C. From Gossip to Gospel

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A. Wholistic Ministry
B. Round-up Weed Killer
C. From Gossip to Gospel
D. Planting Trees in the City
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A. Wholistic Ministry
Three Spheres of Ministry
Social Work
Buddhism
Church Growth
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A. Wholistic Ministry
An integrated approach to mission in the city
Communion

Community
Commission
Communion
Commission
Community
The Acts Model
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
Roundup Weed Killer
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
Psalms 11 Blessed is the man who does not walk
in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way
of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
Sit . . . Walk . . . Stand . . .
The very atmosphere of the city is hostile to
positive Christian thought and behavior
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
There are some who imagine that it is their duty
to be church tinkers. It is agreeable to their
natural feelings to be seeking spot and stain in
others they watch diligently for something to
reprove, and they become narrower and narrower in
their ideas, until they are ready to make one an
offender for a word.
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
In the Sabbath meetings, when all should be
individually engaged in the worship of God, an
accusing spirit is allowed to come in, and one
bears testimony against another. This spirit is
wholly unlike Christ, and leads to dissension and
wrangling. God no more accepts such worship than
he accepted Cain's offering.
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
There is no more effectual hindrance to growth
in grace than this disposition to criticize and
condemn others. We have in our experience seen
this accusing spirit gradually enter the hearts
of church-members until it had leavened nearly
the entire church, and the result was that little
of real godliness or of the spirit of Christ
remained (HS 212-213).
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
The Pastor and the Old Guard
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B. Round-up Weed Killer
Share some difficulties you had with negative
people in the church.
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C. From Gossip to Gospel
Psalms 12 But his delight is in the law of the
Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Only the Word of God has the power to
miraculously enter a persons mind and changes it
from one who delights in human gossip to one who
delights in divine revelation.
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C. From Gossip to Gospel
2Corinthians 517 Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation the old has gone,
the new has come!
Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have
become transformed into the image of God. This
change is in itself the miracle of miracles.
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C. From Gossip to Gospel
A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the
deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot
understand it we can only believe, (AA 476).
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D. Planting Trees in the City
One large tree can provide oxygen for 4
people. Trees can significantly reduce pollution
and saves energy. Studies show that hospital
patients with window view of trees recovered
significantly faster.
http//www.treecanada.ca/publications/trivia.htm,
accessed June 9, 2004
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D. Planting Trees in the City
Psalms 13 He is like a tree, planted by streams
of water which yields its fruit in season and
whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does
prospers.
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D. Planting Trees in the City
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D. Planting Trees in the City
Take Root Below
Joseph in Prison Moses in the Wilderness Jonah in
Whale Jesus in Wilderness
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D. Planting Trees in the City
Matthew 720 You shall know them by their
fruits.
Bear Fruit Above
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D. Planting Trees in the City
1Corinthians 133 If I give all I possess to the
poor and surrender my body to the flames, but
have not love, I gain nothing.
Bear Fruit Above
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D. Planting Trees in the City
The object of the Christian life is fruit
bearing, the reproduction of Christs character
in the believer that it may be reproduced in
others (COL 67).
Bear Fruit Above
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D. Planting Trees in the City
When we live by faith on the Son of God, the
fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives
not one will be missing (DA 676).
Bear Fruit Above
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D. Planting Trees in the City
9T 189 If we would humble ourselves before God,
and be kind and courteous and tender-hearted and
pitiful, there would be 100 conversions to the
truth where now there is only 1.
Whatever they do Prospers!
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D. Planting Trees in the City
All things are possible with God, and by faith
we may lay hold on His power. But faith is not
sight faith is not feeling faith is not
reality. "Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." To
abide in faith is to put aside feeling and
selfish desires, to walk humbly with the Lord,
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D. Planting Trees in the City
to appropriate His promises, and apply them to
all occasions, believing that God will work out
His own plans and purposes in your heart and
life by the sanctification of your character it
is to rely entirely, to trust implicitly, upon
the faithfulness of God.
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D. Planting Trees in the City
If this course is followed, others will see the
special fruits of the Spirit manifested in the
life and character (FE 341-342).
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D. Planting Trees in the City
Psalms 14 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff
that the wind blows away. Psalms 15 Therefore
the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor
sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Psalms 16 For the LORD watches over the way of
the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish.
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D. Planting Trees in the City
It should be obvious that growing fruit bearing
Christians is a blessing to both the fellowship
of the church and its witness. Take some time
discussing in your groups how you are going to
make this important element of growth a part of
your strategy for urban ministry.