{"id":3631,"date":"2010-12-19T09:37:55","date_gmt":"2010-12-19T17:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2010-12-20T06:06:46","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T14:06:46","slug":"the-focus-of-our-message-dec-19-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=3631","title":{"rendered":"The Focus Of Our Message Dec 18, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

I did not come to bring peace but a sword \u2014Matthew 10:34<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n


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Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One.<\/p>\n

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If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up\u2014 he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can\u2019t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.<\/p>\n

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If you are sensitive to God\u2019s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing.We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, \u201cWe can never be that.\u201d Then drive it home with, \u201cJesus Christ says you must.\u201d \u201cBut how can we be?\u201d \u201cYou can\u2019t, unless you have a new Spirit\u201d (see\u00a0Luke 11:13<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God.But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to \u201cbring . . . a sword\u201d through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.<\/p>\n

12 19 10 Journal DJR<\/p>\n

That song and the film clips made me realize that some of the stuff I stress about or complain about is really pretty wimpy. \u00a0 And I’m reminded of Rom 8:28 … that you will work it all out for good … if I’ll get out of the way and let you. \u00a0Even better, get up on your balcony and look down on it from your point of view. \u00a0 \u00a0 Oswald drives it deeper … there MUST be trials or I wont grow. \u00a0 \u00a0It seems that some conclusions cannot be arrived at intellectually, \u00a0but rather, must be born of experience. \u00a0 \u00a0But I still try to get out of some of those experiences if I can.<\/p>\n

It’s true, you can hurt yourself by playing it too safe. \u00a0 If you ensure that you will experience no pain, you will also experience little joy. \u00a0 So just trust me. \u00a0 I wont let you have more pain or pressure than you can handle, I promised that. \u00a0 And the more pressure a lump of coal is under … the brighter the diamond shines. <\/em><\/p>\n

I know all that. But its hard in the storms.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is, and there are two ways to make storms easier. \u00a0You can cut and run, \u00a0but you will miss out on the growth and the joy of coming out the other side. \u00a0 \u00a0Or you can press in to me. \u00a0 Get close, sit on my lap, feel my love … it ramps up in storms, \u00a0 Then the trials will come into perspective and you will be able to bear them … as I did.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I did not come to bring peace but a sword \u2014Matthew 10:34 Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3631"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3633,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions\/3633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}