Demanding God's Presence! (Matthew 18:19-20)

Well, I’ve gotten a lot of comments (most of them positive) on our new sermon series on “The Most Misused & Misunderstood Verses in the Bible” (#3Mverses). Hopefully, you’re getting the idea that context is really important when it comes to understanding the Scriptures. This week’s message on “Demanding God’s Presence” comes from Matthew 18:20. This is a verse that everyone wants to claim because it seems to promise something we really want — that when we get together to pray, Jesus will show up. And while Jesus’ presence is assured when the church gathers, it’s not because of this verse. “What? How can you say that? That’s my favorite verse on prayer.”

Well, this verse isn’t actually about prayer at all. It’s about relationships within the church and what we should do when the sin of one person results in broken relationships. And yes, this is yet another case where “taking a verse out of context” dramatically changes the meaning of the verse. This Sunday we’re going to see how that’s done, why it shouldn’t be done, what the text really means, and how should we be applying it to our lives instead. That’s a lot to take in … maybe two or three of you could pray about it. Oh, wait … this could be fun … see you Sunday, Dr. Dave.

PS – Rumor has it there’s going to be a big party Sunday afternoon. I’m thinking about going. Are you? Maybe two or three of you could pray about it … oh, sorry.