God's Word in Action: Ask the Pastor BLOG
Welcome to this new resource! At the suggestion of God's Word in Action (GWIA) subscribers, we are expanding this resource to include the opportunity to ask questions of our Pastors regarding their sermons, weekly Bible lessons for Sunday or any other faith/Bible based topics.
To best facilitate the question and answer process and to best share the benefits of all questions and answers with anyone who subscribes, we have choosen an interactive tool called a "BLOG". Short for "web log", the BLOG format allows for you to view the sermon summary from each weekly edition of GWIA and ask questions and view answers.
How to Use the "GWIA - Ask a Pastor BLOG":
- Scroll down the page to find the GWIA edition you wish to ask a question about. Note that the newest week (date) appears on top.
- Click the comments link under the sermon summary to ask your question.
- A new "Post Comments" form is displayed below the edition you want to ask a question about. Note the other weeks are temporarily out of view.
- Type a name. Even though a name is required, "Anonymous" and "Guest" are perfectly acceptable if you wish to ask your question anonymously.
- Type your email address. Also required but will not be publically displayed.
- Skip the Website field as it is NOT required.
- Type your question in the Comments Box.
- Click the "Add Comments" button at the bottom to submit your question. Your question now appears below the related GWIA edition.
- Click the <<back to the blog link to return to the BLOG and close the Post Comments box.
- Questions are reviewed and answered by our Pastors which can take anywhere from an afternoon up to 2 days in the event of questions posted on Fridays or Saturdays.
How to View Your Answer:
- Return to the GWIA - Ask a Pastor BLOG by clicking the Question Button in one of your weekly GWIA emails -OR- by visiting the All Saints home page and clicking the "view the current edition" link in the subscription box.
- Scroll down to view the GWIA edition you asked a question about and click the "Comments" link.
- This displays all the questions and answers posted for this edition.
- Once you have completed your review, you can click the <<back to the blog link and return to the complete list of weekly editions. From here you may choose to view other questions and answers posted for other edition, etc.
Questions about or difficulities with the BLOG:
Contact Bobbie Tomasek at btomasek@allsaintsphoenix.org or Gina King at ginaking@allsaintsphoenix.org
July 2 Edition: Freedom and Slavery
Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Any exploration of freedom must consider the issue of slavery. If asked, most people would say that we have abolished slavery in this country. Unfortunately, the slavery we’re thinking of in this question does exist in isolated cases, but there is another kind of slavery that is extremely prevalent. We are slaves to our debt, our “stuff,” arrogance and prejudice, work or careers, even slaves to individualism. Sin is that which separates us from God, and we, in our natural state, are slaves to sin.
Anything that becomes our singular focus separates us from each other and separates us from God. That focus becomes our master. Just looking at the example of work or career: When we think we are so indispensable that we skip our children’s events, rarely get home for a family dinner or lose touch with what’s happening in the lives of our loved ones, we have become slaves to our jobs, separated from God. Whether it’s career, money, sports or anything else, if it becomes the primary focus, preventing us from time with God, than our Master is not God.
With God’s help we can be free. Jesus Christ is the way to freedom, the way to be free from the affects of sin. Through our baptism in Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God, to hope, to newness of life. When we become slaves to Christ, then we become free.
