Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Whip or love and a gentle spirit

So I preached this past Sunday. And of course we had almost more visitors than we have had in a long time. And of course I had this silly part planned where I reenact a tv evangelist I saw on that was speaking about what my sermon was about that week. I figured no problem, I know everybody at church, it won't be embarrassing.

I preached from 1 Corinthian 4 concentrating on v. 20 and 21.

20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

I basically said that the power we have is to be use with a gentle spirit. We tend to go after "the issues", gay marriages, abortion, intelligent design, etc... With a whip. Demanding our rights as Christians be heard. We are to follow Christ's example and lay down our rights. We need to remember behind every issue are broken and lost sinners. We need to remember:

Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...

Notice the Kingdom around you and use it...for righteousness, peace and joy!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

fabulous, jamie. really. why is it that those with the biggest audiences can't understand such a simple truth?!

thanks for sharing this!

g