Bullseye or Missing the Mark

The church at Rome was not unlike our church in many ways, different people, different levels of faith, personalities, issues and convictions.

We are called to accept one another because we have been accepted by God because of Jesus and it is Him who sustains and is Lord of us all.

Both strong and weak Christians can cause a brother to stumble or be built up.

Take care of and Do Not Harm.....

My Fellow Christian

Romans 14:13–15 (CSB)

Therefore, (because we have both strong and weak in faith) let us no longer judge (criticize) one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean. For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.

a trigger for a snare....be careful…when i walked ahead and let branches fly back and smack people in the face unsuspecting

My Testimony

Romans 14:16-18 “Therefore do not let your good (works and rep) be slandered. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For the one who serves Christ in this way is well-pleasing to God and approved by people.”

Charles Spurgeon cigar stories.

What should be seen and said of us

Righteousness-Gods declaration over you..holiness.

Peace-Spiritual calmness. undisturbed by irritations of the moment.

Joy-from your spiritual perspective manifesting in your outward character

My Church

Romans 14:19-23 “So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what edifies one another. Do not destroy the work of God on account of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for the person who eats and stumbles in the process. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is weakened. The faith that you have, have with respect to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not pass judgment on himself by what he approves. But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.”

Not all convictions need be shared, give up your freedom when it traps another believer

Ill. King and new chariot driver. The king was interviewing men to be his chariot drivers. And so he said to them, "I want you to take this chariot and I want you to go around this winding mountain road, there are cliffs on the side of it, and I want you to see how close you can get to the precipice in the chariot and still make it on the road."

And so, one man came down and he said, "Aw, I got within two feet of the edge of that thing and I still made it." And the king said, "No, thank you, you're not my chariot driver." Then another man came and he said, "Oh, I want you to know I got within three feet of the precipice." And he said, "No, thank you, I don't want you to be my chariot driver." Another man came and he said, "I got an inch and a half from the precipice of the road." And he

said, "You're not my chariot driver."

And then a man came and he said, "Aw, I didn't even try to get close to the edge. If I'm going to be the chariot driver for the king, I want to stay as far away from the danger point as I can." That man got the job!)

Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block?

The believer is to live in a manner that desires and implements harmony, unity, and edification of others.