Experience and Reason

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Welcome back towards life on Bernie Dick and Cheryl gone.

Sadly, this is our final episode of the pathways with our friend Mike Harris consulted if you missed any of these episodes, which launched on October 17. Go ahead and visit Salvation Army sound cast.org or subscribe on your favorite podcast or to get caught up in this final study.

Mike discusses again. One of the most crucial elements of our growth in understanding our faith experience and reason.

This goes back to evangelism to.

There's a difference between having the knowledge of God and having an experience with them.

I I like to think of the word of God as the bread of life, and I like bread. Cheryl the listeners.

This is not a visual medium, so they don't know but if you saw me you'd realized that Samantha likes bread and if the Bible is the bread of life. You know you just want to put a little peanut butter on it and consume it. I love that that's that's the protein that we could live on only and will only digest them only when we are partaking of it you know it's not just the knowledge that we have we become practitioners of our faith, not just in education are knowledge based faith that really is living in now and experience and I think while you're doing that people will see God in you.

It's the old St. Francis of Assisi, or was it Mother Teresa. One of them said preach the gospel use words when necessary. But that's just a cool thing you know we can just be God wants us to be and live live out that experience like you say from what we know of the word of God are pathways really really hope that you've enjoyed this series in a special shout out to sound cast media editor Stephen Nolan for helping develop the series with Mike. Believe it or not, next week will be launching our Christmas series and learn more about that visit Salvation Army sound cast loses major Mike Harris again with the final installation of assertions can pathways anyways what I want to do today.

As we look at the importance of full life is to always go back on the first session and perhaps recount many of the things we talked about over these last few part costs one.

I talked about the Wesleyan quadrilateral. These four sources of theological conclusions. Scripture, which is the ultimate will forward to the authority beyond which we should never go tradition is a belief system as a church or denomination that shapes our theology. There is experiential Testament you experience. We got quite frankly… Also shapes your theology and reason. Your ability to think your ability to reason is part of your theology on what we discovered is that most Christians who go to Bible-based churches are biblically illiterate, so we many ways our ability to to exercise these elements of us feel theology is rather difficult because of our incapacity to know whether Barry is all for Scripture. People don't know what to believe that full perhaps they don't believe it. The problem is, it appears that less and less people having a life changing experience with the Holy Spirit.

The just not enough Testament is anymore so therefore ability to reason. That is to think theologically is drastically handicapped because of our limited knowledge of God. Therefore, we are primed to full for the Devils Lilo of creating a personal theology based on the notion of what God looks like.

Simply put, was exposed to the temptations of this world as Adam and Eve were second Corinthians chapter 11 Paul writes I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy I promised you to one husband to Christ, so that I might present.

She was show as a virgin to him.

But I'm afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the Sphinx coming minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ, for someone comes to you and preaches Jesus over the Jesus we preached working receive a different spirit from the spirit you received were different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. Simply put, friends, you must be sure who to who Jesus is.

You must be certain of the power of the Holy Spirit and you must be sure of the gospel because if you will not throw plenty of people who teach it to you that way and simply put, we were all born sinners totally depraved and justly exposed to the wrath of God for all sinners.

That is a discontent about life and who we all just natural. If we sin against God.

We always going to feel ill at ease and no amount of human affirmation or justification will take away that sense of failure. What we need. Therefore is at some point in our lives for somebody to tell us the hard truth no matter how hard back in 1997, I came to Atlanta for the Salvation Army's commissioning and ordination of new Salvation Army offices will ministers in the guest for that weekend was then retired Gen. Eva Boros enjoying her address in one of those meetings.

Eva Boros shared a very interesting story is a story of a young lady and this young lady had not been raised in a Christian church and this is a story he goes back and think back to England had never been raised in a Christian church knew nothing of Christ, the good life imputed to the close family. The family loved her.

She was somewhat sheltered.

However, when she went away to University Salish was exposed to all of these are the temptations it's almost like things were laid out like a smorgasbord for and yes, she endorsed us open pretty much all of them before you knew it she drew dropped out of school when I was sleeping around regularly doing drugs regularly partying, drinking the whole kit and caboodle enough to buy the view but you have parents lost touch with the days really before cell phones were prevalent. So she just kind of wandered off and they I never heard from her for quite a while as she continued to live this life of valuable debauchery. Until one morning, one morning she woke up she looks in the bed next to her and there was a man that she didn't even like somehow she got her self to this point of making decisions or not making decisions if you will because a life become such a mess because of the drugs because of the alcohol she felt an enormous sense of remorse that she had to the self after a brief moment of thinking that maybe I should just end my life.

She realized well maybe I should just go home so she packed her bags and went home and could you imagine the delight. Her parents had when she walked back into their home as they hugged her as she walked through the door. She immediately went upstairs to her room when she slept for quite a long time and then when she was ready. She came this destitute to have parents, she said, life makes horrible mistakes of the sum of things. Her parents were caring and loving and they sell we we love you we just happy to have you home.

She said, running to me to reconcile this, I want to go to church with her parents as a set of never been church going folk with her was so happy to have the door to home.

They were willing to try whatever. So the first Sunday the first of the next Sunday they go to church as a sitting in the congregation. They hear a preacher talking about blessings and how God will bless you, if you give money to the church she got home. The principal was that we she said no, that wasn't what I needed to hear how they said maybe churches and that she's another. I do try to the church. I think church is it just not that one.

The next Sunday. She goes to church and from the pulpit.

She heard some preaching politics.

It was all about politics again. They got home. The parents of the show churches, the option she said I really do believe it is just not that one the third Sunday she went to the Salvation Army and then she heard the message with the Salvation Army offices said to the congregation. You have sinned, you have broken God slow. You deserve God's wrath, but Jesus came to save you. Jesus came to love you. Jesus came to forgive you and to redeem you. That changed her life forever.

She didn't need someone coming alongside a saying it's okay you can do what you want within the house so she knew that was something very, very wrong. What she needed was someone to say yes yes you've done something wrong, but Christ is the onset, Christ will forgive you and now that young lady testimony in which the force was held captive by Christ, what your testimony. Have you ever felt convicted by your sins. Have you ever asked Jesus for forgiveness. Have you ever truly experience the transforming grace of Jesus Christ.

If you answer is no then believe this to be true and allow Christ to bestow his grace upon you if you refuses grace and forgiveness, which is your prerogative, then recognize that your belief system has no real foundation annual force to search out and settle upon a different gospel which preaches a different Christ and the different spirit of your ability to think your ability to reason is a gift of precious gift born out of God's love for you, but she's to its fullest. When you align it to God himself – the design for your faults. That's the design for reason alignment for Christ for the sake of the world. We pray with you one more time with the finish of the series. Gracious Lord, I should thank you for the privilege which is been mined to to be able to share of the force you placed upon my heart. My absolute notice pray heavenly father as we present these part costs is that the very least, people start to think, to think about their own experience about their own testimony, but more more than that, I pray that invokes change first in the individual and the next load in the world in which they live. The neighbors the friends load all of us can affect people. All of us can persuade people to follow you to your eternity to heavenly father.

Use these words using part costs and bless all who listen in or beyond a pray in Jesus name, the Salvation Army's mission doing the most good means helping people with material and spiritual needs to become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army visit Salvation Army USA.org to offer your support and love to hear from you. Email us radio@uss.salvationarmy.org or call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at PO Box 29972, Atlanta, GA 30359 tell us how we can help share prayer requests or share your testimony. Would love to use your story on the air. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes.

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