Do we oppose?
Good morning brothers and sisters. What a wonderful blessed day it is! I am blessed as my feet hit the ground and I was able to get up. Yesterday I went to church and what a message it was. Thank you brother for bringing such a wonderful message from the Lord. But it did have me looking around. Do we oppose some people but accept others? Do we say all are welcomed and mean it? If they are loved and wanted by Jesus Christ then shouldn't we want them and love them. But in Acts I see a different tune and I wonder are we any different today? Paul and Barnabas are preaching. Well instead of me telling you let's just look at it. Yes this scripture has been used before to show that Gentiles were part of God's plan all along. But I want to look at something different. See how when you grow God brings forth something new. Acts 12:42-46. 42- So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now the Gentiles only hearing part wanted more. That is the way that it should be. 43- Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Now the Jews were ok with Paul and Barnabas speaking the word of God. It says they even persuaded them to stay and speak more. They believed what they had to say. 44- On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. What a sight that must have been! I would love to see a whole city come together for the purpose of hearing God's word. 45- But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Now wait a minute just a Sabbath ago they could not wait for Paul to speak again. The only reason now was because of who they thought was not worthy to hear the word of God. They opposed them. Wow it didn't take long. All because who they thought were unworthy to hear God's word, so they decided to reject it. Hmm, I think this is beginning to sound somewhat familiar. 46- Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; BUT since YOU reject it, and JUDGE YOURSELVES unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Hold up, we need to look at the words that I emphasized. They rejected, they judged themselves unworthy. If we do not accept everyone to the House of God, then we are exactly the same. We can not judge for ourselves who is worthy and who is not. Because here is the cold hard truth- NONE of us are worthy. God loves mankind. We should accept people because God loves them too. And when Jesus gets a hold of them, they will be changed just like we were. Are we like the Jews? Have a blessed day! Rise up child of God, rise up!