Pastor Brandon's Blog

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The unity of the body of Christ is at the heart of Paul’s exhortation to the church. In doing so, he appealed to non-negotiable truths of the Christian walk. As believers, we should always be encouraged in Christ, finding great comfort in our love for one another, and enjoying relationships which are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We must realize that our ministry resources are precious; therefore, we need to focus on our Lord’s prerogatives, not ours. Said another way, when we align our priorities with the Lord’s, we can expect the church to accomplish its mission. As such, we assure the church is functioning as God intends. This assurance underscores the importance of developing and following a biblical POM which provides a summary of the biblical prerogatives, which will cause the people of God – the church – to flourish.

When we set the agenda, we become just like the world. Our churches lose their transcendence. Our Sunday meetings become no different than a Lion’s or Rotary Club meeting. Our acts of kindness become empty attempts to please some far away deity. However, when we look to the One who bought the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28), then our churches become a statement to the angelic realm that Christ has defeated His enemies through His death and resurrection—now that is powerful!

Therefore, we must learn to react to one another in gentleness treating the other person with Christlike love especially when they hurt us. We must also bear with them in patience especially when they have wronged us. Loving and bearing with others is easy when they love us back, but very difficult when we experience trouble with them. In doing these things, we must be humble and understand that we too sin and fall short of the glory of God.

We all know people whom we find it difficult to be around much less love and have true Christian fellowship. We all have people who hurt us deeply with their words and even their actions. Some choose to flee these difficult situations by leaving the church. While there are times when we may choose to leave for good reasons including our safety, in many situations, we leave for selfish motives choosing not to pursue forgiveness and reconciliation. Therefore, we forfeit amazing opportunities to be more established in Christ and His church.