Jim Wright is a church sower, public but unassuming, thinker, mentor, teacher, local church elder, motivated by redemption, foe of tyrants, friend of the dispossessed, retired international attorney, entrepreneur, former private pilot, and so-so bass fisherman.
Marianne is a retired public school teacher, private but strong, heart, skilled counselor, knows deep intimacy with God, a comfort to others in the Lord, wise, motivated by mercy but has strong resolve, gardener, and a bridge to healing for many.
Together, we have been part of a community of simple, participatory fellowships for many years in our own home county - some of which we helped start.
Our blogs and devotionals spring from firm roots in those local fellowships.
Crossroad Junction 
A good question that I believe has many layers within the answer. One facet (and I do believe there are many) is that by and large those over time who have controlled both the substance and the direction of the body of Christ have preferred titles, offices, and corporations to the gifts of the Spirit as part of an overall ideology that is skeptical of anything supernatural that is outside their control. And, quite frankly, the average believer in the pew has preferred this as well.
Early in our history, we traded off our spiritual birthright for a humanistic mess of pottage and although our Lord has always kept a remnant of His desired reality alive, the majority of what constitutes “church” has gone a different direction. We prefer reason, education, talent, and innovation to supernatural engiftment and intervention. Titles, offices, and corporations are just part of this natural evolution away from a Holy Spirit centered reality. The music director only needs to be a talented musician with a music degree. Whether or not they have the gift of praise isn’t relevant nor does it even prompt the question.
“Gift” becomes a euphemism for “talent” which we use to “serve God” who becomes a background figure assumed to be blessing anything we do in His name. From there we make our plans, build our organizations and institutions and fill them with our titles and offices. This is pragmatic humanism – we start with ourselves and drag God down to His footstool to sanction our endeavors.
What gives me hope is to see the massive movement over the last 10-15 years away from this reality. Believers are demanding the actual presence of God in both their individual and corporate lives together on a scale that I’ve never seen before. The pottage may taste good in the moment, but the birthright is always better. There just is no substitution for the intimate presence and leading of the Holy Spirit. Nothing compares to it.
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I like what you are saying Dave. Have you got a blog or some other outlet online for your further thoughts?
I would like to read more of what the Lord has laid on your heart.
Carlos
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People like control and admiration.
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Absolutely agree!
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Here’s my simple answer (for what it’s worth) Gifts from God are for his purpose only. We are only instruments in his divine plan. No one will congratulate the Piano that plays all the notes in the right way to make beautiful music. Sure people, corporations will try to take credit for the service they provide in the name of God. But who knows the heart, only God. Maybe I did not answer the question in the way it was framed, but as the Lord promised, we will all be rewarded in Heaven for our humble service to the King!
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yeah, what Dave said lol…It used to amaze and sometimes confuse me. satans sitting high on thrones while godmen appear in control. The sheep are comfortable when they believe a shepherd is in control, a badge it seems they need to see. Traditions rich with glamour, a definition of the World. Not reading the scripture nor truly knowing whom they should follow, often their own loving trust leads them to folly. What they see enters their heart, blinding their hearing to nearly every thought.
Sad, as the Preacher said translated to early modern English, in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow…I believe most that reads this blog has the knowledge and wisdom needed to be griefing and sorrowing over the outright ignorance and error in respecting of flesh titles and badges of men that only lead to creating misplaced honor.
The Dragon loves these things , sorrow is turned into joy before him. He is king over all those with pride. He loves to add brightness in an attempt to fool us all.
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It is all a question of identity. If your identity is not found in Christ, you must find it somewhere else; for the ministry-minded, titles and positions then become obsessively important. Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
For more on this, see http://www.christcrucified.info/pdf/The%20Priesthood%20of%20Believers.pdf
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I think this is a real pressure. In John 6:15, Jesus found a place to hide out because they were going to try to force him to become king. I think that Jesus perceived it as a real temptation to his flesh and kept his distance. There must be times when we need to withdraw from certain groups of people because of their expectation that we will meet their demands coupled with our ego needs would put us in serious jeopardy of departing from God’s will for our lives.
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Brian and Dan,
I couldnt agree more. Let us remember, one called Christ “good teacher” and was instantly informed that only one is good. If the very one in which our salvation rests saw no need for such a title, then why do mere so called followers feel such a need to be glorified by title? If the body would humble itself, he would do the exalting.
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