Peter continued our series on the book of Acts, looking at God making us all one new man.
Acts 10
No them and us in the church
All are welcome
All can receive the Holy Spirit
All can be baptised
Peter hadn't got this, despite Pentecost, so God had to show him.
‘The church was not simply a union or club made up of Jews and Gentiles who were willing to ‘bury the hatchet’, it was a new creation!’ John Kpikpi
None of us was created in the image of baboons (Gen. 1:27). John Kpipki
Phil Hardy Whatever you think of yourself and what you perceive others may think of you and you may feel weaker than others but you are indispensable. What you have to contribute is necessary and required for the whole body to function CitP 28/9/14
Joshua Harris The heavenly beings look down at the church, and they are an amazing family. The power of the gospel is not only changing individuals, but is also creating a whole new kind of humanity. In the midst of a strife torn world, a world divided by race gender class and political ideologies, the church is a city on a hill, where people who once hated God and each other become God's children and members of one family. This family expresses itself in practical, yet radical ways. p53 Stop dating the church
Priesthood of all believers
One man in Christ
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Ephesians 2:10-22
Galatians 3:26-29
So what?
Spectacular church
We are all Priests
We are all ambassadors
We are all equally loved
We are all spectacularly saved
We need to understand this in our hearts and heads
Revelation 7:9-10
Questions for groups
1) In church life have you felt less equal than everyone else? Does this teaching change things for you? Does this liberate you?
2) At Catalyst in 2015 Andy McCulloch said “Christianity demands that the strong change, not the weak. Is your church oriented towards the strong, or to the weak?”
3) One of the people responding to the church building planning permission said “Whilst not all people using food banks, clothes banks and drop in cafes are undesirables, some are, and we don't want them hanging about and loitering near our residences. I'm also sure some of these people don't need these facilities of food and clothes, and just use it because it's there and it's free.” How do we feel about that, and how does church need to respond to this situation?
