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Showing posts with the label Relationships

The Importance of Worship Together

Why is weekly worship with a local body of believers important? If we profess to be Christ-followers, we practice the teachings of God’s Word and follow the example brought to us by Jesus himself. This includes worshipping in unity, as one body, on a regular basis. But why corporate worship? Can’t we worship God the way we feel most comfortable by ourselves? And what’s with all the singing? The answer? As others have done, I could fill an entire book and reference all the scriptures (there are many) to prove that God commands us to worship, we were created to worship Him and in the end, all will worship Him (willing or not). For the sake of brevity, I’ll address a portion of the question here – a question I’ve been asked many times throughout my ministry. We endeavor to pare everything down to a few strategic elements in our worship services, encouraging believers to participate fully in this worship process – worship through song, prayer, giving and hearing of the Word of G...

Peacekeeping Vs Peacemaking- What's the Difference?

Being at peace with everyone seems impossible and at the very least, improbable. It hurts to not feel at peace with everyone, because we want to be liked (and drama free) right? It doesn't feel good when relationships go badly.  But this goes deeper than being liked or eliminating drama. It's about growing into mature people of God.  That's why Paul, in Romans 12:18 encourages us to ... do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.   This is actually encouraging to me, because I may honestly do everything I feel is humanly possible, but still not achieve resolution- or even reconciliation in some cases.  Unfortunately these things aren't always possible, but a transformation of our own hearts and the practice of maturing as a peacemaker is... ...because we can only control ourselves and our behavior,  no matter what the other person does. (insert big sigh here. Okay 2 big sighs)  There's a big difference ...