Chuck Quinley

It's like we've been on this long hike up a set of hills and have finally come to the peak. Time to sit a while, open the canteen, break out some food and enjoy the view from here. In the past 30 episodes we have walked with the Apostle Paul, a ministry pioneer in evangelism, pastoral care, apologetics, church planting, leadership development and discipleship. He has shared his heart, so transparently, about his experience in living a life of ministry. He has established his theology, life vision, and has shared with us some of the principles that have helped him to succeed in planting churches across the ancient world in a time of persecution and great testing.

Today, the real battle is not church growth, financial growth or personal growth.  It's church health, financial health and personal health. Healthy things grow. That's just what they do.

As believers we all know how important it is to claim our spiritual inheritance as God's children.  It's a good practice to train our  minds to believe that, "We are strong in him, because he is our strength."  In this passage the Apostle Paul shares a gem of a thought that motivates the best part of his personal ministry with others. It's not something you might expect.

Parenting is one of the most meaningful undertakings in anyone's life.  It has moments of glory. Days of routine and some of the deepest trials you can ever experience as an adult. In the end it's more than worth it and the journey alone makes life more worthwhile.

In this Thread Paul talks about the supernatural gifts of God that come by grace to all of us, gifts of power for ministry to set others free and he links these gifts to a pain we struggle with personally.Our status comes from our success, but our ability to minister to others comes from how deeply we have come to face and process the wounds inside of us—old wounds and fresh ones.  That’s where the power lies.

In this day of clergy scandals it is appropriate to ask who we should follow as our spiritual leaders. Some say, "No one but Jesus," but that doesn't really solve the problem because parents still need their kids to follow them or they can't parent, and the same throughout all legitimate channels of authority.Humans need to be organized to thrive and survive. We need leadership at varying levels, even in the church. Maybe not the thunderous power claimed by Pope's of the past, but some level of authority--of legitimacy.

Stories of religious abuse fill tabloids regularly. Religious abuse is a fact and rather than denying it, we need to learn to identify characteristics of abusive church leaders and either remove them from leadership or at least remove ourselves from the damage they can cause.

What's the difference between status and authority and how do you know if you have the true spiritual authority or just status? Tune in to this episode of Thread and find out as we explore 2 Corinthians 10.7-18.

The good news is that we have been given a case of spiritual weapons, forged by God himself. These weapons have divine authority to demolish strongholds and take every thought captive until we live with the mind of Christ with our lives fully aligned with God's will for us and for the world.

Ever seen one of those TV shows where someone gives a poor waitress a $100 tip and she goes to tears and tells this story about needing this money to keep the electricity on for her children in their tiny apartment?  Do you wish you could be a person who could do things like that for others?  You already are and in this Thread God wants you to catch the vision for your life that He has for you already. He's the King of all the Earth and if you are His child, then that makes you a prince or princess.