Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Hello Pastor John,
I was sitting here and thinking about “us”, God’s family. I wanted to say hello to everyone; I love you all.
We finished the first five chapters of Acts this weekend. It was very good reading. When we got into the second chapter, and started reading about the disciples being born again, there was some discussion about the “tongues” that were being spoken when the Spirit fell on Peter and the others. The discussion was concerning whether these “tongues” were the many languages that men from the many nations who were present heard that day, or if those “tongues” were the “unknown tongue” that is always present when one is born of the Spirit. Or both. This discussion stirred up what God had done for me about 3 days earlier. So, as I am attempting to do now, I shared what happened:
I was getting ready for work, in the kitchen, and I heard the holy Ghost start preaching to me in my inner ear. “When God sent the Gentiles the holy Ghost, it came with irrefutable proof that the Gentiles had been adopted into the family of God, the kind of proof that convinced an unbelieving Jew. If a Gentile had started claiming to belong to God without the witness of the Spirit, he would have been laughed to scorn by the Jews, and rightfully so, and maybe even killed. It wasn’t like the Jewish nation was looking for a reason for the Gentiles to be grafted in with them. They were looking for every reason for it not to be so. It took something from God to make such a thing be. The testimony of a Gentile was worthless concerning Jehovah. It took proof from Heaven that a Gentile was clean. There has never been another Gospel sent to Earth, except the one that could convince an unbelieving Jew.”
I am doing a terrible job of repeating exactly what I was hearing. This went on for maybe 10 or 20 minutes that morning. I felt the floodgates opened up to me when this was happening. I felt like flipping across the kitchen floor. I know I jumped at least once.
Bro. John, I cannot imagine during that time in Acts, trying to convince a member of the Jewish nation that I belonged to “GOD” because I “accepted Jesus into my heart”. I don’t think they would have believed me. It took irrefutable proof that God did it. It made me reconsider what Paul said: “Tongues are a sign for the unbeliever.” I only considered the unbelievers to be sinners. But God’s own people had to be convinced of His mercy toward us Gentiles.
Thanks,
Jerry