Cancel not! Rather Bear All Things, Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Persecute You!
MESSAGE SUMMARY: On Ash Wednesday we are invited to the observance of a Holy Lent. It is meant to include self-examination and repentance. We do not hear much about repentance.
Here is a challenge. With the help of the Holy Spirit, examine how you respond to others who disagree with you. Examine not the content of the argument or disagreement. Examine your response. For we live in age where the culture teaches us to part...
Cancel not! Rather Bear All Things, Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Persecute You!
MESSAGE SUMMARY: On Ash Wednesday we are invited to the observance of a Holy Lent. It is meant to include self-examination and repentance. We do not hear much about repentance.
Here is a challenge. With the help of the Holy Spirit, examine how you respond to others who disagree with you. Examine not the content of the argument or disagreement. Examine your response. For we live in age where the culture teaches us to part ways, disassociate, and unfriend. The Cancel Culture is making its way into the life of all American churches in all denominations.
So what if we have different opinions about vaccines, masks, homeschooling or the new store up the road. Are peacemakers meant to cancel others? Jesus followers are given the Holy Spirit precisely to make us more like Jesus, to think more like Jesus. How would Jesus respond? With love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Doesn’t the love of Jesus always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere? We are to love our neighbor as ourself! We can’t control how others respond. We can control how we respond. Canceling ought not be the response of the Jesus follower. If we are meant to deliver good news, cancelling, unfriending, and disassociation cannot be on the table.
You are invited to a Holy Lent, to self-examination and repentance.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Most merciful God I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I might delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Self-Centeredness. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Galatians 5:22-26, I Corinthians 13:4-7, Mark 12:28-34
A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org.
THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Am I Ready to Pray? (Bude, Cornwall, UK)”, at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/
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