May 30, 2012
| From Pastor Roger - Conflict is good? The books of the Bible tell many tales of conflicts. Some of the stories are gory and we wonder why it was necessary for us to know the details. Sometimes it shows the depravity of man without God, and sometimes it shows the redeeming power of God. However the stories turn out, most of the time, the conflicts were definitely not a good thing. One conflict that is an exception is found in Genesis 32. Jacob was about to face what he thought would be the fight for his life with his brother Esau. When he heard Esau was coming with 400 men, he knew he was in big trouble. Jacob was not traveling with an army. He was never the strong one. If Jacob and Esau were living in today's world, Esau would be the jock, good at everything physical. Jacob would be the geek, perfectly content to be in the house tinkering with computers. Now facing his formidable big brother and 400 armed men, Jacob is accompanied by women, children, shepherds and a few armed but probably inexperienced fighters. No wonder he couldn't sleep. He sent gifts and emissaries on ahead, hoping to appease his brother, but sleep would not come. He had split his group up, sending them in different directions, hoping to save some of them. He stayed alone, to deal with his thoughts, memories of betrayal and manipulation. In the middle of the night, he knew he was no longer alone. He began to wrestle with the man. Genesis 32:24 says they wrestled until daybreak. In verse 25, we read "When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man." Whatever was in Jacob's mind, he fought with every fiber of his being to save not only his life, but that of his family and workers. By now, Jacob is realizing this is not an ordinary attacker, and he refuses to release him without a blessing. His name is changed from Jacob to Israel, and he renames the location Peniel "…because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." Conflict is a normal part of being human. If you have more than two people together, there will be conflict, even with identical twins. How conflicts happen and who conflicts happen to are not what matters. What matters is how the conflict is resolved. We had two big groups scheduled to meet in the same room here at the church, at the same time. To make matters worse, on one of those scheduled dates, three big groups had been scheduled. Conflict!!!! What is important is why this conflict happened and how it was resolved. Praise God, we have a busy church, with a lot of great things going on. The Journey is an outreach program to wounded souls. CHIP is an outreach program to banged-up bodies. God's Closet is an outreach to families in need. These are wonderful programs, each one deserving of our support. On the evening when all three groups were using the church, every room in the church was in use. How exciting is that! We had room conflicts because we have members who are involved and active, reaching out to care for basic needs in our community. Even greater were the attitudes of the people who worked to find solutions. If this is the kind of conflict we face in our church today, bring it on! Let's have more rooms full. Let's have more people in these rooms every night of the week. Let's never be satisfied with a church that's only busy on Sabbath mornings. The greatest conflict of all faces every human being. The tragedy is that so many of them don't know it. The joy is that we get to help them understand and face it. We get to help them find their own Peniel, to fight the fight for their lives, where they come face to face with God. Because we are reaching out, they lives can be spared for eternity. | What's happening >June 4, 10:00 am MGAES Groundbreaking for new gym >June 9, 3:00 pm Memorial Service for Lester Zundel Future events: THIS WEEK Wednesday, May 30 Thursday, May 31 Friday, June 1 NEXT WEEK Sunday, June 3 Monday, June 4 Tuesday, June 5
Wednesday, June 6 Friday, June 8
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