Men Advancing

Men Advancing

Montreal

May 7, 2005

Impressions of the Men’s Advance- from several in the congregation.

To me, the outstanding impression is of the small group I was part of. We discussed holiness and how it played out in our lives, as well as how to worship in a way that keeps us near God and, therefore, near holiness.

We considered:

Matt.5.48- be perfect as I am perfect

1 Pet.1.16- be holy as I am holy- Peter quoting from Jesus, obviously.

1 Cor.3.16, 17- this is particularly interesting. Consider the state of the Corinthian church- tell me about it. Consider the state of your internal life, really. Don’t tell me about it. Yet, here was God telling them that they were holy!

Ro.8.1- are you holy? Are you perfect? This is difficult to consider, yet thoughts we need to consider seriously, and we did and had excellent discussions on these challenging topics. Most of us can’t believe, leave alone say, that we are perfect. We’ve been trained to consider performance as the way to define it. Yet, God gives a different standard, and He is the one for us to believe.

Don’t believe those around. Don’t believe parental messages. Don’t believe work-place messages. Believe God’s message about who you really are.

Over the weekend, we sought closeness to God and, in a retreat environment, always some advances are made by, at least, some, if not all. Prayer was outstanding. Fellowship was close and precious. Singing was loud and energetic. Food was terrific. All the components were in place for a great weekend.