Wow what a Weekend !

I am debating on 2 things to write about today.  Hmm, which one should I share ?

 Maybe I will share both.  I will start with my lovely weekend with my husband.  It did not start out lovely.  No,  he did nothing wrong.  It was all me and my stinking thinking again.  Remember I said I had my head in taxes the 3 days prior to the weekend.  Well between crunching numbers, old Besty acting up, picking up James’ car at the car shop (to the tune of $650.), and someone who had not been in my home in awhile coming over and seeing all our still unfinished floors….. well guess what?   I began to struggle with my mind dwelling on finances, and all the projects that needed to still be done. Fret and worry came to visit.  Of course then I began to feel annoyed with my husband who had not “hopped-to-it” and done all that needs to be done! ( let me say in his defense he helps lead teens, coach soccer, is VERY involved with our kids, helps do the laundry, etc.)  I knew I was going down the wrong path.  I have been here before years ago and occasionally I catch myself doing it again.  The start of this weekend was no exception.  Is there ANY truth in my thoughts?  Well I was going to say there is a thread of truth.  But as I type the Lord is still correcting me.  HE is the TRUTH.  Truth is not just a correct order of facts.  I suppose I should say there is an element of fact in my stinking thinking.  But the TRUTH is Jesus is enough.  When, by just continuing to pray, I was able to start praising the Lord and reminding myself, that my hope is in HIM, then I was able to remember all that has been accomplished through him this past year.  I love my husband and we had a marvelous time together (truly we did!!), But if I allow my thoughts to dwell on the negative, it will cause me to be in such a foul un-content state, and it will make loving my husband a chore.  The Lord is blessing us and our finances. HE is our provider.  In that I can find peace.  It may not be my timing, but our projects will get done around here.  Last year my husband tiled our Master bath (something NEW for him) and did a fabulous job.  When/if we sale this home, it will be loved on and in a better condition than the way we found it.  So, as you can see, I found peace again and my hope was renewed.  My thoughts are more positive about the cars, the house, etc. 

As for our weekend, I will only give you a sneak peek.  Friday evening we went to the Monastery, a very nice German resturant in downtown Norfolk.  When we got there I realized it was familiar to me.  “Ah… this is the place we came years ago with our good friends Robert and Marianne.  New years eve I believe.”  The food was delicious and the atmosphere was nice.  We had hoped to walk the streets and talk, one of our favorite things, but it was raining so we did not. 

Sunday we decided to go somewhere else to church, since we wanted to feel like we were on vacation.  So we went to Suffolk and visited ODC.   The message was perfect for me.  It gave me direction and confirmation in something I had been praying about.  In fact, I think M, you would have loved it too.

The message (this is thing 2 I wanted to tell you guys about) centered on one of the things the church must correct.  He covered the section on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew where Jesus is telling the Pharisees “Judge not, lest you be judged likewise”  I never really grasped the full intended meaning of that comment from Christ.  He is NOT saying to never judge, in fact other scriptures show that as a Christian we are to judge and that it is a part of the Christian life to judge certain things in LOVE.  So then what did HE mean?   Well He was referring to the prideful way that the Pharisees judged everyone.  They saw it as their job to let everyone know where they were missing the mark as it came to the Mosaic law.  IF there was a fault in you they could find it.  This is the type of judging we are warned against.  No one can live up to the law entirely anyway which is why Christ alone can fulfill the law.  In fact that is what he said to the Jews that had them in such an uproar.  Look at His comments in

Matt. 5

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus was warning us not to take on a prideful attitude of a judgemental spirit.  We are to always be Christ-like in that as we point out sin in someone’s life we equally point them to the only One who can save them from that sin.  The Pharisees could only say you must me like us.  Jesus says we must exceed the righteousness of a Pharisee.  The only way to do that is to have the righteousness of Christ. 

This however angered the Pharisees.  When he was brought before the courts look at of what they accused Him.

John 7
45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”
47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

They were saying the only way is the Law. Those that do not have the law are cursed (Gentiles).  But this Man, Jesus, He claims to be able to fulfill the law.  They could not understand this.

So we are not to have a judgemental spirit BUT we are to judge.  If you see sin in your child or spouse or friend or brother in Christ; Seek Christ’s counsel first.  Judge your self and your motives first.  Get the plank out of your eye (and the plank could be PRIDE).  But then we are to go to our brother in love.  We are to encourage and rebuke, and correct and love one another.  We are not to ignore blatant sin in our church.  Many of you probably know people who call themselves Christians, but you rightly judge that there is no fruit of the Spirit in their lives.  It is our responsibility, IN LOVE ( for that person and the gospel) to go to them and speak truth and point them to TRUTH, Jesus. 

Sometimes a person will reject your words and become angry with you, but in the end if they are followers of Christ and you are correct in what you point out that they not lining up with the Word, then they will change.  And as they come to a right standing with God on this issue in their life there will be repentance and Grace.  The love of God always supercedes the letter of the Law.

However, if a person continues in blatant sin without remorse or repentance,  we are to follow the instructions in

1 Cor. 5:9-13

 9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

By doing this we do what is best for that person.  Look at the verses above that 1Cor. 5:2-5 where Paul passes judgement on a person in the church, who is living in sin.  He makes no excuses for this and gives a direct command about how to handle it, one the church should have known to do and done before hand.  And the important thing is in verse 5 ”hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”

Because we are afraid of being this strict in the church or we are focused on our own sins perhaps, we do not follow this instruction of Paul’s.  The result is a church body that does not appear very Holy, lacks power, and looks very much like the world.  This is a shame.  My heart has been burdened for kids that claim to be Christians but their focus is on worldly things; money, lust, and vulgar things.  We need to draw a line in the sand that their eyes may be opened to the fact that something is terribly wrong when they claim to have Christ but show no fruit whatsoever.  I would not be acting in Love to allow them to continue in deception if I truly love them.

I am not always so eloquent in reiterating what has pierced my heart and been recieved by my spirit.   I hope that it makes sense to ya'll . 

So that was Sunday morning's message and what I got out of it.  We finished the evening off with a charming video from Blockbuster ( a BB special) titled Miss Potter based on the life of Beatrix Potter.  I thuroughly enjoyed it. 

Well, Be blessed, Angie

Ps.  He is still helping me eat to His Glory.  I am happy to say that I am now loosing inches in my waist, and finally down 8 lbs.  Yeah!  I have done that before so I only put so much stock in those figures though.  My real assessment comes from where I turned when I was stressed, frustrated or overwhelmed this weekend.  I turned to the Lord.  I still feel His freedom and I know this is forever for me as long as I keep my focus on HIM.  Ir you want someone to pray for you for freedom in the area of eating email me or post and I will add you to a list of names I am lifting up to the Lord.  He does not want us to be a slave to food.

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10:42, Thursday, April 3, 2008 .. Posted by HSBFrontPorch

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