Catching up with the Spirit

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Catching up with the Spirit

According to the Scriptures, Jesus came into our world to bring people together.  He came to break down the barriers of prejudice which separated people into competing and warring factions.

He came to fulfill the promise of God to Abraham that He would 'bless all the nations of the world through him." In order words, the Church is to be a model of God's healing, reconciling, and unifying power.

We have a record of how Jesus overcame the most entrenched division in the ancient world - the division between Jews and Gentiles.  The two groups hated one another.

God is working on Simon Peter's heart to prepare him for his meeting with Cornelius.  Peter falls into a trance and saw com creatures carrying a cloth sheet with non-kosher food on it. He hears a voice telling him three times to go ahead and eat and never call unclean what God has called clean.

But... this vision isn't about food, it's about people.

1. Peter acknowledge the fact that God is not prejudiced
2. God sent his Son into the world on a mission of peace - to unite all the nations of the world
3. Through Jesus' death on the cross, God offers forgiveness of sins to all those who believe

There is no reason for you to keep standing on the outside looking in.

Believing Gentiles were to be admitted into the church without exception. And, as citizens of this New Kingdom, their primary allegiance would be to him.

To Jesus!