Good morning to all on this beautiful Sunday morning in November. My beloved is in Jamaica until tomorrow and I am in Hawkinsville today. So pray for our traveling mercies. We had a great time in Jamaica. I mostly slept which was much needed. Burning the candles on both ends never works for me. My immunity goes down and my body gets sick which is always unusual for me. But all is well. I am so looking forward to having part of our family for Thanksgiving. Also looking forward to Mackenzie's 16th birthday on November 30th. Can't believe that 16 years have flown by since the birth of this exceptional human being.
I am continuing my journey in Acts 2 verses 42-47 " They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.
I could have finished these last 6 verses last week however I thought they were so powerful that they deserved a blog entry all to themselves. This first "Church" at Pentecost is what I think God had in mind for all Christians. Not what we see today where religion has become more important that the Gospel. I pity all the "new day" Sadducee's who put the rituals of religion before the pure Gospel of Christ. As a fellowship of believers we are to come together in a common bond of absolute thankfulness that God saved us while WE WERE YET SINNERS! We are to share our resources with one another for the good of believers and unbelievers; always in the vain of spreading the Gospel to the dying world. I see so many churches promoting their version of the Gospel. There is only one version and that is the Gospel of Christ. I once went to a church who said I had to be baptized into their denomination to be saved. Last time I went to that church and that's when I declared myself to be a non-denominational Bible believing Christian. I am sure there are Catholic Christians, but I don't say prayers to anyone except through Jesus the Christ. The Pope holds no power and he is a man that will die and be judged just like you and me. So goes Billy Graham and other famous preachers and evangelist. I don't speak in tongues other than some medical Spanish and neither do I believe that all these tongue speaking folk are Christians or spiritually led. The only speaking of tongues that the Bible teaches happened in the upper room where actual foreign languages were spoken and at the Tower of Babel where God purposefully created a language to confuse everyone and prevent communication from happening. So anyone telling you that you have to "speak" in tongues to be saved probably is not saved themselves.
I have found in my 50 years of being a Christian that the only thing you need is God through Christ and the good old BIBLE. If you have Christ in you and do not love or forgive your brother or sister then the truth is not in you. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. To serve Him is to love You. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. Now may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Stephanie
No comments:
Post a Comment