Our Lord, spoke on the subject of “reconciliation,” and its importance!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Reconciliation
Bible Questions Answered:
“... I haven't talked with my sister
for almost 20 years. We jointly had started and run a business
together. Her husbands job moved to another state, so she had to sell
out to me her share of the business. So I bought her out, she said I
robbed her blind, but I gave her an honest amount, for her share. All
these years there's been bad blood between us....”
Sharon/ Columbus, Ohio United States
Bible Answer:
Our Lord, spoke on the subject of “reconciliation,” and its importance!
Our Lord, spoke on the subject of “reconciliation,” and its importance!
Matthew 5:23,24 NLT
23 “...if you are presenting a
sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that
someone has something against you,
24 leave your sacrifice there at the
altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and
offer your sacrifice to God.
This old pastor remembers well, how
that churches used to have what were called “reconciliation
services.”
Yes, it was just as you think. These
meetings were worship services, where no message was given, instead,
men and women, stood, to tell everyone... “Mr. Swanson, I am asking
The Lord, and you to forgive me, because I have said some bad things
that I know were not true about you, please forgive me.” So Mr.
Anderson confessed, and oft, and as should be, the individual, in
the church would walk right over to the person and give their
confession.
Did you think this happened just
between grown men, then think again, for many were the times, women
weeping real sobs of regret before The Lord, openly and honestly
confessed the wrongs they had done to another present at the meeting,
and with real sorrow begged for their forgiveness.
This all dear friends, regrettably, is now, a world
away. Oh how the wiley one has deceived and robbed the church of the
precious Lord Jesus Christ, of its spiritual power and victory!
What days of cleansing and spiritual
victory those days were, they brought people together, and we all
knew one thing for sure, we needed The Lord, all of us.
Reconciliation, yes, Jesus said it was
more important to get that settled than to bring an offering to the
house of The Lord!
I John 3:18-22 NLT
18 Dear children, let’s not merely
say that we love each other; let us show The Truth by our actions.
19 Our actions will show that we
belong to The Truth, so we will be confident when we stand before
God.
20 Even if we feel guilty, God is
greater than our feelings, and He knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if we don’t feel
guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.
22 And we will receive from Him
whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please
Him.
Dissension, can "block," our prayer life!
Matthew 18:15-17 NLT
15 “If another believer sins
against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other
person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.
16 But if you are unsuccessful, take
one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you
say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
17 If the person still refuses to
listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t
accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a
corrupt tax collector.
Philippians 2:3
KJV
Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better
than themselves.
II Timothy 2:24
KJV
And the servant of The Lord must not
strive; but be gentle unto all men..."
Our wonderful
living God, praise His name, believed and believes in reconciliation!
Romans 5:10,11
NLT
10 For since our friendship with God
was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies,
we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son.
11 So now we can rejoice in our
wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has
made us friends of God.
II Corinthians
5:18-21 NLT
18 And all of this is A Gift From
God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given
us this task of reconciling people to Him.
19 For God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins
against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of
reconciliation.
20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors;
God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we
plead, “Come back to God!”
21 For God made Christ, who never
sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made
right with God through Christ.
Colossians
1:19-22 NLT
19 For God in all His fullness was
pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through Him God reconciled
everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on
earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21 This includes you who were once
far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your
evil thoughts and actions.
22 Yet now He has reconciled you to
Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a
result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy
and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.
Hebrews 2:17 KJV
Wherefore in all
things it behoved Him (The Lord Jesus Christ) to be made like unto
His brethren, that He might be a Merciful and Faithful High
Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people.
Do you know this Wonderful Savior, who made it possible for us to be reconciled to
God?
Acts 4:12 KJV
Neither is there salvation in any
other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.