Beloved,
I'm increasingly grieved by posers, including
myself, who mock our Lord's high priestly prayer of John 17 by their
distancing, dissing, divorcing, destroying, and damning attitudes/actions
toward their sisters and brothers of one Source, Starter, Sovereign, and
Savior.
While our family of faith is in the
midst of great revival as the faithful remnant is being reinforced by trickles
turning into rivers, I find myself tearing up then weeping and praying so much
more and more and more not to add to the separations, segregations, and schisms
of the demonically oppressed sometimes possessed whose blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit so shamelessly and arrogantly makes their "Christianity"
coincidental at best to the real thing personified by Jesus and prescribed in
Holy Scripture.
Observing how the posers are killing
our country and so many denominations and so many churches and so many..., I am
exceedingly thankful - and vigilant in exercising my call as undershepherd
- for the saints on the corner of Lincoln and Main who have enfleshed the call
to reconciliation as noted in "Scratching the Surface
of Reconciliation" (attached).
I call upon our family to continue
to model Someone better; and invite family, friends, and foes to our chapel on
Ash Wednesday (February 13 at 6:00 p.m.) for "Real
Christians for Reconciliation." As we consider His call to
reconciliation and the stern warning to the irreconcilable, I'm reminded of a
refrain from Randy Stonehill, "I've got news for you! This is not a
game!" We are inviting everyone who wants to be reconcilable in
obedience to our Lord - to prove kinship to Him - to
come regardless of church, community, county, or... Help stop the
meanness, madness, and misery! Worship with sisters and brothers who want
to be used by Him as the good leaven that mixes in to make things better!
Leave the world's side! Fix your focus on Him and forsake the
distractions from Him! Peace is possible! Reconciliation is
possible! He wants everyone to be saved! Join authentics at the
table on 2/13 and become refreshed and refueled for the ministry of
reconciliation!
Speaking of reconciliation, join the
over 30 folks who are already signed up for Mark Gungor's "Laugh Your Way
to a Better Marriage" in Fellowship Hall on February 9 (Saturday) from
9:00 a.m. to a little after noon! Call 815-544-6402 for reservations.
The prayer line is open:
815-544-3535.
Learn about the much, much,
much more on the corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois by
clicking on www.belvpresbyterian.org and
www.bnnsradio.com.
Blessings and Love!
P.S. A prayer from 1/20/13:
Father, Your Psalm-writer said,
"Happy are the people who worship You."
Your Word - in Jesus as attested in
Holy Scripture - is consistent.
You take pleasure in the pleasure of
people provided people take pleasure in You.
You provide pleasure for people who
take pleasure in You.
Food tastes better when You come
first in our lives.
Relationships are better when You
come first in our lives.
Everything just falls into place and
turns out just fine when You come first in our lives.
We confess not always placing You
first in our lives, families, churches, and country.
We confess knowing why we are prone
to less than pleasure.
It's because we are so much more
about pleasuring ourselves than placing You first in our lives; ignoring the
truth that You take pleasure in the pleasure of people provided people take
pleasure in You.
We want to be happy.
We want to be healthy.
We don't want to be afraid anymore.
And You say we can; as long as You
come first.
Today, we say You come first.
Today, we thank You for forgiving
what we have forfeited for too long.
Today, we worship You; especially
for Jesus in whose name we pray.
Amen.
Scratching the Surface
of
Reconciliation
(A
Brief and Incomplete Guide to Restoring Relationships)
Some people like fights more than
friendships.
A woman came to me and asked about the agenda
for a meeting.
I said, “It looks like we’ve got at least one
tough topic coming up.”
“Oh, goodie,” she said, “I just love a good
fight!”
It was one of the most un-non-Christian
things that I’ve ever heard in a church.
Sadly, there are people who like to fight,
hit, hurt, beat, batter, bruise, bite, and butcher; betraying the darkness in
their souls.
There are people who like to distance,
divorce, and destroy.
Pride, control needs, lusts, idolatries,
hatreds, and other deeply dark pathologies
masquerading as arrogant and condescending self-righteousness often
cause segregations, separations, and schisms.
It’s natural.
Fortunately, Jesus has provided a path to
restoring relationships in Matthew 18:15-17:
1.
Try to work it out face to face.
2.
If that doesn’t work, bring along a
few fair and objective
folks who will tell
the truth to both of you while insuring
neither of you is
tempted to lie about the conversation
to others at a
later date.
3.
If that doesn’t work, try a committee,
board, or bunch of
good folks to sort
it all out.
4.
If that doesn’t work, isolate and
avoid them.
Unfortunately, while our Lord commands us to
love and seek reconciliation with even the unlovable people in our lives, some
folks are determined to remain irrational, irregular, irascible, and
irreconcilable.
God has another plan for them: “Keep up your
guard against anyone who is causing conflicts and enticing others with
teachings contrary to what you have already learned. If there are people like that in your
churches, stay away from them. These
kinds of people are not truly serving our Lord Jesus…They have devoted their
lives to satisfying their own appetites.
With smooth talking and a well-rehearsed blessing, they lead a lot of
unsuspecting people down the wrong path” (Romans 16:17-18).
In other words, some people playing out
deeply dark pathologies with no desire for reconciliation must be identified,
ignored, and isolated lest they infect the rest of the body of believers with
their disease.
There’s no place for a rotten apple in a
barrel of freshly picked ones.
While our Lord set the example for always
inviting, welcoming, including, and loving, He also said there are evil ones
who slip into churches like wolves in sheep’s clothing with no desire to be
reconciled to Him which is exposed by their irrational, irregular, irascible, and
irreconcilable behavior with the rest of His family; causing Him to conclude,
“If someone is inhospitable to you or refuses to listen to your testimony,
leave that house or town and shake the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
Allowing the irrational, irregular,
irascible, and irreconcilable to infect a church with darkness brings a stern
warning from our Lord: “If anyone is a cause of stumbling to one of these
little ones who have faith in Me, it would be better for him to have a
millstone hung round his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew
18:6).
Jesus declares the sternest of warnings for
people who are irretrievably irreconcilable: “If you forgive…, your heavenly
Father will forgive you…But if you do not forgive…, neither will your Father
forgive you” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Restored relationships reflect a restored
relationship: “As you do it for them, you do if for Me” (see Matthew 25:31ff.).
When we are reconciled to Him, we are
reconcilable with others.
A passion for reconciliation shows intimacy
with Jesus.
It’s belief confirmed by behavior.
Remembering we must be reconcilable with
everyone to prove reconciliation with our Lord, we will remain reconcilable
with even the irrational, irregular, irascible, and irreconcilable; knowing,
sometimes with some people, it’s better to talk to God about them than to talk
to them about God.
Are
you still looking for a different way
to do church?
Are
you tired of the SOSO RELIGION?
Are
you put off by posers in pews, politics, and pulpits?
Are
you searching for something/Someone
real,
honest, timely, and true to…?
Try
our family of faith on the corner of Lincoln and Main!
(Belvidere,
Illinois)
Sundays
at 7:20 and 10:00 a.m.
And
so much…
ΓΏ
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