Sermon Central
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Open Letter To A Dear Friend And Pastor
Contributed by Howard Gunter on Jan 11, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Message/Devotion
January 12, 2020
Open Letter to A DEAR FRIEND and PASTOR
The Reading
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Heb.8:12
Dear Pastor – Yes I said pastor! From where I sit, you have abandoned most of your friends, most of whom stand by you. You slipped, backslid and sinned against God, your church and your family. ALL have forgiven you and most stand by you. Many need you. It appears that you have gone into seclusion and abandoned those who love you and miss you the most.
Why? Pastor what is standing in the way of accepting the forgiveness of others? I believe it is called PRIDE. I also believe that you are struggling to forgive yourself.
Ponder God’s Words here:
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 YOU are not dead in sin!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
You of all people know that you, me, and all of us are a work in progress. Being a new creation has a built-in process of RENEWAL.
“if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:6
Are we crucifying Christ all over again? Did He pay your sin debt or not? Was it in vain?
We can not live in the past. We all know pastors who wear their laurels for all to see but it's what they do today that serves or fails in serving the kingdom. Likewise, we cannot wear our failures to drag us down; otherwise, we would all fall short of leading others to the kingdom.
Brother, God expects you to forgive yourself and continue the work that He ordained you to do. Hold your head up and look ALL others straight in the eye and minister humbly but boldly.
I started to enumerate the long list of a great many famous pastors and evangelists that have done just that. But God held me in check because this is about you and Him. Comparing accomplishes nothing.
I pray for you and your family daily. I forbid any conversations in my presence that have any mention of my failures or yours.
If you read this and have any desire or need to meet and pray together and talk it through, I will meet you anywhere, anytime day or night.
God LOVES YOU. I LOVE YOU.
We all love and serve God by loving and serving each other – EVERY EACH OTHER.
God Bless You,
Howard