This week I did an Internet search on famous feuds—and several examples popped up. Here’s a sampling:
The first one I found mentioned was between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Apparently these two guys were bitter political rivals and tensions had simmered for years. Things came to a head and on the morning of July 11, 1804 they stood back to back, each with a dueling pistol, walked the obligatory 10 paces, turned, and fired. Hamilton, the former secretary of the treasury was shot and fatally wounded by Burr who, by the way, was vice president of the United States at the time. I can’t help but remember Vice President Cheney’s accidental shooting of a hunting companion a while back.. Perhaps that job is a lot more stressful that we think!
The next feud to come up in my search is very well known—and I’m referring to the squabble between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky. Here’s a shot of one of those families—and as you can see, they are armed and ready to go. Their infamous disagreement started over the supposed theft of a pig and it led to a bloody feud that raged for more than a decade. Ten family members died before the fighting ended in 1891.
And then, do any of you remember the feud between these two famous actress sisters of yesteryear: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine? They had endured a strained relationship since they were teens and it reached a breaking point in 1941, when both received Oscar nominations for best actress. Fontaine won and that sparked an all-out feud that the sisters, now both in their 90s, continues to this day.
The reason feuds were on my mind this week is because this morning’s text from Romans has helped spark a squabble that has raged far longer than these other feuds combined. I’m referring to a disagreement among two groups of Christians that has lasted hundreds of years, centering around attempts to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the free will of men. To be more specific, these two groups haven’t been able to agree as to WHO chose WHOM. Does God chose who will be His children? Or—do we use our free will to chose Him? Which is more correct—free will or predestination—Calvinism or Arminianism?
As I said, this argument has made the 9th chapter of Romans one of the most controversial chapters of the New Testament. Differences over how to understand this text and others like it have destroyed friendships, split churches, and divided Christians into different denominational groups.
Reflecting on the consequences of this struggle, William Barclay once said, “This is one passage I wish Paul had not written.” So—I’ve decided to go with Barclay’s perspective, skip these volatile verses, and head right into chapter 10. All in favor, say “Amen.” Of course I’m just kidding. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching and correction—so we won’t skip it! Instead we’ll ask God to guide us in our study! Take your Bibles and turn to Romans 9 and let’s read verses 10-21.
10 – Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
11 – Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
12 – not by works but by Him Who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 – Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 – What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
15 – For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 – It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
17 – For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 – Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
19 – One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?”
20 – But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to Him Who formed it, ‘Why did You make me like this?’”
21 – Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
Wow! Are you SURE you don’t want to just head on over to Romans chapter 10? Again—I’m just kidding! Let’s see what we can learn together in our study of this controversial chapter. Reviewing a bit—I would remind you that Paul has just built a powerful argument for the faithfulness of God and the absolute security of every believer. He ended his 8th chapter of the book of Romans by declaring that nothing shall SEPARATE us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you remember those final climactic verses? Well, as Paul begins the 2nd half of his letter he very creatively makes a transition into the theological mine fields of chapter 9 by saying. “And speaking of being SEPARATED…”
Bill Hybels points out that this is a play on words—a clever segue using the word “separated” from chapter 8 and carrying it over into verse 3 of chapter 9 and I agree. In essence Paul says, “Speaking of being SEPARATED…There is a group of people—my kinsmen—my race—my brethren—the Jewish people—Many of MY people are SEPARATED from Christ.” And please note…this is not a callous statement of fact on Paul’s part. No—his heart is breaking over the fact that the Jews, as a whole, have rejected Jesus Christ—the Jesus Paul loves so much and proclaims so boldly. You can’t help but hear the compassion in his voice as Paul says in verse 2, “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart because my kinsmen are SEPARATED…” And we see how sincere his feelings are in verse 3 where he goes so far as to say,“I wish that I myself could be accursed so that the whole nation of Israel could be saved.”
In other words, Paul says, “If my going to Hell in their place would get them into Heaven, I’d do it in a heartbeat!”
So, Paul loves his fellow Hebrews—he loves the Jewish people. He can’t bear to think of them in Hell separated from God for all eternity.
And—I think we should stop at this point and to a little self-examination.
I mean, ask yourself, Christian—does YOUR heart break like this for the lost people around you—the people you know who don’t know Jesus? It could be a Jewish neighbor across the street or a family member who has turned his or her back on God. It could be that co-worker who is so skeptical of Christianity…that person who is more on “the left” politically and looks at believers like you as “the enemy.” Do you grieve over the spiritual condition of those people? Do you pray for them? Do you care that they are going through life without Jesus? Does your heart break that they are SEPARATED from God? It should! A man once said to his friend, “I hear you fired your pastor. Why were you guys so unhappy with him?” The man said, “Well, he kept telling us we were going to Hell.” “Oh…well, what does your NEW pastor say?” the friend asked and the man said, “Our new pastor says we’re going to Hell, too. But we like him.” “Really? If your new pastor tells you you’re going to Hell, just like the old one, why do you like him?” “Because,” the man said, “when our old pastor said it, he sounded glad of it. When our new pastor says it, he sounds like its breaking his heart.” Does your heart break for the lost people around you? More importantly, can they sense your compassion—or your judgement? Listen, fellow Christian, we need more of Paul’s broken-hearted compassion for the lost—the kind of sacrificial love for people that prompts missionaries to labor in leper colonies…or to risk their own lives taking the Gospel message in places where it is illegal to do so.
Okay—back to our text. In verses four and five Paul elaborates on his grief saying basically, “It’s such a shame that they have rejected Jesus because the Hebrew people have had all the advantages.” And then Paul lists eight of their unique benefits as a nation.
- From among all the races of the Earth God chose them to be His representatives—His missionaries to this lost world. God adopted the Jews for this all-important task.
- They witnessed God’s glory every day as He led them through the wilderness.
- They also had the covenants that God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.
- On top of that the Jewish people had the law. We have the Judeo-Christian ethic today thanks to the written guidance God gave the world through this chosen nation.
- The Jews also had the advantage of Temple worship—including all the sacrifices that served as object lessons to help us understand our sin—and God’s sacrifice in sending His Son.
- They had the promises of God—promises given to them as His chosen people.
- The Hebrews had the patriarchs—great leaders like Abraham and the rest.
- But the greatest blessing of all was the fact that they had the privilege of being the race from which the Messiah, Jesus, was born.
So, Paul’s grief is intensified because he knows his people—the Hebrew nation—he knows they had everything going for them. They had all of these advantages but on the whole they blew it! Time and time again they turned from God and in the end most of them even rejected His Son. As John 1:11 says, “He came to His own but His own did not receive Him.”
This makes it appear as if God’s plan to save mankind has failed. But, in verse 6 Paul says that, no—God’s plan has not failed because, yes, through the history of the Jews many messed up. They ignored God and became nothing more than “Jews of the flesh.” But there were other Jews who were obedient—Jews who trusted God and became His true Children…children of the promise. Paul seems to say that God has CHOSEN these special Jews to buy into His plan: Isaac instead of Ishmael and Jacob instead of his brother Esau. And then in verse 14, in order to silence anyone who would say, “Hey—that’s not fair,” Paul says, “Is God unjust? Not at all! For as He said to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” Paul seems to be saying some Jews will be chosen by God and others passed by.
Now—I don’t pretend to have the spiritual gift of discernment but I sense a special sort of HEAVY silence in the sanctuary at this point…because the argument Paul is making here in chapter 9 is one that rubs many people the wrong way—especially Baptist believers.
In fact it almost seems as if Paul knew people who read this would respond this way because he says, “Here’s another example to prove my point. Remember? God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart to demonstrate His power! So, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.” To use a current example, it is as if Paul says, “God is the owner of the Green Bay Packers, so He doesn’t have to let Brett Farve play quarterback if He doesn’t want to.”
Well that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. We’ve scanned the bulk of this controversial chapter in about five minutes. That’s got to be a world record and if we closed the service now we’d beat the Presbyterians to Ledos but we’d also leave with a lot of unanswered questions on our minds.
So, I want to use the rest of the time allotted to me this morning to try and help you to understand this doctrinal feud a little better. Of course I won’t be able to resolve this issue. Far wiser believers than I have tried and failed but I still want to do my best to try and explain the nature of the controversy so that at least you can be more aware of it. Then you can join the rest of us who have been tortured by this disagreement. I mean, misery loves company—so let’s dive in!
I want to begin by trying to explain the Calvinist position and these days it is usually referred to as “The Reformed Position.” It’s become more popular recently in reaction to “overly seeker sensitive churches” and the emergent church movement—believers who tend to de-emphasize doctrine.But Calvinist or Reformed—whatever you call this group—these guys and gals have read texts like this one in Romans 9 as well as Ephesians chapter 1 and they have concluded that God alone makes the determination as to who is going to be saved and who is going to be lost.
Sometimes this viewpoint is referred to as “Double-predestination” because the people on this “side” of the feud believe God predestines some for Heaven and predestines others for Hell. The Christians who embrace this conviction say that God made the decision as to who would go where before the foundation of the world and man has nothing to do with it.
And that’s not all. This side of the “feud” makes other assertions. For example, many Calvinists believe that Jesus died on the cross ONLY for the elect—those chosen or predestined by God for Heaven. They say this must be true because it would have been unthinkable for Jesus to spill His precious blood for those who would not benefit from it. They also believe that only the elect—those chosen by God to go to Heaven have the GIFT OF FAITH that enables them to believe in Jesus. All others are passed over in this particular gift giving. It’s kind of like the “non-elect” have a spiritual birth defect because they don’t have the ability to reach out to God.
Reformed believers are quick to say that it is not UNFAIR for these non-elect to be skipped over in this way because like all people, they are sinners—undeserving of God’s grace.
To explain their line of thinking, imagine a judge in a court room who hears the evidence and convicts twenty-five people for running a stop light. He fines each of them 100 dollars. Understand they were all caught on camera—so there is no doubt that they are all guilty. Calvinists would say, “Who could accuse this judge from being unjust for taking 500 bucks from his pocket and choosing five out of the group saying, ‘For reasons known only to me I’m going to be merciful to you. I’ve paid your find. I’m going to set you free.’” Could the other 20 complain legitimately? No—because they were guilty. They received the just punishment for that. No one could say the judge was unfair because EVERYONE deserved punishment. They would say in life everyone has sinned and all of us deserve Hell…so if God simply passes people by and doesn’t offer them the miraculous gift of faith…well those people are only getting what they justly deserve in the first place.
Here’s another thing that Calvinists tend to believe. They say that not only does God choose the elect—they can’t refuse His choosing. This is what is called “irresistible grace.” In other words, if you are chosen by God to go to Heaven—well, I’m sorry—but you have to go whether you want to or not!
A good summary of extreme Calvinism is found in what is called the “TULIP” acronymand as I use it to cite the doctrines of this side of the feud make a mental note as to which ones you agree with.
- T.otal depravity. By nature everyone is a sinner—totally depraved.
- U.nconditional election. God elects or chooses who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell.
- L.imited atonement. Christ died ONLY for the elect.
- I.rresistable grace. The elect cannot say NO to God.
- P.erseverance of the saints…or “once saved always saved.” The elect cannot be lost.
Okay—what are the benefits of this position? What are the “pluses” of Calvinism? And there ARE pluses.
(1) Here’s the first. Calvinism is a view that extols the sovereignty of God.
I count this as a PLUS—because God IS absolutely sovereign. God can do whatever He wants to do. He doesn’t need anyone’s permission. He can love who He wants to love; He can forgive Who He wants to forgive and condemn who He wants to condemn. God doesn’t owe you, or me, or anyone anything. We are not in a position to dictate to God our own personal concept of right and wrong because as Creator, He’s the One Who makes the rules. This is what Paul is getting at in verse 20, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him Who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’
Have you ever played the computer game Sim City? In this game you build your own city.
You are in control. You decide where the houses will be, how commerce will be conducted, what amenities will be made available to the public, how the economy will be driven, and so on.
It’s your game; you make the rules. The “people” you create cannot object. What right would they have to do so? It’s your game. It’s your computer so you can do what you want to do. In the same way God can do what He wants to do. He is SOVEREIGN—so I think the Calvinists get that right. We can learn a thing or two from them when it comes to this one.
(2) Here’s a second plus. Calvinism emphasizes the amazing grace of God.
They understand—perhaps better than any other group of Christians—that salvation is a gift of God and that we don’t get to Heaven on good works or human merit. This is what Paul is stressing in verse 16 when he says our salvation, “…does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” And—again—the Calvinists get an A+ on this one because the clear teaching of Scripture is that salvation is indeed by grace alone.
(3) Here’s one other plus: Calvinists, who consider themselves one of the elect tend to be very grateful for their salvation.
I mean, think of it. If you believe God chose an undeserving sinner like you from among the billions of sinners on this planet—well, it just bowls you over! To think, “God chose ME!” I get this mental image of the people who open the door and see the Readers Digest Prize Patrol guys with a huge check or Ty Pennington and his Extreme Make-over crew, ready to build you a new house. Those people are so humbled—so grateful—aren’t they?! Well, if you have this conviction that only some are chosen and you are one of them—well let’s just say you don’t usually take your salvation for granted. You tend to be much more grateful to God than other believers. AND—all believers—no matter which side of this feud they land on should be GRATEFUL to God for saving them. To put it in “Redlandese,” our understanding of God’s saving grace should drive us. It should be what motivates us to live Godly lives.
Okay—those are the pluses—what about the minuses? Where does Calvinism or the Reformed movement fall short? And again—this is my opinion.
(1) First, it ignores the texts in God’s Word that indicate people do indeed have free will.
I always want to ask an extreme Calvinist how he or she explains the scores of passages that indicate mankind has a decision to make…a choice. To me these verses certainly seem to indicate that people do play a part in determining their destiny. For example, Adam and Eve are given a choice to make in the Garden of Eden. They made the wrong choice—but it was theirs. And what about verses like Joshua 24:15 where it says, “Choose you this day who you will serve but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” What about the next chapter in Paul’s letter—Romans 10:13 where he says, “Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord—whoever CHOOSES to call on Jesus—will be saved.” What about John 3:16 where Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that WHOSOEVER BELIEVES in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” What about Jesus’ interaction with the Rich Young Ruler where our Lord plainly gives him a choice? Remember? Jesus told him, “Sell your possessions. Give the money to the poor. Come follow Me. Make the choice—give up your stuff and be My disciple. It’ s up to you.”(Matthew 19:21) I don’t know about you but in my feeble mind it seems as if the Calvinist position leaves a lot of passages of Scripture unexplained. Plus—if, as human beings, we are given choices in other areas of life, why would this one choice be taken from us? That doesn’t make sense to me. This leads me to mention another flaw:
(2) Extreme Calvinism makes human beings into little more than robots.
If everything is determined, then people are nothing more than puppets who go through the motions of living. In fact, this doctrine could even be seen as an excuse to sin. If we have no choice in the matter then sinning is not really our fault. And this really bothers me because believing God set it all up this way makes Him the author of sin—and I KNOW that is not Biblical. After all, as James 1:13 clearly says, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”
(3) A third potential error is that extreme Calvinism tends to discourage evangelism.
You see, if God chooses who will be saved—then we have no role in it. And there are some churches that follow this line of thinking. They don’t reach out. They don’t share the gospel. They don’t participate in missions because in their mind the individuals who are going to be saved is already a done deal.
Well, that’s the Calvinists. What about the other side of the spectrum? What do Arminians believe?
Well, basically Arminians believe that God provided the sacrifice for our sins through Jesus’ death on the cross—but men are individually responsible to choose to accept God’s free gift or to reject it. I think Herschel Hobbs illustrated it well when he explained predestination or election by saying, “There is an election held. God votes for you. satan votes against you. And you cast the deciding vote.” Suffice it to say that Arminians believe the Bible teaches we have a role in our salvation—we decide to accept or reject Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord. It’s our choice.
Here are the “pluses” of this group’s beliefs.
(1) The Arminianism perspective acknowledges the verses in Scripture that tell of God’s universal love for ALL people—not just a select few.
For example, they point to 2 Peter 3:9 where it says, “God is not willing for ANYONE to perish but for EVERYONE to come to repentance.” And John 3:16 where is says: “God so loved THE WORLD…” …not just the elect.
I call this a PLUS because, yes—God is sovereign—and He can do what He wants—but in His word He tells us over and over again that what He wants to do is to save THE WORLD. He wants to forgive all of us and help all of us and bring all of us peace and joy in life. The Bible teaches that people matter to God—ALL PEOPLE.
Almighty God—Who can do anything He wants to do—wants to give you a purpose for your life here on this earth and also wants to spend all of eternity with you in Heaven—and the Armenian viewpoint acknowledges this.
(2) Here’s another plus—the Armenian viewpoint resolves the unsavory idea of God sending some people to Heaven and other people to Hell.
Arminians say that God is sovereign—but in His sovereignty He chooses to give each of us free will. Those who choose to confess their sin and their need for Jesus—those who choose to follow Him as Savior and Lord are welcomed into Heaven. Those who refuse—those who don’t want anything to do with God—well, they get their wish because they spend this life and the next separated from their loving Creator.
Now—some of you are thinking—well that’s that. This sermon is a done deal because Mark has just explained the right position—the one this church holds. Let’s wind up this service because if we leave now—we can still beat the Presbyterians to Ledos.
But wait—because the fact is Arminianism has a flaw or two as well…and it wouldn’t be fair not to mention them so here goes:
(1) First, most Arminians just simply ignore these texts that seem to teach predestination.
They skip over Ephesians 1 and Romans 9—and that’s not a good thing because as 2nd Timothy 3:16 says, “ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We mustn’t commit the sin of Thomas Jefferson and simply take a pair of scissors and cut out the passages of the Bible that we don’t agree with—or we won’t be “thoroughly equipped.”
(2) One other minus is this. Arminianism can reduce God’s part in our salvation.
If we’re not careful it makes God into sort of a cosmic vending machine because, like putting the right change in the slot for a soda, if we say the right words He has to grant us salvation. I mean, with the Arminian view it is easy to wind up subjecting God to the wills and whims of man. It conjures up images of us saying certain phrases that obligate God to act in a certain way.
Now—if you’ve heard me preach—then you know I tend to be far more Arminian than Calvinist.
I believe that if we study the Bible systematically we can see that God loves all people and that Jesus died for all mankind—and that in His amazing grace He has given us free will. I believe that by rightly dividing this Word of truth with careful study we can solve the riddles of certain perplexing texts. For example, this text in verse 13 that says God loves Jacob but hates Esau is a quote of Malachi 1:1—a verse that was originally written 2000 years after Esau and Jacob lived and died. So—by the time it was written the names referred not to the individuals but to the nations that came from these two brothers. Jacob referred to the people of Israel and Esau to the Edomites—a nation that had mistreated the Jewish people. I think Paul’s purpose in quoting this verse was to condemn the actions of a NATION not to say God chose one INDIVIDUAL above the other.
Another thing—the word “hate” here is meant to emphasize a contrast—in the same way that Jesus said, “If any one wants to follow me, he must HATE his father and mother.” Jesus wasn’t saying we should hate our parents. To do so would be to contradict God’s command that we honor them. No—He was simply saying our love for HIM must have pre-eminence. I think the word “HATE” is used in the same way here—as a contrast—because God did lovingly blessed the individual named Esau—his offspring became a great nation. It was Esau’s DESCENDANTS who used their free will mistreat the Jews. This is what God hated.
And the passage that says God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart—well, that’s a quote from Exodus beginning with chapter 7 and if you were to read the literal translation of the Hebrew you’d see that of the 20 times it speaks of Pharaoh’s heart hardening, ten refer to the Pharaoh hardening his own heart and ten refer to God. Plus the fact that there were so many plagues suggests to me that God gave Pharaoh many opportunities to choose to obey and set the Hebrew people free. Another thing, the word in Romans 9:22 that we translate “fitted for destruction” literally means “fitted himself for destruction.” In other words Pharaoh’s destruction came as a result of his own God-given choice.
If you look carefully at verses 30-33 of this controversial chapter you’ll see that it ends by saying our salvation is based on our response of faith. And—passages like Ephesians 1 do say that Christians are predestined—but if you look closely you can see what it is really saying is they are predestined to become like Jesus. One more. I DO believe we can’t come to Christ unless He invites us. As Jesus says in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him.” But I believe God draws all men. As Paul reminded us in Romans 1, even people who have never heard the gospel story can look at creation and “hear” God calling to them. I believe all people have this inborn yearning to fill that God-shaped hole that is in their hearts.
So—what are we to do? How should we respond to this FEUD? Should we “lock and load” and get ready to settle this once and for all?
No—I think history proves that wouldn’t be effective so instead let me QUICKLY suggest a few things.
(1) First, don’t get into heated arguments about this.
I mean, there are brilliant Christians on both sides. For example: John MacArthur, John Piper, Al Mohler, R. C. Sproul, and others are un-apologetically of the reformed persuasion. And on the whole, I for one benefit from their preaching and writing. In fact, my favorite set of commentaries are written by James Montgomery Boice—a very Calvinistic guy. I agree with him on most things so I just ignore the parts of his commentaries where he gets into things I don’t agree with him about—because the rest—the good stuff—is EXCELLENT. Plus—I have found most Calvinists to be VERY evangelistic. I mean, the late presbyterian, Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote Evangelism Explosion—one of the most effective tools ever written when it comes to training believers to share their faith. When these reformed evangelists are asked to explain why they so aggressively share their faith they usually say they don’t know who are chosen
and they know Jesus commanded us to go and share the Gospel…so they go. I have no problem with those folks. I figure they’ll learn they are wrong when they get to Heaven.
(2) And then second, if you think I’m being a bit too cavalier, remember, we won’t understand some things until we get to Heaven.
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts—so there are things about His actions that you and I are just not going to “get” on this side of eternity. Jerry Bridges writes, “A finite mind simply cannot comprehend an infinite being beyond what He has expressly revealed to us.” And Bridges is right.
(3) Finally—and I love this advice from Bill Hybels—worship like a Calvinist and witness like an Arminian.
Learn from our Calvinist brothers and worship God as if He chose you—because there is a sense in which He did. On the cross Jesus knew He was dying for YOU. So, learn from those of the reformed tradition and don’t take your salvation for granted. Remember, you are a sinner who deserves Hell but in His unfathomable grace and love He sent His only Son to pay for your sins.
Speaking of worshiping like a Calvinist…bow down and worship God for the Sovereign being that He is—a God of mystery we can’t possibly fully understand.
And then, like Paul, with hearts breaking for the lost, witness like an Arminian. Do all you can to get the good news of the Gospel to people who either have yet to hear or respond. If God gives you a chance to WALK ACROSS A ROOM and share your faith—Do so! Witness as if their salvation depends on it because as Paul says in Romans 10:14, “How can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of Whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
Let us pray.
Father God,
Remind us that feuds and arguments tend to both please the adversary and also push lost people away from Your love. Help us to trust You for those things we don’t understand. Empower us to obey You in those things we do. And now Father…You have promised to guide us through life and so I ask that You would speak to each of us. Convict us of attitudes and actions that need to change if we are to be more in line with Your will.
I ask this in Jesus’ name.
AMEN