{"id":1581,"date":"2020-09-03T17:32:33","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T16:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2020-09-03T17:32:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T16:32:36","slug":"message-from-the-minister-letter-14-sunday-6-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/?p=1581","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Minister Letter 14 &#8211; Sunday 6 September"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sunday 6<sup>th<\/sup> September 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear\nall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nhope and pray that this letter finds you well.&nbsp;\nThe issue of sin is never an attractive subject to preach on or one that\npeople readily want to hear about.&nbsp;\nHowever, it is important because as humans we all sin and make mistakes\nin our lives.&nbsp; The issue is how we deal\nwith the sin in the first place and then how we move on ensuring that we don\u2019t\nmake the same mistake again.&nbsp; This is\nnever easy.&nbsp; I was once told by another\npreacher that if you\u2019re invited to a church to preach and you preach on sin you\nwon\u2019t be invited back!&nbsp; That\u2019s because we\ndon\u2019t like to be reminded that we are sinners and all sin, we prefer sermons\nthat make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, this though is not always\npossible.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\nweek, in Matthew 18: 15-20, Jesus continues to instruct the disciples.&nbsp; This particular passage forms part of a block\nof teaching which concerns the relationship between Jesus\u2019 followers who are seen\nas a distinct community. The verses 15-20, deal with sin in the church.&nbsp; It is thought that these verses were\noriginally separated but have now been amalgamated; the key element however is\nthe overall meaning of them.&nbsp; Resolving\nissues in the church both gently and carefully concerns both speaking and\nlistening to the people involved.&nbsp;\nListening is very important, often in cases where there is a dispute we\nhear gossip or things said which aren\u2019t always true.&nbsp; Therefore seeking clarity from the person or\npeople involved can help the situation to ensure the right facts are presented\nbefore any kind of judgment is made.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nanother member of the church sins against you, we are instructed to go and\nspeak to them about it when they are alone.&nbsp;\nIn some versions the phrase \u2018against you\u2019 is not present so it\u2019s a\ngeneral sin rather than a personal matter against you.&nbsp; Either way the recommended course of action\nis having a quiet word with the person one on one.&nbsp; This is both wise and practical.&nbsp; However, if one feels the other person is not\nlistening it is then and only then that we are advised to get another person,\nor people if appropriate, involved.&nbsp; This\nis in order to establish an accurate record and agreement of what has taken\nplace.&nbsp; If this step does not resolve the\nissue the matter is to be raised with the wider church, however, one would hope\nthe matter which not develop this far.&nbsp;\nThe key element of the passage is that the person would listen to the\nadvice of others in the church and repent of their actions.&nbsp; There is a lesson in here for all of us, we\nmust ensure that we listen and are open to the views of others.&nbsp; Secondly, if there is a dispute and a sin has\ntaken place for the matter to be resolved in a careful and pastoral manner so\nthat the person concerned may realise their mistake, repent of their sin and\neveryone would be able to move on.&nbsp; We\nmust all recognise we make mistakes and be humble enough to repent to other\npeople and God when necessary. Praise God that He has made a way to be forgiven\nfrom sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May\nthe Lord Jesus Christ; who died for our sins, bless us now and always, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunday 6th September 2020 Dear all, I hope and pray that this letter finds you well.&nbsp; The issue of sin is never an attractive subject to preach on or one that people readily want to hear about.&nbsp; However, it is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1582,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1581\/revisions\/1582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}