Blessed are the Peacemakers – Sermon Follow Up
I spoke with a few people after preaching this weekend, and I have gotten a whole lot of feedback so I wanted to take a minute and address a few of the issues that were raised that I did not have time to touch on.
First, while we are supposed to engage in conflict, and embrace conflict in a way that leads to peace we cannot expect peace to immediately replace what we had before. We may have a peace that we are finally facing this issue, but some of us have a lot to work through before we are even able to forgive other people for the sins they have committed. We just need to be willing to walk through the process while holding onto the promise that peace is on the way.
Secondly, when we hold out an olive branch and allow ourselves to be vulnerable we may get rejected. Just because we are pursuing peace doesn’t guarantee that others will join us. It is definitely a noble thing we are doing by offering and seeking forgiveness, but there will be some who will try to knock us down. Some people will choose to hold onto the grudge, and then we are faced with the choice as to whether we get angry or feel sorrow toward them.
Lastly, take baby steps. Get involved with a group of people who will walk you through the steps you need to take in order to forgive or seek forgiveness. You may have lived with this issue for years, so give yourself time. Don’t be discouraged if you just aren’t at the place where you can offer or seek forgiveness. Be confident that as long as you are moving toward the conflict God will eventually get you there, and He will give you PEACE.
Thanks for sharing with me. It was a pleasure sharing with you. Let me know if I can help.
Could you forgive Emmanuel?
It takes great faith to receive forgiveness for our sin, and when our sin can involve the murder of family we most often see family cry for vengeance.
It also takes great faith to grant forgiveness to one who has done the sin…for the family who has lost their loved ones to forgive the repentant murderer.
I wonder which one takes more faith, to live a life forgiven or to live a life forgiving?
After watching this short video it is glaringly apparent that the life Jesus calls us to requires us to answer three questions:
Could I forgive Emmanuel?
Could I walk through forgiveness as he has?
Would I be willing to bring peace between the two?
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wONSfWNgQDA’]
Thanks to POTSC.COM for sharing.
Prayer – I suck at it.
I just finished Philip Yancey’s Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?
Anyway, back to the book. The short answer is, yes.
You’ll have to read the book to get the long answer.
So, as with any book that I typically read I am forced to think about some things, confess some things, and even repent of some things. In the end, a book worth reading is one that will point out how much I suck, and then point me very gently back to Jesus.
This book, while not Yancey’s best, is definitely worth reading. The Jesus I Never Knew
I was confronted by the fact that God, my heavenly Daddy, typically views my prayers like my trips to the grocery store with my Ugandan kids. Every five seconds they point and yell, “Daddy, I want!” I was confronted with the fact, that if that was the extent of the conversation I had with my kids, then my relationship with them would be void of any depth or meaning. The repentance involved with this revelation is going to involve me praying differently. I am not supposed to quit telling Daddy what I want, but those requests should be embedded in a sea of other conversation.
How I am going to create that sea is still up for grabs, but I think it will have something to do with intentionally indicating that I want God to listen in and give me feedback on every thought. I want to invite Him to have input on those little conversations I have inside my head.
How about you?
How would God describe your conversations with Him?
How would you describe a relationship you had with someone if the only conversation you had was one way and included a laundry list? As a pastor this is often why we struggle to build relationships with others because we are often only sought out because people want something.
If you want to borrow the book just let me know, or if you have a Nook I can lend it to you.