Ministers of Reconciliation

Glory to God!

Yesterday's meeting was awesome! God is ensuring that the Church is kept blameless (1 Thess. 5:23,24) and teaching us what it means to truly love one another and walk in unity. The Lord spoke to us about anger and the consequences of holding on to anger. You can find an outline of yesterday's sermon below.

Kingdom Life is a mission-minded church and it is on our heart to further God's Kingdom both locally and globally. For this reason we are setting up a ministry in the Philippines on the island of Mindanao together with local pastors Berwyn and Liberty. Our desire is to establish a work in the area of Butuan City that will minister truth to the people and provide for their needs. There is particularly a great need to care for the many street children in the area that are subject to poverty and abuse. After a fruitful trip last year, pastor Richard will be travelling again to the area for a two week period in July to continue building relationships and establishing KLF's ministry in the Philippines. For more information on last year's trip and to follow the news on the upcoming trip from 15 July - 1 Aug. click here...

Quote of the week:

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Sermon outline:

"Don't let anger steal your worship."

2Cor. 5:18-20

• Effective reconciliation has huge potential for us to impact the community.
• We have all been given the "ministry of reconciliation", therefore we are all in full time ministry.
• As Sons of God - we are by nature peace-makers.

John 17: 11, 21-22

• Jesus' focus of prayer was for the unity of the saints.
• Reconciliation must begin in the church before we can effectively reconcile the world to God.

Our emotions are powerful, always present, and hard to handle.
We cannot stop having emotions any more than we can stop having thoughts.

Emotions....

• divert attention from the core concerns / real issues
• damage relationships if there is lack of self-control
• can be exploited by others e.g.
• Philistines with Samson - Judges 14 & 16
• Absalom with David - 2 Sam. 13

Important to be led by and walk in the Spirit

What is typical response to conflict situations:

• Escape / Denial (response of choice for many Christians and Churches).
• Fight (e.g. Gossip / Slander and character assassination).
• Anger - waiting at the door

Matthew 5: 21-24 - Did Jesus mean what he said?

Cain & Abel - Gen. 4:1-8 (first account of Anger & murder in the bible)

Worship reveals / confronts issues of the heart. Prov. 21: 2-3, 21, 27

Is it wrong to get angry?

• What is the motivation? - James 1:19, Eph. 45:26-27
• Righteous anger is order (e.g. against injustice, hatred of ungodliness, immorality etc)
• Unselfish and based upon love for God and others.
• Prolonged anger can turn to bitterness
• Prolonged anger provides a foothold in our life for the enemy
• Prolonged anger overload opens the door to physical sicknesses
• Common causes of anger - feelings of hurt, frustration or fear / anxiety / worry

• Core concerns / underlying issues
• lack of recognition / appreciation
• feelings of rejection
• lack of autonomy
• lack of status (i.e. feel put down by others)
• Role (i.e. what one does is trivialized, undermined, restricted by others)

People are prone to...

• React negatively, contrary to what is best for them.
• Go it alone - "independent spirit"
• Act deceptively & perceived as untrustworthy.

What is the process? Col. 3:8, Eph. 4:31-32

• Unforgiveness
• Resentment (hardening of the heart begins to take place)
• Retaliation (feelings of wanting to get even)
• ANGER (sin crouches at the door - Gen. 4:7)
• Hatred (I want you to pay for how I feel)
• Violence (I want you feel how I feel)
• Murder (the final solution) - Also includes spiritual murder with our words.
• The key is forgiveness - Mark 11:25
• Unforgiveness retained by us means that our sins are retained by God
• The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23)

Summary

• Jesus priority in his prayer before going to the cross was for the unity of the saints.
• Our worship to God is directly affected by our relationships with fellow believers
• We have all been given the ministry of reconciliation.