{"id":17,"date":"2008-04-23T07:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T14:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25551729.post-981265048586221416"},"modified":"2009-07-06T13:28:57","modified_gmt":"2009-07-06T20:28:57","slug":"got-potential-2008-04-23-143100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/site-news\/got-potential-2008-04-23-143100","title":{"rendered":"Money Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
Purpose<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/span>
\nVol. 2 Issue 14 April 7, 2008
\nThe weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Money Part 3<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

Thanks for your patience while I was away.<\/p>\n

Elaine and I were out all of last week at an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equipping the saints<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d conference. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equipping the saints<\/em>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but you know what I mean. It was a conference for Christians by Christians, with subject matter focused on a particular facet of the faith. This one was about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153prophecy<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153exhort-your-brother<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d prophecy; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153end-of-the-world<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d prophecy.<\/p>\n

As a book publisher, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed to go to things like this; we were invited, we went and we sold some books. So it worked out.<\/p>\n

That was the business side of it. Usually there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another reason I go \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 one I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about in advance. I find out after I arrive or after it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s over and say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oh, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I was supposed to go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>This trip wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any different; there was an object lesson (or two) waiting for me.<\/p>\n

*****<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Before I go any further, let me just say for the record \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not the kind of guy who likes to over-spiritualize things. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather not. The problem is, spiritual stuff keeps happening and the only way I know how to tell you about it is with words that sound kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 spiritual.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like using \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spiritual<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vocabulary when regular vocabulary will do. If I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking something or read something in the Bible, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is what I think,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/em>or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I read this in the Bible<\/em>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God told me<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But if God tells me or shows me something or I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather just be honest about it.<\/p>\n

One last thing. When God talks to me I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear an audible voice; so you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to worry about that one. I wonder why people always worry about that one? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like if you say God speaks to you and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually hear His voice, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a spiritual guy. But if you do actually hear His voice, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a nut.<\/p>\n

Some people think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little off to think God speaks to His followers. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little off to follow a God who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t speak.<\/p>\n

*****<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, back to my trip.<\/p>\n

This was a prophecy conference. At prophecy conferences people talk about what hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happened yet, but what they believe will happen based on what they think the Bible says about what will happen, held up to the light of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening now. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fairly confusing.<\/p>\n

Since it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually happened yet, not everybody agrees with everybody else. Even the people who agree with each other don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always agree; it depends on how detailed you want to get about things that haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happened yet.<\/p>\n

And there are charts. Lots of charts. My favorite chart was an illustrated timeline of every important event from the creation of the world to 2005. As you can imagine, it was a really long chart. What I liked about it was that everything had already happened. That was a chart I could follow. The chart was for sale. I should have bought it. Elaine told me to, but I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Maybe I can get it at the next conference.<\/p>\n

The lesson I was supposed to learn last week wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about prophecy; it was about people.<\/p>\n

When I was six I had a poster of the Peanuts character, Snoopy, on my bedroom wall. He was in his classic pose, lying prone on the roof of his dog house. Inside Snoopy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thought balloon was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I love humanity; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s people I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stand<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The saying stuck with me.<\/p>\n

Too often, people can be jerks or nuts and their leaders can be self-aggrandizing, self-serving demagogues. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just human nature and, like Snoopy, I shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be too surprised when I see it.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m especially sensitive to it in the Christian world because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to represent just the opposite. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to be light and salt to the world, giving it sight and flavor. Our leaders should be servants; patterned after their leader, God who became man to be our example.<\/p>\n

So already you know I have a low tolerance level of human frailty and have my own issues with plank-in-eye disease (see Matthew 7:3<\/em>).<\/p>\n

I show up at a prophecy conference, where everybody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s focused on lining up things that haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happened yet and everybody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got their own opinion of what hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happened yet, so I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to agree with at least some of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being said.<\/p>\n

I really had mixed feelings about being there \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 before I showed up.<\/p>\n

After we got there, everything I was worried about evaporated like mist and things I never thought about, like the fact that I might actually enjoy being around these people, began to materialize.<\/p>\n

Sure, there were varying opinions floating around about the nuts and bolts of the apocalypse; but that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t define the conference. At least not for me.<\/p>\n

It was the people, their spirit and their attitude that affected me. It was something that I knew I was a part of; something I wanted to be a part of. The people listened, talked, shared, laughed and prayed together.<\/p>\n

Like I said, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like to overuse “church <\/em>words<\/em>,” but if I had to name what I saw, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fellowship<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d would be a good word.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah. The leaders led by serving. It was in their attitudes; you could hear it in their words and see it in their actions. Elitism and hierarchy to the greater glory of man didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t show up at this conference. It was nice.<\/p>\n

***** <\/span>
\n<\/strong>
\nI know. I know. This week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letter is supposed to be about money. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the prophecy conference got to do with money?<\/p>\n

Not much.<\/p>\n

That was one of the nice things. There weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any tickets. The conference was free; it has been for fourteen years. They take up some offerings and sell some books and CD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. They pay for the conference center and cover expenses. Not much more than that.<\/p>\n

The hotel gives the guy who runs the conference their presidential suite \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 for free. He lets some of the guys whose ministries can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay for rooms share the suite and he takes a regular room. He never said anything about it; I heard about it through the grapevine. Nice.<\/p>\n

While I was there I saw an ad for another prophecy conference that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming up. Different city different bunch of folks. Tickets are fifty bucks \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 unless you want VIP seating, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seventy-five. There are some big names on the marquee at the upcoming conference; real superstars.<\/p>\n

I believe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll pass.<\/p>\n

In Him,<\/p>\n

Steve Spillman<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Purpose Vol. 2 Issue 14 April 7, 2008 The weekly newsletter of True Potential Publishing Money Part 3 Thanks for your patience while I was away. Elaine and I were out all of last week at an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equipping the saints\u00e2\u20ac\u009d conference. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153equipping the saints,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but you know what I mean. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[438,134,6,11,186,334,459,7,1,15,458],"tags":[575,577,571,574,576,572,573],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-faith","category-gods-purpose","category-joy","category-money","category-obedience","category-possessions","category-purpose","category-site-news","category-success","category-thriving-in-tough-times","tag-christian-world","tag-church-words","tag-equipping-the-saints","tag-humanity","tag-matthew-73","tag-prophecy","tag-spiritual"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gotpotential.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}