Dear Friends, 

Please forgive this week's very late CCConnect.  The week of the summer meeting of First Presbytery and the annual meeting of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church's General Synod is always a very busy one and this year's was particularly eventful.  I'll write more in coming weeks, as I am still processing a number of actions taken by the denomination this week.  Our days there generally run from 7am breakfast meetings through late-night dinner meetings with lots of worship services and business sessions in between.  In addition to Bryan and me, Christ Community was represented by Ruling Elders Darryl Andrews, Mickey McLean, and Bill Ratchford.  Be sure to thank those men for taking time off from their jobs to attend this week.

One of the recurring themes addressed by several speakers this week was the need for integrity in our relationships in the Body of Christ.  If we are one body (1 Corinthians 12) and are dependent on one another as we grow in Christ, then the need to be reconciled in our relationships is a constant need in any congregation of Christians.  Read sometime through the record of Israel's travel through the wilderness.  The temptation toward grumbling, murmuring, and complaining is always present in a fallen world.  Things are not as they should be in this world and even in the Church.  The problem, though, comes in how we resolve these matters.  Jesus' counsel in Matthew 18:15-17 is always applicable:

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.  If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.  And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." 

One of the chief means that Satan uses against the American church is the same grumbling, murmuring, and complaining we see in the children of Israel.  He stirs us up to talking about one another rather than to one another.  We have a duty to confront one another in love and to pray for one another.  Anything else begins to tear down the Bride for whom the Lord Jesus died.  James 3:5 observes about our tongues, "So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.  How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!"  Let's not fall for that scheme.  Instead, let's resolve to zealously obey God's Word in Ephesians 4:1-4 (emphasis mine):

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit..."

There is much more to be said on this subject, but I hope that word challenges you as it did me.

Bryan will be preaching tomorrow morning from Mark 6:1-6.  I'm eager to hear his handling of this rich passage.  Be praying for the day! 

Your friend,