Acts 14
(We are with our friend Truman today in Waspam on the Rio Coco in Nicaragua)
While
they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He
had been that way from birth, so he had never walked. He was listening as Paul
preached, and Paul noticed him and realized he had faith to be healed. So Paul
called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and
started walking.
When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they
shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human bodies!” They
decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul, because he was the
chief speaker, was Hermes. The temple of
Zeus was located on the outskirts of the city. The priest of the temple and the
crowd brought oxen and wreaths of flowers, and they prepared to sacrifice to
the apostles at the city gates. Acts 14:8-13
There is always the chance that your message may get
confused with the local religions. This
is why God always commanded His People to be distinct:
For
I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves
therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. Lev
11:44
Holy is usually translated as “set
apart”. The Hebrew word is qadowsh
which ahs the meaning pertaining to being
unique and pure in the sense of superior moral qualities and possessing certain
essential divine qualities in contrast with what is human.
Holiness is a positive active
trait. It is displayed more in what we
do than in what we don’t do.
“Do not trim off the
hair on your temples or clip the edges of your beards.
“Never cut your
bodies in mourning for the dead or mark your skin with tattoos, for I am the Lord.
Lev
19:27-28
These are prohibitions against imitating
the practices of unbelievers.
Christians today may consider styles
and fashions morally neutral, but this isn’t always the case. While Christians
shouldn’t look like they came from “out of this world,” they certainly ought
not to imitate the world.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this
world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you
think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good
and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
Romans
12:2
Principle:
If you live your life according to God’s moral principles, and displaying His divine qualities, He will use you to bring many into His Family
We will continue with Part 9
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