Faithbase

Hey faith-based family and friends, I just wanted to issue one encouragement not projecting this on to anyone But I just know that it's a temptation with the way our culture in the US Penetrates our minds and our thinking and that is this I was reading in Acts 15 and it's called the Council of Jerusalem It's where the early church the elders and the Apostles were Trying to figure out what to do with these Gentile Jesus followers. It was an unprecedented issue I know a lot of thoughts on this but the thing that I want to share was this one part is that these Jesus following Jews were saying these Gentiles must be circumcised and Paul and Barnabas were disagreeing and Peter was disagreeing and and James was disagreeing and I've mentioned that in a previous post But what I want to bring up is that when we read this there is a temptation to villainize these Pharisees What I'm saying is it is to make them out to be the enemy No, I'm not saying that we Compromise on the truth. We're saved only by grace We can't even allow one drop of works not even one drop of the sacraments. It's grace alone that we're saved Absolutely, we can't compromise on that But at the same time we have to be careful not to villainize those who believe differently Who are even against what we hold firmly to these Pharisees had given up everything first these Jewish Jesus followers You see they had these Centuries of distinctives that they practiced all their lives that marked them as different and when they profess Christ they lost all they were considered Dead to their family and friends and so in their minds as a product of their upbringing They were saying they must be circumcised. No, absolutely. We're only saved by grace Our truth has to come from the words of Jesus from the gospel from the New Testament from the scriptures as a whole New Testament all in all tips are really one long narrative of Jesus, but at the same time just an encouragement For us to be careful not to villainize those who have different views even opposing views you know the Lord convicted me one time because um This one person I was certain that she was lying to me and I was arguing with the Lord and I said Lord She's lying to me and she says she's a believer and she's lying and he said well She's a believer felt Lord said this in my spirit. Then. She's my daughter. She's a princess. I'm like, oh, wait a minute That's true. She's if she is a believer, she's a daughter of the Most High King I said, well, what if she's not a believer? She's lying to me Lord Fuck the Lord said well remember Luke 15 now, which is lost is precious and valuable the pressure remember the coin that was lost in Luke 15 or the Prodigal son and Luke 15 or the lamb that was lost. I'm like, oh wow So she's either a precious lost treasure or she is your beautiful precious Daughter and princess so just reminder is to keep our love turned on Let's cling fast to truth, but let's walk in grace and humility and love blessings to you today. I'm sure you do these things well Maybe it's more so a reminder from me. But um, I hope this is an encouragement. Have a great day