You Can Be Forgiven

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text: John 1:9; Colossians 3:13. 

Gabrielle Carey is an Australian author most widely known for the movie Puberty Blues, based upon the book of the same title. In a later book, In My Father’s House Carey relates an incident that led to her conversion to Christ.

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 Carey was raised in an atheist humanist household. Her father was a university lecturer with a passionate commitment to the left side of politics. Throughout her upbringing he railed against oppression, capitalism and was a key figure in the anti-war movement during the Vietnam years. He also railed against God and the church, finding it impossible to believe in a God when the world was full of so much suffering.

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But that left Gabrielle tremendously burdened. In her book In My Father’s House she writes, "One of the hardest aspects of growing up as the daughter of a humanist was the worry of having to live up to incredibly high intellectual and moral standards. And worse, what happened when it was discovered that you hadn’t? Would you be given a second chance? Could you confess your weaknesses? Would you ever be forgiven? What would my father say if he found out that I was just another brainless, mind-moulded, media-manipulated failure to humanity?"

It was this burden of guilt Gabrielle found lifted when she converted to Christian faith. "Perhaps what I liked most about Catholicism" she writes, "or at the least the Catholicism the abbot had introduced to me, was knowing I could be wrong, knowing I could behave badly, awfully in fact, and that I would still be loved. That all I needed to do was own up and I’d be forgiven...At least with a Catholic God and father you could fail without feeling that it was the end of all hope. And that was such a relief."

Source: Scott Higgins, based on Carey’s In My Father’s House (Pan McMillan, 1992)

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

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Brother Roop teaches the Bible

I'm Done With Church!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is an article from an unknown author that I wanted to share with you.

🚫 "I'm done with church." 🚫

Have you ever felt this way? Maybe someone at church said or did something that hurt you deeply, and now you're considering walking away altogether. But before you make that decision, consider this:

If someone in your family hurt you, would you quit the whole family? Would you say, "Sorry Mom and Dad, I can't come over for the family meal because my brother will be there and he said something mean to me!" Probably not, right?

And if someone at work hurt your feelings, would you quit your job? Someone at the gym took your machine, would you quit the gym you love to go to? What about if someone at the park looked at you funny? Would you stop going to the park altogether? And if the owner at your favorite restaurant didn't shake your hand one time, would you quit and never go back?

Chances are, you wouldn't.

 So why should it be any different with church? Yes, we're all human, and sometimes people in the church hurt us. But let's not let those hurts drive us away from the community that God has called us to be a part of. Many people often claim, "Pastor, God led me to this Church," only to disappear a little later. What happened? Did God change His mind? No, but the Devil was at work.

 Sometimes it's rooted in bitterness, sometimes it's the result of backsliding, but if the Church is following the Bible, we must recognize that the excuse is flimsy and we should swallow our pride and stay to help and heal.

Instead of quitting church, let's work through our hurts and conflicts together, just as we would with our families, friends, or colleagues. Let's remember that the church is made up of imperfect people, just like you and me, and let's extend grace and forgiveness to one another.

So if you're feeling hurt or discouraged, reach out to someone you trust at church, whether it's a pastor, a friend, or a small group leader. Let's lean on each other and continue to grow together in our faith journey.

THINK: If you ever choose to depart from a church, it's essential to have a face-to-face conversation with the pastor before leaving. Showing respect to the servant of God by engaging in dialogue and offering the opportunity for prayer is crucial. Anything less than this is cowardice and cannot be justified by claiming that "God led me to leave." 

The Devil continually seeks to undermine good, Bible-believing churches and families. We all face temptations to become discouraged, experience misunderstandings, get hurt, and even contemplate quitting. However, these moments aren't when we should succumb to temptation; rather, they're opportunities to draw closer to God and reconcile with others. 

Finally, we could fill a football stadium with people who have come and gone from a good, Bible-believing church without valid biblical reasons to depart. Don't be the one who leaves; be the one who stays!

William James Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Giving Forgiveness

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a story about giving forgiveness.

 A natural example of this point can be found by looking at the two seas in the Holy Land. The Sea of Galilee freely receives and gives out water. It has an abundance of life, nurturing many different kinds of fish and plant life. The water from the Sea of Galilee is carried by way of the Jordan river to the Dead Sea.

 But the Dead Sea only takes water in and does not give out. There is nothing living, no fish or plant life in the Dead Sea. The powerful life giving waters of the Sea of Galilee become dead when mixed with the hoarded waters of the Dead Sea. Life can not be sustained if held onto.

 –John Bevere, “The Bait Of Satan” Charisma House, 1997, page 12,13.

William J. Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

I Don't Remember

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord! 

Here is a story about forgiveness.

In “A Forgiving God in an Unforgiving World”, Ron Lee Davis

retells the true story of a priest in the Philippines, a

much-loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret

sin he had committed many years before. He had repented

but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness.

In his parish was a woman who deeply loved God and who

claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ and he

with her. The priest, however, was skeptical. To test her he

said, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask

him what sin your priest committed while he was in

seminary.” The woman agreed. A few days later the priest

asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?”

“Yes, he did”. she replied

“And did you ask him what sin I committed in seminary?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what did he say?”

“He said, I don’t remember”

William J. Roop

Roop-Crappell Ministries

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible