Rejecting the Gospel

Call in the New Testament Jesus and His Calls in Ministry Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5)    Priscilla: Called to Minister Acts 18:4-11 New International Version 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6. Still, when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. For Reflection How could you blame the Jews?  The Jewish faith had been the spiritual center of their lives and the foundations of their culture, society, economy, and government. As it was then practiced in all of its forms, Judaism was supported by centuries of identity-forming history.  Asking Jews to accept a change of such monumental proportion frightened them. It is too easy to assert that their reluctance resulted from the powerful trying to retain their power and privileges. To be sure, some were motivated to retain rights but others were convinced that God would punish them for their willful disruption of the time-honored and divinely endorsed practices of worship and obedience. Paul decided that when resistance to the Gospel became violent, further efforts to convert the opposition would do more damage than good to God's people. A better plan was to preach to those who were ready to listen. This decision was not so much an acceptance of defeat, but instead a way of spreading the Good News to those whose acceptance and transformation would show the veracity of God's new covenant promised by Jerimiah. It was time to let God work God's plan for reconciliation. Pray Pray so that your witness to the resurrected Christ is a fair and honest representation of the Good News. Pray for humility in your reactions to criticism. Pray for courage to lift the aggression into God's hands. Forward to a friend