Re: Luke 12:57 - 59
Posted by: elderlarry3 <elderlarry3@...>
I doubt I preach this in a “manuscript” style – but will use the noted to direct and remind key points. Y’all may have figured out by now that I am a hybrid “prepared – extemporaneous” in my basic preaching style. I am ready, but lets see what happens! 😎 very rarely do my notes match the actual message. God Bless Y’all today!
9-25-16 Luke 12:57 – 59 “STOP! You ain’t the Judge”
Luke 12:57-59 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny." ESV
1 Corinthians 6:1-8 “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!” ESV
We have become a litigious society.
We take anyone to court for anything.
· Coffee to hot? Sue.
· Neighbors windmill irritates you? Sue them.
· A monkey stole someone’s camera, took a selfie with the camera and the owners of the camera posted the picture online. PETA sued them saying the “selfie” was the monkeys property.
· Footballs not inflated enough, head to court.
· Election not going your way…off to court we go.
If we don’t get our way on court we take them to the court of public opinion and poison the world even more.
Somewhere along the way we forgot how to talk to each other and work out our differences.
So much so that sometimes we have to go to court to have the COURT order us to talk to each other – to have mediation.
This is sad.
Wrong and sad.
The reality is that when we drag people to court, especially our brothers and sister, we are saying much more about our character than we are theirs.
When we light that “Facebook Bonfire” we are opening ourselves up to public humiliation and problems.
It all seems so easy while sitting in a private office or alone at your kitchen table in front of a keyboard; but not so easy while being cross examined, having your own failures and garbage thrown back into your face by a defense attorney OR someone who wants to be one on a SOCIAL MEDIA site.
We forget that there are things in our lives or the lives of our family that we are ashamed of and would NEVER want dragged into the public square.
Even if what is said about you is “SPUN,” or HYPERBOLE or TWISTED or an OUTRIGHT LIE, it doesn’t matter – the damage to you is done and a GREAT PRICE will be paid.
We should be MUCH better than this!.
Especially those of us of God’s Church
I love God’s House. There is just something special about the Church of the Living God.
Sometime I wonder about how the Church works, how we are funded, what we should be doing or how serious we are taking God’s Church.
I think we need to understand the Church.
Gods house
A place for His love
A place for healing
A place for reconstruction
A place for recovery
A place where fences are mended
A house of forgiveness
A place of grace
A place of mercy
A place of peace
A place where we rise from the ashes reborn and better than ever. Not as a Phoenix, but as Christians
A place of acceptance
A place of listening
A place of encouragement
A house of prayer
A house of learning
A house of truth
A place of strengthening
A place of service
A place of giving
A place of helping
A house of faith
A house of hope
A house of love
Our Daddy's house.
I often wonder how we can so easily take God’s church for granted.
Maybe if I looked at who we really are.
You see I have used the wrong words several times...[place or house}
The church is not the building: The church is us
Sometimes I think we forget who we are in the big picture.
WE ARE THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD and He has said that not even THE GATES OF HELL can stand against us!
We are VICTORS!
We get so CONSUMED with what OUR rights are or what OUR opinions are that we forget the reality of who we are in the big picture.
So when someone does something objectionable we DRAG THEM TO COURT; even other Christians.
We forget that we are the FORGIVEN FALLEN!
We forget that we are just as GUILTY.
We forget about our HUGE OBVIOUS FAILINGS as we point out the TINY BITS of error in others.
We forget that we do not have to haul a fellow CHRISTIAN before a Court at Law for us to fail.
What right do we have to bring disrespect to our God and shame upon Gods church by bringing lawsuits against our other sin filled brothers and sisters
When we talk bad about our church we are talking bad about a person or people and that reflects on God.
Shame
We are Gods broken, messed up and failing children that disappoint Him on a regular basis.
Stop dragging people through the mud
Stop being Mr or Mrs. “SUPERIOR” or “Betty Better than You”
- REPENT
- SUBMIT
- Humble yourself before God
- Love God and Love others
- Serve God and Serve others
- RE-learn how to COMMUNICATE and deal with problems face to face.
- Be THE CHURCH of the LIVING GOD He designed you to be!
- Walk in HIS Victory
The CHURCH – THE PEOPLE OF GOD – are to be a people of grace and mercy – FILLED with Faith, Hope and Love – and the greatest of these is love.
The church is more of a HOSPITAL than a COUNTRY CLUB
The church is more of a MISSION SENDING CENTER than a SELF SERVICE CHECK OUT
The church is a place to GIVE and SERVE
The church is to be ENCOURAGING not tearing down.
YOU ARE THE CHURCH
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