I need help...how do I know what is right?

...by His stripes we are healed. Jesus had to take a lashing in order that his healing blood would flow. The balsam tree is whipped and cut so that a healing salve can be withdrawn. We are God's children and sometimes we must experience beatings, lashings, and other abuses. If one is truly yielded to God, good can come from it. Don't forget God's providence. He may have purposely placed you where you are so that you can look back years from now and praise God for his mercy and grace.

 

Matt.18:21,22

 

doodlebug

Soemthing doesn't sound right.

You expect the pastor to place his job in jeopardy, because you feel "like I have to 'do something'?".

You do not indicate that you have gone to the person. Nor, do you indicate that you have taken elders to the person. But, you do indicate a need to have the pastor and his wife intervene.

Maybe I am missing what you are trying to say.

 

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. (KJV)

Each Christian, pastors are no exception, must follow the clearly revealed will of God as given through His Word. We are all ultimately responisible to God.

It is always biblically sound to stand up for what is right according to God's Word. However, I would be very cautious of standing against the God-given leadership of the church without first going to them and trying to gain an understanding of what and why they are making the decisions that you do not understand.

The simple fact is, you probably are not privy to all of the information that your pastor has available to him. His decisions may very well be based upon information that he cannot share with you at this time; perhaps never.

If your pastor has been trustworthy in the past, I would suggest that you allow him to handle the situation as he feels he should. After all, he is the one who must stand before God and give account for the church. Hebrews 13:17

According to the Word of God, if someone sins against you, you must forgive them and move on.
(Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:12-13)
Now, you don't have to stay in that church and put up with all of the nonsense. But, if you choose to stay, you must forgive them when they wrong you.

You would handle this situation like you would any other when the parties involved are not saved. You pray for them with the realization that Satan has blinded their eyes and they cannot see what they are doing. You let your light shine so brightly that you have a testimony above reproach. (Matthew 5:16)

You must lift your pastor and deacons up through prayer and seek out ways to encourage them. I would recommend a Pastor Appreciation Sunday real soon so he knows that the majority of folks are behind him.

I've learned in my ministry that, when it seems like "everyone" is against me, it is usually only 1 or 2 at the most who are making a lot of noise. It has been my experience to go directly to those complaining. Thety either get right, or they go away mad. Unfortunately, I have experienced the latter a few times. But, God always replaced them with good faithful folks who love Him.

 

Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times but up to seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22).

seventyx7x7= as many times as it takes...

"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 5:12)

Jesus said that we will be forgiven in the same way we forgive others. Verse: For if you forgive people their trespasses, that is, their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go and giving up resentment, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespassses, their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go and giving up resentment, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses." Mat. 6:14,15 (Amplified).

...hope it helps... I had to personally forgive an intimate betrayal from my ex best friend.. took allot to forgive her.. but i felt it was what God wanted me to do.. i felt good afterwards...

 

My wife and I very recently went through an experience in our church where the pastor would not show up for work and his compulsive spending habit drove him to the brink of bankruptcy.

When we brought the slacking to the attention of the deacons, they tried to covertly deal with the absenteeism, to no avail.

The money problem led the pastor to announce his resignation to the deacons.

Not because of the sin of it, but to find a better paying job.

Instead, the membership voted almost unanimously to give him $2,000 to get caught up on the payments on his idols, as I put it, and to allow him to draw a full time wage for three years and only show up twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday so he could work a full time job outside the church in order to pay off his bills.

I warned the members that you cannot cure a complusive spender by giving him more to spend.

True to form the spending continued, in secret of course.

Within 6 months the man had purchased a pickup, hiding it in his garage, a $2500 guitar, and a riding John Deere lawn mower.

At the end of a year he was gone, money and all.

Long before he left, people who didn't even know about the new toys knew they had made a huge mistake in what they did.

I knew about all these things and more and saw that it would do no good to tell anyone that the problem was even worse than before with the huge increase in income.

Here is my advise...

Sit back, take it, do nothing and say nothing.
God will bring the truth to light, not you.

If you do otherwise, you will be viewed as the cause of the problem.

There will be division and conflict in your church over the matter.
The worst thing is that relationships will be permanently damaged within the body.

Trust Him.

Been there, done that.

MR

 

Here is my advise...

Sit back, take it, do nothing and say nothing.
God will bring the truth to light, not you.

If you do otherwise, you will be viewed as the cause of the problem.

How can sitting back and taking it help ?

I'm not so sure that sitting back and taking it is the best option. I'd bring to light the situation and if it wasn't addressed promptly KNOWING there's a problem that can cause serious division within the church body..I'd leave the church. When someone can cause this kind of trouble,it's time to look for a church that stand solid. Weathering storms as a whole is not the same as enabling someone to bring the house down on the heads of the innocent.

In 2 Thess chapter 3 there is a warning about idleness.. I think this applies.

The congregation as a whole needs to put on the armor of God
(Ephesians 6) to stand firm against the fleshly pull of sin within and out of the church.

Who wants to attend a church thats divided?

 

No one should ever go against the Word of God, even if they are the pastor, even if you don't know all the facts. There is never a situation, no matter what the circumstances that a person should go against the Word of God.

 

I can say to sit back and take it because Jesus said to sit back and take it, Mommyperson.

Turn the other cheek and do NOTHING, doodlebug.

The warning against idleness in Thess. is about not working for a living. It does not advocate jumping into a church dispute.

It may be time to look for another church if your pastor has no spine in the midst of conflict.

He should always do right even at the risk of his paycheck, contrary to what others seem to think.


MR