{"id":32338,"date":"2024-07-31T13:05:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T20:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-patient-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-07-31T13:26:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T20:26:30","slug":"2024-table","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2024-table\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord\u2019s Table"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacob Whitehead<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a pastor, and I have something to say.<\/p>\n

Christians that get online and spew hate toward nonbelievers anger me much more than nonbelievers spewing hate toward my religion.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what the table at the Olympics was supposed to represent, as the official statement contradicts the larger opinion. But what I can say is that every single person at that table would have been invited to Jesus\u2019 table. Jesus not only spent His time on earth with sinners, He invited them to the very table everyone assumes the Olympic table represents.<\/p>\n

Matthew was a tax collector.<\/p>\n

Peter was about to deny Him.<\/p>\n

Thomas was about to doubt His resurrection.<\/p>\n

Judas was about to betray Him.<\/p>\n

Jesus ate with them anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jesus was with \u201csinners\u201d all of the time. In fact, it\u2019s one of the reasons the church people hated Him and wanted Him dead.<\/p>\n

Please allow this to serve as a reminder that people who are not Christians are not our responsibility to regulate. Jesus gave us an example to follow of welcoming everyone and pointing them toward the love of Jesus. Remember that God\u2019s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not the shouting of His angry \u201cfollowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean I condone any religion (especially my own) being mocked. In fact, it is wrong. But my heart doesn\u2019t hurt for what they are doing to Jesus. My heart hurts for people that are likely not in a loving relationship with their Creator. Jesus doesn\u2019t need me to shout about sinners sinning. He wants me to shout about the hope and the love they are missing out on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Before you share an angry post, or shout at people that Jesus died for, think for a while, and ask yourself if He would do the same. To be honest, you already know the answer. He wouldn\u2019t. He didn\u2019t. He died for them just as much as He died for you. Angrily shouting at people that don\u2019t know Jesus is in direct contradiction to the example He gave us on the cross.<\/p>\n

Westboro Baptist sandwich signs should anger you much more than this. Jesus flipped tables on people in the temple, not people outside of it.<\/p>\n

Remember that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":32339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-32338","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/32338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/32338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32343,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/32338\/revisions\/32343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32338"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=32338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}