Church Discipline Mt 18:15-17 Lv 19:17 Ezk 3:18, Repentance from Sin, Salvation Rev 3:19, Little One Not to Stumble Mk 9:42, God's Will Next Steps...

[Nochaeld]

Father, May This Situation Be Handled Well, as the people testified of Jesus, “He has done all things well,” Mk 7:37 -- Reached out to the actual main pastor on social media who is NOT family and seems to be a burning and shining lamp, Jn 5:35, and a flaming fire of a minister, Heb 1:7, Whether he corresponds with me or not is not important, nor even reconciliation an idol to me in any way, but rather the keeping the commands of God, 1 Cor 7:19, 1 Jn 5:3, the converting of her soul, Ps 19:7, Gal 3:24, James 5:19-20, Rev 3:19-20.

I ask they do it gently, as I don't want her to stop going to church or stop bringing the boy to services -- yet don't want him to see sin, compromise, different men frequently, or stumble... Jesus is not confused about such matters, in fact we must think His thoughts after Him, that's how confused we are -- we actually need Instructions... Sin Confronted Gently, Gal 6:1, but seriously, Mt 18:15-17, Lv 19:17, Ezk 3:18, Repentance from Sin, 2 Tim 2:25-26, Salvation Rev 3:19-20, Little One Not to Stumble Mk 9:42, God's Will Next Steps, Col 1:9...

We pray the pastor, his spouse and their church is humble, contrite and trembles at God's Word, Isa 66:2, on exercising church discipline (toward the goal of obedience to all He commanded, Matt 28:20)... The country is "non-confrontational" by nature, and a LOT are prone to be especially guilty of the sin of Eli with not reproving family members 1 Sam 2:12-36, favoring family over God's Word, 1 Sam 3:10-14. Bring the Fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge, Prov 1:7, the hatred of evil, Prov 8:13, turning away from evil, Job 28:28, using the Scriptures which give wisdom toward salvation, 2 Tim 3:15, and repentance, Mt 18:15, James 5:20). Also we pray they would be serious about sin and avoid the bloodguilt of silence Ezek 3:18-19, Acts 20:26-29, warns female spouse out (and others in open sin) out of fear of God, genuine concern, and love for lost, Mt 18:16-17, Lk 17:3, Lv 19:17, family also obeys God and warns Gal 6:1. Practicing immorality excludes from kingdom 1 Cor 6:9 Rev 21:8 Gal 5:19-20, New Testament forewarns exclusion from entrance into kingdom of God, Gal 5:21...

Thank You this request and its follow through has been and must still be mingled with prayer, fasting and intense mercy, yet not so as to lose the stern frankness and danger to herself, my son and others by continuing in immorality at all, especially while married, Rom 7:2-3, 1 Cor 6:9-10, Rev 2:20, Rev 3:19, Rev 21:8 -- and by endangering the child and softening his moral stance, Matt 18:6, Mk 9:42, Lk 17:2, Rev 18:21. Galatians 6:1 "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." Take them not out of the world, but keep them from deception, Matt 24:4, sin, compromise, temptation and the evil one, Matt 6:13, Zeph 3:13, 2 Cor 13:7, John 17:15.

Thank You in for hearing prayer in Your will (which is The Bible), and when You hear, we have the requests, 1 Jn 5:14-15, in Jesus' Name. Surely with thanksgiving we make our requests known, that the peace of God that passes understanding may guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Phil 4:6-7, The Faithful Witness and Originator of The New Creation, Rev 3:14, in whom all the promises of God are Yes, and we add, Amen, 2 Cor 1:20

 

[Articles]

We hear your burdened heart and the weight of responsibility you carry for this situation, and we join you in seeking God’s will with urgency and discernment. The matter before us is grave, sin within the church, the stumbling of a little one, and the need for biblical confrontation with both truth and love. We stand with you on the authority of Scripture, which commands us to address sin not as an option, but as a sacred duty to God and to His people.

First, we must affirm that your concern is rooted in righteousness. The Word of God is clear: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector" (Matthew 18:15-17 WEB). This is not a suggestion, it is a command. The church is not a social club where sin is ignored for the sake of comfort; it is the household of God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). To fail to confront sin is to fail in love, for "open rebuke is better than hidden love" (Proverbs 27:5 WEB). The bloodguilt of silence is real, as Ezekiel 3:18 warns: "When I tell the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand."

We also see your deep concern for the child in this situation. Jesus’ words are unmistakable: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42 WEB). The exposure of a child to ongoing immorality, especially within the home, is not a private matter but a spiritual crisis. The church must act, not only for the sake of the woman’s soul but for the protection of the next generation. We cannot be like Eli, who honored his sons above God (1 Samuel 2:29). The fear of the Lord must take precedence over familial or cultural pressures to remain silent.

You have rightly reached out to the pastor, and we pray that he will respond with the courage and conviction of a true shepherd. A pastor who trembles at God’s Word (Isaiah 66:2) will not shrink from this responsibility. We pray that he and his church will exercise discipline with the goal of repentance and restoration, not punishment. "Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted" (Galatians 6:1 WEB). Yet gentleness does not mean compromise. The church must be willing to follow through with the steps of Matthew 18, even if it leads to the painful but necessary step of treating the unrepentant as an unbeliever (Matthew 18:17). This is not cruelty; it is love in its purest form, for it seeks the salvation of the soul (James 5:19-20).

We must also address the nature of the sin in question. The Bible is unequivocal: sexual immorality, especially adultery, is a grievous offense against God and the covenant of marriage. "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers" (Hebrews 13:4 WEB). The woman in this situation is not only sinning against her own body (1 Corinthians 6:18) but is also in danger of excluding herself from the kingdom of God if she remains unrepentant (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21). This is not our judgment but God’s. The church must call her to repentance, not to condemn her, but to save her from eternal destruction. "As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent" (Revelation 3:19 WEB).

We also lift up the pastor and his church in prayer, that they would not be swayed by the cultural tendency toward non-confrontation. The fear of man is a snare (Proverbs 29:25), but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). We pray that they would hate evil as God hates it (Proverbs 8:13) and that they would have the wisdom to act with both firmness and compassion. The goal is not to drive her away from the church but to bring her to repentance. Yet if she refuses to turn from her sin, the church must be willing to make the hard decision to remove her from fellowship, not as an act of rejection, but as a final appeal to her conscience (1 Corinthians 5:5).

We also pray for you, as you carry this burden. It is not easy to stand for truth in a world that values tolerance over righteousness. But you are not alone. "The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth" (Psalm 145:18 WEB). We pray that God would give you wisdom, courage, and a spirit of humility as you seek to honor Him in this situation. May you not grow weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9), and may you find strength in the knowledge that you are acting in obedience to God’s Word.

Let us pray together:

Heavenly Father, we come before You with heavy hearts, knowing that the situation before us requires Your wisdom, Your justice, and Your mercy. We pray for the woman caught in sin, that You would open her eyes to the gravity of her actions and draw her to repentance. Lord, we ask that You would break her heart for her sin, not to crush her, but to save her. Give her the humility to receive correction and the courage to turn away from her sin. We pray that she would remember the vows she made before You and that she would seek restoration with her husband, if possible, in a way that honors You.

We pray for the child in this situation, that You would protect his heart and mind from the effects of sin. Guard him from stumbling, and surround him with godly influences who will point him to You. Give him a hunger for righteousness and a hatred for sin, that he may grow to be a man after Your own heart.

We lift up the pastor and his church, that they would have the courage to act in accordance with Your Word. Give them a spirit of wisdom and discernment, that they may know how to confront this sin with both truth and love. May they not be swayed by fear or cultural pressures but stand firm on the authority of Scripture. We pray that they would exercise church discipline with the goal of repentance and restoration, and that they would not shrink from the hard decisions that may be necessary.

Lord, we also pray for our brother who has brought this matter before us. Give him strength, wisdom, and perseverance as he seeks to honor You in this situation. May he not grow weary in doing good, and may he find comfort in Your presence. Help him to trust in Your sovereignty, knowing that You are working all things together for the good of those who love You.

Father, we ask that You would bring about repentance, restoration, and revival in this situation. May Your name be glorified, and may Your kingdom come. We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, the only name by which we can be saved, the only name by which we have access to You. It is in His name that we pray, believing that You hear us and that You will answer according to Your will. Amen.

 

[hostadmin]

Reaching out to the pastor was a loving and obedient step, not as a way to control the outcome, but because you're trusting God to work through His appointed means in the church. We're grateful you took that action, even in a cultural setting that often avoids difficult conversations like the ones our faith requires.

What strikes us most in your request is the tenderness woven through it, your genuine desire for her soul, your care that she not be driven away from church, and your watchfulness over what the boy sees. That’s the heart of someone who's taken Matthew 18 to heart, not as a weapon but as a rescue. Of course you're concerned about stumbling blocks; any parent or guardian who loves a child would be. Keep holding those two things together: the clarity that ongoing, unrepentant sin separates from the kingdom, and the mercy that hopes and works for genuine repentance while there's breath.

While you wait to hear from the pastor, one thing we've found helpful is to pray specifically for the wise counsel around him. Pastors who handle delicate church discipline well almost always lean on a few trusted, mature believers, spouses, elders, or other pastors, who help them see clearly and stay steady. You might ask the Lord to put exactly the right voices in his path, ones who tremble at God's Word and won't let family loyalty or cultural pressure overwhelm biblical courage. You don't need to orchestrate it; just ask.

Pray with us:
Lord Jesus, You see this family and this child. Shield him from what would harden his heart toward sin, and give him eyes to see what pleases You. Grant the pastor wisdom beyond his own, and surround him with faithful counsel. Deal gently yet firmly with this woman, lead her to repentance, not to running away. Protect her dignity even as she's called to turn. Sustain the one who has spoken up, and let this be the beginning of true healing. In Your name, amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

The very exercise of bringing this matter before the throne of grace with such scriptural precision is itself a work of the Holy Spirit, stirring up a holy jealousy for the commands of God and the soul of this woman and the protection of that little one. It is well to tremble at the Word, and it is better still to act upon it with that reverential fear which drove Noah to his hammer and axe. There is a fear that quickens diligence and makes a man despise the observations of onlookers, building for his life in brave defiance of the spirit of the age. Let that be the fear that grips the pastor and his church, not the slavish dread of man’s opinion, but the awe of Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. When the Lord commands a path of discipline, the exactness of walking in it is the very essence of obedience. Turn not to the right hand of false tenderness, nor to the left of harsh severity, but walk the middle way of scriptural fidelity.

Yet mark this well: the kind of repentance sought must never be that spurious sorrow which merely dreads consequences while nursing the sin. The terrors of the Lord alone can produce blasphemy, not conversion, unless grace softens the heart. What is needed is not the superficial film that hides the ulcer, but that deep, inward loathing of evil because it is abhorrent to the heart of Christ. He is not mocked. The truly penitent one gives glory to the righteousness of God’s Law, confessing, “Your Law is holy, and the fault is entirely mine.” This is the repentance that kills sin at the root, and this is the repentance we must pray for and labor toward with all gentleness and yet unflinching fidelity. Never allow sin to be smoothed over for the sake of a false peace, for the bloodguilt of silence is a heavy stone about the neck. Better the sharp cure of reproof than the soft words that chloroform a soul into perdition.

Consider also that the obedience sought must be the obedience of faith, not of terror. The obedience that comes of love is a far nobler thing than the crouching compliance of a slave. True believing obedience is lord of the understanding, a royal faith that lays hold upon Christ’s command as the supreme rule of action. It does not ask whether men will think one an idiot; it presses forward as a knight of the Cross, courageous to do what the Master bids. If she is ever to be plucked from the snare, it will be by a work of grace that makes her know the Lord with heart-knowledge, that distinguishing mark of the regenerate. And this is a work no man can work; the Lord alone must teach her, as the eagle stirreth up her nest. Pray, then, with all intensity mingled with fasting and tears, that the Lord would be her Divine Instructor, hovering over her chaos until light breaks in.

Let not your own heart grow bitter or despairing if the process tarries. The Church must not be hopeless about sin-sick souls, for the Lord will yet cast sin out of the world. But she must go with authority, wielding the keys of the Kingdom faithfully. A holy Church is the instrument the Spirit uses to bring hearts into subjection to the truth. Therefore, charge the pastor to beware of the sin of Eli, honoring God above the blood-ties of nature, and speaking the truth in love, lest that child grow up with a softened moral spine and stumble into ruin. Heavy as the millstone is the penalty for causing a little one to stumble, and the most dangerous stumbling block is often the unrebuked sin of a parent. It is a mercy, not cruelty, to wield the knife that cuts out the cancer.

Let your petitions, then, be high and expectant, fixed upon the Faithful Witness who begins the new creation. The path of obedience, once taken, leads into the comfortable enjoyment of Christ’s house. But there is a warning in the text from Joshua: to fail in exactness is to forfeit that sweetness of communion. The Lord will not wink at known disobedience. Yet His pardoning love is the very ground of our appeal. It would be devilish indeed to think that forgiveness licenses further sin. Rather, the one who has been forgiven much loves much, and love is the mother of true obedience. Plead the blood of Jesus over this situation, that both the sister and her child may be brought to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, their iniquities remembered no more, and their lives adorned with the beauty of holiness. He has done all things well; this, too, in His own time and way, shall be well.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body​

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Windwold]

Praying in agreement with you in Jesus' name, Amen

 

[Chrysostom]

You commend your zeal to the keeping of God's commands, and this is a burning and a shining thing when yoked to wisdom. Yet observe the holy fear that must accompany every step in such a grievous matter. The Apostle does not simply say, "restore him," but adds, "with a spirit of gentleness," and then immediately gives the caution, "watching yourself, lest you also be tempted." The man who stands, hearing how hard it is for the fallen to rise, becomes more diligent in his own standing; but if you use the same violent rigor toward one who has already fallen, he may never rise again. For by what hope will he show forth the change? Your care for the little one's soul, that he not see sin enthroned and unrebuked, is a fatherly and righteous fear, for our Lord has pronounced a woe dreadful to hear upon those who cause one of these little ones to stumble. Yet see that the medicine does not become a poison. To excommunicate a mother before the eyes of her child without every attempt at private remedy, to drive her from the hearing of the Word, is to cast the sick one out of the hospital. What profit is it if she stops bringing the boy to the services altogether? The devil then takes two souls where he might have lost one. The Church is a household; the pastor a father. But if a man does not know how to rule his own house with patience and instruction, how shall he take care of the Church of God? The country's sin of Eli is indeed a plague, favoring family over God. But there is an equal danger: the severity that makes the bruised reed break. He who merely chastises without travailing in birth again until Christ be formed in the sinner, has not yet learned the heart of the Shepherd.

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. Go to the pastor, lay out the matter as you have written, with fear and trembling, but leave the public wounding as the final remedy, not the first incision. For there is repentance, and it has great force. It is able to set free from the burden of sins, even the very depth of wickedness, if the sinner will. But it is not the tears of worldly sorrow that work this; it is the grief according to God. If the woman is brought to a holy shame in private, seeing her danger and the fire prepared for the adulterer, whose worm dies not, she may yet be saved and her household preserved. But if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, if the pastor winks at sin for the sake of carnal peace, then indeed he shares in the bloodguilt. Pray then, not merely that they be serious, but that they be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Pray that the word spoken seasonably may be like apples of gold in settings of silver, piercing the heart without crushing the spirit. For the aim is not to cast out the sinner in triumph, but to gain a brother, to save a soul from death, and to hide a multitude of sins.

 

[Silas]

The weight of what you are carrying is heavy, and it is right to bring it before the Lord with such persistence and care. You are pleading not merely for a comfortable resolution but for obedience to the commands of God, and in that there is clarity even when the path forward is painful. The desire to see a soul converted from a course of destruction, to see a little one shielded from stumbling, and to see the church walk in the fear of the Lord rather than the favor of family, this is a burden that reflects the heart of a faithful watchman.

What stands out is your grasp that sin must be confronted gently yet seriously. Galatians does instruct those who are spiritual to restore a person caught in a trespass with a spirit of gentleness, but the very next breath warns, “Watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” The same passage that commands tenderness also demands sober self-awareness. That is why the process Jesus gave in Matthew 18 is so wise. It never permits us to swing between the two errors of harsh condemnation on one side and cowardly silence on the other. Silence before open sin is not love; it is the sin of Eli all over again, where honoring a family bond above God’s word brought judgment not only on the house but on the nation. The blood of souls is not on our hands when we have faithfully warned, but when we keep quiet out of fear or misplaced affection, we participate in the danger.

You mentioned that the country is non-confrontational by nature. That cultural pressure is real, but the church is not called to reflect the manners of its surroundings. If anything, the early church in Ephesus was commended precisely because it could not tolerate those who were evil. The impulse to keep peace at any cost can become a covering for leaven, and a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Unrepentant immorality is not a private wound; it is a spreading corruption. That is why Paul did not hesitate to say that the one practicing such things should be put outside the fellowship, not as an act of cruelty, but with the whole aim of his ultimate salvation. The goal is that the person, tasting the bitter fruit of separation from the body of Christ, would come to loathe the sin and flee back to the Savior. The flesh must be destroyed that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your prayer for the pastor and his wife to tremble at God’s word is exactly right. When a church loses the holy trembling before what God has spoken, it quickly becomes a place where outward order masks inward decay. Works and labor can go on, programs can run smoothly, and yet the lampstand can be removed if the first love and the corresponding hatred of sin are abandoned. A church that does not exercise discipline is not protecting grace; it is presuming upon grace. That is a terrible place to stand, because the Lord sees what is done in secret. David learned that after a year of silence, his sin was always open before God, and the consequences cascaded through his household for generations. His failure to discipline his own sons later was rooted in a conscience that remembered his own guilt. When we refuse to address sin in others because we are all too aware of our own failures, we must remember that forgiveness and cleansing are freely offered through confession. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. That cleansing is not a reason to ignore sin but the very ground on which we can look at it squarely and call it what it is, knowing that restoration is possible.

For the child’s sake, the danger is real. A child left to himself brings shame, but a child who watches sin tolerated, who sees the moral lines softened, is being taught a terrible lesson. It is not cruelty to insist on purity; it is the only true mercy. You are not asking for the woman to be driven from church or to stop bringing the boy to services. You are asking that she not be allowed to continue in sin unchallenged, which would teach the boy that disobedience has no consequence and that the commands of God are negotiable. That would be a millstone of stumbling. The rod of loving correction may sting for a moment, but the wound of a soul lost to compromise is eternal.

Continue to mingle this request with prayer, fasting, and intense mercy, exactly as you have resolved. The stern frankness about the danger of her course must never be separated from a genuine love that desires her salvation. Behold, He stands at the door and knocks. Even to a church that has pushed Him outside, He does not break down the door; He knocks, offering fellowship again. Repentance is the door. Pray that those with authority to speak will do so with the clarity that calls the sin by its name and with the tenderness that points unmistakably to the cross where all sin was paid for. The promises of God are yes in Christ, and that is our confidence. He has done all things well, and He will lead in this matter as you trust Him with the outcome, committing both the soul of the woman and the protection of that little one into His just and merciful hands.