We have all recently returned from the Agapé Summer Staff Conference.
During our time there we studied Acts and the rise of the early church. What was it that the apostles did to help the spread of the gospel? What startegies did they use? How was their preaching part of this - how did they speak to different types of people the same message but in ways which they would understand?
I attempted to answer these questions during our times of study for our assignments. It is clear that God used the apostles mightly in the growth of the church, however, Acts is more about the work of Jesus and His Spirit, which worked through the believers, anbd now works through us, to change the world arouind them. All the believers had to do was to follow what the Spirit was doing, and not get in the way. Peter for example, was led by God to teach Cornelius and his household about Jesus. However, he was reistant at first, identifying the areas of his heart which did not want to touch un-clean food; thus not wishing to visit un-clean gentiles. This was wrong, and a misrepresentation of what the law was there for, and could have hindered the spread of the gospel. However, although God would have found someone else to do His work, Peter was obedient and his heart was changed so that he could reach many gentile (non-Jewish) believers.
In our lives, what are the boundries of ritual or just plain misunderstanding of God's plan for the gospel? How can I be a part of what God is doing, and rejoice at what He does without me, as well as be surprised with who he does it through?
Let's pray that this year at the Universities, God does some amazing things through us, but also many things around and without us.
