Hello loved ones.  Here’s your weekly update.

It was a small group last week with several people out sick.  I did speak with Cindy today and they are all better and planning to be with us tomorrow.  Priscilla told me they got the bus transported to the repair shop this week.  We don’t have a time commitment for when it will be done, but at least it is in process.  Kelvin calls the church several times a week to check on the progress, so he was glad to hear that.

This week I am going to talk from a passage that I have given a lot of thought to over the years.  So much so that I am sure I have mentioned it more than once.  I looked to see if I had actually used it as a text.  Apparently back in May of 2009 I did, but based on the notes I found, you all showed me a lot of grace letting me speak again after that.  Mercifully there is no recording, though I had begun to make them by then.

It concerns how and why we deal with sin within the church.  If you’ve been involved as long as most of us have, you’ve heard someone make mention of the proper procedure for dealing with someone who has wronged you drawn from Matthew 18.  It is of course a sound approach, but it takes on much more gravity when we consider the context in which Jesus gave it to us.  The most important thing to know about it is that its purpose is redemptive.  The goal, stated simply in verse 15, is to “have gained your brother.”

As we begin to rebuild, I want to shore up our foundation by bringing to mind some basic principles that should inform the choices we make, particularly with regard to sinful behavior and the conflicts that inevitably arise among us imperfect people.  We’ll read Matthew 18:15-20, but it will be helpful to have read the entire chapter.  It all fits together.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Love y’all!

Larry