Monday, December 1, 2008

john 3: 17-21

John 3
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."


Relevant reading and verses
Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
Romans 14:3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
John 12:47 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.
Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
James 4:11-13 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
James 5:9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Matthew 18:21-23 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Homework:
1.Who do you need to stop CONDEMNING
2.Who do you need to FORGIVE
3.Who do you need to CONFRONT with love
4.Who do you need to forgive 7 times 70
5.Ask God for help!



Johnny eight [modernized redux]

Jesus went to Ashland Ohio. At 10:30am he appeared at 5 stones community church, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
But then things got interrupted. A group barged in suddenly with their own agenda. These were the professors and the fundamentalists who brought in a person caught in the very act of a sexual sin [but it could have been: lying; cheating; stealing; drinking too much; gluttony; gossip and slander; disobeying parents; being judgmental; lazy; addicted to meth; etc you pick the sin].
They made her stand before the church ½ naked wrapped in a bed-sheet and said to Jesus, “preacherman, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. In the Old Testament law Moses commanded us to stone such women to death. Now what do you say?" [uh oh…what’s Jesus gonna do?]
They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus just started to write on the whiteboard with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and sneered to them,
"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
Again he wrote on the whiteboard. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you,"
Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your sin.“
And then all the protest signs came down; and the negative petitions; and the slandering blogs-talk-radio-spam stopped being sent. And the crowd that was so focused on holiness finally learned to be truly holy by learning that love, grace, and forgiveness are a part of holiness. And people learned to confront each other with truth THROUGH love instead of accusation, judgment, and abandonment. Or at least that what should have happened….

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