When the Gentiles Heard.

The Church of Christ, and our God, is a membership of love, trust, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. When the members love one another, there is a spirit of unity. Without a vision and a unity among the brethren there is lacking a power to ask, and also have prayers answered. As it is written,”Without a vision My people perish.” Unity; In Christian theology, oneness of sentiment, affection or behavior. “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Unity of faith, is an equal belief of the same truths of God, and possession of the grace of faith in like form and degree.

Unity of spirit, is the oneness which subsists between Christ and his saints, by which the same spirit dwells in both, and both have the same disposition and aims; and it is the oneness of Christians among themselves, united under the same head, having the same spirit dwelling in them, and possessing the same graces, faith, love, hope, &c. When we have an aught(problem, difference.) between two brothers, we are to come together, and reason one with another. If we have sinned against a brother, they will forgive us, before we even ask, this so we can always remain in unity. Discord among the Church is becoming common in todays world.

We see differences of interpretation of scripture, and differences, on the very purpose of the Church direction. But we must all remember that it is the people that make up the body of Christ and therefore we must come to a quick understanding of each others needs and points. “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” We come to the house of God for only one purpose, that is to glorify God threw His Son Jesus, and to spread the word of God to those that are lost within the congregation. If there is another purpose besides these, we need to reevaluate our reasons for attending.

Do you have special friends that you always set with, go to for answers? Next time try to sit with someone else, get to know someone new each time you are in attendance, make everyone within the church just as special, and watch the congregation start to come together in unity. There should be no loneliness within the church. Loneliness is a terrible thing to go threw. Many people will feel out of place, or unwelcome. Have I seen this before? Yes. My wife and I, entered a Church and we saw, congregations within the congregations, it was an uneasy feeling. Remember that we are all the same in the eyes of God, and Jesus commanded that we Love one another as He loves the Church. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” No matter who we are, rich or poor, famous or unknown, if we are Christians, we are equal and not separate. We are a body of believers, a body of the faithful, a body of one. “If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” Is the body of Christ divided, broken, in different wills? No, we are the congregation of the First Bord, Christ is not divided, He is not untouchable, He is the Church head and we are the lively stones upon which He builds a family. Remember; “ Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:” In these troublesome times, the members of the body of Christ must come together as one, to help one another, feel for one another, carry the burdens of the week, support the down hearted, and carry the love of Christ to the lost. With the unity within the body, many things are possible, but when you are separated from the body, your prayers may be hindered by a difference against another member, or the entire church body. If we cannot love one another, how can we expect someone who is lost to believe our testimony of Christ. If we are divided how shall the church survive?

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.” “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” Will we be the generation that falls away, or shall we become as Christ intended?

If we forgive all who transgress against us, hurt us, spitefully use us, will our prayers be answered? Are we to be a generation of backsliders, forgetting our mission in life, will we be of those that scoff at every mention of a judgment, a God or a Christ? Or will we be a generation of Faith, Love, Hope,Understanding, Forgivers, and servants to all? Ars.

Act 13:44- 49 Psa 133. 1Co 12:22 1Co 12:12- 18 2Th 2:3 Webster,TSK,Smith