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Reborn Without Prejudice

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Reborn Without Prejudice

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Reborn Without Prejudice

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What is prejudice? What impact can prejudice have in our beings, relationships and functioning? How can we, first of all, become aware of our prejudices and then, how can we conquer them so as to clear our beings from them? Is this possible?

Sermon Notes

A partial set of Scriptures and notes: 

Today, a subject that can be sensitive, and one that gets us thinking. HE is looking for transformation and this does not happen without self-examination.

(Joh 3:1)  There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He was in the Sanhedrin... 
(Joh 3:2)  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
WE... Not just Nicodemus...  Maybe Nicodemus had seen/heard Jesus before...
(Joh 3:3)  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Most assuredly... FOR EMPHASIS... this is REALLY IMPORTANT... 
(Joh 3:4)  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
HOW can you abandon all your foundational thinking from childhood and take IN and ON this message???

So, ARE YOU  A NEW CREATION??

(Rom 6:4)  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Are we walking in NEWNESS of life?? Are we being refined day by day due to INSIGHTS from The Bible and the people we "rub elbows with" ??

Are you really different from 5 years ago? Can you see and feel it?"

Prejudice [Q Edward Murrow? ]  To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful. Edward R. Murrow
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edwardrmu387280.html 

Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them. Edward R. Murrow
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/edwardrmu159002.html 

Jer 33

(Joh 3:6)  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(Joh 3:7)  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
(Joh 3:8)  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
You can't see the Spirit but you know it is there...  There is a plan and you are part of it and it can take you to a place you do not know... 

(Joh 3:10)  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
YOU, Nicodemus... priest, leader of the people, ... 
(Joh 3:11)  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
YOU PLURAL [ Sanhedrin, ruling class, all of YOU] do not receive our witness... ]

(Joh 3:12)  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Have some sympathy for Nicodemus... 
Joh 7:45  Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" 
Joh 7:46  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" 
Joh 7:47  Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? 
Joh 7:48  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 
Joh 7:49  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed." 
Joh 7:50  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 
Joh 7:51  "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" 
Joh 7:52  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 
a HUGE Put Down... Galileans are uneducated...  So, prejudice says: WE ain't listenin'  to HIM !!!

James talks about prejudice and bias here...  it shows up everywhere and all fields... 

Jas 2:1  My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 
Jas 2:2  For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 
Jas 2:3  and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 
Jas 2:4  have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 

1 cor 14:    WOMEN do not fulfill an ECCLESIASTICAL role... but it does not mean they are limited in their ABILITY to do such things in many and varied aspects of life and action.

(1Pe 3:7)  Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Vessel is a pot, pan etc...  a holding container...  What is a Weaker Vessel... ? Old, raggedy pot?

Receptacle fairly refined like FINE China... 

For special guests you can have special plates occasionally... because they are more fragile, beautiful, show off, special occasions... so a bit " weaker, more fragile " ... 

(Isa 3:12)  As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths."
Judges 4-8

What is the context? 
(Isa 3:1)  For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
(Isa 3:2)  The mighty man and the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder;
(Isa 3:3)  The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert enchanter.
(Isa 3:4)  "I will give children to be their princes, And babes shall rule over them.
(Isa 3:5)  The people will be oppressed, Every one by another and every one by his neighbor; The child will be insolent toward the elder, And the base toward the honorable."
LACK OF LEADERSHIP IS the context.... 

(Isa 3:16)  Moreover the LORD says: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And walk with outstretched necks And wanton eyes, Walking and mincing as they go, Making a jingling with their feet,

(2Ki 22:8)  Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
(2Ki 22:14)  So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her.
(2Ki 22:15)  Then she said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Tell the man who sent you to Me,

Let us not confound the Teaching in Church  with a multiplicity of roles women can have at all levels, environments etc.... 

(Col 3:9)  Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
(Col 3:10)  and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
(Col 3:11)  where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

(Act 13:1)  Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Mark

(Rom 16:13)  Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
Simon's [Simeon ] ... relatives, children etc.... 

(Act 8:26)  Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert.
FIRST GENTILE Convert was an Ethyopian black man... 
(Act 8:26)  Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert.
(Act 8:27)  So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
(Act 8:28)  was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
(Act 8:29)  Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."
GOD extended HIS GRACE to everyone...  GOD did not care about human prejudices...  HE wants ALL in HIS Kingdom.... 

HOW about migrants from Islamic Countries??
IT is a difficult question.... historically Islam conquered huge swaths of Europe... 
Islam came to the gates of Paris... 
Pushed back at the battle of Tours... 

(2Ti 1:7)  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
a LOT of FEAR about Islam...
We are to put our lives in GOD"s hands and NOT fear !!!

(1Jn 4:18)  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
There is no caveat.... 

No exclusions for Muslims... Luke 10:27

Those in the Islamic faith are NOT our enemy. The SPIRIT world contains our enemies... 

OLD to young and YOUNG to old... 

(1Ti 4:12)  Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

(1Pe 5:1)  The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:
(1Pe 5:2)  Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
(1Pe 5:3)  nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
(1Pe 5:4)  and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

(1Pe 5:5)  Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
(Mal 4:6)  And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
Generational divides are not new.... 

Prejudiced against people due to the way they USED TO BE... we freeze them in a box in our minds... 

We are being transformed and should not be the same 5 yehars from now as we are today... 

(1Co 5:1)  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father's wife!
(1Co 5:2)  And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.
(1Co 5:5)  deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
PUT HIM OUT... it is NOT acceptable to live like that.... 

(2Co 2:5)  But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.
(2Co 2:6)  This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man,
(2Co 2:7)  so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.
(2Co 2:8)  Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.
(2Co 2:9)  For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
(2Co 2:10)  Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
(2Co 2:11)  lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

ONE of the devices of Satan is that he can influence to be UNforgiving ... !!!!!

(Mat 6:12)  And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
(Mat 6:13)  And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
(Mat 6:14)  "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
(Mat 6:15)  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
 

Comments

  • cherylcarlson
    Great reminders for each of us. Thinking errors stunt growth and we all have them. Thank you for this instruction.
  • timpebworth
    I am so glad you found the message helpful. "Thinking errors" is a very good term to describe potential biases that we carry around with us. We have to hold up our thinking to clear biblical standards and let go of our own ideas.
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