"Restoring Broken Relationships" - Pastor Raymond Woodward

second Corinthians chapter 5 pastor is going to teach on something that's a little practical tonight I pray it'll be a blessing to you it's something we all face and something we all deal with want to teach for a little bit from the word of the Lord on restoring broken relationships relationships are so important to us family relationships and friendships and church and work relationships parenting relationships is also important now second Corinthians chapter five verse eight says God has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ in other words what God did in the Incarnation when he took on flesh and he came and he gave everything he did that so we could have a restored relationship and now he has given to us the Ministry of reconciliation that's not just talking about preachers who preach the gospel that's part of it but we're all called to be reconciler z-- here's the same verse a couple of other translations that God's word translation says God has restored our relationship with him through Christ and has given us this Ministry of restoring relationships and here's the message paraphrase God settled the relationship between us and him and then called us to settle our relationships with each other and so we want to teach on that for a minute would you just take 30 more seconds and pray one more time with me Lord we just speak a word into somebody's life tonight we just speak a word into somebody's situation would you speak a word into a relationship that knees restore tonight will give you all the things I thank you for the anointing that's already here let it continue let it flow through the word and into the people of God and then let it flow from us to others wherever it needs to go and we'll give you praise Jesus somebody just say in Jesus name Amen first off relationships are always worth restoring they said relationships are always worth restoring because the Christian life is all about learning how to respond to God's love and then learning how to show his love to others God wants us to do something that society and our culture don't do very well God wants us to value relationships and make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there's a hurt whenever there's a conflict now I don't think you're going to be alone here so how many of ever had a hurt or a conflict in your life I think you'll be safe here okay see what I mean that's pretty much the majority of us but God has given us the ministry part of your DNA as an apostolic Christian is God has given us the Ministry of reconciliation or the Ministry of restoring relationships just like we had no relationship with God but he took the effort and he made the effort to restore our relationship with him and so there's a significant amount of the New Testament that's devoted to this whole idea of teaching us how to get along with one another we all fall down here we all make mistakes here we all you know just do terrible things sometimes with with this part of life because we're human and humans get tired and get cranky and any other words you can think of of how you acted this morning whatever that's all good we have bad days we have off days we have trouble and perplexities and we have things that frustrate us so much that we don't realize sometimes how we're portraying ourselves to other people and so the New Testament doesn't pull any punches with us the New Testament is not designed to be a theology handbook that you read whenever you feel religious it's it's a life handbook and it's got incredible truth in it Philippians chapter 2 uh this is the message it's a loose paraphrase but you follow along in the King James or any other version and you'll find out it's saying this if you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ if you've got anything out of it if his love has made any difference in your life if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you if you have a heart if you care now that's a pretty big if all the way through Paul is saying you know if this Christianity thing is real to you and and and if you've got anything from God then here's what you need to do then do me a favor Paul says agree with each other love each other and be deep spirited friends the King James you think well I don't know if the King James says that actually the King James a translation it puts it in even more stark terms it says this in verse 1 if there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercy fulfill ye my joy that you be like mine to have the same love etcetera etc literally verse 1 in that chapter in the King James Version it uses the word comfort and consolation which is the same word as comforter which is the Holy Ghost and Paul's literally saying to us if there's any Holy Ghost in you you need to act this way if you've got any Holy Ghost at all then you need to do this Paul taught that our ability to get along with others is a mark of spiritual maturity we often reference this and it bears repeating because people get fascinated today and people sometimes follow after miracles or signs or spiritual gifts and they're all wonderful but that's not what we follow those things follow us that signs shall follow them that believe and so spiritual gifts and miracles and wonders they're all good and offices and callings and leadership in the church all good but what we're supposed to follow after is this we're supposed to follow after and seek to have the fruit of the Spirit the the evidences of the spear and one of them is the way we act in our relationships Romans chapter 15 verse 5 the message pair face may God develop majority in you everybody say maturity so that you get along with each other a mark of getting of maturity a mark of maturity is getting along with each other and so God actually designed the family of God this way John chapter 13 verse 35 says this by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another one of my pastors growing up always pulled out the word to in that verse every time he read it I think he would say it's if you have love one to another not just love for one another you have this warm fuzzy feeling toward each other but you have love one to another it's it's love that's manifested in action and that's why Paul if you read if you want to get an idea of the fact that we're in a normal church and-and-and we live in an age when there's normal Christians read 1st Corinthians chapter 6 they were all fighting there was all kinds of problems and whatever don't get distressed and despondent every time you see a problem in church or a problem between some Christians or that's ridiculous they've had that since the beginning they've had that since the book of Acts Acts chapter 2 is the day of Pentecost and by Acts chapter 6 they're fighting over who's going to serve the widows there's always been conflict that's a part of being human so don't get distressed the bottoms not falling out of everything every time there's a little issue or a little problem or a little conflict learn to have more faith in God than that the bottom is not falling out in fact the bottom is falling out of the world not the church Church is doing just fine thank you very kindly the church is on its way in the rapture the church is on its way to Eternity Church is on its way to heaven and we're going to be fine we may have some problems in conflicts but but Paul said it's not so much for you it's in corinth they were fighting among each other they're taking each other to court and doing all kinds of stuff and Paul was shocked you read 1st Corinthians 6 he was shocked that no one in the Corinthian church was mature enough to solve the problem biblically that's what he said and so the Bible starting with Jesus and and then throughout the epistles its talks about people being peacemakers Matthew 5 verse 9 God blesses those who work for peace the King James says blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God so if you want God's blessing on your life and if you want to be known as a child of God you need to learn to be a peace maker now let me point something out everybody say peacemaker Jesus didn't say blessed are the peace lovers because everybody loves peace everybody loves it when there's no problems or no conflict Jesus didn't say blessed are the peace of Appeal because some people are too clueless to get riled up about anything I'm sorry Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers those that work for peace who seek to resolve conflict and peacemakers are rare because peace making is hard work now let's jot down a couple of things here because I want you to know what peacemaking is not because we get peacemakers and peace all messed up peacemaking is number one it is not avoiding the problem peacemaking isn't putting your head in the sand or pretending there's no problem or being afraid to talk about it some people think they're peacemakers because they just never address anything they don't talk about anything that's not peacemaking that's cowardice to not be able to deal with an issue Jesus was the Prince of Peace and he was never once afraid of a conflict in fact sometimes Jesus started conflicts sometimes Jesus said you guys in this temple you're not supposed to be doing that out sometimes Jesus address people and he would say things like you know you're you're whitewashed tombs you're full of dead men's bones those are not peaceful words so Jesus was not always peaceable but he was always a peace maker he was provoking conflict to get to the solution second thing that peacemaking is not peacemaking is not appeasing the problem appeasing it what is appeasing mean it means you always give in you act like a doormat you allow everybody to run all over you and that's not what Jesus meant Jesus refused to back down on many issues with the Pharisees and the Sadducees Jesus stood his ground in the face of opposition people would come trying to persecute Jesus and trying to hurt him and trying to kill him and he just stand his ground so peacemaking is not avoiding the problem and it's not appeasing the problem so if if that's what it's not what is it peacemaking is doing the hard work in our relationship so that we solve conflicts we don't just let them guy kind of go underground you've heard this time heals all wounds anybody ever hear that time heals all wounds you know the one significant problem of that statement is it's not true if you've ever met somebody that's bitter time didn't help them time made them more bitter time made them more trouble time made them more agitated and irritated about the problem time doesn't heal all wounds I'll tell you what heals all wounds is Jesus Christ Jesus Christ heals all wounds not necessarily time in fact I dispute that statement on this grounds Jesus can do in one minute what time can't do in 40 years so jesus heals all wounds not not time so so when when conflict comes and when relationships are kind of turned upside down and this could be marriages this could be parenting this could be friendships this could be any kind of relationship here are some principles from the Word of God for those situations in your life number one and this is probably they're not in order of importance but if they were this would still be number one number one talk to God before talking to the person let me say that one again that would be number one if we were doing them in order of importance talk to God before talking to the person if you pray about the conflict first before gossiping about it or talking to a friend or whatever you give God a chance to change hearts now I know we all do this because this is how I pray and I don't think I'm abnormal I always pray for God to change their heart you all look so spiritual and innocent but you do the same thing you're praying God shut them down shut them up convince them that they're wrong and how many have ever had this experience that you're praying for God to change them and God changes you because sometimes law of averages says you're wrong some of the time and so so when you talk to God he can change ours he might change their heart he might change your heart or he might change both and all our relationships would be smoother if we would pray more about them all of them would if you read the Psalms the Psalms are amazing I love the Psalms because I feel like David sometimes sometimes he's going to run through a troop and leap over a wall sometimes he's going to dance for joy sometimes he's going to pray and sometimes he's going to weep and sometimes he's angry and sometimes he's hurt sometimes he's betrayed sometimes he's praying God smash out their teeth that's in the Psalms you ever prayed that God smash out their teeth I will confess I've never prayed that but I probably come borderline he prays he's just honest just God you need to fix them but you know what happened to David over 150 Psalms he wrote about 75 of them you know what happened to him over the course of all those prayers because that's what they are David would get softened David would get changed David would be repentant David would see that the wrong wasn't all out there's a lot of the wrong was in here and then he'd start praying created me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right spirit within me and don't cast me away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me God nothing so important nothing so I don't have any rights that I would hold on to long enough for you to say okay you hang on to your rights but I'm going to my spirit David said don't take your spirit from me and so he got changed as he pray but here's David's secret all through the Psalms there's no blank for this I don't think on your handout but but but just here's the key vent it's okay to vent vent vertically vent vertically you know what we do is we don't even talk to God we vent horizontally we we spray it all over everybody else but vent vertically and do it first most conflict is rooted in unmet needs we feel like we rode something or we're deserve something or they should have and any time you expect somebody on this earth to meet a need in you you're at risk of being deployed disappointed because really only God can meet your deepest needs nobody else can um look what James says James chapter four what causes fights and quarrels among you don't they come from your desires that battle within you the King James actually uses the word lust you're wanting something so bad lust isn't just sexual you're wanting something so bad and and that's where all these fights and quarrels come from and then he just keeps going on he's just nailing us here you want something but you don't get it and you kill and you covet and you can't have what you want and so your quarrel and fight that's what you're getting you didn't get what you want so you have a big fight about it then he says you don't have because you don't ask God King James says you have not because you ask not if you talk to God in the first place it would have gone way better for you so number one everybody say talk to God before talking to others everybody say vent vertically boy that's a great principle that would solve so many problems for all of us number two this is an important principle if you're going to solve conflict and be a peacemaker restore relationships always take the initiative always take the initiative you know what happens in life we get offended or hurt and then we stand back and we think well when they come apologize or we think well when they come and they say they're wrong when they come and they kneel down and they grovel and they tell me how how many times does that honestly happen to you most of the time somebody that hurts you or does wrong to you they don't even know that they did wrong the same as you don't know that you did wrong sometimes when you hurt them so always take the initiative it doesn't matter if you're the offender or the offended God tells us in his word you make the first move you take the initiative don't wait on them you act take the initiative now I don't recommend and I said this to somebody this week and it was not a member of this church it was somebody else but they were asking for advice and and they needed to apologize for something they've done and I gave them this principle and and I this is just this is just classic to me it means it works when you apologize to someone it's not an apology if you use the word you think about that that's profound an apology says I was wrong I'm sorry forgive me that's an apology an apology is not you know you really said some stupid things that really hurt me and I don't know why you did that but I'm sorry that you did that to me that's not an apology that's an accusation so an apology keep the word you out of your apology and it'll would be a whole lot better when you apologize for something you did need to be man or woman enough to say I did wrong and make it about what you did and not what they did always take the initiative restoring broken fellowship now this is this going to hurt church members restoring broken fellowship is so important that Jesus said restoring a relationship is more important and should take priority even over your worship now you know how much of a priority worship is around here we're always saying let's worship we're always stopping to worship it's important it's critical it's crucial I wouldn't want to belong to a church that didn't take time out of the program to worship God but Jesus said if you've got a messed up relationship boring that takes priority over your worship Matthew five Sermon on the Mount if you enter your place of worship and you're about to make an offering and you suddenly remember a grudge not that you have against somebody you remember a grudge that a friend has against you abandon your offering he's talking about worship leave immediately go to this friend and make things right then and only then come back and work things out with God yeah that's what I thought I knew we'd be running on that one hmm hallelujah but that's in the Bible Jesus said that if you've got an issue or a problem and you know it's their fault they're grudge against you leave your worship leave your offering go make that right and then come back and offer your worship because that's so important time won't heal it time just allows it to fester and become more of a problem acting quickly when there's a problem it reduces spiritual damage to you because sin even sin of relationship conflicts that blocks our fellowship with God that hurts us it keeps our prayers from being answered now you couples that are here tonight this one you need to pin on the fridge for a while first Peter 3:7 this is the New Jerusalem Bible but I'm going to read it from the King James in just a second because it's stronger husbands must always treat their wives with consideration in their life together this will prevent anything from coming in the way of your prayers now now that's strong that's a good translation but here's the King James from 1st Peter 3 likewise you husband's dwell with them according to knowledge and give honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life why that your prayers be not hindered if your two Christians live in home and there's a problem in your marriage and you're not getting along your prayers are hindered you're hurting your relationship with God by not resolving your relationship with your spouse that's how important it is how many know we need to work on this one we really do all the married people are afraid to leave their hands oh what God what do they think how many know we need to work on that bit because if we don't work on that we can have all this conflict that that hinders our relationship with God and then it just keeps going because we're not talking to God about it our relationship with God and our prayers are hindered it's just a mess job chapter 18 verse 4 today's English version says you were only hurting yourself with your anger I love to teach this the Old English work not a Greek word not a Hebrew word but the Old English word for anger meant to choke and some of you you you think we'll amen to that but it didn't mean to choke them the old English word for anger meant to choke yourself because anger chokes normal human emotions and Compassion's and you're not thinking straight when you're mad you're just not and so we need to be careful always take the initiative number three number three is a good advice for handling conflict or resolving problems sympathize with their feelings everybody say sympathize everybody say their feelings now here's what I want to tell you about your feelings your feelings are illogical and their feelings are illogical your feelings are just feelings and their feelings are just feelings and their feelings are not any more right than your feelings because everybody has feelings feelings everybody has feelings but your feelings aren't logical they're just feelings and their feelings aren't logical they're just feelings and your feelings aren't necessarily fact they're just feelings and their feelings aren't necessarily fact they're just feelings feelings but if you'll sympathize with their feelings you're down the road a long way to solving problems here's a good rule for your life you've heard this before in fact your mother probably told you this you have one mouth and you have what two ears listen to them listen to their perspective you have two ears use your ears more than your mouth you could write this down if you want you begin with sympathy not solutions begin with sympathy for sympathize with them focus on their feelings don't focus on your feelings focus on their feelings not necessarily the facts pastors get to do this more than the average but sometimes you just need to you stand people even when you don't agree with them you might not agree with with their perspective but you can try to understand them Psalm 73 this is brutal David said when my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt I was as stupid as an animal Oh somebody get out the King James because maybe we won't understand it in that that's what it means well my thoughts are bitter and my feelings were hurt I was just dumb as an ox I didn't get it I didn't understand you because why because my feelings were talking louder than the facts and then that can happen to anybody wisdom comes the Bible says in the multitude of counselor their safety the Bible says that a wise man receives knowledge and so wisdom comes from hearing from other people and hearing their perspective even when you might not agree with them so sympathizers of the fields number four this one is probably the hardest thing to do sincerely and genuinely when in talking with people and working with people and it happened this week a couple of times in different situations neither one was connected to this church but but just trying to help people this was a big part of both of those situations you need to confess your part of the conflict you can't solve a problem by point note to them everything they are doing wrong because they want to do the same thing with you and then it's just he said she said they said so confess your part of the conflict when we admit that we're not perfect and when we admit we make mistakes and we admit our judgments not always clear it helps us and it helps them everybody has blind spots now this is worth writing down how you handle a conflict can create a bigger problem than the original conflict let me repeat that because that's important how you handle a conflict marriage friendship whatever how you handle a conflict can create a bigger problem than the original conflict parents you know this sometimes we forget it but how you handle a problem with your kids can create a bigger problem than the original problem and so we need to be careful on this one confess you're part of the conflict jesus said in Matthew 7 also the Sermon on the Mount first get rid of the log the beam in your own eye then perhaps you'll see well enough to deal with the speck in your friends I met with a friend this week and such a precious man and I was so appreciative of his attitude he had a conflict and he said to me and I'm quoting him he said I wasn't looking at any quoted Jesus he said I wasn't looking at the beam in my eye he said I was trying to pick the speck out of everybody else's eye and I forgot I wasn't looking in the mirror I didn't see that most of this problem was my fault and I really I just that didn't make me think less of him that that that made me think more of him we sat at a table and we just kind of wept together as he just kind of offloaded that and that meant so much to me I I told him I really admire you for being big enough to to admit that and to deal with that first John 1 and 8 if we claim that we're free of sin we're only fooling ourselves and yes the Bible says that if if you think I'm good I don't have to worry if we say we have no sin we're just deceiving ourselves there's no truth in that we all make mistakes we all have failures we all sometimes create problems now here's another principle that's really important number 5 if you can remember this this this will help attack the problem not the person if I could tell you we need to work on this one even in our society and our culture today I I got an email inbox full of bad news today about our culture this state legislature and this is happening over here and this is happening in this province and there's so many moral issues that are just unraveling right now and Christians the the president of I think it was the Southern Baptist denomination he was speaking at Brigham Young University this past week or this past month and and he literally you know he's Baptist he doesn't agree with Mormon theology and he literally said this week this is one of his quotes I read it and I thought oh my goodness he said I don't think we're going to heaven together he said to these Mormon students he said I don't think we're going to heaven together but he said the way our culture is going we may be going to jail together because our culture is becoming severely viciously anti-christian have you noticed this now now we have to push back against that it is wrong for pastors and saints and Christians to never lift their voice about moral issues so this church and these pastors will continue to take a stand for biblical morality and will preach what the Word of God says and we are not backing up one inch regardless of the consequences but we are not going to attack people we are not going to mock people we are not going to be on this platform and make crude statements about people that are different in lifestyle than us because that's not a biblical thing to do and so we're going to attack the problem and we're not going to attack the person and and if you do it different than that you need to correct yourself and get in line with the Bible it's all right to stand up and say I disagree with that lifestyle or that choice but you can't attack those people you need to just attack the problem and that's important now that's important in culture but you know where that's even more important that's important in your relationships because it's not you know life or death heaven and hell moral issues typically you're dealing with the relationships it's just everyday conflict and we sometimes forget that but in every day conflict we need to attack the problem and not attack the person all the time you can't fix the problem if you're trying to fix blame on somebody if you've got them in your sight you're trying to prove they're wrong you can't fix that problem you've got to choose be between the two you got to choose between fix and blame or fixing the problem you got to choose between being right or being successful in fixing the problem in trying to resolve a problem how you say it is as important as what you say just being transparent pastor falls down on that all the time I got so much work to do on that one how you say something is as important as what you say you know I'm a pastor I really try to tell people the truth I really try not to tell lies I really do if I didn't do that naturally by being saved I would do that because of my job and representing you well I would try really not to lie and tell people the truth but sometimes how you say something is as important or even more than than what you say if you say it offensively they get defensive and you can't you can't do anything proverbs chapter 15 verse 1 a kind answer soothes angry feelings don't you love that word soothe that's what you need soothing sometimes a kind answer soothe soothes angry feelings but harsh words stir them up 1621 this is today's English a wise mature person is known for his understanding that look at this look at this the more pleasant his words is worth underline the more pleasant his words the more persuasive he is that that's true that's why no salesman worth their salt no salesman who's actually making a living is going to fight with you over which kind of car you're thinking about buying they're going to be pleasant to you number 6 when you are trying to solve a problem when you're trying to solve an issue and repair a relationship cooperate as much as possible cooperate as much as possible peace always has a price tag blessed are the peace makers people that will pay a price to have peace sometimes having peace is going to cost you your pride because you can't always be right and have peace it's always going to cost you your self-centeredness because it's not all going to be about you it's going to be about the relationship more than you now Romans 12 verse 18 is a powerful scripture and it's a liberating scripture do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody do everything possible the King James Version that same verse says if it be possible as much as lieth in you so you're part I can't control what you do or think or say and you can't control what I do or think or say but the Bible says if it's possible at all as much as it's on your part as much as you can do about it live in peace with all men live in peace with everybody the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said you're blessed when you could show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight blessed are the peacemakers in the King James that's when you discover who you really are and when you discover your place in God's family cooperate as much as possible now this last principle I think is just incredibly important and it's also very liberating emphasize reconciliation not resolution that's really important emphasize reconciliation not resolution now let's define those if I get resolution resolution and resolve same route if I get resolution that means I've resolved all the issues married couples do this they will fight for years about stuff and think that they can't make any progress as a couple until they resolve all the issues he puts the toilet tissue on the dispenser wrong she squeezes the toothpaste wrong he leaves the cap off the toothpaste stupid stuff it's trivia why are you all laughing it's trivia right nobody's going to go to heaven or hell based on a toothpaste tube man you feel that wave of conviction sweeping in here just let it happen back there and that's under conviction you see that you know he doesn't pick up his socks or whatever you know I like fitness if you try to resolve all the issues that's resolution resolution means you've ticked off the list and everything's been solved and if you're waiting for that we'll put that list in your casket because you're never going to get that list your list is too long never going to resolve everything so emphasize reconciliation not resolution here's here's what I want you to write down resolution focuses on the problems we're going to fix all the problems now Ethan's getting under conviction resolution focuses on all the problems we got to fix all the problems or we can't move one step that's not true when have you ever had a day when you had all your problems fixed so don't hold another human being to the standard of I've got to fix all the problems between me and them before we can move forward resolution focuses on the problems listen reconciliation focuses on the relationship reconciliation says we're going to have a relationship even if there's still problems we're going to be respectful of each other even if we still disagree that's reconciliation resolution focuses on fixing all the problems and if you're waiting to fix all the problems you're going to be waiting a long time it's going to be a warm day in New Brunswick before you ever get all those problems fixed but if you'll focus but if you'll focus on reconciliation reconciliation says you are more important to me than dot and all the eyes and crossing all the t's you are more important to me than fixing all this little trivial stuff that we've been arguing about reconciliation it is unrealistic to expect everybody to agree on everything in a marriage and a family in a friendship in a relationship in a church it's unreasonable to expect everybody to agree on everything but you can re-establish a relationship even when we can't resolve all the issues we can disagree without being disagreeable when you focus on the relationship and you turn away from trying to fix all the little problems sometimes here's what you find that all the little problems that you thought were so big that they fade away you'll find that in a marriage if you've been married for very long you'll find that in a marriage that if you stop trying to fix every little problem and you just focus on the relationship sometimes the little problems you figure out after a couple of months or a couple of years you figure out that you know what that was kind of idiotic that I was insistent on all that being fixed I really that wasn't very important at all can I say something all the married people here tonight sometimes when you lose you win I'm just going to stand right here until that sinks in sometimes when you lose you win because you keep trying to win everything all the time and you're losing you're hurting yourself you're hurting your relationship no I'm just gonna stand here til that sinks in stop trying to win you know Jesus calls us to be losers sometimes he calls us to lose our rights lose our pride lose our insistence on being the one that always gets the honor of being right see the kingdom of God's a backwards Kingdom in the kingdom of God to receive you give to go up you humble yourself it's backwards and to win you lose that scripture we read earlier from Philippians 2 that's all set in the context Paul said if you've got any holy ghost' if you've got any consolation any comfort if you've got any Holy Ghost in you at all act like this you know what the context of that passages is Jesus giving up all his rights and coming and given his life roben himself in flesh dying on the cross and Paul said you know if you've got any Holy Ghost in you act like that lose to win the cross looked like this horrible loss but it wasn't a loss at all let me finish but not before we lift up our hands and just talk to Jesus for a minute and then I'll finish and we'll move on would you just open up your heart for a second let the word of God just kind of settle in this isn't a word of Pastor Raymond these are scriptures this is the Word of God and God's trying to help us tonight just talk in tongues if you can't pray out loud because it's too sensitive just talk in tongues just pray in the spirit for a minute so today epipolar estas Yosh naba ayat Ella esta Jesus help us to get this help us to help our relationships help us to help our marriages help us to help our kids help us to help our families and help us to help our friendships in our church help us to get that Scott this is how you taught us to live this is how your word teaches us to live worship You Jesus Ryan come on back would you help me now that doesn't mean that you stop ever trying to find a solution I'm a solutions guy but you try to find it in a spirit of harmony and you remember that the relationship is more important than the solution every time first Peter 3 verse 1 Peter echoing the words of Jesus he said work hard at living in peace with others work hard be a peacemaker peacemaking is not easy peacemaking is not not caring about anything peacemaking is not laying down and letting somebody trample all over you that's not peacemaking that's just givin up peace making is hard work but it's worth doing Matthew chapter 5 verse 9 from the King James this time blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God blessed are the peacemakers we're going to shift gears in about five minutes here we're going to have the Guatemala team come up and we're going to pray over themselves I'm so grateful that our church gets to do things like that you want to be praying for that orphanage project in Guatemala it is so precious to the work they're into the church around the world because sister Lynn Jewett who's working so diligently along with the Thompsons in Guatemala she said in one of her little letters you saw it on the floor we passed out that because she came from an orphanage that is just so precious to her I'm so so grateful that work is about restoring people that have had relationships gone wrong and this is really important this is part of what Christians do and it has to begin the first ladies and gentlemen at the house of God because we can't be salt and light in our community and in our society if we can't even be forgiving to one another and restore relationships and ourselves I'm not after anything this morning this tonight rather this is just kind of what what's been on my plate this week and not any from here this has been on my plate this week this whole business of working at relationships importantly ER and nothing's worth you getting all messed up and lose note with God because you lost out with somebody it's not important enough sometimes to win you need to lose lose your rights lose your position lose your status lose all of that put that behind you and just focus on that relationship I don't want to distract or disturb anything but would you stand with me and I want to pray one more time the only way I can say this is I really want to pray this is not a transition prayer waiting for the Guatemala team to come up that this is this is real prayer right now so you may not realize this but somebody here this is current for them for you it might have been six years ago for you you might have solved it last week but for somebody this is currently so would you just reach out connect with somebody around you if that's possible or doable or comfortable and let's pray right now would you would you do that need you to lift up your voice say to God you you don't understand how somebody might need the Word of God to minister to them tone Ted avaricious suburi taken root Ella esta su Terra Terra a Katara era terraces no gala a Raider SEO Sabha reto poor Adela stoned a label and arrested a loretta leister sir Amanda irritative la tourette opposite Jesus led healing flow tonight into relationships but forgiveness flow tonight into relationships God let reconciliation move into relationships and where there's been damage and hurt and pain and offense God let there be a desire to take the initiative and restore a relationship even if we feel we're the wrong one even if we feel they did the hurting god help us to realize that that's not so important that we can't take the initiative you're going to need to pray in the spirit to probably to do this one but would you event vertically right now would you pray to God right now about that person about that situation about that hurt you may need to just pray in tongues because you can't pray it out loud I understand that but would you just pray about that person that situation that that relationship that's fractured some parent you need to pray about a child right now some husband you need to pray about a wife right now some wife you need to pray about a husband in edit e esha god help us to be committed to this relationship help us to be active in the ministry of reconciliation that's part of what you called us to idle a sto so stahma IOPS Tasha sued a little atrocious up student ll MOT animus so Bella Bella esto estaba con Reba a linear a estos ass tisha so they never has to say that I don't think ambience thank you for praying but just one more time with you lift that up got them all a team if you start moving to the front right now that would help us but but would you just pray right now everybody just pray we'll just shift gears of prayer but Guatemala team can write up center if you would just the youth are coming in to join us right now just come right up to the center everybody going to Guatemala but Church keep praying just keep praying God's still talking and God's still working I thank you for them stead of rubble to lay a stencil Josh tisha soda Arabic estas a step I worship you Jesus I worship you got a mission to Jesus

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 40,651

Rating: 4.8557215 out of 5

Keywords: pastor, raymond, woodward, restoring, broken, relationships, midweek, bible, study, ccc, capital, community, church, preaching, teaching, sermon, preach, apostolic, pentecostal, upc, upci, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick

Id: 0wscwYIv4jk

Length: 48min 30sec (2910 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 28 2014