I wanted to get off the pope Peter thread because I always feel a little guilty when I go off the subject on somebody else's thread. Snooky, in your last post,you said you wondered where the church began to separate from what God really wanted. I preached a series of messages on the book of Acts when I first began pastoring. About halfway through the series, it occured to me that the church was totally consumed with God's business for the first five chapters of the book. It is there that you see the church operating in full power, even though some of the leadership of the church was being persecuted. As a matter of fact, at one point, the bible says that the church enjoyed the favor of all people, Acts 2:47. But then you begin to see a difference after the fifth chapter. At the beginning of the sixth chapter, the Grecian Jews began to complain about their widows not receiving the same portion of food as the Hebraic Jews. That was the beginning, IMO, of the church running off track, or otherwise becomming consumed with the cares of life. If you read onpast that time, things in the church of Jerusalem were never the same again. Now, having said that, do I believe there are no good or Godly churches? Of course not! It's just that we get in the way sometimes but I know God understands that we are just flesh and I think He still canaccomplish His will through each of us, if we are open to His Spirit. As for the second part of your post about how God chose certain individules to be His disciples. I have wondered about that same thing many times myself, especially in relationship to Peter. You see Peter in the Gospels as kind of a loose cannon, saying and doing the wrong things at the wrong times. Yet Jesus really seemed to trust him as he, Peter, was there, with Christ atmost important events. Yet after the day of Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit,Peter became "the man," especially in the young church of Jerusalem. What did Jesus see in any of the original 12 that He chose, only He knows the answer to that. It is obviously something none of us can see from what information we have. I am glad that God looks on the heart and not on the outward appearence, to know what each of our potential is in His Kingdom. As for Paul becoming the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul obviously didn't realize it but God was preparing him, his whole life,for a ministry that he, Paul, didn't evenknow existed. It's like the Word says; "God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." In other words, God's will is accomplished even when we don't see it with our natural eyes. In Pauls case, He was absolutely the perfect choice for the mission God wanted accomplished. He was well versed in "the law", he was very intelligent, he had to be because he was responsible for taking the Gospel to the Greeks and Romans, and they were not pushovers intelectually. Well that's it. I know some of this my opinion, but having the advantage of hind-sight, it makes alot of sense to me. I will be anxious to hear your thoughts.
Blessings.....Pastorjim
__________________
Mere religion is just hanging around the cross.......True Christianity is getting on the cross.
Paul indeed had all the qualities you mention. But I think it should be emphasized also that, unlike the other Apostles, Paul was fluent in Greek and Latin, essential if you were going to be the missionalry to the gentiles.
__________________
Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
Pastor, I think your skills of observation will pass the test. I'm sure you noticed this, but I will mention it for the sake of others who may have only read because it was their duty, (works) and not to learn about Gods work.
There wasn't any division and confusion in the first 5 chapters of Acts due to a strange practice of continuing in the Apostles doctrine. We are told today to avoid preaching doctrine as it is now view as the root of division, and doctrinal preaching is with the love of God. I find that rather strange.
I also find it strange that the church of the first 5 chapters is often refered to as a Jewish church, but I read about every nation being represented, along with strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes.
I think Peter was better pictured as a little overzealous, rather than a "loose Cannon", but he was a little different. I think a true christian today, is just a little different also.
I see a growing division after the 5th chapter, Not a falling away by the church, but rather strenghening of satans forces which oppose the true church. Man-made rituals and ceremonies were instituted and made manditory in an effort to derail the truth. This trend continues to this day and all who refuse the modern church and hold in any measure, the old paths is labeled as a cult.
Every church has some truth, but none are perfect, because they are made up of mortal men such as we are. Even the worst of us have some measure of goodness, though it may seen microscopic, yet its there.
Will there be those that are saved in every church? God only knows, but I personally have come to think there likely will be, based upon the measure of the gift of grace given them.
What do you see, if anything in the fact that the book of Acts is left open, without a closing statement. It is my contention that the book of Acts is still ongoing as we speak.
Of all the things I know how to do, pasting quotes from previous posts is not among them. I will attempt to answer your posts one at a time by scrolling back and forth. So if I miss something, I am not ignoing it, I am just a bit illiterate. First I refer to the church of Jerusalem as that for simplicity sake,because that is where it was located. As far as doctrinal preaching goes, whether any of us pastors admit it or not, we all, at times, preach a doctrine, or at the very least, preach with a doctrine in mind, if you know what I mean. Where we land in trouble with doctrine is thinking any man-made doctrine is the absolute truth or that our doctrine isfool-proof. Having said that, I think a church needs a doctrine and I find the concept of doctrines scriptural, seeIITim. 3:16 I will stand by my statement of Peter being a loose cannon in the Gospels.And as a matter of fact, I will go as far as to say that IMO, Peter had his own agenda. I say this because of the conditions that existed in Israel at the time of Jesus, with the Romans controling the country. Peter, like many of the religious leaders of the day, mistakenly thought that any messiah would set up an eathly kingdom. Peter obviously thought that Jesus was the Messiah and I think he, at times, was motivated by wanting to have a certain position in any administration. I think the evidence of this type of thinkingis againmanifested with James and John when they asked Jesus to sit at His right and left hand in His kingdom. The change in the church, after the fifth chapter of Acts is, IMO, just a natural chain of events that happens with any organization when people become involved. Different personalities and cultures are blended and eventually people begin to want to advance their own agendas and ways of doing things. As for the strenghening of satans forces against the church to derail the truth, this may be true, but again, God is using this attack to further His Kingdom. This evidenced in the eighth chapter when the bible says that the church was scattered but they preached the gospel wherever they went. And again in the eleventh chapter where those who had been scattered went even further. I know that it was not God's plan for those from the first church to remain in Jerusalem. The church was in it's infancy at that time and it had to spread beyond that area. Had there not been persecution, the people of that first church would have just remained where they were at. Yes, there will be people from every denomination represented in Heaven. Because regardless of the doctrine being preached in their particular church, there are always going to be those that have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. I completely agree wth your last thought on the book of Acts. It is still being written!
Blessings.....Pastorjim
__________________
Mere religion is just hanging around the cross.......True Christianity is getting on the cross.
Pastor; I wish we could spend some time just fellowshipping and discussing scriptures. I don't think we have many problems that we couldn't overcome. I can relate to your writing style, simple, plain, easy to understand, and you don't give me much to counter.
I will try to add something later asIhave three studies to teach today. May be I will post some of my notes from the ministers class and get some feed back from you on them.
Paul and the other apostles
