Berry Patch Devotions in 2023 - Day 158
Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from the group Maverick City Music singing … I Thank God … powerfully singing of how God reaches out to convict and restore a wayward sinner with His relentless love and grace.
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Highlight Passage: … Matthew 18:15 [NLT] …
15 “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back..
… Jesus instructs His disciples (and His church) how to bring forgiveness and restoration of another who wanders from the faith and sins against a fellow believer.
Highlight Passage (Context): … Matthew 18:15-22 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus provides God’s plan - in His church - for the restoration of one who sins against a fellow believer. .
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Reference Passage: … Matthew 18:21-22 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter asks Jesus how often one must reach out to forgive a fellow believer who comes asking forgiveness for a sin against a fellow Christians; and Jesus teaches … FOREVER.
Reference Passage: … Galatians 6:1-2 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, exhorts Christians to reach out and do all they (we) can to restore another believer revealed in sin.
Reference Passage: … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] …
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
… Paul’s confidence that God is relentlessly and perpetually working to restore and remake Christians into the image of Christ.
Reference Passage: … James 5:19-20 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… James teaches and exhorts fellow Christians to reach out and be used by God to restore fellow Christians who wander from the faith.
Reference Passage: … 1Peter 4:8 [NLT] …
8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
… Peter exhorts fellow Christians to continually show the love of Christ to follow Christians, … the love which covers a multitude of sins.
My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Marvin Williams… AT THIS LINK … wrote about a tsunami in 2010 in Indonesia which killed over 400 people which could have been avoided or improved if the system of warning buoys (see photo) had not been damaged with the buoys becoming disconnected and unavailable for the warning system. .
Jesus instructed His disciples and His church, in the Highlight and reference passages above for His followers to bring forgiveness and restoration when believers uncover sin in the Church. But the Matthew 18 system will not work if God’s people don’t reach out with the love of Christ to forgive and bring restoration for the sinner. And I pray today that any of us who perceive sin being perpetrated in the body of Christ to reach out in love and help the sinner to come back and be forgiven and restored by God’s grace in HIs Church.
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh, Abba Father, thank You, King Jesus, … for showing Your body how to reach out in love to help fellow believers who wander into sin.
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me, … to reach out and help fellow Christians when we see them wander into sin and away from the faith. … AMEN
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Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
1 comment:
Amen!
Kjetil!-
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