Comments on: PGA Practice and the Basics http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/ with Mart De Haan and Friends Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:07:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: forteag http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2128 forteag Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:47:52 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2128 Mart, Thanks for the idea on the PGA practice and the basics. I used the idea as a spring board for a message on Sunday night of August 17 and the congregation was blessed and still testifying on how it touched their lives a week later. I indicated that all of us are given a measure of faith and that faith is therefore a given. I referred to the first four basics as inputs and the next three as outputs. If we add the first four we would reach the stage where the next three begin to flow out of our lives. Like a mustard seed if we take our faith and plant it and nourish it, it will grow and not only produce fruit but also provide shelter for the birds. It would however be sad if it only was a shelter for the birds. The same way a seed contains all the basics that a plant need to develop into a tree, salvation provides us with all the basics we need to attain a life of Godliness. We just need to add what we are admonished to add in 2 Peter 1. FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR FAITH OUTPUTS LOVE BROTHERLY LOVE GODLINESS INPUTS PERSEVERANCE SELF-CONTROL KNOWLEDGE VIRTUE ALL GIVEN A MEASURE OF FAITH - ROM 13:3 Sammy Mart,

Thanks for the idea on the PGA practice and the basics. I used the idea as a spring board for a message on Sunday night of August 17 and the congregation was blessed and still testifying on how it touched their lives a week later.

I indicated that all of us are given a measure of faith and that faith is therefore a given. I referred to the first four basics as inputs and the next three as outputs. If we add the first four we would reach the stage where the next three begin to flow out of our lives.

Like a mustard seed if we take our faith and plant it and nourish it, it will grow and not only produce fruit but also provide shelter for the birds. It would however be sad if it only was a shelter for the birds.

The same way a seed contains all the basics that a plant need to develop into a tree, salvation provides us with all the basics we need to attain a life of Godliness. We just need to add what we are admonished to add in 2 Peter 1.

FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR FAITH
OUTPUTS LOVE
BROTHERLY LOVE
GODLINESS
INPUTS PERSEVERANCE
SELF-CONTROL
KNOWLEDGE
VIRTUE
ALL GIVEN A MEASURE OF FAITH – ROM 13:3

Sammy

]]> By: Becky M http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2039 Becky M Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:05:26 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2039 Thank you,Mart,for this thought. I've been on the same road lately,so it comes at the right time. I'm just going to read what eveyone else has to say about it and weigh where I am in this right now. I'm sure it will help. Thank you,Mart,for this thought. I’ve been on the same road lately,so it comes at the right time. I’m just going to read what eveyone else has to say about it and weigh where I am in this right now. I’m sure it will help.

]]> By: hal.fshr http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2032 hal.fshr Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:43:54 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2032 Mart: Interesting parallels between golf technique and spiritual principles of godly living. I was especially struck by your concluding quote: So the Apostle of Jesus writes, “The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away (2Pet 1:8-10). A good number of evangelicals today believe in "eternal security." Although I prefer the Calvinistic principle of "Perseverance of the saints," I find the passage you cited helps believers to look to life change as a fruit of being truly saved. Thanks for your thoughts. Mart:

Interesting parallels between golf technique and spiritual principles of godly living. I was especially struck by your concluding quote: So the Apostle of Jesus writes, “The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop these virtues are blind or, at least, very shortsighted. They have already forgotten that God has cleansed them from their old life of sin. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away (2Pet 1:8-10).

A good number of evangelicals today believe in “eternal security.” Although I prefer the Calvinistic principle of “Perseverance of the saints,” I find the passage you cited helps believers to look to life change as a fruit of being truly saved. Thanks for your thoughts.

]]> By: rokdude5 http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2031 rokdude5 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:03:43 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2031 Mart wrote, "Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone." Here is where my ball starts slicing to the left only to end up in the sand trap. "Everyone" means our enemies as well. Here we are in the mist of a political year yet how difficult it is to pray for those who advocate the very opposite what we hold dear. It also means those who are other faiths or athesists and agnostics. It also means those who are hurting us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Of course, Christianity isnt a game. It aint for wimps either. Praise God that He is still there for us as we try to keep our ways straight though we keep missing the mark. Mart wrote, “Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.” Here is where my ball starts slicing to the left only to end up in the sand trap. “Everyone” means our enemies as well. Here we are in the mist of a political year yet how difficult it is to pray for those who advocate the very opposite what we hold dear. It also means those who are other faiths or athesists and agnostics. It also means those who are hurting us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Of course, Christianity isnt a game. It aint for wimps either. Praise God that He is still there for us as we try to keep our ways straight though we keep missing the mark.

]]> By: daisymarygoldr http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2029 daisymarygoldr Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:41:51 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2029 Absolutely ignorant about golf…sat and stared hard at the pics as they blankly stared back at me…but thanks for another lesson on the 7 “basic foundations” of Faith…‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Love being the greatest of all…was able to relate to “…the kind of love that made Jesus so wonderful”. God is love… the selfless, sacrificial and unconditional Love of God as reflected in the compassion of Christ stands out distinguished from the counterfeit forms of love that the world offers. The love that appeals to us is self-seeking and selfish… that leads to: failed marriages in which “I love you” is for as long as the needs and expectations are met and “I do” really means “I don’t”…corrupt parental love that seeks its own personal pursuits, abused and neglected children not being trained in the fear of the Lord, broken homes that deprive children of their biological parents…who grow up into incapacitated adults, unwanted, uncared for and unloved, who then run out into the world looking for love at all the wrong places and from all the wrong people... Loveless living has therefore become the hallmark of our super achieving society which has certainly succeeded in gaining the whole world and is precariously positioned to lose its own soul! “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold” Matt 24:12 However, all is not so gloom and doom…love in “practice” and “action” is the very fruit that identifies a follower of Christ. The love of Jesus is not a warm fuzzy feeling of belongingness or getting our passions and emotions turned on rather it is the giving away of self to the point of death (John 15:13) regardless of injustice, betrayal or any other unfavorable situation. Makes one wonder if it is even possible to love the way Jesus loved …not the mushy-feely love but true love that involved rough living, fishermen friends, hungry weary days, homeless nights, persecution and contempt above all, scourge and crown of thorns, torturous march up to Golgotha, deserted by friends and family, forsaken by God, enduring the agony of the cross, dying for the salvation of sinful, perverse, opposing and ungrateful souls! “For this reason I kneel before the Father and pray that …I, being rooted and established in love, may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” (Eph 3: 14-19) Absolutely ignorant about golf…sat and stared hard at the pics as they blankly stared back at me…but thanks for another lesson on the 7 “basic foundations” of Faith…‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Love being the greatest of all…was able to relate to “…the kind of love that made Jesus so wonderful”.

God is love… the selfless, sacrificial and unconditional Love of God as reflected in the compassion of Christ stands out distinguished from the counterfeit forms of love that the world offers.

The love that appeals to us is self-seeking and selfish… that leads to: failed marriages in which “I love you” is for as long as the needs and expectations are met and “I do” really means “I don’t”…corrupt parental love that seeks its own personal pursuits, abused and neglected children not being trained in the fear of the Lord, broken homes that deprive children of their biological parents…who grow up into incapacitated adults, unwanted, uncared for and unloved, who then run out into the world looking for love at all the wrong places and from all the wrong people…

Loveless living has therefore become the hallmark of our super achieving society which has certainly succeeded in gaining the whole world and is precariously positioned to lose its own soul! “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold” Matt 24:12

However, all is not so gloom and doom…love in “practice” and “action” is the very fruit that identifies a follower of Christ. The love of Jesus is not a warm fuzzy feeling of belongingness or getting our passions and emotions turned on rather it is the giving away of self to the point of death (John 15:13) regardless of injustice, betrayal or any other unfavorable situation.

Makes one wonder if it is even possible to love the way Jesus loved …not the mushy-feely love but true love that involved rough living, fishermen friends, hungry weary days, homeless nights, persecution and contempt above all, scourge and crown of thorns, torturous march up to Golgotha, deserted by friends and family, forsaken by God, enduring the agony of the cross, dying for the salvation of sinful, perverse, opposing and ungrateful souls!

“For this reason I kneel before the Father and pray that …I, being rooted and established in love, may have power… to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” (Eph 3: 14-19)

]]> By: phillip http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2028 phillip Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:45:58 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2028 I am surprised that no one cited 2 Pet. 1:3 "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." during the sufficiency postings. It is so explicit here. He does not say that God does not use means, just that He has given us everything we need for LIFE and GODLINESS. When these seem insufficent for our lives it means we have not availed ourselves of His promises. It also means the church is not being the body of Christ and the individual members of it are not faithfully using the gifts He gave us to minister to each other. Verses 8 and 9 of this passage are so amazingly descriptive of so many Christians today and I was one of them for many years. I was ineffective and unproductive in my knowledge of God because I was not developing the character qualities God put into me through the indwelling Holy Spirit when I was born again. Instead, I was paralized through focusing on my sin and unworthiness, not remembering that I had been set free from my past sins and that I had been delivered from the power of sin. Thanks for this excellent synopsis of one of my favorites. I am surprised that no one cited 2 Pet. 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” during the sufficiency postings. It is so explicit here. He does not say that God does not use means, just that He has given us everything we need for LIFE and GODLINESS. When these seem insufficent for our lives it means we have not availed ourselves of His promises. It also means the church is not being the body of Christ and the individual members of it are not faithfully using the gifts He gave us to minister to each other.

Verses 8 and 9 of this passage are so amazingly descriptive of so many Christians today and I was one of them for many years. I was ineffective and unproductive in my knowledge of God because I was not developing the character qualities God put into me through the indwelling Holy Spirit when I was born again. Instead, I was paralized through focusing on my sin and unworthiness, not remembering that I had been set free from my past sins and that I had been delivered from the power of sin.

Thanks for this excellent synopsis of one of my favorites.

]]> By: BruceC http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2025 BruceC Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:51:44 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2025 No disagreement. Nothing to add. Likely one of the best posts I've read. The Lord truly spoke to me through this and I will print it out for future reference. Thank Mart for being open to God's direction. No disagreement. Nothing to add. Likely one of the best posts I’ve read. The Lord truly spoke to me through this and I will print it out for future reference. Thank Mart for being open to God’s direction.

]]> By: poohpity http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/08/09/pga-practice-and-the-basics/#comment-2024 poohpity Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:11:58 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=349#comment-2024 I seems that with golf there are those who practice since childhood and there are those who just have a gift that comes out in adulthood to become masters. No matter when they start to play practice makes improvement. I remember when my dad took my mom golfing and told her to keep her chin down and she tucked her chin so far into her chest she had no way of following through on her swing, that was such a hoot. (Thanks for the memory)!! With our walk with our Master he gives us our faith and it is He who develops in us His character through our continued focus being on Him. Realization being that it is He that gives us every thing we need to share in His goodness and love. It makes it easy when you have only one Master to follow. I seems that with golf there are those who practice since childhood and there are those who just have a gift that comes out in adulthood to become masters. No matter when they start to play practice makes improvement. I remember when my dad took my mom golfing and told her to keep her chin down and she tucked her chin so far into her chest she had no way of following through on her swing, that was such a hoot. (Thanks for the memory)!!

With our walk with our Master he gives us our faith and it is He who develops in us His character through our continued focus being on Him. Realization being that it is He that gives us every thing we need to share in His goodness and love. It makes it easy when you have only one Master to follow.

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