Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Denomination Discernment

Greetings in Christ, to the entire body of Christ.
Let us pray that we might be humble enough to recognize that we don't have all the answers and that there are many things when we get to the day of judgment, we will have many questions and many corrections as well. ( I know I sure do)!
Well this blog comes as a result of prayer, discussions, and study. Many a times, people bash other churches, denominations, etc.I myself have been very guilty of this as well. We all may have certain things we disagree on and yes, some are very important aspects, but must we bash? Remember we are the body of Christ, which means arms, legs, nose, eye, all different parts.
Recently I finished reading a book called "Up the Middle Church" written by Pastor Matt Keller of the Next Level Church (I personally attend here in Fort Myers, FL.). Teh book was great, thats a shout out! Anyways, he had spoken on how churches and pastors should relate to each other, is the body of Christ a business that we should only promote our church with the product, Is Jesus Christ on sale at your church?
No, we are all the body of Christ just different aspects. As the Word says, and I have spoken on many times, "Be all things to all men". I personally believe that the Lord wants to reach into every aspect of life, may it be businesses, gangs, protests, hang outs, etc. and have His way! Thats why the 12 apostles turned the world upside down!
I re-read the Final Quest series by Rick Joyner (Great Series!!) and Rick Joyner speaks about how these other denominations and churches who we may consider back slidden, out of touch, specific topic (i.e. Baptist, Pentecostal, etc). The Lord is using this for His glory, because as I may not understand the whole baptism thing, I may drive more toward the Pentecostal, and the other way around. Certain truths hold certain people, so don't bash because in sense you may b putting a stumbling block in your brothers way (Woe to those!).
To finalize this, I heard a sermon delivered by Tim Conway the other day and he made a really excellent point;
The day will come when, you will stand hand in hand, persecuted, defending, brothers in Christ, who disagree with you 90% theologically and doctrinally, but what ties you both together as brothers and sisters in the Lord is:
The Risen Christ, Jesus our Lord and Savior.
May we honor this truth.
-Pastor Mike Miano

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