In today’s service, the Franklin’s hosted, Simeon read the story, and Justin preached the sermon.

The story–

We read a story about Jesus, Mary, and His disciples. The wedding they attended ran out of wine to serve the guests and Jesus helps out by turning water into wine–His first miracle.

The sermon–

It is Veteran’s Day today. The topic is non-resistance.

What do we mean when we say Christian non-violence?

• not be dormant and do nothing, but try to be a peacemaker of the situation
• Use as little force as possible. Try to seek a peaceful outcome.

Specifically think about not resisting with force. This flies in the face of heroism. People do great things while at the same time doing great damage.

Take our president for example. You punch me, [the president] I punch harder!

We read Romans 12.

Romans 12:14 – Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

When we want to fight back, God will provide for us, He will help us! When we refuse to take the matter into our own hands, we show a confidence that God will make it right.

Confidence vs. Cowardice

Some people think that if you face a burglar without a gun, you are a coward. That is not true. That is confidence that God will help you.

We have confidence in Christ. He went through the same things.

Just because we practice non-violence does not mean that there are not bad people. Just because we want to be peaceful does not mean that war will disappear.

Some people think: “This is impractical. If there isn’t a strong arm, what is life?”

Then we read Romans 13.

Which kingdom is most important?

How is practicing non-violence not merely an expression of cowardice or convenience?

It’s more about taking someone’s life. We are not going to do that. When you call the police, is that just handing the violence over to someone else?

This is part of expressing our lives as Christians. Do you have confidence that God will make it right?

We read 1 Corinthians 9 and closed with the Lord’s Prayer.