Matthew 18 – verses 15-35<\/p>\n
How to handle adversity in our Christian life:<\/p>\n
Step one: We should always go to the person that offended us and explain it to them in private.\u00a0 \u201cTell him his fault.\u201d \u00a0Why do we need to do this?\u00a0 We do this for clarification and understanding.\u00a0 There are too many times when a situation is explained it resolves itself through clarification.<\/p>\n
Step two: We need to bring someone with us.\u00a0 We bring someone else with us for deeper understanding and clarification of the situation.\u00a0 Many times another person\u2019s view will help clear up the matter.\u00a0 However, if it is not settled there are witnesses to what was said and explained.<\/p>\n
Step three: Take the matter before the church.\u00a0 I believe this is a church board and not a voting matter before the congregation.\u00a0 The goal is always to bring reconciliation and forgiveness.\u00a0 The verses about not taking your brother to court had the church counsel in mind when written.\u00a0 The matter is laid before spiritual church elders and the resolution determined by them is accepted by both parties as the will of God.\u00a0 God intended for church authority to be carried out in our lives.\u00a0 It is frustrating that everyone now believes they are islands of self-governing worship that is carried out by how they feel emotionally or have been spoken to by a feeling.\u00a0 We are called to surrender one to another and to the authority of God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
Step four: If the person does not receive the understanding they are placed outside the body of the local church.\u00a0 This does not mean much today \u2013 we just drive to a new location \u2013 but in the Bible days when you were not right with the church you were not right with God.<\/p>\n
Jesus confirms that among the two or three witnesses He is in the decision.\u00a0 This is what this verse is talking about when it states that Christ is in the middle of two or three people.\u00a0 God declares that this process is His process and when it occurs biblically He endorses the outcome.<\/p>\n
The rest of the chapter talks about forgiveness.\u00a0 Why is it in this order?\u00a0 Because when a person repents we are to receive them back.\u00a0 We are to forgive them over and over and over and over and over again and again.<\/p>\n
The above process is to get believers back in fellowship with God and the Church.\u00a0 You could not be outside the local New Testament Church and be okay.\u00a0 There was never a view of \u2018I worship in my own way\u2019, it was always a community of believers.\u00a0 Your church life is important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1423,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}