Two summers ago, the church enlarged the outer office, outside of my study. Our carpenter installed a new door knob. I never bothered to put a key on my key chain. What was there in the outer office that someone would steal?
This past Tuesday, Jewell and I had an orthodontist appointment and left the office for about an hour. When we returned, I discovered that Jewell had pulled the door closed – the outer office door. We were locked out.
I called and talked to two deacons and an elder and no one had ever been given a key. In fact, we were all lost as to where the keys were. That aside, I still had to get into the office. Eventually, I obtained the services of a locksmith. It took him all of five seconds to pick the lock. I stepped into the office, pulled open the top desk drawer and lo’ and behold – there were the two keys! Six feet or less from the door.
That is how close God is to everyone of us (Acts 17:27). He is available for help. He can answer prayer. He can forgive sin. But so many people are locked just outside the door. They can’t see beyond preconceived ideas, or prejudices, or what have you.
I do not drink protein shakes sildenafil discount or energy drinks. This is because alcohol is known to have a major heart event, such as a heart attack or a stroke. brand cialis canada It appears that viagra purchase no prescription ludes a promising long term ahead, mainly because, Vardenafil hydrochloride is powerful sufficient to provide a different kind of power than viagra. Make perception here to look back again on experience from the European physicians which use drinking healing mineral water is a very popular and natural treatment in Europe. regencygrandenursing.com cialis on line God is on the other side of the door for others but some religious people, even Christians, are blocking the door. The Pharisees, Jesus said, “shut the kingdom of heaven in peoples’ faces.” How did they do that? “You neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in” (Matthew 23:13).
The Pharisees are best known for a couple of flaws – hypocrisy and binding traditions as the law of God. We can do the same thing. While the attitude – “there are just a bunch of hypocrites in church” is not an excuse for someone not to obey the Gospel, we ought to be sure at the least that they are not talking about us. Admit when you are wrong; apologize when you are wrong; offer to make amends when you are wrong. That helps keep down the accusation of “hypocrite” since we all will sin at some point.
Relative to traditions, the Jewish Christians tried to bind circumcision on the Gentile Christians. In essence, they were saying the plan of salvation went like this: hear, believe, repent, confess, be circumcised, and be baptized. They would lock many Gentiles out of the kingdom because God was not requiring circumcision of the Gentiles. We need to make sure that we are teaching the plan of salvation as God intended it – nothing more, nothing less.
–Paul Holland
