Chevonne Reynolds's Posts - Black Preaching Network2024-03-29T06:07:08ZChevonne Reynoldshttps://abcpreachers.ning.com/profile/ChevonneReynoldshttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/61527285?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://abcpreachers.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0filsexg5dqub&xn_auth=noThe Diotrephes Syndrome- A strategy for using church discipline as a weapontag:abcpreachers.ning.com,2011-06-10:916966:BlogPost:21362832011-06-10T00:26:51.000ZChevonne Reynoldshttps://abcpreachers.ning.com/profile/ChevonneReynolds
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TtKgY32YFis/TeWGiPQnDWI/AAAAAAAAAUA/HIrgKqb16cM/s1600/the_greatest_commandment-4419.jpg"><img border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613040433357065570" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613040433357065570" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TtKgY32YFis/TeWGiPQnDWI/AAAAAAAAAUA/HIrgKqb16cM/s400/the_greatest_commandment-4419.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: hand; width: 296px; height: 400px;"></img></a> <br></br>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">This blog was inspired by a Bible study I attended tonight about Diotrephes. The lesson was taught very beautifully by Dr. BJ Relefourd. Her lesson peaked my curiosity…</span></p>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TtKgY32YFis/TeWGiPQnDWI/AAAAAAAAAUA/HIrgKqb16cM/s1600/the_greatest_commandment-4419.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613040433357065570" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TtKgY32YFis/TeWGiPQnDWI/AAAAAAAAAUA/HIrgKqb16cM/s400/the_greatest_commandment-4419.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: hand; width: 296px; height: 400px;" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613040433357065570"/></a><br/>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">This blog was inspired by a Bible study I attended tonight about Diotrephes. The lesson was taught very beautifully by Dr. BJ Relefourd. Her lesson peaked my curiosity about Diotrephes so I'm going to share what I learned with you. By the way, you can find out more about Dr Relefourd on her website <a href="http://www.vision-of-life.org/">http://www.vision-of-life.org/</a> She holds bible study online every Tuesday at 7pm. Join us there...you'll be blessed! Here we go!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">How do you stop the discerning faithful in the church from disrupting your plans to sneak in a false doctrine or two? Your biblical model is Diotrephes. He found an ideal mechanism to silence those whom opposed him and was even able to make it seem as though his approach was spiritual. Even grander, this approach can be used in personal relationships. We will explore how.</span></p>
<div style="margin-left: 4em"><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:9-11)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>Ambition</b></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is unclear whether Diotrephes was the formal elder (overseer/pastor) of the church or whether he simply desired to be especially prominent. In reality, this is irrelevant because it is equally true of pastors or laymen that they can become "ambitious for the place of first distinction." Ambitious for preeminence in the church is entirely different than being desirous to do the work of shepherding/pastoring. Ambition for prestige and control is what leads to "lording it over the flock" (1 Peter 5:3), that is, to become the monarch of the flock and the object of adoration, and it might be added, some small amount of intimidating influence. Contrast that with being desirous to do the work of pastor, which is to dedicate oneself to service, to study, to counseling, and to openly debating and refuting doctrinal errors.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>Poor Doctrine</b></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Diotrephes did not accept the teaching of the apostles (v.9). Given his standing of prestige in the church it should be readily evident that he was likely a Christian, and maybe even the majority of his doctrine was "orthodox." Nonetheless, some aspect of Diotrephes’ doctrine, probably the specific "something" to which John refers when he says he "wrote to the church," was not aligned with the apostles’ teaching.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Now, the problem for Diotrephes is that he had run out of arguments and Scripture to justify his stance. Some do-gooder in the body was obviously pressing Diotrephes to give a biblically sound defense for his corrupted doctrine and he was unable to do so. In short, he was trapped. How do you shout down the discerning individuals who just will not shut up and who refuse to stop demanding an answer for the false hope you have articulated so well?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>But a Really Good Strategy</b></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Diotrephes used a wonderful and almost unassailable two-pronged attack. An almost perfect strategy. First he attacked the character of the apostles, not their doctrines or theology, but their character, "unjustly accusing us with wicked words." This is so precious. For it should be noted that Diotrephes was able to sidestep his real problem. He could not address the doctrines because he had no Scriptural leg to support him, so he attacked the character of those with good doctrine in order to discredit them and by association, everything they said.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">How beautiful that strategy is. How do you counter a character assassination? He said, she said, someone said, all leaves impressions in the minds of the hearers and truth becomes secondary and ultimately lost. The focus is no longer doctrine but whether the person has a good reputation, which by the way was just defamed by the very accuser who is trying to hide his doctrinal failings in the first place.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Prong two is the stroke of genius to the master plan. Cut off fellowship between those who have true biblical discernment and those on whom you are trying to impose the erroneous doctrine. Once fellowship is broken, it becomes impossible for anyone to contradict you. Those who remain in fellowship are those whom you have already won to your point-of-view (who lack appropriate discernment) or are those who are too intimidated to invoke the Word of God against you or against your faulty doctrine. The result is that no one is left to raise any dissent or to contradict you, or worse, raise a valid biblical debate.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">In other words, you win by default. You have silenced all your detractors and you win. You do not have to be right, because you win. And by winning, you do not mean that you have attained good doctrine but that you have retained control in spite of your lack of answers and in spite of your poor doctrine. You win, the others lose.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">How do you break fellowship between the discerning and the deluded? This requires careful scheming and impeccable execution. You must "put them out of the church" just as Diotrephes did. The only known mechanism that has the appearance of Scriptural and ethical propriety is by using "church discipline." Not genuine "church discipline" however, but pseudo (fake / imitation) church discipline.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Genuine church discipline is all about bringing the sinner back <b>into</b> fellowship by encouraging his repentance from a sin. To encourage his repentance you must privately rebuke him, publicly rebuke him in front of the church, then ultimately treat him as you would any sinner on the street (Matthew 18). Of course, this means no longer inviting him to your breaking-of-bread church services, asking him to take on deacon duties, or allowing him to teach, pray, or read Scripture during meetings of the church. Every interaction will be polite, filled with quotations of Scripture that entreat him to confess his sins and turn from them, <b>always inviting him back to fellowship with God</b> <b>and the church.</b></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">This, of course, will never do for your purposes. You goal is not restoration to fellowship, but to <b>permanently sever it</b>. You do not want the Bible-thumpers being lovingly confronted with Scripture because you have none to offer. And frankly, you are the sinner (introducing improper doctrine—remember?), so you do not want or need the discerning ones to repent from any sins, you just want them to go away and not come back. OK, you would also settle for them to just stay quiet and let you run things, but you know that someone who has sufficient discernment to know the Word also knows he is obligated to speak the truth in love, always and often, so you know they will not stay silent.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>Executing an Evil Strategy Well</b></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The solution is to level a charge that is improvable, and most importantly, is impossible from which to repent. Among church power brokers the favored charge is "factiousness" (Titus 3:10). Paul says that you should reject a factious man after one or two warnings. Issue these warnings generically from the pulpit, offer no names or specifics, just make generalized warnings—later you can refer to those warnings as already being issued and streamline the entire process.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Then defame and slander their character by adding the charge of anger because those who are passionate about the Word always express emotion sooner or later out of frustration at not being heard so you will always be able to point to some tangible public display of emotion. Oh, never mind that Titus 3 actually defines a factious man as being the one who is introducing destructive and error laden doctrines and who is dividing the fellowship of the church based on improper motives because almost no one is discerning enough in the church to look up the passage on their own, much less properly interpret it in context (hmm, the irony is that while you are falsely accusing the righteous man of being factious Titus 3 actually defines the real factious man as being you). The charge of factiousness itself is sufficient to win the day.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Then, out the door the trouble-making Bible-quoting discerners will go. Most will leave of their own accord anyway, having had enough of their characters being maligned. The few that stick around can easily be sent through a pseudo-church discipline meeting and they too will soon be gone. And since they have nothing they can repent from, they will never return to plague your fellowship again. In fact, this form of ungodly "discipline" might best be characterized by the term "shunning" because its sole goal is to irrevocably destroy fellowship. However, you must never use that term in public because it might draw attention to fact that what you are doing to these innocent individuals really is shunning which is strictly an illegitimate act; we are nowhere called to destroy fellowships but to restore them.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><b>Only One Complication</b></span></p>
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</span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">There is one down side to the tactic. John calls the Diotrephes strategy both "wicked" and "evil." To implement such an approach in the church, in a personal relationship, or in a family setting requires that you leave your interest in obeying the Word of God behind, that you stop loving the victims (love is defined as doing things for their benefit not yours--1 Corinthians 13:5), and that you determine that you are willing to tolerate living in a state of perpetual sin. This is a hard thing for a true believer and follower of our Lord to do, but if you want to act on your ambition to become preeminent in the local church, able to implement whatever doctrine strikes your fancy, and not have to answer to those who insist on biblical accuracy, what choice do you really have?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Really, what choice do you have?</span></p>
<div style="margin-left: 4em"><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:11)</span></p>
</div>Seeking God's hand vs Seeking God's face!tag:abcpreachers.ning.com,2011-06-08:916966:BlogPost:21327002011-06-08T20:22:58.000ZChevonne Reynoldshttps://abcpreachers.ning.com/profile/ChevonneReynolds
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Have you ever been around a person who is always asking you for something? If this get's on your nerves, can you image how God must feel when we are constantly asking him for miracles and blessings? It's time to get to a place in God where we are no longer seeking his hand but seeking his face. I must warn you though, seeking God's face isn't as easy as it sounds. In…
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Have you ever been around a person who is always asking you for something? If this get's on your nerves, can you image how God must feel when we are constantly asking him for miracles and blessings? It's time to get to a place in God where we are no longer seeking his hand but seeking his face. I must warn you though, seeking God's face isn't as easy as it sounds. In this post we are going to look at the difference between seeking God's hand and seeking his face.<br />
<div><b>Seeking God's hand</b></div>
<div>Seeking God's hand means to constantly ask God for houses, cars, land, and other physical things without caring about spiritual things. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting those things but those <b>THINGS</b> can not become more important to you than spiritual things. <b>Matthew 6:32-33 (KJV)</b> says: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Your spiritual maturity isn't shown by how many times you shout and speak in tongues, but by what you seek God for. Christians who are mature will ask God, what can I do for you and not God what are you going to do for me.</div>
<div>We have to realize that God wants to bless us! There's nothing a good father wouldn't give his child. He wants to give his children the best! <b>3 John 1:2</b> says: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. The problem is when a person cares or wants more of the blessing and not the blessor (the one who blesses). As we grow and mature in God, our blessings will automatically grow and overtake us. <b>Joshua 1:8</b> says: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.</div>
<div><b>Seeking God's face!</b></div>
<div>Seeking God's face means to seek God for who he is. <b>1 Chronicles 16:11</b> says: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. A person who seeks God's face has grown enough in God to understand that God will provide the physical things if we seek him for spiritual things. One of my favorite songs is called "Because of who you are" by Martha Munizzi. That song truly demonstrates what it means to seek God's face. Some of my favorite lyrics to this songs says...Because of who you are, I give you glory. Because of who you are, I give you praise. Because of who you are, I will lift my hands and say, Lord I worship you..because of who you are. Spiritually mature Christians don't care whether God blesses them, they just want to bless God for who He is.</div>
<div><div><div><div><b>Psalm 27:8 says</b> When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. The Bible teaches us that no one can look upon the face of God and live. The fullness of God’s glory is so great that nothing created can contain it; the measure of God’s majesty is so incredible that no human words can describe it; the perfection of God’s holiness is so hallowed that none dare approach it. Why then does God encourage David to seek His face? In Numbers 6, the LORD gave to Aaron and his sons a blessing to pronounce upon the people. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)</span> says: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”</div>
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<div>Whereas no man may look upon the glory God’s face and live, the graciousness of God’s face looks upon us. It is the graciousness of God’s face that we must seek. Seeking the graciousness of God’s face involves seeking at least three things.</div>
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<div><div><b>1. It involves seeking God’s presence.</b></div>
<div>“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” (vs. 4)</div>
<div>The temple David sought was much more than the tabernacle at Jerusalem. To dwell in the house of the LORD meant that he would seek to live with constant recognition of the presence of God in his life. David’s mind would ever be on the LORD; therefore the LORD’S face would ever be before David.</div>
<div><b>2. Seeking the graciousness of God’s face also means seeking God’s praise.</b></div>
<div>“And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.” (vs. 6)</div>
<div><b>3. Lastly we see that seeking the graciousness of God’s face means seeking His pathway.</b></div>
<div>“Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” (vs. 11)</div>
<div>One day when we are in heaven, we will be able to look upon the face of God and worship Him in all the fullness of His glory. But until that day arrives, we are blessed to have the graciousness of God’s face look upon us.</div>
<div>“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,</div>
<div><div>Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”</div>
<div>“Oh Lord, bless us and keep us;</div>
<div>LORD make thy face shine upon us and be gracious to us;</div>
<div>LORD turn thy face toward us and give us peace.”</div>
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<div>Remain blessed</div>