Last Sunday night we had a very interesting conversation at home. One of our boys told someone about a Children’s Church surprise that he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say (it turned out he was never asked not to tell) - but this gave us a great opportunity to talk about guarding our tongue. We live in a day where everyone has a right to let their “voice” be heard and obviously their opinion is the only one that matters. They demand to have their say and, if no one will listen they can always go to the internet where no one knows anything about them or their character (or the lack there of). They secretly sit at home with their Superman footy pajamas, while mom serves them lucky charms, and they get to watch the Star Trek marathon on the Sci-Fi Channel while wearing their “Apprentice Jedi” cap. But as the song says… “They are soooo much cooler on line.” This is done on the internet, in our homes, even in our churches. This is one of those things that we must always guard everywhere we go. Look at some of these verses: Prov. 12:23 “A prudent man conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.” Prov. 13:3 “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.” Prov. 18:2 “A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.”
We have had the joy of watching God work in a great way at Trinity, but one doesn’t have to be a scholar to understand James 3:1-12 and notice what great damage the tongue can bring. I have learned through the years of being in the ministry that many times God’s people are much more open to applying the Word of God when it is given to them as a warning rather in the midst of correction. Basically what I am saying is the best time to preach, write, or teach about a potential problem is before it comes up, so we will stand on guard against it: this is what I am calling us to do now – be on guard! As I stated in the post last week, when we call a Worship Pastor or Youth Minister everyone will have an opinion, but we must ensure that our opinion does not become a demand or “a right”, as we heard preached this past weekend. We will seek God’s man based on Biblical standards and adherence to the Word of God. Our calling as people of God is to love and worship the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. If we love the Lord we love His people - if we love the Lord we do what Paul has called us to do and “…strive for peace....” or literally WAR FOR PEACE. So, what am I asking? I need each of us at Trinity to guard, defend and uphold our unity and peace – when you see a spark – throw water on it and not gasoline! Let’s be sure that we do not let preferences, opinions, past experiences or generalities become dividing points…
The few people I have spoken with are excited for me to announce who our Worship Pastor will be and I am excited about him also - I truly believe as we are seeing, and will be seeing that our best days are ahead of us. But we must do things God’s way and in all we do glorify Him. Once everything is in place, I will be sharing with our choir, our leadership and all of our church the wonderful, Biblical, and musical qualifications our new Minister Worship has. God is doing great things, do all you to get in on it! I love you and count it a great joy and honor to be able to be called your Pastor!
