Friends,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As the rains moved out yesterday we have been blessed with some incredible weather for the week. I hope you have an opportunity to be out and enjoy it.
Yesterday we continued our walk through Malachi. This passage, 2:1-9, is a challenge to the priests (and I believe to all of us) to consider where out heart is when it comes to worship and our offerings towards God. In addition, it is a challenge to watch how we handle the Word of God and specifically the teachings that are contained within.
Finally, I believe the strongest challenge within this passage for all of us is to watch how we administer and live out the commandments of God. Just as God shows no partiality in His love/judgment towards us, we should not show any partiality in how we express love and Christ-like accountability towards our neighbors. Too often, I believe we over emphasize the sins of some without recognizing that all sin is sin and all of it is displeasing to God.
Let us never forget that the love and grace offered to us by God through Jesus Christ is available in full to everyone, and that God gives full and equal opportunity to all to take possession of that incredible gift. And, in the light of that, let us live that out by living out grace to all of our neighbors.
Download and listen to the sermon here: Stumbling Blocks – Rev. Bryon LePere
Scriptures Referenced:
- Malachi 2:1-9
- Romans 10:14-15
- 2 Corinthians 5:20
- Luke 17:1-4
- Galatians 6:1ff
- James 5:19-20
- Galatians 3:26-29
- Matthew 20:1-16
I believe that as Christians we need to teach, obey, live and do Gods work to show others the true meaning of a Christian. To show others the love of Christ. When we try to hide things from others God always sees and will hold us accountable. Our hearts need to be set to truly and faithfully honor God. We all have the one father and the one true God created us all in his image so why do we break faith with one another? Why do we show partiality to others when God dosen’t? I cannot speak for others but I can speak for myself. I’ve done it and yes still do it. It is something i have done alot in my life I am working on this yes it’s hard but after people showing partiality towards others it makes me jealous. And being judged by others hurts and makes me judge back but as i start to see how it hurts me, I look and think that if it hurts me then how does it effect others when I do it to them? And how much it hurts God when I do it to others.