2011

Yesterday at our church, our Bishop taught on some Commitments for 2011. While most everyone is thinking of whether or not to make/keep New Year Resolutions, I thought that most of these could apply not only to our church body but to everyone as well.

My friend Rebecca typed up her notes from Sunday and posted them in a note on Facebook. I asked permission to copy her notes here and she agreed. I think this is something we could ALL benefit from committing to!

Bishop's Notes--Eleven Commitments for 2011
1. We will add value to others.  This can be done through compliments, encouragement, and support.
2. We will not live in hypocrisy.  This means we will not try to force what we like or believe onto others and respect others for the things they enjoy.
3. We will refuse to live in offense.  By this, we will not put others down or talk about them negatively. If we are then that means we are not happy about ourselves or something that someone else has said to us so we try to take the attention off of ourselves and put it on someone else by talking about them.
4. We will embrace the positive and reject the negative.  Be happy!
5. We will refuse to be passive.  A passive person does not really care about being committed to anything and this is not how we should be.  Instead we should work hard to commit and give everything we have.
6. We will be committed to self control.  By using self control we will not lose our temper and keep our mouths closed when necessary.
7. We will be committed to compassion and not ignore when others need us.  We will not forget about others, how they feel, and what they need.  We will show compassion for everyone.
8. We will be a true representation of Christ.  We should be proud that we are the children of God and represent him as well.
9. We will be committed to challenging religion by kingdom and God.  Kingdom people work to see how the church can change the world.
10. We will be committed to a renewed mind.  A renewed mind does not just show up to church from time to time but instead is involved and at church.  Without a renewed mind we will be cut off from the abundance of God.  Remember you become what you think.
11. We will be characterized by the presence of God.  We want the presence of God and in order to get that we should approach him with clean hands, an open heart, and go after Him.  We should ask for His presence.

For those of you who would like to check out our church, please go to www.iwclive.com. We will be streaming live on the internet in about a month.