Pastor's Corner – September 15th, 2023
This week, Faith Church offered a long overdue expression of thanks to the founder of the Leaf Food Pantry, Veronica Smoke. Veronica, with the support of her biological family as well as her spiritual family, has boldly gone where no one could have gone without God’s anointing.
Congratulations and thanks, Veronica, for the gift of your service.
Last Sunday, we introduced a message that did not make it online due to technical difficulties;
However, we’ll use this written medium as an alternate means of getting that timely message out to our Church family
A boundary is a “dividing line”. Boundaries are used to separate cities, counties, state and even countries. Boundaries are also used to separate people one from another, so that each can have separate identities, responsibilities and privileges. A boundary creates necessary “space” between individuals. Healthy boundaries define expectations and show respect for others. Boundaries are different from walls which are designed to cut of both access and communication.
Some people don’t like it when other people get too close to them when they’re talking…they are “in your space”.
Some people you want close to you when they’re talking…it’s called being intimate and both parties agree to adjust the boundaries for the circumstances.
There’s another type of boundary…Biblical boundaries. Biblical boundaries are all about self-control. The Bible commands us to control ourselves, whereas our human nature desires to control others. (Titus 2:12).
12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
This verse spells out how to control oneself: deny godlessness, deny the lust of the world and to simply live in a sensible way until Christ returns. An excellent place to find boundaries is in marriage. A healthy marriage requires boundaries. Marital boundaries keep sex and intimacy within the relationship while respecting each person’s needs. Violating these boundaries will quickly destroy trust and ultimately, the relationship.
Another family function requiring boundaries is parenting. Setting healthy limits for children will protect them (Proverbs 22:6). 6Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old, he will not depart from it. Setting boundaries with children must be done in loving ways in order for the child to feel loved. (Ephesians 6:4) 4Fathers, don't stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Boundaries help a child see that life is not about pursuing what he wants but surrendering to the Lord and following Him. Learning boundaries as a child is important. It is more difficult to learn boundaries later in life. Children will not grow up to respect God’s boundaries if they do not learn boundaries in their home.
Let’s close this edition of the Pastor’s Corner by turning to verses 14 and 15 of Titus 2. 14 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness…Redeem means to set free…so we were in bondage to something…that something was the impact of lawlessness on our lives.…and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. He bailed us out and cleaned us up so that we would love Him enough to desire to do good works because of His good work toward us. And what is that work? 15 Proclaim these things; encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. This is a powerful verse and here is the executive summary:
Proclaim the goodness of God
Encourage those who are still experiencing the enemy’s efforts to cross our boundaries.
God said, rebuke those forces with all authority
God said, let no one disregard you (your boundaries)
Friends, boundaries are not an option!
Blessings,
Pastor