 | Reverend Dennis Paschke is the senior pastor at Evangel Holton United Methodist Church, in Holton Kansas. Evangel church is a vital and growing congregation full of life that is changing lives and our community one person at a time. Dennis’ family emigrated from North Dakota to Alberta, Canada to homestead when his father was just a young boy. Rev. Paschke returned to the United States and has lived in many parts of the country. His life has afforded him many blessings before answering God’s call to full-time ministry, including being a vice president of a Fortune 100 company, serving as a chairman of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games and holding a U.S. patent. His greatest blessing in life is his walk with Christ! He believes strong faith always engages the heart and mind. EDUCATION: BSEE from the University of Calgary, Canada, and a Master’s of Divinity from Saint Paul School of Theology. FAMILY: He is married to wife Dawn and they have three sons Corey, Kyle and Marc. The family also includes one “wonder-dog” named Tucker! You can reach Reverend Paschke via email dpasch01@gmail.com. |
Religion
2011-09-29 10:28:05
Contradictions in scripture?
Q: While I understand from time to time there might be a contradiction in the way a Bible passage is interpreted, there is one that is causing me some difficulty....it says in one passage that if you do not acknowledge God before man, Jesus will not acknowledge you before His Father. In another passage it says that one should not boast of doing things in honor of God for if you do, you will have already received your reward. Are these not contradictory?
A: To not acknowledge God before man is to not acknowledge the one God sent to fulfill God’s plan for humanity – Jesus. Jesus was the fullest example of human life impassioned and empowered with the Holy Spirit, that is God’s presence. God sent His Son Jesus born both of human means and the Holy Spirit, to give us the very example of how to live life to the fullest. If you chose to not acknowledge God before man – you are choosing also to not acknowledge Jesus as well.
In not acknowledging God you deny God’s purpose and will for your life and God will deny you also! To acknowledge God is to acknowledge the truth that all of what we do for God’s glory comes only as a gift from God and through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. This is the reward of being a disciple of Christ, our lives are instruments of God and we receive the gift of living and serving in the kingdom of God here and now.
So if one boasts for themselves then they are seeking credit for what is totally a gift of God and thereby denying the truth that all of that which is for God’s glory comes from God. Those who truly live in the kingdom of God deny for themselves a desire to seek to bring credit to their lives and instead seek to live only to let their life bring glory / credit to God here and now! Our response matters to God, in fact it will determine our destiny before God, boasting for oneself means denying God’s gift of grace of new life in the kingdom.
Jesus is sent by God to show us how to live life in a way that assures our life brings glory to God and blessed with abundance of God’s presence! Jesus’ invitation to follow him is our reward – a journey of divine significance for God. A reward that makes possible life freed from the fear of death and those that experience that life have a joy in life. A joy that radiates from truthful worship of God proves an irresistible witness!
