Christians need to be peacemakers, chapel speaker says

Riverside, Calif. (Feb. 22, 2018) –“As you advance in your professional careers, I pray that you will be peacemakers,” Dr. Marcus “Goodie” Goodloe told a chapel audience at California Baptist University on Feb. 22.

Goodloe is the teaching pastor at Parkcrest Church in Long Beach, California. He also travels throughout the U.S., speaking on issues such as culture and leadership.

“If you are committed to living out the teachings of scripture, you will have to learn to minister to people who don’t look or act like you do,” Goodloe said.

In today’s culture, there is a sentiment that winning an argument or debate is the aim of a conversation, Goodloe said.

“However, a person who interacts with Christians should not come away feeling that they are less than a person,” Goodloe said. “Christians need to guard our speech and conduct whether in person or on social media.”

As believers, we are accepted and loved by Jesus, Goodloe said.

“In our interactions with people, they should feel the same acceptance and love that Jesus has shown us,” Goodloe said. “Everyone should feel valued by the people who have come to know their value in Christ.”

Goodloe expounded on Ephesians 4:1-3 (NASB): “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

People are made in the image of God, Goodloe said.

“We dare not devalue people that God sent his Son to die for,” Goodloe said. “Worth and value are not determined by us. There are no second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom.”