Matthew 5:23-24

• we have made it about rituals & programs

• we have made it about personal piety

• we have made it very individual & disconnected

• end up worshipping God with walls among us!

• dishonor family gathering due to rifts &

misunderstandings

• offer incomplete & tainted sacrifices

• anger & judgemental-ness

• pain & bitterness

• pride & a divisive spirit

1 Samuel 15:22

• proceed no further ~ an urgent matter is @ hand

• face up to the walls ~ strained relationships need

to be addressed

• even if it means going out of the way

• reconciled (“diallasso”) ~ to change thoroughly

• laying down arms, pride & anger

• opens doors to authentic worship

• God’s heart beats for reconciliation

• reflects Jesus’s search for us

• sacrifices fragranced by unconditional

love & lavish grace

Psalm 51:16-17

John 13:34-35

• the spirit of obedience ~ listen with action

• the broken, contrite spirit ~ of repentance

• the spirit of love ~ unbroken cords between us!

• an honest owning up of unfinished business

• courageous confession of festerings & distortions

• courageous embrace to remove the walls

• reconciliation is birthed through travail

• wrestling the Divine for cleansing, identity

restoration, forgiveness

• letting go our own prejudices & willing to

undergo conversion!