Reflecting on pastor Dennis sharing, I felt he was truly the most genuine person I’ve ever met barre no one. I guess no one in my life has ever led the way in being as genuine as he was, completely pouring out his weaknesses and struggles, irregardless of whether others were immature enough to judge him or be stumbled by what he shared about himself. I guess in sharing his life so openly, he trusted in the God’s ability to use his experiences to touch the lives of the people, alongside the belief that God will take care of his concerns about how the people will react, be it whether they might be stumbled or judge him. And that to me, is audacious faith, a life that dares to live on the edge, because of his trust in the Father. I believe too often we fail to share our lives openly because we fear the repercussions, we justify, sometimes even reasonably, that what we share might stumble our brothers and sisters. But I realize our fear of stumbling others in this area is unbiblical and unfounded. The prophecy of Christ himself including warnings that he would be a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles, and it only stumbled them because they persisted in their ungodliness and therefore when holiness came in human form, it dashed their pseudo-holiness to pieces. When people are ‘stumbled’ by our genuine lives, I believe it unveils just how mistaken their initial beliefs about the faith is, akin to the pharisees understanding of the Law, all the more we should not deny them the opportunity of a wake up call. Christ, being genuine in everything he did, stumbled some, but touched and saved the broken of the world. So shall we, in being genuine, unveil the disgust in some, yet touch the lives of so many more, and point them towards the genuine quality of Christ.

Too often we try to justify our lack of genialness with the verses Romans 14:12-14 or 1 Cor 8:8-10. Yet I find myself asking the question, how could truth poured out in love ever stumble those truly seeking for godliness? I realize, that which we should and must safeguard against. It is our judgmental nature as in the case of Romans 14:12-14, and our selfishness as in the case of 1 Cor 8:8-10, or in summation, our sinful qualities that stumble those in pursuit in the faith, Truth only stumbles the ungodly (1 Cor 1:22-24). Therefore the matter to be safeguard against is not so much how genuine we are with out lives, but whether our every word and deed is done of Love for God and His people.
Thus the points that I really took away from the whole sermon are as such:
1. Be genuine in every aspect of your life.
2. Do not fear the repercussions, for that which is committed to the Lord, He will use according to His purposes.
3. Commit all things to the Lord. (2)
Genuine Love is experienced by genuine people, which in turn flows from genuine hearts.
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