So What…
…does that mean for my family?
Where in the Word?
Acts 11 Not Only for Jews
Spotlight Verse:
Acts
“When they heard this, they had no further
objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles
repentance unto life.’”
…can we pray
for? Thank you, God, that You are the power behind the testimony we have. Let’s pray that we will be
more and more open to seeing opportunities to share how we have experienced
God with others. …can we talk
about? Grab
a toy from your child’s closet. What
would it take to advertise that toy so that others would be compelled to
buy it? See if you or your children
can pretend to be salesmen, the task being to convince you to buy that toy. They may come up with a lot of things to
say about the toy, but how do you know those things are true? They may say the toy is fun or
durable but those things could probably be argued. The biggest thing that would show the
reliability of the toy is for them to actually demonstrate what the
toy can do! Possibly they could tell
specific fun times they have had with the toy; or
they could convince you
of its indestructibility by telling
how they threw it down the stairs, and it still didn‘t break! Those types of things are pretty
convincing, and very hard to argue with.
Nothing beats personal experience! Referring
back to last week, Peter has been confronted with the fact that he has been
going by the wrong “instruction manual“ for
leading the early church. God
appeared to him in a vision and he now realizes that the gospel is for
everyone, not just the Jews. But
there is a large group of believers who are still critical of Peter’s
entering the house and dining with an “unclean” (Gentile) man. So what is Peter’s argument to convince
them of this new course he is on?
Well, his argument is not really an argument at all. He does something similar to what Stephen
did before the Sanhedrin. He doesn’t
defend his own actions. He dives
right in to what he knows about God and how he has experienced God in his
life, specifically, the vision and circumstances surrounding it. He didn’t have to try to sell these
believers on a new marketing scheme that he had personally concocted. He
didn’t respond to them, wringing his hands in worry with sweat dripping off
his brow in hopes that they would buy what he was telling them. He spoke the truth about God and his
encounters with Him, and it was powerful enough to silence his critics. I
bet that’s what our witness is really supposed to be like. It’s not our job to convince anyone of
God’s goodness or of His salvation.
It’s our job to share with others what we know and have experienced
with Him. Those are things no one
can argue with. They may not accept
it for themselves, but they can’t argue.
It is God who moves in the hearts of the ones listening that will
determine their response. Let’s think of ourselves more as spokesmen
rather than salesmen. We’ll
probably be a lot more compelling that way! …do we need? A toy from
your child’s closet Someone willing
to be a salesperson for the toy