(Note: individual pieces are right below this short introduction)
Communication is a holy and needed skill for true Christians (“little Christ’s”) to live in the kingdom and in a unified community. If anything identifies itself with carnal and fleshly human beings and the western brand of faith groups these days, it’s stonewalling.
We discuss it at length below so you and your groups can walk worthy of the high calling of God.
Conversely, the Spirit’s influence in any group can bring unity with any person. It takes work, big work, but when fruitful, it can be a little heaven on earth!
Jesus said in John 17 these words to our Father:
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
COMMUNICATION IN COMMUNITY – BY THOMAS DUBAY [AT THE BATTLE FRONT 21]
Many of us do not have pleasant memories surrounding the church “business” meetings of our past. Just about all of us have gone through the pains of a church split. Some of us have agonized through a plurality of church divisions. Has it ever occurred to us that most breakdowns in Christian relationships are…(read more by clicking the link above)
NEW IDEA COMES TO YOUR GROUP (FLOW CHART) – HOW DO YOU REACT TO KEEP UNITY? [GIVING AN ACCOUNT 1]
So, where you stand in the flow chart? Take the last 2-3 instances of disagreement or an upsetting encounter. Where did your behavior flow? What numbers represented your route? And your group’s reaction? (read more by clicking the link above)
OPEN COMMUNICATION – FLOW CHART [GIVING AN ACCOUNT 2]
This is a basic communication model we’ve used with hundreds of people, work teams, and leaders. Let us know how we might help you to implement this is your organization, and families. (read more by clicking the link above)
NICE IS NOT THE POINT – BY MARILYN CHANDLER MCENTYRE [AT THE BATTLE FRONT 34]
As the unit on the Gospels drew to a close, I asked the professing Christians, “How has this reading of these accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry changed your understanding of him?” A hand went up in the back row. “I don’t know exactly how to put this,” the young woman mused, “but this isn’t the Jesus I grew up with. He doesn’t seem very … nice.”
She was thinking, no doubt, about the embarrassments of the pigs and the fig tree, or perhaps his “Who is my mother?” or his calling Peter Satan. Careful explanations notwithstanding, what remained troubling to her was Jesus’ rudeness. (read more by clicking the link above)
WAS JESUS MEAN? BY MARK GALLI [AT THE BATTLE FRONT 33]
When Jesus speaks or acts sternly, it seems like a far cry from nice. But it isn’t a far cry from love.
Jesus opens his ministry as a rather exacting rabbi. He suddenly appears before two groups of fishermen and starkly commands them, “Follow me!” (Mark 1:16-20). He tells a deranged man to shut up and then causes him to writhe in… (read more by clicking the link above)
UNITY LESSONS FROM THE ACTS 15 GATHERING [MONDAY MANNA 120]
What was the Acts 15 situation? It was a reoccurring disagreement over Gentiles salvation (also see Acts 11.2 earlier), i.e. law or grace, how are they saved?
Verse 1 – Judean men come to Antioch and begin falsely teaching the brethren Gentiles you must be circumcised to be saved
V 2 – Paul (P) and Barnabas (B) have great dissension (rigorous debate) with… (read more by clicking the link above)
UNITY: FINDING THE LORD’S MIND TOGETHER – PART 1 [MONDAY MANNA 148]
Do you yearn with all your heart, as we do here at Walk Worthy, for God’s people to be one? Displaying loving unity amidst the diversity of His body? To receive God’s glory NOW (John 17:22-23) in fullest measure by pleasing His heart in full? (read more by clicking the link above)
UNITY: FINDING THE LORD’S MIND TOGETHER – PART 2 [MONDAY MANNA 149]
In pleasing the Lord in all ways, we must ask for more grace to discern the enemy’s schemes of being irreconcilable. The trouble with his schemes is that, well, they’re “schemey” meaning they’re not obvious. As a matter of fact, over time if not corrected, sin becomes normal to the person while holiness then appears legalistic.
What a role reversal… You may want to ask the Holy Spirit if He desires you to…(read more by clicking the link above)
ARE YOU A SEEKER OR STONEWALLER? [MONDAY MANNA 73]
We can all seek God’s way of life at times, and we can all stonewall God’s way of life at times. The eternal issue of life and death is this: which of these two are we consistently practicing, or seeking to practice with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Where is our heart in all this?
Are we really pleasing God is all respects? Or are we mainly talking a good game like the Pharisees and other hypocrites?
Are we, as rebuker, mainly a…(read more by clicking the link above)
IDENTIFYING STONEWALLERS WHO BLOCK YOUR TRUTH [DEAR BRETHREN 4]
Dear brother, thanks for your courage in connecting. No, brother, you’re not alone or losing your mind! As a good friend and brother describes, this phenomenon we know as stonewalling is pandemic. He goes on to say almost all Christians are on auto-pilot. I’d add that any honorable discussion is made undiscussable. And their undiscussability is also made undiscussable. (read more by clicking the link above)
DO NOT CAST YOUR PEARLS: ABOUT PIGS & DOGS [MONDAY MANNA 101]
“…correcting those who will not receive correction is futile; one should discerningly continue to offer wisdom or the gift of the kingdom only to those willing to receive what one offers, just as God does.” Craig Keener
It was a common thread that stray dogs were hungry…they were looking for food all the time as scavengers…and they were dangerous. Often traveling in packs, even today one can see them attack people in their pursuit of food, survival, and…(read more by clicking the link above)
