

Ezekiel 34:

3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

 

Feed them, take up time with them, and sheep will become your "buddy". All they want is food toi begin with, after that comes trust, implicit trust. What an awesome thing. What a privilege. What a grave responsibility.

But notice something in the background of this video. The sheep in the background are like the some of the back pew sitters. They are just as hungry as the ones at my feet, but they're very skittish and don't trust me. If I had the time to spend with them, many more of them, prOBably all, would be right there trying to get me to hand feed them because the one seen here climbing up my chest was once just as wild as they are. Thank God that He isn't selfish and isn't constrained by time and other interests.

[heartstrings]

Ezekiel 34:17

 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.

18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

19 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.

21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;

 

When I feed my sheep at the trough, some of them will climb up in the trough with dirty feet and manure and filth from the pasture which gets jammed between their cloven hooves which will fall off in the trough. When this happens, healthy, well fed sheep will leave some of the feed behind. But sheep which are hungrier will eat some of it. This material is usually laced with the eggs oif parasites which become ingested by the sheep and cause them to lose weight, become sick and some, like the common barberpole worm can overcome a sheep's digestive tract and can even kill it fairly quickly. How many times do we, walk through this filthy world, contaminate our feet, fail to "wash" each other's "feet" and by all of that contaminate the testimony of the Word for other sheep? And how many times do we carelessly push other sheep away from the "Trough" because we are too preoccupied with being fed ourselves? Some of the ones, many of the ones who stray and leave for parts unknown, are really sick, hungry, weaker sheep.

[woolysheep]

Glad to see you back. Missed your comments that prevoke others thoughts.

 

Hope you are doing well. 

 

 

PS I've been here too even when I haven't been  

 

 

anon.

[The Glory Land]

Glad to see you back. Missed your comments that prevoke others thoughts.

 

Hope you are doing well. 

 

 

PS I've been here too even when I haven't been  

 

 

anon.

 

 

 

Is too provoke good or bad?

[OLD fashioned preacher]

It can be either: we are NOT to provoke our children to wrath (Eph 6:4), yet we ARE to provoke unto good works (Heb 10:24).

[Gorship]

I like this place. everyone is so corky its fun.