Bill Fields:PeaceMakers.net, Jesus Christ's Peace,Justice,reconciliation,counseling,bible study

Time 2021-05-31 13:14:49

Web Name: Bill Fields:PeaceMakers.net, Jesus Christ's Peace,Justice,reconciliation,counseling,bible study

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a member of Christ's Body-TheCHURCH, PeaceMakers.net is empowered by God's Holy Spirit in practicing adynami witness for Jesus Christ that builds the Body of Christ and attractsth attention of a lost world through; Biblical Community, BiblicalInstruction Biblical Counseling and Biblical Peacemaking; that invitesreconciliatio of mankind to God, mankind to themselves and mankind toothers...Please use Biblical caution- "...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. "Acts 17:11 Also note:PeaceMaker does NOT necessairly endorse all parts of the materials orindividualson our sites NOR does a person, publisher, etc. inclusion on our siteanyway imply their endorsement of PeaceMakers.bill fieldswhich is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesusreplied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and withyour soul and with all your mind. This is the first andgreatestcommandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor asyourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these twocommandments." Matt 22:36-40Unless the keystone of peacemaking is to serve and glorify God and Hiswitness,it's merelyselfishnesscloaking a heart of greed, while attempting to manipulate God and HisWord for evil gain. It's selfishness, self-willed, pride,ambition, enmity, lusts, hatefulnessand our Lordwillexposesuch spiritual corruption, while blessing those in holiness, great love, infinite compassion,meekness, purity,truthfulness hungering and thristing forrighteousness. Charles Sprrgeon, "Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered,we are bound to excercise outlove. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies, wide as the election ofgrace must be our communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth received, let us warwith the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth which we see inHim; above all let us love and spread the truthourselves.Matthew 5:9-12 Blessed are the peacemakers: forthey shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are theywhichare persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom ofheaven.11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, andshallsay all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice,and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for sopersecutedthey the prophets which were before you. Matthew 7:1-6 Matthew 7:1 Judgenot, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment yejudge, yeshall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured toyou again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thybrother'seye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thineeye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thouhypocrite, firstcast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearlyto cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. 6 Give notthat whichis holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lesttrample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.Ezekiel 8:6 AndHe said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing,the great abominationswhich the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be farMy sanctuary? But yet you will see still greaterabominations. Ephesians 5:11 -13Donot participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead evenexposethem; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which areby them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they areexposedby the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.When God uncovers the heart ofmankind they will either Biblically REPENT or they will do all withintheirpower to DESTROY you! e.g. lies, evil speaking, maliciousness, slander,gossip, false witness, deception, and more in an attempt to hide theirunrepentant sins while destroying the peacemaker.A Few Examples:A Pastor: As a boyabused by is mother, wet the bed, played with fire, and into adulthoodwould buy kittens and spend hours maiming, harming, torturing them thendrown them to death. While a minister, would buy pornography andfrequentpublic parks to sexually relieve himself. The horror of having"confessed"and seeing these are warning signs of serial killers, was sooverwhelmingto him it opened the flood gates of theological rage and abuse. Now claims he was in an abusivie group(PeaceMakers)..A Missionary: Hischildhood rage grew so intense as an adult, in a secular position as apublic authority, he was publicly sanctioned. Later he would take hisskillson to the mission field. His rage had devastating effectsupon hischildren. When addressed for his rage and mistreatment of his wife, hebecame so embittered, he projected his rage upon those who tried toBiblicallycare for him and his family. (He wants to return to the mission field) A Denominational Leader: Asa youth pastor, sexually abused two teenage girls. After the firstteen,now an adult confronted him, he supposedly confessed, went forcounseling,pledged she was the only one. A few years later the secondteenagernow an adult, through PeaceMakers, pursued Church Discipline, notknowingthere was another. Now as a Minister of one of the largest churches inthe denomination, the church and denominational leadership closedranks,put together a wimpy, generalized "I'm sorry" announcement, sang a songand all is well. Next, on their website was a new service ofreportingand recording pastors who sexually abused children.PeaceMakers askedthe service if this man was listed, as their page had no indication ofhis multiple sexual abuse. Quickly the service was removed.( Currently a Pastor: CONVERGE Worldwide-previously known as Baptist General Conference) A Para-Church-Peacemaking Ministry: Ayoung lady came to a Bible study and asked for help. She was havingemotionaland spiritual difficulty responding to her mother who once worked at a christian publisher, while having an affair witha local Bible Collegeprofessor who taught courses on Church Discipline. Allattempts toaddress the couple, who each divorced their spouses and married, metrefusal. A few years later while I was at the nationalconferenceof now named Peacemaker Ministries. I heard a report of a man whowas exceptionally gifted . Upon seekingto know this person it wasdiscovered it was this same professor and I gave witness to the failureof Biblical Discipline/Reconciliation. I was told by the then leadership tobe quite or leave the conference.I immediatelyleft. All atempts to address these and other issues with thisorganization failed. Richard Owen Roberts Where Judgment Begins We live in a unique time, aconfusing time. We live in a time when it is almost impossible to tellthe true Church from the professing church. There has never been a timein the past when there were literally millions of people who could tellyou the day and the hour they accepted Christ, but who live for selfand Satan. There are multitudes ofpeople who honestly believe they are Christians because they ve beenbaptized many of them because of infant baptism, some because of adultbaptism. They are depending on baptismal regeneration. Then there isthe incredible array of people who are clinging to some decision theyhave made, and who have been falsely informed by their own leaders thatthey are indeed children of God. They are hanging their eternal welfareon decisional regeneration. The Bible portraysregeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8). Those people who trulyare children of God have been born of the Spirit, and there is a worldof difference between the Spirit s regeneration and baptismal ordecisional regeneration. Every time we add another person who knowsnothing of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit to the ranks ofchurch members and professed Christians, we add to the confusion, andfurther decline morally and spiritually in the land and in the world. Let me put this question toyou: does Jesus Christ save from hell? Did He come to save from hell?Many of you will remember that when the angel spoke to Joseph, he saidto him, Thou shalt call His Name Jesus, for He shall save His peoplefrom their sin (Matt. 1:21). Some of you may be guilty of havingencouraged many to believe that it is possible to be saved from hellwithout ever having been saved from sin. I am regularly encounteringsubstantial numbers of people who, if they speak honestly from theirown heart, make it crystal clear, I don t even want to be saved fromsin. I intend to live in sin, but I m glad I ve been saved from hell. Have you ever consideredwhat a treacherous act against Almighty God it is to pretend that He isso utterly absurd that He saves people from hell but not from sin? Whydoes hell exist? Without any question, hell exists because there arethose who will not repent and believe. To turn around then and suggestthat out of a great heart of love and compassion, God saves people fromthe penalty but leaves them with the problem is an insult against ourGod. Jesus Christ came to savepeople from their sin. I believe many of us need to learn to make avery careful distinction in our own thinking and surely in ourpresentation of truth to others, between sin as a one-way ticket tohell and sin as a thief of God s glory. There is a common statementthat is made within the church that repentance is a change of mind.That statement never seemed quite sufficient to me. I have come torealize something very consequential in that regard. True repentancemeans an exchanged mind. The unrepentant have the mind-set of theworld. But the repentant have the mind-set of the Spirit. When we cometo Jesus Christ, having been born of the Spirit of God, in repentance,we receive a new mind. We re not interested any longer in seeing whatthings we can get away with. We don t want to walk as close to theprecipice as possible and just hope we won t fall over the cliff. Wehave the mind-set of the Spirit. We need to learn todistinguish in our thinking and in our living, and surely in ourpresentation of the gospel to others, between sin as a one-way ticketto hell and sin as the thief of God s glory. God did not create man tosave man from hell. God created man to glorify Him and then to enjoyHim forever. You can t break the two apart. The notion that you canenjoy God forever and refuse or fail to bring Him glory in this life,is indeed absurd. With those thoughts in mind,let us turn to I Peter 4. First we will deal with the greater contextfound in this passage, verses 1 to 11, and then deal with the context,verses 12 through 16 and 19, and then come to the text, verses 17 and18. In verse 1 and verse 2 wehave the matter of suffering set in front of us as a declaration of itspurpose: Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, armyourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered inthe flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time inthe flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. Why does God allow His ownchildren to suffer? We are informed in verse 1 that Christ Himselfsuffered in the flesh. It is perfectly reasonable and understandablethat we should suffer as well. I take it as a given that if my Saviorsuffered, it is my task to arm myself with the same purpose, to realizethat God is at work and has a purpose for His people. We are informedin this passage that He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased fromsin. You may not fully understand that statement or other statements inthis passage, but isn t it perfectly clear that there is a purpose insuffering and that at least part of that purpose is to bring us to thatplace where sin is not a ruling factor in our lives, where a greatfocus change has occurred so that we re not concerned about hell? We renot worried about going there. If we could go to hell for the glory ofGod, we would be happy in doing so. The thing that matters to us is theglory of God. If suffering somehow brings the glory of God, then I mall for it. Look now at verse 3: Forthe time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out thedesire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts,drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. You have already wasted a sufficient portion of your life. Time is tooshort to waste any more. The time is already sufficient for you to havecarried out the desires of the Gentiles, having pursued a course ofsensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties, andabominable idolatries. You don t have another second to waste in thatdirection. Whatever days you have left, many or few, must be devoted tothe high calling of God that you have in Christ Jesus. You can t allowsome grievous disappointment to push you again into a cycle of moraland spiritual decline. Whatever time you have left must be redeemed forthe glory of God. That s why you were created. You ve lost countlessopportunities already to bring Him glory. Don t lose another opportunity Look at verses 4 and 5: Andin all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into thesame excess of dissipation, and they malign you; but they shall giveaccount to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Isanybody surprised when you won t run with them? Has anybody malignedyou? You don t fit in. You don t belong. Part of the sadness of thehour is that Christians fit beautifully into the world. Nobody stroubled by their presence, by their conduct, not even troubled bytheir witness. Our changed lives should baffle them, and when they donot, we have a reason to be on our faces before God, seeking thatrepentance which results in the exchanged mind, so the mind of Christis dominant in our lives. The next matter: We ll haveto give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and thedead. They will; you will; I will There is no escaping ourresponsibilities before God. Five Matters Requiring Attention There is an importantarrangement of truth in verses 7 through 11. The end of all things isat hand, says the inspired apostle. There are certain things that thebeliever is required to be. I see five matters in these verses thatrequire our distinct attention. Verse 8: Keep fervent in your love for one another. Verse 9: Be hospitable toone another without complaint. It is easy at a conference like this.We have time to be kind one to another, but what about at home? Verse 10: As each one hasreceived a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as goodstewards of the manifold grace of God. Some of us think of stewardshipin terms of money, and no doubt if you began to write down those thingsthat fall on the list under the manifold grace of God, money wouldappear on the list, but it would be a minor matter in the whole lot.Money is something that is ordinary. It is something we call a commongrace. We must not overlook the manifold grace of God, special gracesof the believer that require good stewardship. Verse 11: Whoever speaks,let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God. Preachers, whenpeople hear you, do they say, That is much more than a pastor speakingto us; that is the voice of God ? Some of you are in trouble inchurches and people are always giving you a hard time. Learn to speakthe utterances of God, and a lot of people who are bold in your facenow will become fearful. Every man when he speaks ought to speak withthe fear of God hanging over him and over his auditors. And the next instructionsays, Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which Godsupplies. All these things that God might be glorified through JesusChrist to whom belongs the dominion forever and ever. The Immediate Context Now, the more immediatecontext, starting at verse 12: Beloved, do not be surprised at thefiery ordeal among you . What is he referring to? Look at verses 17and 18: It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God;and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those whodo not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that therighteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Verse 13: to the degreethat you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so thatalso at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. In verse 14 we are called to consider these facts: If you are reviledfor the Name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of gloryand of God rests upon you. It would be foolish tosuppose that every Christian suffers the same degree of persecution.Our place in life is going to have some contributing factors in termsof degree of persecution, but we have it plain here that you areblessed when you are reviled for the name of Christ, because theSpirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Verse 15: But by no meanslet any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or atroublesome meddler You begin to sense the context. Do you see howverses 17 and 18 fit in? Suffering as a Christian (verse 16) is notsomething about which we ought to be ashamed. Rather in the name of ourdear Lord Jesus, let us bring glory to God. Verse 19: Therefore, letthose also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their soulsto a faithful Creator in doing what is right. So no matter how hard itis to be saved, let us get on with the work for which we were called,to the life to which we were born of the Spirit of God. It Is Time for Judgment Let s take the text now.Verse 17: It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. Some of us have a very inadequate understanding of Scripture because wehave a very inadequate understanding of judgment. I m regularlyencountering people in the church, who, when the word judgment is used,think usually in terms of the future like the Great White ThroneJudgment. This passage is not talking about something in the future.When the Bible speaks about the judgment of God, we need to be certainwhether it is talking about something eschatological or something forthe moment. In this passage, the judgment that is under considerationis something that occurs on a day by day basis. It is time for judgment That was written a long time ago, and Peter was sure that it was anappropriate time for judgment then. It is even more appropriate now.There is simply no escaping the fact that part and parcel of being atrue believer is the issue of judgment. A major reason why we sodesperately need revival is that the biblical subject of judgment hasbeen set aside and treated as a matter of inconsequence for thebeliever. But not only is the timingof judgment called to our attention here, but also the subjects ofjudgment are clearly pinpointed. As noted already, the place wherejudgment must begin: It is time for judgment to begin with thehousehold of God. In actual fact, if one has a very literaltranslation, they know that what this passage says is that the time hascome for judgment to begin from the household of God. It is notsomething that is contained within the household of faith. It issomething that begins there and moves on out. That is a very importantaspect of the teaching of this passage. We need to observe that theword under consideration here is judgment, not punishment. Christalready bore your punishment. The world is facing judgment in the senseof penalty. The judgment of the believers described here is for thepurpose of refinement, purification. We can be greatly moved in aconference like this and set our hearts to be more pure. We may needsome reminders in the days to come, and the Lord is going to use Hisjudgments as reminders and aids. When we re speaking ofjudgments that are concurrent with sin, we need to be thinking in threerealms. First, every believer needs to learn to judge himself. Thereason why we get such a pileup of iniquity within the church isbecause so many believers have failed to judge themselves. Secondly, we must also thinkin terms of the church as the judge. It is God s plan that each churchshould judge its own people. You can barely say that before someonesays, My Bible says, Judge not lest ye be judged. My Bible says, Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). It says, With what judgmentyou judge, you shall be judged (Matt. 7:2). There is no hint in theBible that we are not to judge. We dare not judge unfairly. We must notbe more severe with others than we are with ourselves. So when we arethinking of judgment concurrent with sin, we are thinking of theindividual judging himself; we re thinking in terms of the churchjudging the individual that won t judge himself. And obviously we arethinking in terms of God. If the individual won t judge himself andthat individual s church won t judge him, God will. Some of you pastors, ifyou re going to follow through on your engagement with God this week,are going to have to go home and exercise some judgments, first, onyourself. When you are right in every realm, then you re going to haveto deal with some of those people in your church who need godly,gracious, loving, tender judgment. Judgment must begin with thehousehold of faith. Many of us are familiar withthe passage of 1 Corinthians 11, starting with verse 27: Thereforewhoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthymanner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But leta man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of thecup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself,if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among youare weak and sick and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselvesrightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we aredisciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned alongwith the world. If perpetually you will notjudge yourself, there is strong reason to suppose that you re going tobe judged along with the world because the repentant person who has theexchanged mind, has no interest in sin. Oh, he fails; he commits sin.He may work terrible iniquity, but he has the mind-set of the Spiritand he judges himself with severity lest he be judged along with theworld. In I Corinthians 5:5, Paul is dealing with the immorality in theCorinthian Church and he sums it up by saying, I have decided todeliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that hisspirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. My brothers inministry, you in all likelihood have people in your church who needjudgment so that their spirit may be chastened and their soul may besaved. I want to give sevenbiblical examples of judgment. Before I do, I want to give you thesesummary kind of biblical statements. The first I am reading from Exodus19:21: The Lord spoke to Moses, Go down, warn the people, lest theybreak through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And alsolet the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lestthe Lord break out against them. That is what I want you to have inmind as we pursue this subject further: Lest the Lord break out amongthem. If I won t judge myself, andmy church doesn t have the courage to judge me, I warn you, the Lordwill break out among us! The Lord already has broken out among us!We ve been seeing the hand of God in judgment for years now. There hasbeen the withdrawal of the manifest presence of God. I mentionJeremiah, chapter 13, how that God, when He is grieved with thewickedness of His people when they will not judge themselves and oneanother, turns them over to a state of spiritual drunkenness. Thejudgments of God are manifold. Judge yourself. Judge appropriatelyothers, lest the Lord break out among you. Listen to these solemn wordsin Hebrews 12:25: See to it that you do not refuse Him who isspeaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warnedthem on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him whowarns from heaven. The words cited a while ago, lest the Lord breakout among you were words spoken on earth, but take care lest the voiceof God from heaven warns, for our God is a consuming fire. Is it anywonder that the psalmist said in Psalm 119:26, My flesh trembles forfear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. Let us again look at thetext in verses 17 and 18: Let judgment begin with the household of Godand if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome of those whodo not obey the Gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that therighteous are saved or your version may say, if the righteous arescarcely saved That seems to imply: if they are just saved by theskin of their teeth, if they just barely make it. Would that not be aterrible statement against Christ? Is Christ s atoning work barelysufficient? No, it is altogether adequate. It is superabundant in itsability to save any and all. This passage is not dealing with believersjust barely making it into the eternal Kingdom. Look at the wording: If therighteous This text is suggesting: if those who have been maderighteous, if those already justified, are still being saved withdifficulty . What does it mean? Well, it s hard going judging yourselfday in and day out, month after month, year after year, unceasinglyjudging yourself. It is even harder to judge others righteously. If thechurch will not judge itself, if judgment does not begin in thehousehold of faith, the question is asked, what hope is there for theungodly and the sinner? Do you realize the contribution the church hasmade to the eternal death of the unbelieving world, by our refusal tojudge ourselves? By the refusal of the church to judge its people, wehave made it increasingly difficult when it is already difficultenough, for the ungodly and the sinners to judge themselves. Seven Illustrations There are sevenillustrations which are extremely consequential. The first is found inLeviticus 9 and 10. God had been meeting His people in a profoundlypowerful fashion, and then two of Aaron s sons wanted to get in on theact. We read, Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took theirrespective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense onit and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commandedthem. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumedthem, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, It iswhat the Lord spoke saying, By those who come near me I will betreated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored. Thesetwo brothers took strange fire. Somebody wants to know, Were theyreally believers? How do I know? They were sons of Aaron and they werein the priesthood. God demands that we all without any exceptions treatHim as holy, and God insists that before all the people we honor theLord. Some present the strangefire of jokes in the pulpit. Some use as illustrations stuff from thetelevision the night before, and while they are there to call peoplefrom the world, they re feeding them the world, when they re supposedto be feeding them the Word of God. Strange fire. God judged Moses for hisloss of self-control. In the last verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 32 weread, The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, go up tothis mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moabopposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving tothe sons of Israel for a possession. Then die on the mountain where youascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died onMount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith withme What did Moses do? God hadsaid to him in the midst of a murmuring people, Speak to the rock (Num. 20:8). But Moses was in an agitated spirit. He let the meanspiritedness and murmuring attitudes of the people touch him. So hegrabbed hold of the rod and whacked the rock, and judgment fell onMoses. In Numbers 20:12 there is a powerful statement about this, andGod said to Moses, At this place, at the Waters of Meribah, where youwere supposed to maintain my holiness before the people, you didn tmaintain it. And now, Moses, I want you to understand, I m going tomaintain it. But I ll maintain it at your expense. People who read thesepassages in Numbers and Deuteronomy ask, Are you suggesting that Moseswent to hell? No, I m not suggesting he went to hell. But that is norelief for anyone who has a change of mind, whose mind-set is the gloryof God. If I steal from the glory of God, that s worse to the believerthan going to hell, because the purpose for my existence has beendefeated when I sin and rob God of His glory. May we have a renewedrealization of our duty to maintain God s holiness before the peopleand to uphold His glory before all, and may our heart be set tomaintain it so that God is not forced to maintain it at our expense.It s time for judgment to begin in the household of faith. The third illustration is inJudges, chapters 13-16 the account of Samson. His birth was announcedby angels. His parents were informed that he was to be a Nazarite fromthe womb, that he was to drink no strong wine, that he was to eat nounclean thing, and that his hair was not to be shaved. We read of timeswhen the Spirit of God came upon him, but most of us remember thatseason in Samson s life when he fooled around with Delilah. Delilahmade him sleep on her knees. She called a man to shave off the sevenlocks of his hair and she said, The Philistines are upon you! He wokefrom his sleep and roused himself, intending to go out and shakehimself as before, but he didn t know the Spirit of the Lord had lefthim. I m afraid lest some preacher here be in that circumstance of notknowing that the Spirit of the Lord has already left him. It is timefor judgment to begin in the household of faith. Place in your mind the storyof Eli and his sons. The priest Eli grew grossly fat by eating thethings his sons were forbidden to touch. Then came that day when he saton his stool and news came that the ark of God had been taken by thePhilistines, and this priest, Eli, fell backward off his stool andbroke his neck There was not a man of his descendants who lived to anyage or who ever occupied that glorious position he held. He didn tjudge himself, and God was forced to judge him. Think of David. There is along account of David in 1 Chronicles, chapters 13 through 17, and thena much shorter account in 2 Samuel, chapter 6, when David sought tobring the ark of God back to Jerusalem. A boy reached up to steady theark when it hit the rough place in the road, and God struck the boydown. David was angry and he called the place Perezuzzah the Lord hasmade a breech on us. Why? Neither David nor the priest had judgedthemselves. David wanted to bring the Ark of God home, but he didn t goto the Scriptures to find out how to do it. Instead of carrying it onthe shoulders of the Kohites, they built a new cart and carried it theway the Philistines did. David did not maintain God sholiness among the people. God had to maintain it at David s expense.David was not struck dead. It was Uzzah. That s one of the amazingthings about God. It may be someone near you who gets struck downbecause of your sin. God may have some higher purpose for you, as hehad for David. A sixth illustration is theKing of Judah, Uzziah. He was 16 years of age when he became king. Inhis early days he did everything right in the sight of the Lord. Godblessed him, and we read, When he became strong, his heart was liftedup with pride. He wouldn t judge himself. God had to judge him. Whenhe was in the Temple misbehaving, doing something he had no right todo, leprosy appeared on his forehead, and his kingly rule was over (2Chron. 26:16-23). Turn to Acts 5 and readafresh the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They agreed together todeceive the Church and the Lord. Brothers and Sisters, it is time forjudgment to begin in the household of faith. It will be with greatdifficulty that we are saved, but if we choose the easy road instead ofthe hard road of holiness, what will happen to the ungodly and sinners?What will happen is happening! They are dying by the millions and apowerless Church under the judgment of God is unable to help them. Is there some area of your life that needs judgment? Let us bow before God and judge ourselves and put away sin.There are many more example fromevery walk of life and every "Christian" organization PeaceMakers hassoughtto bring God's Peace and Reconcilation. Comparethese examples using the "Eight Steps To Complete Forgiveness"and Thomas Watson's The Beatitudes: Peaceableness; Spurgeon'sBlessed are the Peacemakers (links below)billEightSteps To Complete ForgivenessThomasWatson: The BEATITUDES: PeaceablenessREV.C. H. SPURGEON : Blessed are the peacemakers"Jeremiah:The call to genuine repentance (4:1-4) Expositors Bible Commentary: Frank E. GaebeleinThe people's cry of anguish (3:24-25) is nowanswered by the Lord withan assurance of blessing when they do return to him. There is a vastdifference between perfunctory repentance and heartfelt restoration toGod. If Judah would truly repent, it must be to God alone (v.1).Furthermore, they must really rid themselves of their detestablethings, their idols. Evidently they had not yet done this. Moreover, ifthe people will remain steadfast (on their oath in the name of theLord) in the essential qualities of truth, justice, and righteousness,then their example will profoundly affect the nations (v.2). Judah'sconversion will herald blessing for the nations. To swear by God's nameinvolves recognition of him as Lord. Oaths in the name of other godswere not to be sworn by them. When the nations are being blessed, theAbrahamic blessing is being realized (cf. Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4;28:14; see also Isa 2:3; Zech 8:20-23). The very name of Israel willbecome a formula of blessing. 3-4 Jeremiah now uses twofigures to show the nation's need of spiritual renewal: one fromagriculture and the other from physiology. He exhorts the people ofJudah to break up their neglected and untilled hearts, which had becomeas hard as an uncultivated field (v.3). No farmer will sow seed onunplowed ground. So the plow of repentance and obedience was needed toremove the outer layer of weeds and thorns that had resulted fromidolatry. Otherwise, thorns would choke the newly sown seed (Hos10:12). The very foundations of the nation's spiritual life neededtending, even restructuring. Again, Jeremiah calls forrepentance this time under the figure of circumcision (v.4).The hardencrustation on their hearts must be cut away. Nothing less thanremoval of all natural obstacles to the will of God would suffice.Outward ritual must be replaced by inward reality (cf. Deut 10:16; Rom2:28-29). The heart was involved because outward worship was valuelessunless the inner life was given over to God. Their hearts must bespiritually receptive. The only other alternative to obedience was toexperience the fitting wrath of God. Jeremiah everywhere underscoresthe necessity for the new heart as in the prophecy of the new covenant(ch. 31).Page408... Amazingly enough, even at that late hour there wasstillopportunity for repentance. Prophecies of judgment are conditional;obedience to God reverses the threat of judgment. But there must beinner cleansing, even of the thought life, if disaster is to beaverted."Page 411 "Judah'stotal corruption (5:1-31) This chapter revealsJerusalem undermoral investigation. It may be viewed as a theodicy. A superficialreading of the earlier chapters of the prophecy might lead one toconclude that the nation has been charged with all it has been guiltyof. But the depths of her sin against the Lord must be reviewed atlength. The nation must come to a much fuller realization of heringrained sin. The desperately low spiritual state of the nation mustbe brought under the searchlight of God's scrutiny. Moreover, her sinmust be judged in view of her continued refusal to heed the Lord'sgracious calls to repent and so avert disaster. What a tellingportrayal of unrelieved apostasy the chapter gives us! "TheReproaches of the Wicked:Peacemaking Persecution: by Arthur Pink"Throughout thisGospel dispensation, we are to go into allnationsas heralds of the cross, seeking the reconciliation of those who bynatureare at enmity with our Master. Second, this grace of peacemakingsupplementsthe six graces mentioned in the previous verses. Perhaps the fact thatthis is the seventh Beatitude indicates that it was ourLord s intent toteach that it is this attribute that gives completeness or wholeness toChristian character. We must certainly conclude that it is anunspeakableprivilege to be sent forth as ambassadors of peace. Furthermore, thosewho fancy themselves to be Christians, yet have no interest in thesalvationof fellow sinners, are self-deceived. They-possess a defectiveChristianity,and have no right to expect to share in the blessed inheritance of thechildren of God. Third, there is a definite link between this matter ofour being peacemakers and the persecution to which our Master alludesverses 10-12. By mentioning these two aspects of Christian characterexperience side by side in His discourse, Christ is teaching that theoppositionencountered by His disciples in the path of duty is the result of theirfaithfulness in the service to which they have been called. Thus we maybe certain that the peacemaking of our text refers primarily to ourbeinginstruments in God s hands for the purpose of reconciling toHim thosewho are actively engaged in warfare against Him (cf.John 15:17-27)...."The world maydespise them as fanatics, professors ofreligion mayregard them as narrow-minded sectarians, and their relatives may lookthem as fools. But the great God owns them as His children even now,distinguishingthem by tokens of His peculiar regard and causing His Spirit withinto witness to them that they are sons of God. But in the Day to come,will publicly avow His relationship to them in the presence of anassembleduniverse. However humble their present situation in life may be,howeverdespised and misrepresented by their fellow men, they shall yet shineforth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew13:43).Then shall transpire the glorious and long-awaited manifestation of thesons of God (Romans 8:19).""TheGreat Gain of Godliness" Banner of Truth Trustinfo@banneroftruth.orgThomas Watson's exposition of Mal. 3:16-18. In it he aims"to encourage solid piety and confute the atheists of the world,Who imagine there is no gain in godliness." C.H.S. Spurgeon(PM:SolidBiblical Truth for Ted Haggard and us all-Walking in the fear of God) Itis being said that the chiefneed of the Church today is to repent because of its lack ofunity would suggest that before sherepents of her disunity, she must repent of her apostasy.must repent of her perversionof, and substitutes for, the faith once delivered to thesaints. must repent of setting up herown thinking and methods over against the divine revelation in HolyScripture. Herelies the reason for her lackof spiritual power and inability to deliver a living message in thepowerof the Holy Ghosttoworld ready to perish. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones given at the annual meeting of theInter-VarsityFellowship in 1954Malachi 1:6-10 "A son honorshis father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is thehonordue me?Ifa master, where is therespect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, whocontempt for my name."Butyou ask, 'How have we showncontempt for your name?' 7 "You place defiled food on myaltar. "Butyou ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table iscontemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice,is thatnot wrong?Whenyou sacrifice crippled ordiseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to yourgovernor! Wouldhe be pleased with you? Wouldhe accept you?" says the LORD Almighty. 9 "Now implore God togracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he acceptyou?"--says the LORD Almighty.10"Oh, that one of you would shutthe temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on myaltar!I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will acceptno offering from your hands.C. H. SPURGEON: Ezekiel 9:8 THEPERSONS WHO ESCAPED, who could each say, And Iwas left. We are toldthat those were marked for mercy who did sigh and cry forthe abominationsthat were done in the midst thereof. Now, we must be veryparticular aboutthis. It is no word of mine, remember: it is God's word, and thereforeI beg you to hear and weigh it for yourselves.Wedo not read that the devouringsword passed by those quiet people who never did anybody any harm: nomentionis made of such an exemption. Neither does the record say that the Lordsaved those professors who were judicious, and maintained a fair namerepute until death. No; the only people that were saved were those whowere exercised in heart, and that heart-work was of a painful kind:sighed and cried because of abounding sin. They saw it, protestedagainstit, avoided it, and, last of .all, wept over it continually. Wheretestimonyfailed, it remained for them to mourn; retiring from public labors,sat them down and sighed their hearts away because of the evils whichcould not cure; and when they felt that sighing alone would do no good,they took to crying in prayer to God that he would come and put an endto the dreadful ills which brooded over the land. ClickHere to Read Full Sermon CONFLICT:When Relationships Don't WorkWorldwideChallenge-Campus Crusade For Christ:UsingGood for Evil: Good News Magazine WheatonMan Knows How To Keep Peace: Daily Journal QuickRead: Tess; The Pastor's Secretary, Bill Fields in HTML CaseStudies:Alone In The Sanctuary, by Bill Fields inHTML 436K BiblicalEldership:An Urgent Call To Restore Biblical Church Leadership byAlexanderStrauch Menand Women: Equal Yet Different by Alexander StrauchTrue vs FalseChristianity: Clergy/ Church Leader Criminal Sexual Abuse God'sFaithfulness in Afflicting His People by Charles Bridges CAUTION,and others named peacemakers Howwould you know Good from Evil? Isn'tDivorce only for Adultery BeYe NOT Unequally Yoked Pleasedor Not Pleased to dwell with believer-1 Corinthians 7:12-15 AFruitful Sermon on Repentance by John Bradford RevivalsThat Stay, E.M. Bounds TheDevil and the Church: E.M. Bounds WeakerBrothers, Pharisees, and Servants: by Garry Friesen ThatOffends Me!:by Larry Wilson GospelUnity: by John Flavel TheGift and Office of Prophecy TheDoctrine and the Duty of Self-Examination by James Haldane ThouShalt NOT Bare False Witness by Martin Luther BuildingUp VS Gossip: by Matthew Poole TheCarnal Christian by Ernest C. Reisinger BiblicalRepentance: by L.R. Shelton, Jr. TheKneeling Christian by unknown (256K html) TwoTypes of Faith TheLove of the Spirit: C.R. Vaughan TheLove of the Spirit: Dr. M'Crie Doctrineof Repentance by E. C. Wines Tendernessof Spirit: G.D.Watson ChurchDiscipline by Joe Price LordI Agree by Richard Owen Roberts-Roberts SolemnAssembly by Richard Owen Robert-Roberts Backslidingby Richard Owen Roberts-RobertsTrue FellowshipWith True Christians.... BasicPrinciples of Biblical Fellowship AgainstChristians Suing Christians BiblicalFoundations In Peacemaking to Resolving Conflict ChristianCourt: A Biblical Dispute Agreement WeakerBrothers, Pharisees, and Servant: by Garry Friesen ThatOffends Me!:by Larry Wilson WhenShould I Confront Another? EightSteps to Biblical Forgiveness CheckingYour Heart FocusingYour Dispute Whento Meet Recommended:Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church-Church Discipline ProcessOrthodoxPresbyterian Church - Church Discipline process"Againstan elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Themthat sin rebuke before all, thatothers also may fear.I charge {thee}before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observethese things without preferring one before another, doing nothing bypartiality."1 Timothy 5:19-21"Moreover if thybrother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault betweenthee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thybrother.16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may beestablished.17 And if he shall neglect tohear them, tell it unto the church:but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as anheathenman and a publican." Matthew 18:15-17Rev. Paul Crouch, Trinity BroadcastNetwork: It was disturbing to read the homosexual accusationagainst Rev.Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network! What I find eventroublesome is that TBN paid about $425,000 contributor's gifts-God'smoney-tothe accuser rather than bringing the matter before a Church council oreven the secular courts. TBN used the weapons of this worldand didnot trusts God for HIS justice. Even more disquieting are thenumberof people-mostly religious leaders, who, without a Biblical judgmenta Biblical forum, e.g. Church Discipline, came to Rev. Crouch'sdefense,as though Rev. Jim Bakker, Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, among others, haven'tfooledthem before. Evangelical Christians need to realize we are toexerciseGod's principles of dealing with these issues in a Godly, holy process,and render a Godly judgment according to Matthew 18. Stopdefrauding!Stop the Stealing! Stop the gossiping! Stop circling thewagons andget back to God's righteousness and faithful living. Whatarrogancewe have when we take these matters into our own hands, leaving God'sand HIS will. Bill Fields-steward PeaceMakers.netBackTo Topam currently strugglingwith a dispute among brothers in my church; one that I never would havethought would come to pass. It breaks my heart to see two men who wereonce so close break ties and go separate ways. I believe that twobrothersin Christ who claim the Word of God as the ultimate authority can bereconciled. I have heard ofPeacemaker Ministries before butreally know nothing about it, so I decided to search for it on theinternet.In the process, I came across your site, as it is currently the secondhit in the Google search engine I read through your "rebuke" of KenSandeand it only further discouraged me in my hope for reconciliation in mychurch! You are choosing tobe divisive and a horriblewitness to non-believers displaying all the communication youhad with the other group openly on the internet along yourdiscontentmentwith their answer. What a stumbling block you are to people like me whohave never dealt with conflict before and are looking forhelp! Istarted my search in hope of finding answers, but only found moreconfusionand disorders order. The only things I know about your dispute are fromthe information you posted. What you have posteddoes show me love or compassionfor him, but a drive to make your point and show the world that you'reright. Do you honestly believe that you are honoring God bybeingpublicly divisive? Am I to follow your example and make a websiteshowingwhere I disagree with my brothers and believe that they are dishonoringGod by not reconciling? If following your example is what Godwouldwant me to do, then please show me. I want to honor God and help mybrothers.All I see on your website is an example of how to futherdivide thebody of Christ, and in a way for all non-believers to see.Sincerely,Bryan Mosher " bill... "people like me who have neverdealt with conflictbefore and are looking for help" As a self identifiednovice who displays a seriouslack of Biblical understanding I suggest the following: 1 Now when he saw thecrowds, he went up on amountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began toteach them saying: 3"Blessed are the poor inspirit, for theirsis the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those whomourn, forthey will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they willinheritthe earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst forrighteousness,for they will be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful,for theywill be shown mercy. 8Blessed are the pure inheart,for they will see God. 9Blessed are thepeacemakers, for theywill be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who arepersecutedbecause of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11"Blessedare you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kindsof evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, becausegreatis your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted theprophetswho were before you. bill.. If you're done criticizing andopen to learning,please write back for your next lesson, bill Consider this...whydoes God include so many examplesin the Bible, that you seem to refute posting current examples of theissues. bill Bryan Mosher:I agree with you: we can learnmany things fromthe examples God has provided for us in the Bible. However,He hasalso given us specific instructions to not take our current conflictsnon-believers for judgement, but to the church. In your posting, youaccuse Mr. Sande of failingto properly carry out church discipline in line with Matthew 18, whileat the same time, you yourself fail to properly do so.Instead oftaking the matter to the church, you have taken it to the whole world,including non-believers, by posting it on the internet. Youput the matter into the hands of non-believers for judgement.I, having no prior knowledge of the situation, can come across it bysimplysearching the internet, so can any non-believer. Taking thematterto non-believers to judge also stands in opposition to the principles1 Cor. 6:1-8. bill...You did not read it fully...Itook it to hisboard and later to his church and they all failed address the issuesBiblically. Again I note theBible, God's exposure of thebelievers wrongs before the world. God does not present itbeforefor the world for them to be judge, but to be warned. Biblicalpresentationwarns the non-believers, God's Body, those who are "christian"pretendersin danger of hell fire. bill Bryan Mosher:I understand that.You then took the matterto the whole world by posting it on the internet. You addedanotherstep to the process. What are you seekingby posting it on the internet?Are you not seeking that others come to agree with yourposition?Do you desire that I as well as others see that God's Word was nothonoredin the situation? What aboutnon-believers who read your posting?Non-believers will read it. Will they not tend to see Mr.Sande ina negative light as a result of what you wrote? Non-believerspass judgement on him, even if it is only in their minds.Will thatdraw them closer to God or drive them away? What willnon-believers then think about the mannerin which Christians deal with conflict? In unity, or indisorder?The message the posting sends is that not even the Christian"peacemakers"can "get along." This is a terrible way to represent God tothe non-believingworld. This only adds more support to the claim "Christiansare nodifferent than the rest of the world." This may not be yourintentfor posting the information, but that is what it does. bill... You make God's point-those whocall themselves"Christian" and fail their God given responsibilities, look nodifferentthan the rest of the world and God warns them in Matthew 18 to treatas non-believers. bill Bryan ...Yes, God didexpose and judge peoplebefore the whole world in the Bible. Is not He the only onethe authority to do so? Where in the Bibledoes God give us such authority?In Acts, God also judged and put Ananias and Sapphira to death forlying.Should we follow His example in that as well if we encounter anidenticalsituation? bill... Christians are never given theauthority beyond"treating" them as non-believers, thereby removing them from the church.It's beyond time toinvite your elders and thosein conflict as a part of these communications. There are manyspiritualdimensions involved that those mature in the faith will recognize andhow they should respond. Hebrews 13: bill Bryan...As I have been thinking aboutwhat you have said,I realized that I have criticized and accused you before taking theto actually talk with you to see what you have to say. I apologize for that,and ask your forgiveness. I want to honor Godfirst, and criticizing andaccusing do not accomplish that. Thank you for taking thetime totalk with me about this issue. Bryan I offer forgiveness,because I am nothing morethan one whose sins past, present and future are deserving of death andGod's gracious love forgives me such a great debt. Matthew18.bill http://www.peacemakers.net/peace/eight.htmBryan...I have spoken with an elder inthe church, andthe elders in my church are taking care of and have been taking care ofthe situation. I do notwant to add anyoneelse to this communication as I personally have no part in thematter.What I have written to you about is an internal personal struggle I amdealing with, as an outsider looking in. I have come tobetter understandwhat happened, and that the situation is now in God's hands.Thank you for yourtime and your willingness totalk to me. Bryan Then I stronglysuggest your first error was seekingoutside your Church Elders training that is your first responsibilityseek from your Elders. And if I understand this correctly, YOU havetakenan internal issue to the public and exposed your church's internalaffairsbefore others. You need to repent publicly to the Elders,those inconflict, and I would say you are required to confess this sin as amatterof both confession and training before the wholecongregation. Onlywhen the Elders/leadership have steadfastly failed their God givenresponsibilitiesshould you have sought outside help either personally or on behalf ofhome church. This is a very important understanding-you haveexactly what you first accused me of doing! This is a serious breech offaith and responsibility. You now need to have that Eldercontactme and affirm you have made such a confession and that the matter isrightlyunder their God given authority. So you know, if I do nothear fromthat Elder I will contact your churches Spiritual Leadership for theirexercise of their proper Biblical responsibilities. You andChurch continue in my prayers. bill Bill, I allowed my sorrowto lead me into a sinful attitudethat resulted in my initial email to you, and our resulting discussionof your posting. I will speak with the same elder I spokewith previouslyand ask to him to help me resolve this matter. I will alsoask himto contact you to let you know how the matter was resolved. BryanBryan....I spoke with the elder in mychurch, and he toldme that he and the other elders have been taking steps to handle thesituationin a Biblical manner and that there is no need for outside assistancea private matter at this time. Thank you. bill... I will need to hear from theelder himself: Isn'tthis exciting...you wanted to learn peacemaking and now you get topracticein person....bill email sent via JirehBible Church's, Houston TXwebsite: http://www.jirehbiblechurch.org Thank you, I would like aPastor or Elder tocontact me concerning Bryan Mosher.bill@peacemakers.net There has been nofurther communication. TheSpiritually Self-Seeking Church OswaldChambers . . . till we allcome . . . to the measure ofthe stature of the fullness of Christ . . . Ephesians 4:13Reconciliationmeans the restoring of the relationship between the entire human raceGod, putting it back to what God designed it to be. This is what JesusChrist did in redemption. The church ceases to be spiritual when itbecomesself-seeking, only interested in the development of its ownorganization.The reconciliation of the human race according to His plan meansrealizingHim not only in our lives individually, but also in our livescollectively.Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this verypurpose that thecorporate Person of Christ and His church, made up of many members,mightbe brought into being and made known. We are not here to develop aspirituallife of our own, or to enjoy a quiet spiritual retreat. We are here tohave the full realization of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of buildingHis body. Am I building up thebody of Christ, or am I onlyconcerned about my own personal development? The essential thing is mypersonal relationship with Jesus Christ ". . . that I mayknow Him. .." ( Philippians 3:10 ). To fulfill God s perfectdesign for me requiresmy total surrender complete abandonment of myself to Him.Whenever I onlywant things for myself, the relationship is distorted. And I willsuffergreat humiliation once I come to acknowledge and understand that I havenot really been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ Himself, butconcerned with knowing what He has done for me. My goal is GodHimself, not joy nor peace, Noreven blessing, but Himself, my God. Am I measuring mylife by this standard or bysomething less? Bill, on your page:http://peacemakers.net/TedHaggard.html#leaders,the following sentence caught my eye. Can you provide any reference tomaterial that evidences this? My fellowship is not really involved inchurchgrowth per se, but easily refers verysick sheep tothe psycho pros "Years ago the"church growth movement taughtthat "Pastors" should refer sheep needing intense Pastoral care to the"Christian psychololgy Professionals". It is/was a basictenet in "Church Growth" movementlike Willow Creek to the point they brought 12 step programs into theirbuildings and programs. The man who wascalled Bill W. the first alcholicto be ministered to by Reverend Frank N. D. Buchman, the person behindwhat was later called The Oxford Group. The Oxford Group lost it's waywhen they omitted Jesus Christ and HIS work of salvation inorder to appealto the "mankind" having what 2 Timothy 3:5 "having a form of godlinessbut denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." Today's"church"has no understanding of these differences and as blind leading theblind,rather than "have nothing to do with them" they are welcomed andcelebrated. The first generationof these leaders of these"churches" were/are mostly men using the ideas of the world to entice"lost" into the church to win them. When in my experiencesGod says2 Thessalonians 2:10-13 "10 and with all the deceit ofunrighteousnessin those who perish, because they received not the love of the truth,they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall sendthem strongdelusion, that they should believe a lie, 12 that they allmightbe damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure inunrighteousness." Lord, Lord havemercy...bill Hi, I am involved inan on-going reproof of allthe leaders in my local church, hoping that they can repent of settingaside the Truth of God. Steven. Hi Steven...you arein my prayers and before wego any farther I would need to read your repentance and confessionshave brought you to these spiritual truths and application in your ownheart. As you may know there are many who yell and denoucefrom aheart filled with the same on going sins they attack inothers. Peacemakingis filled with those who lash out at sinners from a heart of denouncingrather than an invitation to repentance. Peacemaking is filled withthosewho can teach the words but have not the spiritural insights to applytheir own heart nor walk in God's Light regardless of cost tothemselvesby those who persecute the truth carried by the faithful. It has been myexperience and from the witnesseswho've gone before that Biblical Peacemaking uncovers far more enemiesof God's Truth than wins converts to walking in Christ. Theplaceof Peacemaking in the sermon on the mount is no accident, one mustbeginin their own spiritual journey and progress through each beattitude inspiritual growth to be a brother in Christ who can endure the realitysevere persecution awaits them. I have no doubt thatorganizations who are quitepopular "peacemaking" teachers and leaders are more likely corruptleadingmany astray of God's Blessings, and dine with the unrepentant sinner asa friend and brother. I was in near thevery beginning of the modernattempt titled Christian Conflict Resolution that led to many callingthemselves"peacemakers". And when the Holy Spirit uncovered their sin,became vicious dogs cloaked in scripture. You do not want towith God in this domain-HE will reveal your heart to the world as HEno tolerance for those who profess spiritual maturity and leadershiphave no heart to feed HIS sheep. I have not read yourmaterial yet and will waituntil I can hear your heart directly from you. ......Bill, inaddition to being truly amazedat your requiring response, I am very thankful for it. Such a responseis precious and rare. Others have been after me for some time now tomy testimony down on paper yet I have pretty much ignored them. Yourspeakinghas allowed the Lord to draw the line for me, and I thank you for it.will take some time to put my history of repentance and confession downon paper. It is clear to me now that I must begin work on it.I appreciate yourprayer in that regard. I havealso copied others on this reply to whom I have been trying to holdmyselfaccountable. This sentence ofyours is on my heart each day:HE has no tolerance for those who profess spiritual maturity andleadershipthat have no heart to feed HIS sheep. Expect to hear backfrom me in the near future. A fellow soldier ofChrist Jesus. Jeff Miller LEADPASTOR (jeff@clearview-church.org)Clearview Church, BloomingtonIL 61701 Pastor MillerI regret to informyou that PeaceMakers has beenmade aware that a person saying they are a part of your congregationmade a serious statement that there is/are women in your midst thatbared their breast and have held other women's breast as a greeting orshow of some group identity. We are seeking the identity of the personmaking those statements but since there is now a police report ofsexualassualt/harassment and/or sexual abuse against that person, we may notbe able to identify and report the person(s) needing your Eldershelp. Please help usunderstand your procedures shouldthe person the subject of the attack we willing to give witness to theperson's identity and behaviors, as to how to proceed. You are all in ourprayers PeaceMakers.net There was noresponse: A police reportwas filed for sexual violation in which Clearview Church of BloomingtonIL was identified by the assaliant as their church and is now publicrecord. Biblical Repentance v.More of the same sinI have just readthrough your "8 Steps" article (EightSteps to Biblical Forgiveness), butI am still unlcear how to handle thesituation I have hadconfessed to me. It involves a singlewoman in her mid-thirtiesliving on her own that has broken off a sexualrelationship she has hadwith an unmarried pastor. She refuses to confide in herfather and thepastor is still serving as a teaching pastor.They live in separatestates. She told me thatbecause she has confessed hersin to God and some people that know her and this pastorthat her confessionis complete. She also said she has repented and isnow being restored. I'm unclear, basedupon your "8 steps", whetheror not if she still needs to confess to her father, themain pastor ofthe unmarried pastors church, the elders in her church, etc.Also, I'm not clearon the process of restititutionis or what should be in this situation and if truereconciliationcan proceed without the elders of your church beinginvolved in thatprocess or the authority of a parent especially when asingle person is involved. Your Biblical counselis much needed and prayerfullysought. Thanks, --------------------------------Blessings ______, youare walking the often lonelyfoot steps of Christ... Here are the Biblicalprinciples and resultantsteps of faith for the True Christian. Every person within alocal church is to be insubmission to the oversight and biblical teachings and accounting ofChurch's Elders. Heb. 13. for added emphasisHebrews 13:17 Obeyyour leaders and submit totheir authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give anaccount.Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for thatwouldbe of no advantage to you. NIV Therefore each partyeither voluntarily goes withyour witness and confesses before their authority or you go withoutthem. 2 Corinthians7: for added emphasis 2 Corinthians 7:9-129 Now I rejoice, not thatye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye weresorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us innothing.10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repentedof: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold thisselfsamething, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wroughtin you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea,fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! Inall things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in thismatter. True repentance isvery clear and easy to seeand willing to do all possible to not sin again, not cast clouds onChrist,His Body the Church, etc. A degree of reluctance can benormal butwill be quickly overcome (the same session) with clear Biblicalinstructionon this passage. Any further reluctance is grounds to proceed withoutthem. Crossing state lines,city limits, other congregationsdoes not alter the Biblical truths, on the contrary, it must assurea confession is made, to all in Biblical authority; therefore herfather,her elders, her pastor, his pastor. I don't care whatshe/he said or says, if it'snot in line with the Scriptures it's a continuation of the heart/fleshsins that led to their abomination. Paul is very clear Godly Sorrowleadsto a full clearing of the matter and opens the gates for those inSpiritualauthority to assist and keep watch that it's not repeated and bringsreputeupon Christ's name nor grieves the Holy Spirit. OK that was the easypart:sigh The realtest for you will likely come uponyou by those who profess Christ and sit in the seat of authority whodon'tknow these principles, nor practice them, don't know how to discipledon't have the time to walk with her/him in their daily walk and keepclosewatch over them-if that's true then they will turn on you in all mannerof ways that upbraids you and your actions. Here's the testof trueGodly Leadership-they will first weep at their failure to know and carefor these two. They will bless you for following in Christ'sinstructions.They will repent to he/him of their failure as those who must give anaccount.They will gird their loins for spiritual battle and ask for your helpprayers.They will confess their own sins before the congregation intheirfailure of spiritual leadership. They will preach sermons that setforththese spiritual truths and how they will be excercised within theircongregation.If she/he is unrepentant they will announce a period of shunning withinstrurutionsin hopes she/he will repent. Upon Biblical repentance with Godly sorrowthey will celebrate the lost sheep's return and make promise to walkworthyof God's calling in their life. I will tell you, I'venever seen this happen. If her father is aChristian he will follow theabove pattern set forth in Scripture. If he is not a Christian, you mayexplain these teachings and your Christian love and responsibility forher. You all are in ourprayers, remembering our confessionsof failure and thanking God for Christ's witness and the disciplinehurt for a while that increased our love for our Heavenly Father andnew light in to redemption, mercy, grace, to sinners such aswe.Amen and Amen BUSINESSVS MINISTRY/CHURCHFirst Contact Email:I got one emailaddress from your website, theother from Dave Treadwell s email below. Here is anoutline of theissue. Hopefully it will help a potential facilitatorunderstandbefore s/he calls me. XYZ has been on Lightof Life s staff for XX years.He s held many positions and was an important steadyinginfluence in themidst of some chaotic times. When I arrived in YYYY, he wasservingas XXXXX and held that position until YYYY, when I hired anewBBBBB and XYZ moved to a newly created position of RRRRRRR..At that time, we bothunderstood that it was atemporary position, though neither of us set any dates. LastsummerI started to share with XYZ that the work assigned him was windingdown,and that we had to start talking about his transition out of Light ofLife.Last YYYY we agreed that he would resign on YY/YY/YY, but that he wouldnot have to work after YY/YY/YY (he would be paid for YY, YY and YYwithoutshowing up). This agreement took the form of a letter ofresignationfrom him requesting the 3 months of pay without work and my letter toagreeing to the request. Now his wife ispressing him to demand 9 month sseverance (to start YY/YY/YY) because he is being pushed out.(a former staff member herself) is telling him they (both of them) havesacrificed too much for too long. I asked XYZ if we would behavingthis conversation if he already had a job lined up. He saidwe absolutelywould. For QUE, it is a matter of principle, thoughI m sure it salso a matter of security. I ve toldhim he has put me in a difficult position.This should have been dealt with last YY when we negotiated theseparation.If there are any changes, we now have to write legal documents thatspeakof full and final agreement . I could simply sayno we have an agreement inwriting. I did not lay him off, saying there was no longer afor a XXXXX, because I wanted to offer him the chance to leave on hisown terms . The risk of saying no is the problemswe could have withother long-term staff, some of whom still feel I m cleaninghouse and theywill be next. I could agree to therequest. But I couldhave sent him on his way with a one year severance when I found a newBBBB.It would have cost the Mission less if it had been handled thatway.But, I didn t do so to save XYZ the embarrassment of beinglet go harshlyafter all those years of service. Furthermore, I mconcerned aboutsetting precedence negotiating twice atseparation or other long term staffmembers offering to resign in exchange for severance. I want to do the right thing and let God handlethe consequences. But I m not sure what the rightthing is. David G.Bugher Executive DirectorLight of Life RescueMission I am the Light of theworld... In me you will have abundantLife -Jesus --------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: DavidTreadwell Sent: Sunday, April 06, 20088:17 PM To: mail@peacemaker.netCc: Bugher, DavidSubject: ConciliationAssistance Greetings.Our sister mission in Pittsburg,Light of Life Mission, is looking for assistance with a Christianconciliationeffort in the personnel/employment field. Could you please recommendor more facilitators they can contact for assistance?I ve sharedour positive experiences with Ron Zabel and believe this is a situationwhere conciliation has a great opportunity for the parties to honor theLord. The contact isExecutive Director David Bugher,email above, (412) 258-6150. Thanks and blessings, DaveDavid O. TreadwellExecutive DirectorCentral Union MissionWashington, DC 20009 PMI: ResponsePlease forward XYZ's fullname, email addressand phone number..thank you, steward@peacemakers.netContact informationXYZ was received: PMI: I have not heard back fromXYZ...so I will speakto you in terms of what came to mind in the values I hear in yourinformationand desire. Only God knows what you are saying, I'm sharing from whobeen and heard in all my years of ministry, corporate turn aroundprofessional,managing ministries and secular business. I can not speak to thedetailsspecific to your immediate situation.1. You are a ministryNOT a business. Your questionis a business choice. 2. XYZ made thisministry succeed to thispoint-if not for him there would be no question. 3. XYZ hiswife gave their life forthis ministry. 4. Even the business military world wouldrecognize their service and sacrifice and provide a pension and healthbenefits. 5. XYZ and his wifeare brothers and sistersin Christ having needs-you should choose accordingly. 6. You are reaping the rewardsof their sacrifice-in28 years how would you like to be treated? 7. Caring for XYZand his wife IS ministry 8. What lessons do you wantthose whom you chooseto minister to learn from how you treat XYZ and his wife?9. XYZ and his wifeare children of ourLiving God-if I talk to you like this, what do you think God's going tosay about your treatment of XYZ and his wife? 10. What reputation do youwant in your own heart,your community, in God's record of your choice? 11. The perceivedfailings/sins, (if I'm on target)started in the HQs of your group and needs to corrected there first.12. If you are humbled beforeGod with thesestatement, don't expect HQ to be-they picked you and they talk sweetlyto you until they (they now, they future) need to throw you away for abetter "leader". 13. If HQ is humbled, you arepart of a miracle-it'salmost never happens. 14. If HQ is not humbled, getout now beforeyou risk your sanity, your faith, your family. 15. If you think thesethoughts are absurd, putthis in a safe place and write me in five years, because the samedynamicsthat brought you to this point with XYZ , will then be an ax over yourhead. you are all in myprayers, bill fields Bill,Rather than continueone-way communication byresponding to your email, I would like to talk. Would you bewillingto call my cell (xxx-xxx-xxxx) or give me a number I cancall? Two-waycommunication is always better especially in this case. David PMI: If we talk one to one therules are I will onlytalk about you and the Biblical application to you. Otherwise it's withwitnesses. Please let me know if this is acceptable, bill i agree not to talkabout the specificcase.I may have read a lotinto your last email thatyou did not intend. It seemed to me that you drew manyconclusionsbased on many assumptions. You said you could notspeak to the detailsspecific to our immediate situation , but then did exactlythat.Maybe I misunderstood your intentions. My concern, based onthe above,is whether Peacemakers would be of any help in this circumstance.David G.Bugher Executive DirectorLight of Life RescueMission Yes, that's why wehave witnesses. As towhether I'm able to help you, it seems the answer is no. My intentionto state to you what is very common in what calls itself "ministry."presentation is classic. I presented God's Word and the heart of Godlyministry and you didn't seem to hear it. If XYZ ever contacts me I willdo the same with his side of the table. Let me explain theBiblicaldefinition of Peacemaking, it's the establishment or re-establishmentGodliness. I'm not interviewing for a job-I don't care if you hire menot-I care I present Godliness and how God expects Christiansbehave-how did you miss that? How did you possibly read into myresponseanything more? And remember, I spoke to the details you presented onside of the table-how does that raise your concerns? This last emailconfirms that I will not talkwith you nor anyone else without witnesses, you're in myprayers,bill LAST COMMUNICATION. to date:Hebrews 13:17"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for theywatch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may doit with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable foryou."Your email with this information will be read and appropriatelyrespondedto.

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