"The First church Crisis" Acts 14:21-15:41 & 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 - (October 13, 2019 - 18 Sunday in Pentecost)

Grace Alone Online

Continuing our series on Re-Discovering God's Mission, we meet the first challenge that the Apostle's encountered. A challenge between tradition (or personal preference as it is today) and Biblical Truth (God's Word and command). When Jesus told the disciples to Go and Make Disciples, there was no game plan. eh did not provide them with a manual. And there was a good reason for it. Whereas a game-plan may have provided a "how to do it..." as a fool-proof method, our Lord is not a God of coercion and forcefulness. He want a relationship with his creation. A coercion would demand that people meet God where HE is at...as something that they must to in order to be saved. God, however, created us beautifully IN HIS IMAGE; meaning, to have a relationship, to fellowship, to commune. And think with the diversity of language, culture, and art, how the world groups and communes in fellowships with other in that group. God want to be a part of that group with His message of Christ. Humans are made for fellowship and ultimately, fellowship with God. Christ, therefore, must speak to and be a part of culture in order to bring hope, salvation, love and compassion, to a specific people because that's how people operate; not effectively but affectively. In order to do this, the Apostle's needed to discern between what was personal preference or a cultural tradition and the biblical truth of GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES. Would their traditions stand in the way of someone who is not from their tradition? Would their language, customs, religious traditions? What were they to do so that Christ became real for those who were not Jewish? Find out....