Hillview Family and Friends!
Children’s Ministry will be with the Ministry leader during worship time starting in the fall. Pray with us in our transition. Sis Debbie.
Youth ministry will meet in the fellowship hall at 9:30 am. Youth Ministry will be meeting every 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:30 am.
Please add pocket change in the “Stones of Truth” jar in the foyer. All monies collected will go to offset cost to the Branson 2025 trip.
If you want to volunteer to be on the calling team, please contact LaTanya Dunn.
We will need volunteers to help with cleaning the Sanctuary, Foyer, and vacuuming. Contact LaTanya Dunn hillviewchurchofgod@gmail.com
Happy Birthday and Wedding Anniversary to all family and friends celebrating in the month of November.
Pastor Dexter will be having a 6 week study “Horizontal Jesus” by Tony Evans. If anyone is interested, contact Pastor Dexter White.
Nov 24th– Thanksgiving potluck dinner after service.
Nov 28th– Thanksgiving Day
Nov 30th– Women’s Prayer Breakfast at 10 am in the fellowship hall
Dec 1st– First Sunday of Advent. Please Let Sis. LaTanya Dunn know if you would like to participate in the Advent reading.
December 14- Cookie exchange.
Dec 14th Church Clean Up- 8am-12pm.
Dec 21st Board Management Meeting 9am.
Dec 22nd Christ Birthday Offering.
Dec 24th Christmas Eve.
Dec 24 Candlelight Service at Hillview.
Dec 25th Christmas Day.
Dec 31st New Years Eve.
Jan 1st New Years Day.
If anyone is interested in being part of the Management Board, Please contact Pastor Dexter.
Offering Envelopes are located on the wall outside of the sound booth.
Church of God News
Shortly after becoming pastor of the church, the church voted to hire a worship leader that will remain nameless. He was a charismatic leader and quickly built a worship team. I came into my office and found where someone had slipped a note under my office door. The note accused the worship leader of sexual misconduct. After consulting with the state pastor and other national leaders, the church board decided to sit the worship leader down from his position but offer to restore him if he would agree to go through a restoration process. He chose to leave the church. His actions caused a split in the church. All the members that served in the worship team with him left Hillview. He is currently a registered sex offender in this county.
Recently, another situation has arisen where one of our own has confessed to the church of a sin. He wants to be restored, and we as the church should want to do all in our power for that to happen.
Here’s the challenge for me, we don’t have on file a restoration process or plan for handling situations involving confessed sin. So, I set out to research this important issue and I found the book, Horizontal Jesus. Session 5 in the book deals with restoring one another. We’ll be discussing this issue in our Sunday morning class for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to share some thoughts on this issue this morning.
“Whatever the vice is, it can be overcome through the virtue of restoration. Healing the heart from what wounds it is the job of the church. Healing people’s hurts involves more than calling one another out on sins and stumbles, and that healing should be our number one priority in restoring one another.”1
When to we talk about restoring a brother or sister in Christ that has fallen victim to sin, the intent is to renew them, to bring them back to a former, original, or normal condition.
Karen and I, mostly Karen, have taken on the project of restoring a fireplace mantel we want to use in our house. I don’t know how many hours she has invested in the project so far, but quite a few. If restoring a piece of furniture can require hours of work, we should expect restoring a person to require hours of prayer and face to face interaction as you look beyond the symptoms and get to the root of the problem. For the follower of Jesus sin is a spiritual problem and the cure for sin is also spiritual.
Anybody can watch a YouTube video and take on a restoration project. When it comes to restoring people created in the image of God, everybody is not qualified to do so.
Galatians 6:1 tells us, “If anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual [that is, you who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit] are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness [not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness] keeping a watchful eye on yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.”
“Restoration in the body of Christ needs to be done, but Paul clearly stated that it must be done by the qualified—those who are spiritual. If it isn’t done from a spiritual heart of gentleness and wisdom, the one who’s seeking to restore can harm the one being helped and be pulled into temptation himself.”2
I have a book I have held on to for years. The book is titled Check Your Commitment, by Knofel Staton. Here’s a quote from the book that should shake you to your core, “Someone has said that the church is the only army that shoots its wounded. Sometimes, instead of shooting them, we desert them to die on the battlefield all alone. When a fellow Christian falls, he may not fear the wolves on the outside as much as the sheep on the inside who stand ready to trample him to death.3
Everybody that is a member of a local church is not spiritual. Everybody that is a member of the body of Christ is spiritual. Just because a person says they are a Christian doesn’t make it so.
“The Spirit-led Christian demands more of himself than he does of others that he might be able to help others.”4
From our study of the book Horizontal Jesus we are learning that the people needing to be restored are stuck in a trespass and can’t get unstuck by themselves. The sin you are stuck in doesn’t have to be what the church has always considered major sins like sexual misconduct or stealing. You might struggle with overspending or overeating. Regardless of the struggle, you need help getting unstuck.
During Jesus’ earthly ministry the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus because they felt He was violating their traditions by what He taught. In Matthew 12:9-14 is an example of this tension between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees taught being healed should happen on any day but the Sabbath. Jesus was teaching any day was a good day to restore or heal one of God’s children.
Mt 12:9-14
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,
10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So, he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
“Restoration and healing are important no matter what type of healing is needed, no matter how big or small the vice is, and no matter who’s struggling.”5
Every one of us struggles, I struggle. The only reason I have not yielded to temptation is by the grace of God. But if I did sin, is there somebody spiritual I could turn to and be restored or would you force me to leave Hillview in disgrace.
Paul talks about the struggles we have in this life.
Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
To be successful in bringing about healing happens when we address the source of the sin not just the symptoms. How are we to get to the source of the problem? There needs to be a spiritual approach to healing/restoration.
One of the character traits the spiritual person needs to possess when in the process of restoring another is humility, not a sense of superiority or self-righteousness.
It has been determined that one of the main reasons a person gets ensnared in sin is pain. When an over-the-counter pain pill doesn’t alleviate the pain, an alternative solution is sought out like alcohol or illicit drugs. “Healing results when we recognize pain, loss, and other consequences and turn to God.”6
Tony Evans said in the study he had found that pain is often a mixture of the original pain from the past that may have led to the behavior, coupled with pain from the sin itself, such as grief, guilt, or addiction. Therefore, the pain is often compounded, and truly breaking free takes time. That’s why a trusted, humble, and compassionate brother or sister in Christ needs to be available to walk someone through the process of restoration.
Sometimes, from experience we can help restore a person. Other times we have no personal experience with the issue a person is dealing with.
“A doctor often tells you in advance when he’s going to do something that will hurt. Yet because you trust his intentions, you allow him to do it. The body of Christ needs to be so trusted to restore one another that even in the process of uncovering or unlocking pain tied to sin, we’re allowed to do so. This means we must live lives worthy of this great ministry, not spreading gossip, engaging in slander, or exhibiting a spirit of pride. Rather, we should live lives punctuated by humility and grace, compassion and empathy as we try to empathize with the person’s pain and apply God’s viewpoint to their dilemma.”7
In John 8:1-11 Jesus gives us a tangible example of restoration.
John 8:1-11
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Just like the Pharisees were reminded of their sinfulness causing them to walk away from Jesus and the woman, we need to be cognizant of our past sins, which should keep us from being judgmental when God opens the door for you to restore a brother or sister.
When God lays it on your heart to restore one that has fallen, you take on a great responsibility. The person being restored also has a part in their restoration. There is no restoration without repentance. Your repentance should be total. I’ve never had to hire an attorney to defend me in a court of law. I watch several TV shows that depict lawyers meeting with their clients. No attorney likes to represent a client that doesn’t reveal the truth about their case. The attorney wants to know the truth of the matter, not just the part the client wants to reveal.
As we engage in the restoration process, we need to know the whole story, the good and the bad of it. That is how we get to the root of the trespass, that is how you get the help you need.
Topic: Restoring One Another
Text: Galatians 6:1 (Amplified Version)
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual [that is, you who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit] are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness [not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness] keeping a watchful eye on yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.
Support Hillview’s Greeting Card Ministry – We have anniversary, birthday, and get-well cards on the table by the front entrance for you to send to others to let them know you are thinking of them. A donation of $1.00 will help cover the cost of cards and postage.
Continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins and their caregivers. Prayer is needed for our entire congregation as we are all dealing with spoken and unspoken needs and requests.
Weekly Events
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