Matthew 18

In this chapter Jesus tells some hard hitting stories.
i) Greatness is defined differently in the Kingdom – children have the capacity for simple faith and obedience. Trust God and obey!
ii) Be ruthless with sources of temptation – for many that will be apathy and procrastination and wasting time on TV, facebook and the internet! For others it will be porn. Be ruthless with things that cause you to sin.
iii) Lost sheep – lost people matter to God, the one sheep triggered an all out search. Be passionate and unashamed of the Gospel!
iv) Upsets. If you someone has upset you, go to them to “win them over” by showing their fault. Don’t tell them their fault to show you anger but to reconcile them. If that doesn’t work, take someone to help them. Eventually un-repented sin needs to be a matter of church discipline. The binding and loosing of v18 are in the context of church discipline, where sin isn’t repented of. As is the two or three agreeing – that is
still talking about church discipline not poorly attended prayer meetings
v) Showing grace to others – we have received much forgiveness, so forgive others – a lot of conflict would be avoided by forgiving people!!