7-17-2015

Good Morning All!!

          Proverbs 31:9; “Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

       If we look at our life as a Christian, we can say that God has given us the four “P’s”.  He gives us the promise.  We have the promise of salvation through Jesus and we have the promise of him always being with us to the end of the age.  With that promise we have peace; we know that nothing is greater than God and that he has overcome everything that is evil to us.  With this promise we also have power.  We have the power of God’s Spirit working in us and through us.  The Spirit in us gives us the peace; the Spirit through us gives us purpose.  We have a purpose in this life.  We are called to be ambassadors for Christ in this world.  We are called to be his image and to carry out his will.

     Jesus came into this world to bring healing and comfort; we are to do the same.  Jesus went out into the large cities and small villages; he travelled the paths sometimes missed to look for people who were hurting.  He reached out to them and gave them the balm that they needed.  He forgave their sin and told them to “go and sin no more” because sin is what put them in trouble in the first place.  In order to heal, to truly heal, you have to leave the sinful place that you are at and move closer to God and his Word.  Part of that healing is the reconciliation of the hurting back into the flock.

     So it is a necessary calling of the Church to be a voice for the weak, for the defenseless and for those whose voice is drowned out by the powerful.  So the Church should be the voice of the unborn child or the child that is abused.  We should be the voice of the spouse who is abused or the voice of the homeless.  We should be the voice of the poor and the oppressed.

     Yet it should also be the voice of the illegal immigrant; not to be shielded but to receive justice as a human being.  We should be the voice of the gay person who is suffering at the hands of those around him.  We should be the voice of the transgender who is confused and lost.  We should be the refuge to those who need God’s grace and that is each of us.

     Much has been made recently of what Jesus would say to the homosexual.  If we look at the Scriptures, Jesus would say what he says to all the sinners he talks to in the Bible.  He would most likely say, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”  We recognize that God’s grace frees us from our past and enables us to move forward in peace and harmony with God and his will.  This is our message; God’s grace frees us through the sacrifice of Jesus.  This is our message but along the way we are to be the voice of all those whom the world seeks to use and abuse.  That is our purpose to heal the broken.

Father, you have had mercy on me; lead me to have mercy on those around me.  Lead me by your Spirit to the broken and the hurting to the ones who are suffering.  Break my heart over the pain that I see.  Lead me to become your image in this broken world.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret