Sufficient Self's Bible Study Group

[Beekissed]

Shiloh, I'm so glad that things are happening for you on that matter. I too am always amazed why I forget that God is watching and cares and intervenes on my behalf time and again. It is still good to be able to see it all in action and know it once again, isn't it? The Lord is good.

 

[savingdogs]

He heard our prayers for you all!

 

[bambi]

Topic: judgment. We have been reading about SA and what is happening to her with her boss and owed money to you. The bible talks to us about judment but also how we should avoid corruption in in the church. To me your church is being corrupted or is it being tested? If she is stealing from you what is happening to your church? I am praying that you will be directed in the right direction. Sorry I am not putting my words just like I want but having a hard time expressing what I am thinking

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Topic: judgment. We have been reading about SA and what is happening to her with her boss and owed money to you. The bible talks to us about judment but also how we should avoid corruption in in the church. To me your church is being corrupted or is it being tested? If she is stealing from you what is happening to your church? I am praying that you will be directed in the right direction. Sorry I am not putting my words just like I want but having a hard time expressing what I am thinking

I haven't participated in this thread, I don't think, but have perused on occassion. Only reason I'm commenting now is because of the Topic Judgement.

When God says we are not to judge, it's His to judge, I personally believe He's talking about Heaven. None of us can pass honest judgement on whether the person next to us is guarenteed Heaven or not. Only God knows.

Now, when there is obvious sin in a church - well, fact is fact - it's NOT judging them to say to them, "hey, this is not of God at all, so we need to work this out and get you/me/the congregation/the situation/ back on track with God so that we're not putting our chance of heaven at risk.

The bible is very black and white about sin and God even gives steps as to what to do when we know someone is deep in sin. We're supposed to help them turn away from the sin, and to help them live their life for Christ.

This is NOT judging - it's guiding.

I've personally felt like a lot of our churches are too afraid to approach their members in regards to factual sins for fear of being "guilty of judging". Fact is fact, and if you know something wrong was done, it's NOT judging when it's obvious sin.

 

[Dace]

Well said Quail

CONGRATS to both Bee and Shiloh......I am so happy the God is showing himself to you!

Shiloh, I like you journal idea! I spend some time every night thanking God, in prayer, for every little thing that was positive in my day. It is truly amazing how grateful you become when you take the time to think about and give thanks for all of the wonderful things that happen in a single day! everything from the kindness of a friend who called out of the blue, to finding an extra few dollars in your wallet when a child needs a few dollars for school to the ability to prepare a nice meal for the family....whatever it is I give thanks and it feels awesome!

 

[bambi]

Well said Quail, I can't help thinking what would I do in this case and there are many cases of this. How does this effect the church when we don't help our brothers and sisters of our church when they are sinning and this is what this person has done to Shiloh. I know we are all sinners but when someone is sinning we are to help them not judge them but do we continue to allow them to sin and turn our back on the sin? how does this help them? Please understand that I am not judging I am trying to understand. This happens in many churches and yes they usually get caught but trying to understand how when we are put in this situation how are we to respond. Shiloh I in no means judging you I hope you don't mind me using your story to help put this in a topic. Please forgive me if I cause you any hurt. I really admire you for the way you are handling this.

 

[bambi]

Good news, Mathew is out of surgery and the medical staff felt it went well. He is still on the ventilator and was on the ventilator when he went in to surgery. Doctor's did not give much hope when they did surgery but he made it. Thank you for all of your prayers. Don't you just love it when God gives us a miracle. Now the critical time will be the next 48hrs but I am feeling so good about it.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I think when members of the church are sinning, and other members know that there is sin happening, and no one does anything to help the people to turn from their sin, then the Church doesn't grow.

 

[Denim Deb]

I know of several churches in this area that are no longer in existence. Why? Because at least one of the leaders was sinning. And, no one wanted to make waves, so nothing was said. God will not bless in that situation. In fact, just the opposite. Look in Joshua at the battle of AI. The Israelites lost that battle for 3 reasons:

1. They didn't seek God's guidance. Instead, they thought they knew what they were doing, so they didn't pray. They just went ahead and did what they thought was right.

2. They depended on a past victory. Just because you may have been able to overcome a problem in the past, it doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to overcome a similar problem in the future.

3. There was sin in the camp. It wasn't until after they were defeated that they went to God in prayer, and they found their problem.

 

[rebecca100]

Totally off the subject, but dh just called from work. He got a promotion and a RAISE! That is good, but the really good news is that in the next couple of months he will have weekends off. I have been really praying for that. He works every Sunday. I have been praying that the Lord will give him a job where he can go to church and become a better Christian. When that happens he will also start getting paid salary which is a BIG raise. Maybe things will start coming together for us. I would appreciate any prayers for the Sunday thing as we have all been really going off track about going to church and haven't found one we have liked since we came back home.