Red and yellow, black and white

Monday, April 22, 2024

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Red and yellow, black and white

The Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.

We’re no longer alone at the top. And my dream made that as clear as clear can be. Get up and eat, the angel said. Slaughter the animals. I know they were unclean yesterday, but no longer?

Certainly I will not eat, sir, because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.

I was faced with a dilemma. Do I read the scriptures through my theology, or do I develop my theology from what I read in scripture? Those results are not always the same.

Then the angel said, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”

The Lord knows I am a stubborn case, and my head is tough like an oak board. I did not listen at first. This must be a demon, I thought. Leave me alone!

But this happened three times, and then everything in the vision was drawn up again into the sky. Three men appeared at our house, and the Spirit told me to accompany them without questions.

It sounds like a mystery, and it felt like a mystery. Were these the good guys or the bad guys? Where were they taking me? My friends were nowhere to be found. I was alone with these strangers. Won’t you make this a little more clear, Abba? Can I call you Abba? Are you the Father of everyone, or just my race, the Jews? What will people think!

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon the gentiles, as it had upon us at the beginning, when Jesus said to us, “You will be baptized by the Holy Spirit,” and we were.

I know these last weeks have been the happiest of my life, after the moment of being chosen by Jesus. Now these people who are not from our tribe are crying out themselves for this happiness.

If God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?

Who am I to hinder God? Who am I to speak the Gospel into the lives of others? God never answers the rhetorical questions. Jesus asks questions of his own. “What is your name?” Simon. “Now your name is Peter. And upon this rock (Peter means “rock”) I will build my church.

Jesus’ church. What is church? I had never heard the word, but now I understand. Jesus is the bridegroom, and this church is the bride. This new word, this “CHURCH,” will be the foundation of the new world, the kingdom of heaven into which Jesus leads us.

When the Apostles heard this, they stopped their objections and began to glorify God. And they said in wonder and near-disbelief, “God has granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles, too!”

They are precious in his sight. We are all members of the people of God. I know bringing us all together won’t be easy. God has his work cut out for him, not just with stubborn old Peter but with all these folks. I hope his angels are on top of their game. We’ll need a few more visions before we’re through.

Athirst is my soul for the living God.

 (Acts 11, Psalm 42, John 10)

(posted at www.davesandel.net)

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