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Romans 11:1-5 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Is the Lord doing something different "at this present time" that this understanding that Paul is presenting does not apply to His Church? Why does the Lord state, "many are called, but few are chosen"? To be clear the elect are not merely "the called", but they are chosen unto the election. Romans 1:6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. Jesus chose apostles from among His followers. These apostles were discipled to shepherd the flock, and it is these chosen that the Lord gave detailed instructions the evening of the last supper. John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. Since the latest hot topic has been conditional vs. unconditional salvation, and a process of sanctification, is this position applied to the called, or the election? Mark 13:20 And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days. The Election must be faithful and wise stewards 1 Corinthians 4: 1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. Stewardship over every resource the Lord so provides is important for being"found faithful". Luke 16: 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "it is required in stewards that one be found faithful". Revelation 17:14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.

Today I posted my 2000th post on Worthy Christian Forums. This is a milestone I have been somewhat regretting, There was a time, when hitting the milestone of 1000 posts, indicated to me, that I had no life, was spending far too much time online. On the one hand, let's say I spent 10 minutes on average for each post. I suspect my posts usually take far longer than that, but just for fun, 10 minutes it is. Ten minutes times 2000, it 20,000 minutes. That is 333 hours and 20 minutes. Another way of saying that is that it is equivalent to 8-1/3, 40 hour weeks, or about as much time as I would get in four years for vacation, when I was a working man. Again, this assumes only 10 minutes spent per post. I know my posts were longer than that. I am not one of those who goes into a thread and posts "I'm last" (well, maybe once or twice). Yes, you know who you are, LOL! Was my time well spent? Would it have been better, to help a neighbor clean up their yard, or even clean up my own yard? Could I have volunteered at a soup kitchen? Should I perhaps have used that time to preach the gospel to a dying world? Should I have spent time with family, instead of ignoring them?How about prayer, or reading the Bible, might I have used that time to improve my own relationship with God? Another way to ask these questions, is: "Is spending time this way, something that needs to be repented of?" Even more to the point . . .what about my time spent in the chat room here? For every minute I spend posting in the forums, I have hours logged in chat. I could not possibly come close to calculating that. To be honest with myself, and I am not saying this is true for anyone else, but . . . A lot of the time I spend at Worthy, is time spent avoiding things, (somewhat intentionally) that I know I should be doing instead. It is about entertainment, pleasure, etc. I do not think that all pleasure is wrong, by any means, but I do think that how we seek pleasure, can be an indicator of how messed up our priorities can be. Choices, we all make them frequently. Chocolate chip cookies with ice cream, or, fresh broccoli with unsweetened tea. Half an hour in prayer for those in need, or half an hour watching a rerun of "Friends" (okay, that one is easy - prayer is more entertaining). Well, this, like many of my posts and especially my blog, has no plan, no goal, it is just me starting with a seed of a thought, and then rambling on about it, just seeing where it goes. Not that it is important, but you get to see a little of what it is like to live in my head. After noticing that I just seem to be confirming something that is not news to me, that I waste a colossal amount of time engaged in being useless and exercising the gift of procrastination. Let's see if I can twist this slightly in another direction, seeing the glass as half full, instead of half empty. In the half full glass, 2000 posts in that amount of time, is only an average of one post every other day. Viewed in that light, it seems less excessive (as I slip into justification mode). However, it begs the question of what else I might I do with my time, and of any decision about repentance. Knowing that I am (as a now- more or less, self-admitted Calvinist) not naturally wired to seek what is best, I am going to partially repent. I am going to get off Worthy now, and go do something on my to do list. I am going to consider doing something 'radical', like endeavoring to tell at least one person about the gospel each day, even if I have to accost a stranger in the marketplace to do so, in this way there will be 365 less souls each year, uniformed due to my laziness. In celebration of my 2000th Worthy post, I am going to cancel my Hulu Plus subscription (right after I watch that last program waiting in my queue), and at least redeem time wasted there, replacing that time, hopefully, with Bible reading. There, a small bit of sanctification in real time, with little effort, and no pain. Contentment can be so easy!

When the word worship is mentioned in a Christian context I wonder if playing music and singing are the only things that come to mind. Of course there is a lot more to worship than music and singing. In addition to doxa referring to honour in Luke 14:10, five other Greek words used in the Bible variously translate into the English word worship as follows:

Does your church have dedicated classes for discipleship on finances & stewardship (tithing, giving, offering, handling money, etc.)? If so, how does your church leadership approach this topic? God bless, GE

Run what church? We are the church. The believers met in homes. That cuts the overhead down to nothing. Then they used their money for missions and the poor. Would to God Christians would wake up out of their silly sleep.