Difficult Decisions

Today, I've got a very personal sermon to preach. A sermon that involves a family matter. Involves our family right here in, in Choctaw. So if you're a visitor today, and there are several among you among us who are visitors today, I do thank you members of the church, but not members of this particular congregation. I would ask you to indulge us this moment as we deal with a personal issue in our church life here in Choctaw.

And perhaps, out of this, you will get a glimpse of how the Choctaw congregation works, how we deal with stuff, how we operate. Perhaps that's even better than getting a visitor packet, I guess. So everybody is, can understand the issues, I'd like to review a situation, a very important situation that's taking place and give you a little background information on this on these matters. Recently, our youth and family minister, Vince Miller, was asked to resign because of doctrinal differences with our elders. Now these things are not secret.

I mean, this is in the bulletin. This is not hush-hush stuff. Everybody knows this, so I'm kind of stating what everybody knows here, but I think it's, you know, we need to deal with it. And these matters, these issues, these teachings, these were not secrets. These were things that Vince shared with several of you in the congregation, his ideas on several, you know, several teachings.

And he shared them with the elders as well when they met with him. But, just to kind of make the keep the record clear, these were not things that he ever shared with me personally In the year and or so that he worked here, these doctrinal issues were not discussed with me. I was surprised, I have to say myself, that he held to these ideas, having been a graduate of Oklahoma Christian, having, been in that university while I was the dean, certainly knew what my position was. But nevertheless, these are things that he shared with the elders. And I want to make another thing pretty clear too.

The things that Vince held to were not simply opinions or, you know, issues. You know, there's issues and there's doctrine. And I don't want to, you know, this this is a no win sermon here. Somebody's going to walk out mad. There are issues in doctrine. You know, we have issues, you know, mixed bathing, that's an issue. That's not doctrine. Dancing, that's an issue. That's not doctrine. That's an important issue and we need to deal with it.

We need to kinda come to a conclusion on these things, you know. These are not these are not doctrines. These are issues. There are a lot of issues like that in the church that we have to be patient with each other and understand each other and give each other room. But the things that, Vince and the elders discussed were not issues.

They were doctrines, serious doctrines, serious doctrinal points that can have a profound effect on a person's spiritual life, profound effect on someone's faith. Vince believed and refused to reconsider. That's important. It's one thing somebody is kind of working things through and thinking about, you know, well that person needs help, needs study. But he believed and refused to reconsider the following ideas which he told the elders on several occasions.

There was no misunderstanding. First of all, he believed that it was still possible to speak in tongues today. Didn't see where the Bible prohibited that in any way. And I will tell you right now that if you believe that, then by extension, you can also believe in the gift of healing and other miracles today. Because I mean, speaking in tongues is a miracle.

So if you can do one, you can do the other. He also believed that women could teach and preach in a mixed assembly. He felt that the use of instruments of music in worship was okay. He didn't see anything in the Bible that strictly prohibited that. He felt that the Church of Christ was like any other denomination.

And the one thing he did discuss with me, this one thing I do have knowledge of, is that he claimed that his ministry was directly led by the Holy Spirit. And I'll talk about that in a minute. Now in case you're not sure, alright, in case you're not sure or you're unfamiliar with these doctrines as some of you might be, and in case you're not sure or unfamiliar with what the Bible and what we hear at Choctaw, you know, if I'm teaching it, I'm teaching it because I sincerely believe that the bible, you know, says this. If the elders hold a particular position, they hold to that position because they sincerely believe that that is what the Bible teaches. Okay?

So we believe that the Bible teaches the following on some of these doctrinal points and I don't have time to go over these. I could make a sermon out of each one of these and I don't have time to do that. I have other things I want to do with you this morning, but briefly, just touching on these things to explain why and how we disagree. First of all, we believe that the Bible teaches that miraculous powers like speaking in tongues ceased with the end of the apostolic age. I mean, there have been books and books written on this very subject.

But basically, the Bible teaches that miracles were performed to confirm the witness of the apostles concerning Jesus' resurrection. In other words, the apostles were going around, they were saying, We saw Jesus Christ raised from the dead. And people said, Oh, get out of here. How do we know that you're telling the truth? Boom!

A miracle. They would perform a miracle and say, Well, you know, we've just done this miracle to demonstrate that what we saw was true. That's why they were empowered to do those things. And they were also told that the time would come when their witness would finally be encoded and spread throughout the world. Today, we have the bible.

Their witness and the story of their miracles has been recorded once for all. That today all of us are able to read about the resurrection of Christ and the witness of the apostles concerning that resurrection. We do not need miracles to confirm the apostle's eyewitness anymore. Now there are other reasons, like I say, I could make a lesson on each one of these things. But basically, that's what we believe the bible teaches, the age of miracles is over.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 8, Paul even says that the time for tongues will eventually cease. We also believed, concerning women's role in the church and I mean, you know, I've taught on this several times. 1st Corinthians chapter 14, 1st Timothy chapter 2 plainly teach about the one restriction that God places on women's ministry in the church. And Paul says, I do not suffer a woman to teach a man. I mean that is about as plain as you can write something down without missing the point.

She is not allowed to teach or lead men. That would include teaching in a mixed assembly, leading in worship, so on and so forth. I'm going to tell you something, I've studied this issue a lot. And in order to arrive at a different conclusion than that, you know what you have to do? You have to change the way you interpret the Bible.

I mean you have to go back and dismantle the way that you interpret the Bible to arrive at another conclusion on that particular point. You have to begin to say, Well, some parts of the Bible are not inspired. Or you have to say, Well, Paul was mistaken. Or you have to say, This does not apply to us today. In order to arrive at a different kind of a conclusion.

But it is so clear that Paul was teaching the New Testament and he says, you know, he challenges them, Do you think people think you're prophets or something? Do you think you're more spiritual than me? Do you think I don't know what I'm talking about? He even says, If you don't accept what I say here, Christ rejects you. 1 Corinthians 14.

Read it. Read it. And so we have taught in this church and in the churches of Christ, that the one restriction that the Bible places on the ministry of women in the church is that they're not to teach in the mixed assembly. And we've respected that in this congregation. As far as instruments of music in worship, we don't use instruments.

I mean, has there been a 1,000 books written on this one issue alone? Have we not thrashed this issue out a 100 years ago? Has not history proven that those who took off on this particular tangent, and started using instruments of music, and the ones who used the excuse that they used to use instruments of music, now also, now also have gone so far as to ordain homosexual ministers, have gone so far as to reject certain parts of the Bible as being inspired. You know, I mean they're so far away from the New Testament ideals, it's not funny. I mean we hashed this out a 100 years ago, this instrumental music issue.

But basically, why, you know, why don't we use instruments here in Choctaw? Well, first of all, the word in the Bible that's used for singing specifically means to sing without use of an instrument. I mean, when the Bible says to the church, Church, when you worship, you're to sing. And you're to sing without any instruments of music. I mean, how can we twist that around to mean something else?

We don't use instruments of music because the apostles taught the church not to do that. And so we respect that. Historians record that the first instrument that was used in public worship was introduced by the Roman Catholic church, centuries after the apostolic church, 100 of years after the 1st century. For centuries, the church never used instruments of music. Why?

Why? Not because they weren't available. Not because other religions weren't using them. They didn't use them because the Bible taught that when they gathered to worship publicly, they were not to use instruments of music. That's why.

And 2000 years later, we respect that principle. We continue to do that. Because we claim to be a New Testament church, that's why. Now, as far as the Bible teaching, considering the church, you know, the church of Christ, being the only church, all that business. I want to tell you, the Bible teaches that there is only one church.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4. There's no mistake about that. There's one body. Jesus did not come to die for several churches. He did not come to establish several different types of churches.

One church, one body. And it is described in the New Testament. Now, the church of Christ, this church of Christ, I can't vouch for the church in Tacoma Park, and the church in Edmond, and the church in Dallas. I can't vouch for those churches. I don't preach for those churches.

But I can tell you, this church of Christ right here in Choctaw is committed to following the New Testament in its teaching, in its organization, and in its lifestyle, so that we can be that church. We know that the New Testament says there's only one church, and it describes what that church is and it invites us to be that church. And we have committed ourselves to being that church. Now, we're not saying that we're the only ones that are doing that. We're just saying that we are committed to being the church of the Bible.

And God will judge those other churches. Our job is not to judge the relative success of other churches, how they're doing, how well they're succeeding in being the church of the Bible. That's not our job. Our job is to study the word and to bring it into our lives as exactly as we can. Are we doing it perfectly?

No, we're not. But we're working at it. We're working at it. To say, however, that every church is the same, including this one, is wrong, is to misunderstand completely what our mission statement is, what our purpose is, what our heart and soul is all about, is to completely miss the point. We are not like every other church.

We're not. We are striving to be the church of the Bible. Now, I'll tell you one thing. I'm allowed to give an opinion as to what other churches are doing. I don't judge them.

But I can give an opinion because and I can give an informed and an intelligent opinion because I've been in other churches. I've been member, I've been a member of other I've been in the Pentecostal church, I've been in the Roman Catholic church. And I have studied comparative religion for 20 years. So I have a right to make an opinion. And I'm telling you right now, the churches of Christ are the only Christian religious group that strive to be the church of the Bible.

We're the only one that has this idea in our theology. That concept does not exist in other places. We are unique. We ought to be proud of that, but not proud like boastful proud, but we ought to be happy. We need to rejoice in the fact that we have that as our main mission because others don't.

They want to do other things perhaps, but this is not one of them. And then finally, this business about a person's ministry being led by the Holy Spirit. In 2nd Timothy, Paul tells us that it is the word of God that directs a person's ministry. The word of God. Now, where does the Holy Spirit enter in?

Well, in John chapter 16 verse 8, John tells us that the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts of sin. Yeah, the Holy Spirit will do that. And in Romans 8:15, the Holy Spirit will witness to us about Christ, will continually put the cross of Christ before us. Yeah, the Holy Spirit does that. In Romans chapter 8 verse 11, Paul says, The Holy Spirit will raise us from the dead.

Yeah, the Holy Spirit will do that. And the Holy Spirit comforts us. Yes, the Holy Spirit does that. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the Holy Spirit gives us our gifts. Yes, I agree.

But it is God's word that directs our ministry so that everyone can judge its accuracy. My ministry is guided by God's word So that every single one of you can judge how well I'm doing in it. That's the way it is in the New Testament church. The only people who were directed or moved by the Holy Spirit were the prophets and the apostles. That's why the Holy Spirit gave us the word.

So we could all aspire to be ministers of God. And we could all judge accurately the value of each other's ministry. Now again, don't get me wrong, I have reviewed 5 very difficult and complex issues or doctrines in just a few moments, and that's not fair. I I realize that. But I had to at least touch the high points, where we differ.

I do believe we're going to discuss these things in class, you know, the elders are preparing, you know, next quarter education, so on and so forth. And we're going to take the time to talk about these things, to have feedback in exchange, because it seems to be these issues seem to be important to people. So we'll take the time. For now, I simply wanted to point out that Vince's position was not at all what we believe the Bible teaches on these subjects. And again, after long hours of discussion, this was not a 5 minute meeting in the hallway.

These were long hours of discussions between the elders and between Vince, going over each of these points, to make sure that everyone understood everyone else. Now, because of this disagreement, and that's what it was, the church has been led into a series of difficult decisions. And I'd like to outline these decisions for you this morning. The first decision was the decision by the elders. You know, this was a challenging decision made by our elders.

What What are they going to do in a situation like this? Here you have a dynamic young minister. He is well liked by our young people. He is a person who has many friends in the congregation, someone who is making a very, very powerful impression on the people of this church. You have a man who is in charge of teaching the youth of our congregation and recently has begun teaching a young adult class.

So, a person of influence. Here's a young couple that represents you never think about this but the ministers represent this church in our brotherhood. You know, I go to preachers' meetings and lectureships and I preach at other places. I represent you and so did he and his wife represent you in the brotherhood and in the community. Now to let this person continue to teach and preach would mean allowing him to influence our young people as well as the entire congregation, with these unbiblical ideas.

Now some say, Well, they're just personal opinions. Aren't we allowed to have personal opinions on points of doctrine? I mean, really? Aren't we allowed, you know, don't we all differ on some points of doctrine? Aren't we, you know, are we all going to kind of blow up like this, have a big scene every time somebody has a difference of opinion?

Yes, each member has different opinions and views. And we have to be patient with each other as we grow to the unity of the faith. The Bible says, Yes, in the church there are differences of opinion on teaching and on doctrine. And hopefully, as we mature, we will converge to what the Bible teaches. That's the goal, that we eventually converge and we agree with each other on what the New Testament teaches.

Because, I'll tell you something, the Bible teaches that there's only one thing about each of these matters. The Bible teaches only one thing about the role of women in the church. Only one thing. The Bible teaches only one thing about the use of instruments. Either you can or you can't.

It doesn't teach 2 different things. The Bible teaches only one thing about miraculous happenings. Either we are able to speak in tongues and do miracles in 1997, or we're not. Now, we may disagree with each other, but the Bible teaches only one thing. And what the Bible says is that we all have to grow together to a point where we'll eventually converge on what the Bible teaches on these things.

Now what we're saying is, the elders believed that the things that I've just said to you are what the Bible teaches on these things. Now, getting back to my point, aren't we allowed to have personal opinions? Yeah, we're allowed to have personal opinions, but I'll tell you something, ministers and teachers need to have the basics of doctrines already worked out. You know, some of you drink, and some of you smoke, and some of you chew. But you wouldn't like it if I drank and I smoked and I chewed and I swore and I indulged in pornography.

You wouldn't like it because you would say, We want our ministers to have some of these things down pat. We want our ministers to have some of this stuff under control. Yeah, the members might be working towards maturity, the members might be working towards the time when they put off some of these basic things, and that's fine. But we want our ministers to at least have reached a certain maturity in their conduct. We want our ministers to behave themselves, watch their mouths, be faithful to their wives.

You know what I'm saying? We want our ministers to at least arrive at some level of maturity. And we want our ministers also to have arrived at a certain level of maturity when it comes to their understanding of the Bible. And I'm gonna tell you, brothers and sisters, this business about music and the Holy Spirit, this is basic stuff. This is the elementary school of biblical doctrine.

We're not talking about the Trinity here. We're not talking about the man of lawlessness. We're not talking about issues concerning the book of Revelation. We're not talking about these things. We're talking about the ABCs of the faith.

And we expect our ministers to have a handle on these things. Even if Vince kept these opinions to himself, which he didn't, He didn't keep these opinions to himself. But even if he did, how could he teach his students when they had questions concerning these issues? How could he answer the young people and they say, Well, you know, why can't we use a piano? The church across the street, they've got a band.

Why can't we do that? And according to the meeting that he had with the elders, his solution was to say nothing and send the young people home. Give them several scriptures and send them home to study with their parents. Brothers and sisters, we're not talking about sex education here. The elders hire ministers to teach and to preach openly the sound doctrine of the church.

And Vince couldn't do that in good conscience. He was a marvelous teacher and a wonderful preacher. But he could not teach about these doctrines with a good conscience. I'll tell you right now, you're gonna ask me about something in the Bible, I'm gonna teach you. I always tell people to come into my office, Go ahead, take your best shot.

Go ahead. You wanna talk about instrumental music? You wanna talk about tongues? You wanna talk about the end of the world? Go ahead, take your best shot and we'll talk about it.

And if I don't know, I'm gonna find out. That's what I'm here for. That's what I get paid for. You see, the opinions that you hold in private, you're gonna teach in private. And that's how division starts.

And that's how false teaching creeps into the church. False teaching never creeps into the church from the pulpit. It creeps into the church from the pew, from the house meeting. And I'm not just talking about here. I've been around long enough to have seen it happen.

So on one hand, not to do anything might cause long term damage. On the other hand, to discontinue this person's ministry might cause the church to split with people taking sides. Our elders faced a pretty difficult, a no win situation. And to their credit, they not only made a decision, they made a decision according to God's word. They did it by the book.

You may not have seen it, but they made their decision exactly according to the New Testament. First of all, they met to consider the matter with discussion and prayer. Just like the apostles and the elders met you know, in Acts chapter 15, there was a dispute in Antioch about the Gentiles and all that stuff. And there was, you know, problems in the church. What was the first thing they did?

The apostles and the elders gathered together to discuss the matter and to pray about it. That's what our elders did. Secondly, they got their facts straight. In 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 19, Paul says, not to receive an accusation against an elder or a teacher without witnesses. Because it's a very serious thing to accuse an elder or to accuse a minister of wrongdoing or false teaching.

You can destroy his life. The elders didn't go by hearsay. They didn't go by gossip. They went straight to the source. They met with Vince and Chrissy.

And they asked them, you know, Tell us, it isn't so. Explain to us what's going on. And they met with Vince privately, not once, but on several occasions. And several times individual elders talked with Vince on the phone, so that they could determine exactly what was being taught, exactly what was being said, and to separate the gossip from the fact. And the only facts that they operated on were the facts that came from what Vince offered to the elders.

Thirdly, they based their final decision on the Bible. What are we going to do? Well, the Bible says in Romans chapter 16 verse 17, Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances, contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. If someone is not teaching the doctrine of the church, you turn away from that person. Now, the first thing they had to decide was, was the teaching?

Was the doctrine biblical? And the elders decided, no, it was not. Once that decision was made, the other decision of what to do was simply based on Romans 16 verse 17. The 4th thing they did was that they acted in love. So important.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1, that we should treat with love those who are caught in a trespass. Now the elders agreed, once they had come to a conclusion on what they were to do, they agreed to pay Vince and Chrissy an additional 2 months of salary above the 1 you know, we all have contracts, those of us who are on staff, and the contract calls for 1 month of severance pay. But the elders chose to pay 3 months of severance pay. Because they realized that in order to relocate, in order to start over again, it would take time. And they did not want this young couple to suffer financial hardship, and so they paid them 3 months.

I want to ask you something. In your job, which one of your employers would ever do that to you? We're not talking about a layoff here because of lack of work. We're talking about not doing the job that you were hired to do and still get paid 3 months severance pay. That's acting in love.

They also permitted him to resign instead of terminating him so that he would have a better chance of future employment. Now, some may not agree with that, but they felt that it was important to permit this young man an opportunity to have a time of reflection, and not totally destroy his opportunity for future ministry. And they were also honest with him. From day 1, they were honest with this young man. And they said to him that if anyone calls for references, they will give a reference, the good and the bad.

Not just the bad, but the good and the bad. That he is a dynamic, wonderful teacher, had a tremendous impact on our youth group, great ideas, you know, just a great potential, but he was not sound in these particular doctrines, the good and the bad, and let the other church decide what they want to decide. I mean, I've seen churches, boy, when a minister goes, they'll do everything to destroy that person's career. They'll send flyers out, you know. That wasn't the case here.

And then finally, the elders informed the church. Again, in Acts chapter 15, the leaders of the church always kept the congregation fully informed of their decisions and their reasons. They wrote a letter to Antioch and they said, Here's our decision, and here's why we decided this. And our elders did the same thing. They informed the church through the bulletin, Permit me to preach this sermon.

The elders have been open, and they have been honest from day 1 with Vince, by letting him know exactly what they expected of him, as far as his conduct and his teaching was concerned. And they've been open and honest with the congregation as to why and how they have done what they have done. Now, in Acts chapter 20, Paul tells the elders that their main job is to watch out for the souls of the congregation, number 1. And number 2, to protect the doctrine of Christ. Our elders had a very difficult decision, and they made it exactly like New Testament elders should have made it.

You know, when you say your prayers tonight, I know that many of you are praying for Vince and Chrissy, and you ought to. They're going through a difficult time. They need the prayers of the brethren to help them get through this and get on with their lives. But I want to tell you something, I hope that you thank God that you have elders who care for your souls and who are not afraid to make difficult decisions. They have proven that they are worthy to serve as our leaders by their conduct in this affair.

They've earned their stripes right here folks. The second difficult decision is this, Where do you stand personally? You know, Vince's departure affects everybody here. Everybody. The youth class have lost a dynamic and sympathetic young man who made a great impact on them.

And a lot of parents had high hopes for what Vince could do for the young people here. And Vince and Chrissy made friends while they were here, who are now hurt because they have left and shed many tears. Not to mention the fact, perhaps this is a little self serving, but please indulge me, that we now have a 400 member congregation with only 1 full time minister, where many congregations our size have 234 full time ministers. We're doing this with 1 guy. So it affects everybody.

Each person has to make the difficult decision as to where they stand in this business. You know, will the events make us discouraged? Or even worse, will it make us rebel against our leaders because we're hurt or angry or we don't agree? Are we going to punish the church by quitting or using this as an excuse to become unfaithful? You know, some people, all they're looking for is an excuse to bail out.

I mean, just give me an excuse to bail out, because I don't want to be here anyway. Or are we going to support the elders in their difficult decisions? I want you to remember something, they didn't cause this. There's one thing about the Choctaw Church of Christ, even I knew when I first came here 4 years ago. I knew exactly where this church stood on all these issues.

Brothers and sisters, this is Choctaw America right here. You know what I mean? This is the Choctaw Church of Christ. I knew walking in exactly where we stood on these issues, And so did Vince. The elders didn't cause this.

They reacted to it. They reacted to it according to the bible. And I can tell you right now, there's not one of them that's happy about it either. You see, what splits churches and what divides brethren, is that people refuse to follow the word of God. They follow their feelings instead.

That's what splits churches. We can love a person who is mistaken, but we don't have to follow their mistakes. Go ahead and love Vince and Chrissy. Love them, they need your love. But please don't follow that teaching, it's incorrect.

I want each person to put aside their feelings for a moment, and I want you to make the difficult decision of simply obeying God's word, when it says the following. In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, it says, Obey your leaders, and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. And let them do this with joy and not grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. At this point in each of our personal spiritual lives, we have to decide who we're going to follow and why. I'll tell you right now, as for me and my house, we'll follow the leaders that God has appointed over us according to his word and according to the prayers of the church.

And there's no looking back. Final decision. Final decision is this, this morning, we need to decide to move on. You know, some people have said to me, Boy, this type of thing is going to hurt the church. Oh, the youth group will fall apart.

People are going to leave. Let me tell you something. If this is the right decision based on God's word, it's not going to hurt the church, it's going to help the church. Imagine what would have happened if the elders would have permitted this to continue. I've been there.

I'm telling you. I've been there. And you don't want to know what would have happened. Jesus tells us that if we are faithful in little things, he's going to entrust great things into our care. Matthew 25 verse 21.

You know, we want to grow, we want to have a great impact for Christ in our community and in the world. We want that. I'm telling you, the Lord is seeing if we're able to do this by first testing our elders and then testing us. It's so simple, can't you see it? If our elders can't protect a small flock and guard basic doctrine, how will they be able to guard a large flock and deal with the complex issues of a dynamic and growing congregation?

If they can't take care of this little bitty church, how are they going to take care of the big and great church that we want to build here? And if we can't support our leaders in a matter which is pretty simple and straightforward, how will we follow them when they really ask us to step out in faith? How are we going to do that? We can sit here and mourn and we can lay blame, we can be angry, or we can decide to move on. Move on and finish the renovation that we've committed to doing.

Move on and find ways to minister to our young people with the resources that we have. Will it be the same? You know, is Bobby Chilton one of our elders? Is he Vince Miller? He's taller I think.

Just kidding. No! We can't. You know, Vince was a super guy. But we're going to do the best we can with what we have.

And we need to move on and look for a minister who is sound in the word. We made a mistake. I made a mistake. I'm the first one, I'll tell you right now, I was the first one to make the mistake. I assumed.

I assumed. I assumed with that background there's no way a person could hold for these ideas. But I assumed wrong. And the elders assumed. But I'm here to tell you now, I'll never make that mistake ever again.

I'll never make that mistake. I will never assume again. You can be sure of that. So we're going to move on and look for a minister who is sound in the word and who will serve this congregation in Vince's place. And love this congregation.

And love the Lord and love the word. And teach these young people how to be sound in the word. And teach them how to teach other young people the Word of God accurately. Now, there's so much work to do, and so many people who need to hear the gospel. So many people who need to be visited and cared for.

So many people that need encouragement and support. We can't linger here and dwell on this incident. We need to move on. And I'm telling you, don't be left behind. Our leaders are moving on and we need to decide to move on with them.

Now, you may have come here with a lot of different feelings and a lot of different needs this morning. Perhaps one of your needs was to make a difficult decision, difficult decision to become a Christian by repenting of your sins and confessing Christ being baptized. Difficult decision to being restored from an unfaithful or simple lifestyle. Difficult decision to ask the church to pray for you and your personal struggles. The difficult decision to publicly identify with this congregation, not knowing where we're going and not knowing what's going on.

His word and see if we're not following his word. And then we ask you to make that decision now, whatever it is, as you come forward while we stand and as we sing our song of encouragement.