Pastor talked about how in the book of Acts there is this little letter to the Antioch church:

Acts 15

The apostles and elders, your brothers, are writing this letter.

   We are sending it to the non-Jewish believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.

   Greetings.

²⁴ We have heard that some of our people came to

you and caused trouble. You were upset by what they said. But we had given them no authority to go. ²⁵ So we all agreed to send our dear friends Barnabas and Paul to you. We chose some others to go with them. ²⁶ Barnabas and Paul have put their lives in danger for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ So we are sending Judas and Silas with them. What they say will agree with this letter. ²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to give you a load that is too heavy. So here are a few basic rules. ²⁹ Don’t eat food that has been offered to statues of gods. Don’t drink blood. Don’t eat the meat of animals that have been choked to death. And don’t commit sexual sins. You will do well to keep away from these things.

   Farewell.

This little letter tells us that God gave to this particular church certain things to stop doing… a correction

and then Pastor took us to Galatians where another letter was given to another church with a list of STOP IT’s!

Galatians 5

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that  you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So why did this group of people get a LONG list and the other the short….everyone should be treated the same right??

NO!  ( yes we are all equal and God is not partial ) but God does not do cookie cutter Christianity.

GOD DOES INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIP!

God deals with us according to knowledge of who we are, where we have been, how we have grown up, what our culture is like

It makes no sense to deal with all of us the same…

That sounds like the LAW…

don’t do this and this and this and this….

and all those don’ts start to corral us all in a pile.

BUT GRACE says DO THIS…..

Pastor said

“ Focus on the Do’s and the Don’ts take care of themselves.”

This is why you can’t be HOLY GHOST JR. telling every one what they can and cant do….only God knows the lesson plan for each person. To get them to God’s Best for their lives.

It reminds me of that quote that says

“Don’t compare yourself to others you have

no idea what their journey is all about.”

BUT GOD DOES!

So choose to love and be kind!

You never know what Grace can do in another’s life!

Or maybe you do …by the way GOD gave it to you!

Do Likewise!

Be blessed friends,

STARLA

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