Real “Change” in the Church and Our Nation Begins With “Change” In Your Heart and Your Relationship with God and then with Those Different than You

Real “Change” in the Church and Our Nation Begins With “Change” In Your Heart and Your Relationship with God and  then with Those Different than You

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you can start real ”change” right where you are now. Begin “change” with your own heart first and then in your own relationship with God. Building on your personal relationship with God, you can change your own community -- One person at a time; One relationship at a time; and One act a time by reaching out and building a relationship with someone different than you. However, doing nothing is no longer an option for us. Let us pray for one another about these things and let us get out and make a difference in our local communities. God has placed you and me here for such a time as this.

The deep change, which we all need, will only be through revival that comes from repentance – turning away from our sin and toward God and His righteous ways in Jesus Christ. As Jesus commanded us in John 5:12: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”. Also, in John 13:34-35, Jesus commanded us: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”. For Jesus, “one another” is all inclusive and not just those that look like you and/or are of your culture. We do not have just a “skin problem”, we have a “sin problem”.

As Dr. Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Church in Dallas Texas recently said: “The evangelical church needs to speak up where it has been silent on injustice and racism. The biggest problem in the culture today is the failure of the church. We would not even have a racial crisis in America if the church had not consistently failed to deal with racism as the severe sin it is. But because the church has historically ignored and downplayed it, the issue still exists. Where the church is called to set an example, we have cowered.”. The Bible makes it unequivocally clear that we are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27): “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”. We each bear the image of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Any hostility between brothers and sisters in Christ is an affront to God and damages our souls and the “blessed community” so many of us seek.

NOTE: Archbishop Foley Beach's quotes and observations above and his related audio One-Minute Message today are from his address, as Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), to the ACNA’s Provincial Council (i.e. Canada, US, and Mexico). Dr. Beach provides both a context and call to action for all Christian Churches, Clergy, and lay persons to become a part of the solution for the Americas.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that, because I am in Jesus Christ, Nothing compares with knowing Jesus. (Philippians 3:7f). “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”. (Philippians 4:14).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Genesis 1:27; Revelation 7:1-17; Ephesians 2:19; John.13:35; Galatians 6:2; Romans 12:15; Psalms 103:12; Isiah 1:18.

THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Without Jesus In Our Lives and the Life of Our Country There Is No Person or Institution to “Face Our Difficult Circumstances” With Us", at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

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