Be slow to speak

 

We must give room for ministry. One of the problems with denominations and non denominational churches is their feeling of exclusiveness, that they have the truth and question the ways of some of the other churches. As a child I attended a school where once a week all the children were given a choice to attend a Baptist church or a Catholic church. I still remember the pastor of one of these churches shaking his fist at the other church across town. Do we expect too much? Not all people are alike, nor do they serve God the same way. Give them room and always speak of Jesus as the center of our faith.

 

Jas 1:19  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

 

Rom 14:4  Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

Rom 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

 

Churches can be as different as the people who attend them, even in a particular denomination. It is being in Jesus Christ that brings us together. We can come together if he is held up and worshipped as our Lord and savior. God the Father, has given authority to his son to judge all things. If Jesus is not worshipped as God, then the church probably is not a Christian church. Some claim to know Jesus, but not as Lord. Jesus must be exalted in the churches along with God the Father. The Holy Spirit is God, but he exalts the Father and the Son. We worship by the Spirit and through the Spirit. If the Spirit exalts Jesus, than so should we. We are to honor men, but not to exalt them. We are not to exalt a denomination as "the only true church." The focus is on Jesus and the cross and his resurrection. He is the foundation of the church that we build upon.