The Pure Gospel

Addition to...

Here we are hearing some of the accounts about evangelism among the Gentiles;

Remember the Gentiles represent you and I, non-Jewish people;

In Acts 14: 27 we read how God was moving among the Gentiles, salvation was shared and accepted;

This is because of the purity of the gospel which reveals the purity of God’s love;

Yet notice that even from the beginning people felt something had to be added in order to get God’s approval;

During this time it was circumcision, but have we added today;

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament Chapter 15

Whenever God’s work is progressing, Satan begins to oppose it, and he usually works through lies. The reason many churches are ineffective today is because they believe “religious lies” instead of God’s Word.

God does not need us to add levels or steps, if He wanted them He would have made them clear;

Paul and Barnabas challenged this concept and took the issue to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.

Excitement for...

As Paul and Barnabas returned they continued to share - with excitement - what God was doing in the lives of the Gentiles;

They did not let disruption become a distraction or challenges to become controlling;

How often does the church, yes including ours, allow things to through off target;

show video from Star Wars “stay on target”

That’s what the church needs to do “stay on target”;

The church, including ours need to excited about Jesus, about His love and about His mission;

In Star Wars there was a mission that had to completed, while completing this mission there were challenges - alright lasers canons and gun ships - coming from every direction, however the mission had to be completed.

Opposition to...

Opposition is going to raise it’s ugly little head when least expected;

However Jesus never fails;

I heard this in season 2 episode 1 of the Chosen, and I am paraphrasing, Jesus said - “in this world bones will break, sickness will come, but He will never stop loving”;

The question is how will we handle opposition;

Paul and Barnabas took the question of opposition to the people that could respond not to people without authority;

How are we going to handle opposition?