12/2/13

From Ben Fronczek... Hospitality

Hospitality

Offer Hospitality to One Another    1 Peter 4:9

This is part 3 in a mini series were the Apostle Peter gives some advice to Christians.

On June 28,2005, four Navy SEAL commandos were on a mission in Afghanistan, searching for a notorious al-Qaeda terrorist leader hiding in a Taliban stronghold.

In battle, three of the SEALs were killed, and the fourth, Marcus Luttrell was blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade and blown over a cliff. Severely injured, he spent the next four days fighting off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, and then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

They took Luttrell back to their village, where the law of hospitality, which was considered “strictly non-negotiable,” took hold. Luttrell said, “They were committed to defend me against the Taliban,” Luttrell wrote, “until there was no one left alive.” (Lone Survivor – by Marcus Luttrell)

For me this story is one of those happy/sad stories. Sad because of the killing but  then it was nice to read that there are still people out there that know what means to be hospitable. We mostly live in a pretty un-hospitable world today. People simply do not go out of their way one for another unless a disaster strikes, and even then only a few respond in a hands on way.
Most people are leery of others, over cautious, even afraid to get involved. We teach our kids not to talk to strangers, and hardly ever look into one another’s eyes when we pass on the street.
People are less hospitable to strangers than they were a few generations ago.  But hospitability is still important. People still need to know they are welcome, loved, respected, wanted, and needed…and one place that should always be true is in our Churches and/or our Christian homes.

In Romans 12:13 its says to “Practice Hospitality”                                         

In Hebrews 13:2 it says “don’t neglect to show hospitality to strangers.”  

And here in our text  today in 1 Peter 4:9 it says to

 offer hospitality without grumblings”                       

The Greek word for hospitality actually made up of two words: love and stranger. So being hospitable means loving strangers with genuine Christian agape love. That’s what Marcus Luttrell experienced from the Pashtun tribe.

A man by the name of Henri Nouwen defined it this way, he said,  

‘hospitality is the offer of a space where change can take place, where the stranger can enter and become a friend.’

I think its about welcoming people in, sharing with them and showing our Christian faith and love by our actions.’

You may not know this but the word hospitality and the word, “hospital” comes from the same root, the Latin word, ‘hospes’.  The word refers to a stranger or foreigner, hence a guest. Later the word evolved and became identified as a home which became a haven of rest for people.
Believers opened up their homes and had people stay there as they were traveling. Eventually these homes became known as hospitals which also helped those who were weak or ill. Present day hospitals can trace their roots back to Christian hospitality. A haven for guests was their original intent.

We need to remember who Peter was writing to and the end that was about to befall them. Although today we think hospitality is inviting fellow believers over for a meal – as good an idea as that might be – such an activity might not qualify as “hospitality” in the NT sense of the word, as it was so much more. It involved inviting in, and taking care of, even protecting a stranger.
Peter was advising those early Christians to demonstrate a deep love by opening up their hearts and their home; especially seeing that they were about to enter an era of racial persecution.  People were about to be up rooted and many of them were going to be fleeing for their lives.

Look at at what it says here in 1 Peter 4:7-9 to put this back into its context.  

“ The end of all things is near.  Therefore be alert and of sober mind   so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply,   because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality  to one another without grumbling.”

Believers, especially Christians have been assisting and showing hospitality to those in trouble, to those in need, and those who were being persecuted  for eons; even in more recent times. For example just prior to the Civil War many Christians helped those who were runaway slaves; for example I would like to read to you this is a little excerpt of an article I found online how believer’s helped those runaway slaves.

“There are believed to be many members of the Plymouth congregation who were active in the Underground Railroad. Evidence suggests that escaped slaves were hidden in the homes of several Plymouth members. The Church treasurer, S.V. White, had a small chamber in his house said to have been used to hide runaways, a room that was still in existence in the 1900s. One of the church’s greatest activists in the Underground Railroad was Lewis Tappan. As part of his work helping runaway slaves, he provided refuge in his home to a 15-year-old girl who escaped by pretending to be a male conductor on a New York-bound ferry.” “It should also be said that, for the members of Plymouth Church, and for most if not all of those who took part in the Underground Railroad, they did so to live out their Christian faith.”

Whether they were Christians fleeing Roman persecution, or slaves fleeing their unethical masters, or even Jews fleeing Nazi tyranny, Hospitality has played an important role in giving comfort and safety to those in need.

Hospitality is not only important for the one that is being helped, it is also important for the one who is offering it as well. It is a way to express one’s faith, and I believe God rewards those who are hospitable based on what we read in Matthew 25 where Jesus told those to His right to enter in to receive their reward in Heaven. Why did he allow these believers to enter in? Because they were gracious and helped those in need. (Matthew 25:31-46)

A story is told about a rabbi on a journey with the prophet Elijah. They walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the humble cottage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in such poor circumstances.

Elijah and the rabbi were entertained with plenty of the cow’s milk, sustained by home-made bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed while their kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning the poor man’s cow was dead.

They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved. The merchant was cold an proud and rich, and all that he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in a cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent for a mason to repair one of his walls which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness.

The Rabbi, unable to keep silence any longer, begged Elijah to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings. “In regards to the poor man who received us so hospitably,” replied the prophet, “it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure.” (Autoillustrator.com, “THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING”)

Hospitality in the Bible always had the same basic elements: a welcome, a gesture of honor, time spent together, washing feet, especially prepared food, water, rest in the shade, shelter, a place to stay for the night, and a blessing.

In our last lesson the verse we looked at last week Peter instructed Christians to, 

‘Love one another deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.’  

I shared with you that the Greek word translated, deeply there in the NIV carries the idea, ‘to stretch one’s self’; in other words, to make a conscious effort to love someone fervently even if we have to stretch our self to do so.

This kind of hospitality is a perfect example of that kind of love which we are to demonstrate. And sometimes we have to stretch our self to do it.

But there are some things that Hindrances our Hospitality
 
1. Hospitality takes work,  It can put you out, it draws you out of yourself.
Sometimes hospitality is a lot of work. It is often inconvenient. It can ruin your plans and invade your privacy. It may not even be enjoyable. It is something that we may tend to complain about having to do. But Peter wrote that we should offer hospitality without grumbling!
Hebrews says the same thing in a negative way: don’t neglect it. Evidently it is something that we can easily neglect doing.

John Piper says:  ‘The physical force of gravity pulls everything to the center of the earth. In order to break free from earth-centered gravity, thousands and thousands of pounds of energy have to push the space shuttle away from the center. There is also a psychological force of gravity that constantly pulls our thoughts and affections and physical actions inward toward the center of our own self and our own homes.   Therefore the most natural thing in the world is to neglect hospitality. It is the path of least resistance. All we have to do is yield to the natural gravity of our self-centered life, and the result will be a life so full of self that there is no room for hospitality. We will forget about it. And we will neglect it. So the Bible bluntly says. Stop that! Build a launching pad. Fill up your boosters. And blast out of your self-oriented routine. Stop neglecting hospitality. Practice hospitality.’

2. Another excuse: My house is too messy, or not good or big enough
OR,  

3. I don’t have enough time, I am too busy

I think what we are dealing with here is fighting our self centered nature, or our own selfishness and becoming open to serving others.

I’ll close today with this verse from Hebrews: 

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (13:2)

There was an instance in the Old Testament when Abraham showed hospitality to some men who turned out be angels.

I don’t think the author of Hebrews is saying we should expect the same thing to happen to us. What I think he’s saying that if we step out in faith and obey God in this area, we are going to be blessed in unexpected ways. If we practice hospitality, serving one another and reaching out to those in need, even strangers, then God will bless our homes, and we will see Him do remarkable things.

Challenge: My Challenge for you is to work on becoming more hospitable, or at least work on the right attitudes you need to be more loving and hospitable to those you come in contact with. You may never meet anyone who is in a crisis situation like  that Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell, or a run away slave, but there are people who are hurting all around us. We need at least to be willing to help these individual in whatever way we can, even if it means finding others who can help them if we cannot. Its a matter of the heart and your willingness to serve Jesus is this very special way.

To read more Sermons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

From Jim McGuiggan... THAT'S NOT MONOGAMY

THAT'S NOT MONOGAMY


If someone asks you what "monogamy" is don't go to or quote a dictionary. What you'd find there would be an accurate definition I'm sure, by which I mean, you'd find what the rank and file of us think of when we use the word. There you'd find what our children are taught in school to think when they hear the word. I like dictionaries, I do; I make use of them often and I suppose it's true that in some ways they share with us the experience of our fellow-humans because speech not only reflects how we live—it shapes it.

Still, dictionaries aren’t warm; they’re cold. They record without passion or commitment or shame or affection how the current populace uses the sounds we call words. There’s nothing creative about a dictionary; it lacks imagination, it doesn’t create worlds—it simply defines past or existing worlds; it runs after aging worlds, listening and recording what’s said.

Again, a dictionary’s redeeming factor is that it deals with words and words are not dictionaries. Words well used can set an entire world on fire or set a sleepy world dancing. Words can defy an existing world that’s filled with despair and create an imagined world that is free and joyous. Words can create new worlds by generating vision but vision is something more wonderful than words though words and visions keep very close company.

If you had told Harry Emerson Fosdick that monogamy was the conviction that men and women should have only one husband/wife he would have said something like, “That’s not monogamy. Monogamy is a woman and a man, all their lives, wanting to love one another as they love no other person in all the world. That’s monogamy!”

If you gave Landon Saunders the dictionary definition he would have said something of this sort, “That’s not monogamy. Monogamy is a man or a woman looking into the other’s eyes and saying, ‘Others may come and go in your life but I won’t. I’ll never leave you. If you’re sick I’ll nurse you, feed you, bathe you, sit with you; if you’re lonely I’ll keep company with you; if you’re happy I’ll rejoice with you, sing with you and smile or laugh with you. I’ll do anything but leave you. I’ll never leave you. That’s monogamy!”

It isn’t that we should ignore the dictionary but we’re blessed if we see more than the dictionary, hear and feel more than the dictionary.

Critics or cynics might well say that talk like that is too sickeningly sweet in the light of the real world; “Who lives like that?” they might say. “It’s a dream world and not the world we live in.”

Hummm, perhaps. Yet, dreams are not all bad and even if we can’t quite make it to the place we dream of, should we not dream of better and finer?

But while dreams and vision are intimately related they’re not quite the same. The dreams we dream as we look at and experience life are shaped, I would suggest, by vision, by whatever it is that shapes our entire world-view.

To be visionary like, for example, GK Chesterton, would mean that while we don’t despise brain-power or intellect we become seers [which is what in the early days of the OT the prophets were called—seers]. We’d be less cognitive, less prepositional and rational and more imaginative as we reflect on lovely relationships—yes, and richer because of it.

We wouldn’t take leave of our senses but some new sense of things would be ours. The father is speaking the sober truth when he says to his daughter, about the young man she is now in love with, “I don’t know what you see in him!” Precisely! She’s in love with him and the father isn’t and love gives the seer new eyes and senses.

It doesn’t matter what it is we’re talking about—life’s realities or relationships. There’s a way of seeing the ordinary, or at least the commonplace, that means it is no longer ordinary or commonplace. Chesterton saw what millions of us see—we shrug and he was mesmerized. The sun doesn’t rise every morning because the earth spins! Chesterton said it comes up every morning because God every morning says to it, “Get up!” That's vision!

Richard Ahler allows us to imagine a fully contented man moving to the close of his life. He's reflecting on his relationship with his beloved who is now deceased and he says this:

When I think how soon we run out of time,
Lookin' back at what I've done in my time,
My accomplishments are few,
But for my days of loving you!

If I've never gone too far in this world,
When I might have made my mark in this world,
I had better things to do,
I had my days of loving you!

Let the others go their way,
Seeking more and more,
Give me just one yesterday,
Filled with love like yours!

I have nothin' to regret in this life,
I've had all there is to get in this life,
Once I lived a dream come true,
I had my days of loving you!

That’s monogamy!

Well, yes, but it’s more—it’s vision! We who are sour and cynical [and sometimes that spirit's due to prolonged abuse and disappointment—so we need to be careful here] can't and won't share such a vision and that's tragic.

Anna Louise de Staƫl [it's very probable that Nietzsche didn't say it] said something like this: "Those who were seen to dance were thought to be insane by those who couldn't hear the music."

God bless us more and more with his way of seeing and hearing and feelings things.


©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Preparing For Christ's Coming (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

               "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS"

                Preparing For Christ's Coming (5:1-11)

INTRODUCTION

1. In our previous study we saw where Paul discussed "The Comfort Of
   Christ's Coming"...
   a. How we ought to be comforted by the facts and events of His coming
   b. Especially as it relates to loved ones who have died in the Lord 
      - cf. 1Th 4:13-18

2. Of course, "The Comfort Of Christ's coming" presumes that we are
   prepared for it...
   a. Whether we are among those who have died prior to that great event
   b. Or we are among those who will be alive when He comes

3. Are we prepared?
   a. Will He find us ready when He comes?
   b. Will we be ready should we die before He comes?

[As we come to the final chapter in Paul's first epistle to the
Thessalonians, we find him telling how Christians can be "Preparing For
Christ's Coming" (1Th 5:1-11).  Proper preparation for the coming of
Jesus takes into account that...]

I. HE SHALL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT (1-4)

   A. FOR SOME, BUT NOT FOR OTHERS...
      1. The Lord's coming will be a surprise for many, as the "thief in 
         the night" motif clearly indicates - 1Th 5:2; cf. 2Pe 3:10
      2. But for those who heed the warnings of Scripture, the "Day" 
         will not overtake them as a thief - 1Th 5:1-2,4
         a. Because they will be ready for His coming, though we don't 
            know when it will be
         b. Because they will have taken to heart the admonitions we 
            shall consider momentarily

   B. FOR SOME, AN INESCAPABLE DESTRUCTION...
      1. He will come when people are saying "Peace and safety!" - 1Th 5:3
         a. Not in troublesome times, but in peaceful times
         b. Yet many Christians seem to think He is coming whenever 
            there is tribulation
      2. When He comes, it will be with "sudden destruction" - 1Th 5:3
         a. Just as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman
         b. There will be no time nor way to escape this destruction,
            described in more detail in the second epistle to the 
            Thessalonians - cf. 2Th 1:7-10
      3. This "Day" will be one of glory for those who are ready - cf. 
         2Th 1:10
         a. For those who now "sleep in Jesus" - cf. 1Th 4:13-16
         b. For those prepared for His coming when He does descend - cf. 
            1Th 4:17-18

[What will this "Day" mean for us, when the Lord comes "as a thief in
the night"?  A day of destruction, or a day of delight?  It depends upon
whether we are prepared for His coming, and proper preparation means...]

II. WE SHOULD LIVE AS SONS OF THE DAY (5-11)

   A. WATCHFUL AND SOBER...
      1. We are "children of light" and "children of the day" - 1Th 5:5
         a. Because we follow Jesus, the "light of the world" - Jn 8:12;
            12:35-36
         b. Because we are now in Jesus, and walk in the light - Ep 5:8; 
            1Jn 1:5-7
         c. Because we cast off works of darkness, and seek to walk 
            properly - Ro 13:11-14
      2. We are to be watchful for His coming - 1Th 5:6
         a. For no one knows the day nor hour - cf. 1Th 5:2; Mt 24:36,
            42
         b. Watchfulness includes prayer - cf. 1Pe 4:7
         c. Watchfulness includes repentance, and strengthening what we 
            have - cf. Re 3:2-3
         -- On the other hand, "sleep" in our text refers to spiritual 
            laxity - 1Th 5:6-7
      3. We are to be sober - 1Th 5:6-8a
         a. The word "sober" means to be temperate or abstinent, 
            especially in regards to wine
         b. It usually used in a more general sense to be sober-minded,
            watchful, circumspect - Barnes
         c. Note how Jesus relates this to watching for His coming in 
            Lk 21:34-36
         -- We should certainly take the promise of Jesus' coming 
            seriously, not frivolously

   B. ARMED AND WAITING...
      1. In all soberness (seriousness), putting on "the armor of God" 
         - 1Th 5:8
         a. Such as the breastplate of faith and love
            1) Faith and love protect our hearts from much evil
            2) Faith comes from the word of God, and love comes from Him 
               who is the Word - Ro 10:17; 1Jn 3:16
         b. Such as the hope of salvation as a helmet
            1) Our hope of salvation protects our mind from much fear 
               and doubt
            2) Hope also comes from the word of God - cf. Ro 15:4
         -- Compare this description of "armor" with one more detailed 
            - Ep 6:11-18
     2.   Encouraged to wait because God has appointed us to salvation 
         - 1Th 5:9-10
         a. He has not appointed us to wrath
            1) A day of wrath is coming - cf. Ro 2:4-11
            2) Yet Jesus has come to deliver us from that wrath - 1Th 1:10
         b. He has appointed us to salvation
            1) Through the blood of His Son - Ro 5:8-10
            2) So that whether we "wake or sleep" (live or die), we live
               together with Christ! - cf. 1Th 4:14,17; Php 1:21-23

   C. COMFORTED AND EDIFIED...
      1. We are to comfort one another - 1Th 5:11
         a. With the comfort we each receive from God - cf. 2Co 1:3-4
         b. With the comfort of our hope we have in Christ - cf. 1Th 4:18
      2. We are to edify (build up) one another - 1Th 5:11
         a. A goal we are to pursue - Ro 14:19; 15:2
         b. The primary work of the church is edification - Ep 4:11-12,
            15-16

CONCLUSION

1. Will we be prepared when Christ comes?  It all depends...
   a. Are we watchful?  Are we serious about His coming?
   b. Are we putting on the armor of God?
      1) With faith and love as a breastplate protecting our hearts?
      2) With the hope of salvation as a helmet protecting our minds?
   c. Are we actively engaged in comforting and edifying our brethren?
   -- If so, then we are truly "sons of light and sons of the day"!

2. Note what is absolutely necessary for us to be doing these things...
   a. The Word of God
      1) Which builds faith and hope
      2) Which provides comfort
   b. The Church of God
      1) Where love is to be expressed among members
      2) Where comfort and edification is to be experienced by members

"Preparing For Christ's Coming" cannot happen without diligent
application of God's Word and active participation in the Lord's church.

Have you been added by the Lord to His church (cf. Ac 2:41,47)?  Are you
continuing steadfastly in fellowship with a local church (cf. Ac 2:42)?

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011


From Gary... Seriously, with a touch of humor for flavor...




































Words are such funny things!!!  With them, you can injure, caress, rebuke, exhort, question, command and many, many other things as well.  As you are aware (I am sure, that if you read this blog a few times) that I enjoy a bit of irony, mixed with humor.  So, with that in mind- there is this sign.  Well, if you do the Hokey Pokey- you will turn yourself around as you do it. So, someone is playing with words and that is a sure recipe to "make my day".  As I looked at this- I thought... what if you mixed a bit of humor in with something quite serious; then what?  This is EXACTLY WHAT PAUL DID WHEN ADDRESSING THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH.  The episode is quoted below...

1 Corinthians, Chapter 11
  1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me.  2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.  3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.  5 For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.  6 But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.  7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge?  8 I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.  9 When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.  10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.  11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.  12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.  13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.  14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.  15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. 

  16  I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little.  17 That which I speak, I don’t speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.  18 Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.  19 For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise.  20 For you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face.  21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet however any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.  22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.  23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. 24 Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.  25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. 26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;  27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness. 

  28  Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies.  29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?  30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.  31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.  

 Paul was a brilliant man, but he was not charismatic (in the sense of being a dynamic speaker).  After he left Corinth, some others came there and preached something different.  To me, I think Paul is being serious and humorous at the same time.  His "boasting" was not based upon pride, but rather on God working through him.  Obviously, he is using his relationship with God in a tongue and cheek way to get a point across.  This is based on a concept from the prophet Jeremiah, when God speaks through the prophet...

Jeremiah 9:24 
but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.

Truth is relative in regards to its source.  If God is the originator, then truth is absolute.  Paul was God's servant and was set in motion (ordained, if you will) and directed by The Holy Spirit of God.  Others who influenced the Corinthians spoke from their own truth and were therefore wrong.  All Paul's boasting is irony, because his genuine credentials are found in the power of a real relationship with God (Jeremiah 9:24 above).  We can never be a "Paul", but through the Power of the Scriptures we can be blessed with the absolute truth that comes from heaven.  Good thing to remember the next time someone is deliberately teaching falsehood and YOU are the one to confront them.  Who knows- You might even get your opponent to listen to God!!!  You might say - they might "turn around"!  No, wait- that is the Hokey Pokey, but- that's what its all about!!!!