I have tried to sit down to post 2-3 blogs lately, but motherhood has not permitted... but here's what is left in my brain of them.

Message on Matt 18:15-20 - 1/15/06
Well, yesterdays message at Kaleo pretty much stuck it to me.
The message itself (definitely worth downloading and listening to) was about discipline within the church. And we cross-referenced Deuteronomy 19:15-19, which is the old testament law about having the testimony of 2-3 brothers to convict someone of an offense. I'm not going to go into this whole thing because Bill did a SUPERB job. Just listen to it. It helped me understand where this has gone wrong before.

Okay, but on my conviction... it wasn't really related to the topic. At this point, there is no one I feel like I need to confront for any sin I am witnessing in their life. But one thing Bill said really got me. He was talking about the sins that we might witness in others... not just the obvious ones, but even the sin of unbelief.
And that is where he got me. I realized that was the sin I was wallowing in for the past 3 weeks. I have had a whole bunch of uncontrollable situations going on. And they have been driving me to tears daily. And I have been cussing about them. And most of all, I have been DOUBTING that God was going to be in control of them.
It was actually a relief to figure it out. And be able to repent of it and start over in faith.

But it also gave me a different perspective of church discipline. The Matt 18:15-20 text is talking about confronting a brother in private over a sin, then following the appropriate steps if they do not respond. And one of Bill's central points was that we have to TALK to the person (not email them, write them, etc.). And when you imagine confronting someone, that doesn't sound fun.
But sitting in that seat and feeling so convicted made me realize I WANTED SOMEONE TO TELL IT TO ME STRAIGHT. All week last week, I was trying to make clear to someone that I was screwing it up and I needed help pinpointing the problem. What would have felt like confrontation or hard talk to them WOULD HAVE BEEN A RELIEF TO ME.

I think that should be a comfort. When the Holy Spirit is guiding us, we should not hesitate in fear of how the prompting from Him will be received. He is preparing BOTH sides for his intervention.
And this can really carry over to sharing the Lord with an unbeliever. When we don't feel like we know all the "right" arguments for Christianity, we may hesitate. But the Holy Spirit will prompt us with just the information that person needs, and build our reliance on Him instead of ourself or our knowledge.