URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
[NOTE: SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE - Please see my brief essay and the article below.]
CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR PASTOR SAEED (Iranian-born AMERICAN pastor who just started an 8 year sentence for helping the underground churches in Iran) [See 3/25 update below!] - "As Iran continues to abuse imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini, its goal is now clear -- force Pastor Saeed to deny Christ.
As the Lord leads, please pray:
- For Pastor Abedini as he endures one of Iran’s most deadly prisons, potentially beaten and abused regularly, simply because of his Christian faith.
- For the pastor’s wife and family and the Holy Spirit’s comfort upon them.
- For the continuing meetings at the UN meetings in Geneva about Pastor Saeed.
- For the U.S. State Department to get involved in a significant way to obtain the pastor’s release.
PLEASE Continue to PRAY: "Libya Arrests Suspected Christian Missionaries ," February 16, 2013; "Four foreigners were arrested in Libya on suspicion of distributing books about Christianity and proselytizing, a Libyan police spokesman said on Saturday. Spreading Christianity is a crime in the predominantly Muslim North African county. The four were arrested in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday and are under investigation for printing and distributing books that proselytize Christianity. Police said they found 45,000 books in their possession and that another 25,000 have already been distributed. The suspects are from South Africa, Egypt, South Korea, and one holds both Swedish and U.S. Nationality. The U.S. Embassy in Libya has declined comment. "(Sources: CBS News, USA Today, Associated Press) [So much for the so-called "Arab Spring." - Stan]As the Lord leads, PLEASE PRAY: * For the timely release of the arrested missionaries. * For God to use them while in jail to be witnesses of the gospel * For all who share God’s loving salvation in Muslim countries.
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"Grace AND Truth: Maundy Thursday & the Marriage Battle," Breakpoint.org, John Stonestreet, March 28, 2013; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/21818
On Tuesday at the March for Marriage on the National Mall my friend Eric Teetsel, executive director of the Manhattan Declaration, opened his speech with the facetious question, “Is anyone else out there on the wrong side of history?” That is, after all, what many proponents of one-man, one-woman marriage keep hearing. The legalization of so-called same-sex marriage is inevitable they say. To resist is to be relegated to history’s ideological dustbin along with those who resisted civil rights for African-Americans or the vote for women.
Even more disheartening are the Christian voices joining in the chorus. For example, controversial but well-known author and former pastor Rob Bell recently endorsed same sex marriage. And many of us have seen more and more surprising endorsements on Facebook and other social media outlets from friends who have, shall we say, “evolved” on the issue.
Among the most common reasons offered by these Christians for endorsing same-sex marriage—or at least for not resisting it—is that it’s too contentious. Taking a stand for marriage, they say, gets in the way of the grace of the Gospel. We have to reach out, and strong opinions about sexuality and marriage are only distractions.
I think today of all the days in Holy Week is the time to confront this repeated refrain. Why? Because the Thursday before Easter is known as Maundy Thursday, the day set aside on the Church calendar to remember the Last Supper. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word for “mandate,” or “command.” At this first celebration of communion, Jesus gave His disciples what He called “a new command” to love and serve one another. And He demonstrated what He meant by washing their very dirty feet.
Now to fully appreciate this command, we have to remember that at this supper Jesus and the disciples were obeying God’s command to remember the Passover. The Passover meal celebrated God rescuing His people from Egypt, as described in Exodus. For Jesus to have the audacity to offer a “new” command when the old one was such an important part of Israel’s history, is astounding enough. But Jesus went even further. Rather than remembering the redemption of their forefathers from Egyptian tyranny and the way the angel of death “passed over” the homes with lamb’s blood on their doorposts, they were now to remember His broken body and His shed blood. In Christ’s death, death itself is not just avoided; it is defeated.Since the mid-twentieth century, the American Church has been divided over whether it should be primarily about proclaiming truth or serving others. But the Lord’s Supper reminds us that this is a false dichotomy. These two things can never be separated.
On the same night that Jesus commanded us to remember His broken body and shed blood that rescues us from sin (that’s the truth), He commanded us to demonstrate our new life by loving and serving others (that’s the grace). We don’t have to choose between speaking truth and showing grace. They always, always go together.Thus, we can—and must—offer both the truth about marriage and the grace of God to all of our neighbors, including those with same-sex attraction.
Let me encourage us all to meditate, as individuals and families, on the Last Supper and all the other events of Holy Week: the Triumphal Entry, which we remembered last Sunday, the Crucifixion which we’ll remember tomorrow, the Resurrection on Sunday, and the Ascension forty days later which culminated Christ’s earthly ministry.
[italics emphasis mine]
Next Steps
So you understand that grace and truth are not mutually exclusive, and that as Christians, we need to communicate both if we hope to impact our world. ut what happens when you present the truth in love, but someone still accuses you of hatred or bigotry simply because he or she disagrees with your beliefs?
First of all, it's important to understand that accusations like this are false. Differences in opinion regarding issues like same-sex "marriage," do not equal hate. Check out one helpful article on this subject here, at QIdeas. http://www.qideas.org/blog/redefining-hate.aspx
Next, it's vital to continue to conduct yourself with love and grace. St. Paul instructs believers in Colossians 4:6 to always speak with grace, so that our arguments are seasoned, as it were, with salt. Then, learn how to make the case for preserving traditional marriage by ignoring red-herrings like "equality" and "marriage rights," and getting to the fundamental issue: defining marriage itself.
Even more disheartening are the Christian voices joining in the chorus. For example, controversial but well-known author and former pastor Rob Bell recently endorsed same sex marriage. And many of us have seen more and more surprising endorsements on Facebook and other social media outlets from friends who have, shall we say, “evolved” on the issue.
Among the most common reasons offered by these Christians for endorsing same-sex marriage—or at least for not resisting it—is that it’s too contentious. Taking a stand for marriage, they say, gets in the way of the grace of the Gospel. We have to reach out, and strong opinions about sexuality and marriage are only distractions.
I think today of all the days in Holy Week is the time to confront this repeated refrain. Why? Because the Thursday before Easter is known as Maundy Thursday, the day set aside on the Church calendar to remember the Last Supper. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word for “mandate,” or “command.” At this first celebration of communion, Jesus gave His disciples what He called “a new command” to love and serve one another. And He demonstrated what He meant by washing their very dirty feet.
Now to fully appreciate this command, we have to remember that at this supper Jesus and the disciples were obeying God’s command to remember the Passover. The Passover meal celebrated God rescuing His people from Egypt, as described in Exodus. For Jesus to have the audacity to offer a “new” command when the old one was such an important part of Israel’s history, is astounding enough. But Jesus went even further. Rather than remembering the redemption of their forefathers from Egyptian tyranny and the way the angel of death “passed over” the homes with lamb’s blood on their doorposts, they were now to remember His broken body and His shed blood. In Christ’s death, death itself is not just avoided; it is defeated.Since the mid-twentieth century, the American Church has been divided over whether it should be primarily about proclaiming truth or serving others. But the Lord’s Supper reminds us that this is a false dichotomy. These two things can never be separated.
On the same night that Jesus commanded us to remember His broken body and shed blood that rescues us from sin (that’s the truth), He commanded us to demonstrate our new life by loving and serving others (that’s the grace). We don’t have to choose between speaking truth and showing grace. They always, always go together.Thus, we can—and must—offer both the truth about marriage and the grace of God to all of our neighbors, including those with same-sex attraction.
Let me encourage us all to meditate, as individuals and families, on the Last Supper and all the other events of Holy Week: the Triumphal Entry, which we remembered last Sunday, the Crucifixion which we’ll remember tomorrow, the Resurrection on Sunday, and the Ascension forty days later which culminated Christ’s earthly ministry.
[italics emphasis mine]
First of all, it's important to understand that accusations like this are false. Differences in opinion regarding issues like same-sex "marriage," do not equal hate. Check out one helpful article on this subject here, at QIdeas. http://www.qideas.org/blog/redefining-hate.aspx
Next, it's vital to continue to conduct yourself with love and grace. St. Paul instructs believers in Colossians 4:6 to always speak with grace, so that our arguments are seasoned, as it were, with salt. Then, learn how to make the case for preserving traditional marriage by ignoring red-herrings like "equality" and "marriage rights," and getting to the fundamental issue: defining marriage itself.
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