"Manner Matter"

"He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?" (John 13:25 KJV)

  "In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly." (Romans 12:6-8 NLT)

 Talk about conviction, my heart was feeling it yesterday morning, as Pastor Bryan was teaching on that portion of Scripture that takes us to the mat over our conversations and complaints about the abuses and bad actions of our governments: 1 Peter 2:11-17. How much I realized my misunderstanding and my faults for having certain complaints; if there is more concern in my heart for the way things are going, than the actual way things will be, according to God's Holy Scriptures! 

 What that means, is that we become the ones that get scoffed at, when it really should be the other way around! Seriously, what is God doing with all of the wicked things people do? He scoffs at them, knowing what shall be and where those that do wickedness, without repenting, shall end up. 

 To be honest, I felt somewhat ashamed for my previous actions, conversations, and hard heart towards those who I believed took hold of the last Presidential Election. It was not something that was done without God allowing it to happen! Once you can clearly see that, you can more plainly see the truth; no matter how exposed the whole matter was, it was still mysteriously accepted and put in place. 

 Now we have a new situation, somewhat weird and seemingly out of the normal line of justice. If you think about it, there are quite a few things that are going on right now that seem to be turning the page towards God's prophecy of things to come. We should embrace that which will be, because God is on the Throne! Even though things seem under full control of the devil and his demons, God still has the last word! 

 The church will survive! We must be as submissive to the ordnances of man, as we can; unless we are told to quit sharing about Jesus or having fellowship with one another, we should be a good testimony for Christ! We must not give anyone the opportunity to call us evildoers, but if we are to suffer any punishment, it needs to be for doing good! 

 The gifts that God has given us are for the betterment of the Good News! Bad news is not our deal! Man, can anyone give an Amen? If that doesn't convict me, nothing else will...

"He never sinned, nor even deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls." (1 Peter 2:22-25 NLT)