I remember a statement that was once issued from the pulpit in the charismatic church that I attended.

"We want to start some communities in the church. A support group for gays and lesbians. Sorry, let me change that. A support group for ex gays and ex lesbians. Practising gays are not welcome."

I still remember thinking, " How can you ever become a ex gay without Jesus, through the church, to help you."

So many churches that I know of reject the gays, lesbians and other sinners right out of their close and select little communities. "They are sinners you know, and they are going straight to the pits of hell. I want nothing to do with them."

Years ago, in the same church mentioned above, a guest preacher was invited to preach at a yearly conference. The preacher, whose name I will not mention,  was one of the most down to earth and incredible preachers that I have ever heard preaching.

He spoke on how his own spirit filled church was filled with gays, lesbians, and sinners of every class, and how every single person was welcomed into his church without criticism or judgement and each and every soul was loved regardless of what they were involved in.

Now is that not how you would picture Jesus to be. Jesus rejected the upright and "righteous" people of the time and chose instead to spend his time in the company of tax collectors and other sinners.

Needless to say, that preacher was almost run out of town and every word that he preached was rejected by the church. Where was Jesus.

If you are expected to be washed and cleansed of all sin before you enter a church, how will anyone ever get to enter a church and meet with Jesus. If you expect a gay person to repent and give up his ways before he can come into your church to meet the living Jesus, then chances are he will never get to meet Jesus and accept Jesus into his life.

Were you free from all sin in your life before you first entered into your church and met Jesus? No  - I did not think so.

Are you free from all sin in your life now - even though you have already been a christian for a long time? Again No!

Well if you are not free from sin, why do you expect a Gay or Lesbian or any other sinner to be free from their sin before they can enter your community? Is it perhaps that you consider that their sin is worse than your sin? As far as I am concerned  sin is sin and there is no variation between sins. There is no single sin that is better than another sin. Sin is sin and in order to cleanse yourself of sin you have to go before Jesus, repent and be washed clean by His Blood.

Jesus does the changing .

Jesus loves you enough to accept you as you are, but loves you too much to leave you as you are.

When you come to Jesus and give your life to Him, crying Jesus help me please, Jesus opens his arms out to you and embraces you. He accepts you as you are, forgives you and washes you clean with His Blood. Slowly but surely He begins the process of changing you, your life and your passions. It is not an overnight or instant process. It takes time. He is the potter and you are the clay. Slowly you are molded into what He wants you to be.

In the case of gays and lesbians who are often some of the most hurting people in the world and who need the loving embrace of Jesus more than most, why do we reject them further and cast them out, expecting them to remove the sin from their lives immediately whilst we readily accept the fact that Jesus is still working in our own lives and has not yet completed the task of removing all the sin in our own life.

Take the log out of your own eye before you remove the splinter from your neighbours eye.

Before you judge and reject someone according to their "sin" and cast them out of your select community, simply ask yourself what Jesus would do if that person was standing in front of Him. Would He cast them out, or would He open His arms to them and love them. Sure I know that you are not Jesus, but then can you really claim to be a follower of Christ if you do not accept His ways and teachings.

Open your hearts and love someone today. Show them how the love of Jesus shines through you and help them to change their life simply by being accepted by someone like you. Your accepting someone for who they are could be the biggest thing that ever happened in their life and could make the real difference that will alter their lives forever.

God Bless

The only difference between a Christian and someone who is not saved, is that our sins are forgiven. We are not perfect, we have all sinned and yes, we will all sin again, probably even in the next couple of minutes.

Why is it that the world and even some churches, expect that the minute you give your life over to God and dedicate yourself to serving Jesus, that you must now suddenly become perfect and have no sin. The minute a christian is seen to sin, the whole world and half of the christians themselves are there pointing fingers and saying, "And they call themselves Christians".

We know that none are without sin. The only one who ever lived on this earth without sin was Jesus himself. So then why are we so quick to point fingers and to judge those who have sin in their lives. The whole reason that fingers are pointed is because the finger pointer is obeying the instructions of their Father, "The Accuser" or otherwise known as satan.

What is a hypocrite.

The Miriam webster dictionary defines a hypocrite as being one who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion. I define Hypocrisy as going against what you preach. I do not preach that we are without sin. I preach that we are all filled with sin and that even though we fight to control the sin within us, it does come out and show itself and when it does come out, the Lord Jesus is there to wash it away and is true to forgive us of that sin if we are willing to confess and to repent of it.

We are at war with sin and a war comprises many battles. Some battles are won and some are lost. What we do know is that once we are christians that we will win the war against sin even though we may lose some batlles along the way.

As I said in the beginning, the only difference between a christian and a non believer is that the sins of the christian are washed away by the blood of Jesus. A christian will try to overcome sins, and many times will succeed, but there will be times when they fail and when you do fail and fall, the world will be there to kick you and accuse you, but while you are lying down, look up into the crowd and there you will see one, His arms stretched out to you, to lift you up and dust you off. His eyes will be filled with love and He will be quick to hug you and embrace you and say to you "My child, I forgive you."

A hypocrite is a christian who is unable to see that all are with sin, and is quick to judge his brothers and sisters of their sins, whilst ignoring their own sins. A hypocrite is the one who points a finger and does not realise that in pointing one finger, that they have three fingers pointing back at themselves.

A church that is filled with perfect people is an ineffective and dead church. How can you be claiming to reach out to the lost if your church is filled with perfect people. The walk into perfection is something that takes a lifetime and the destination will only be reached once you cease to live in this world. When a church is filled with sinnners, then that is a church in which the Lord Jesus is moving. It is a place of life, for those who are without sin have already died and gone to heaven. Jesus said in Matthew 9:13 "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

When you come to Jesus and choose to follow Him, you begin a journey. The journey is the battle against sin in your life and taking control of the sin. It takes time for you to grow stronger and to gain the spiritual strength to overcome the power of sin our lives. It is a constant fight against your inner self to overcome. Paul talks about the fight in Romans 7:11 to Romans 8:1. There will be times when you do overcome the power of sin and there will be times when you lose the battle. Always know that the end outcome is already signed and sealed.

You will win the war.

God Bless.