Like seems to attract like. Dare to be different and you will be resented, perhaps even attacked. As a child my parents used to order baby chickens from a hatchery and they arrived at our farm with the mail. In order to keep them from piling up and suffocating one another, they arrived in special boxes, separated into sections like an egg box. Occasionally there would be one chick that was black and that one would require very special care as the others would peck it to death. Through no fault of its own, it was just different.
Going far back in history, Noah and his family were different, which probably says much about the fact that though he dared build a boat far from water, and did not join the rest of the world in their pagan worship, only his sons and their wives, believed his preaching over the hundred years it took him to build the ark. They were different.
God brought the construction of the Tower of Babel to an instant stop by confounding their language and changing their hereditary appearance into the many different peoples we see in the world today.
Joseph was so different from his brothers that they did not recognize this “Egyptian” they dealt with in Egypt. God used this difference as He prepared a chosen people for the advent of the Messiah.
At the same time, he was also preparing a nation that would provide a master language and transportation. The Romans introduced Greek as the official language and a network of military roads over which the Gospel would be spread throughout their Empire.
At Pentecost, He provided through the Holy Spirit, instant translations and interpreters to preach the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. When the people heard and cried out, “What must we do,” Peter told them how to be cleansed of their sins so the Lord could add them to His church. The Apostles would use that common language, and the trade routes that the Romans had built, to carry the message of salvation to the limits of the empire. God is still doing the same today with the web, television and even the English language. The English formed an empire and language links that span the world. In Africa we see new nations being formed, and, one of their official languages is often English. At the same time it is the goal that the Bible will be translated in all the languages of the world in the next fifty years.
Acts 2:1-12
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place,
If a church was not founded, fully developed, as the Lord wanted it, on that first Pentecost, it can not be His church.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
This was not a wind. It as the sound, as of a mighty wind. The sound was like wind. Wind is destructive, this was not.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
The physical manifestation was “like as of fire”. God’s presence is often depicted as like a fire. Remember Moses’ burning bush, that was not destroyed, the Pillar of fire that led the Children of Israel across the wilderness..
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This is the most wonderful of all the manifestations. This message is for all the world.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
We find this in every major City of the world today.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
While the speaker preached in his own language, the hearing all who heard, do so in their own dialect and language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all of them which speak Galileans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
The miracle was in the hearing. I have preached sermons being heard in three languages. The thrill is when you can speak as you would in only your own, but you see the response in the listeners.
9 Parthians, and Medes,and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
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READ YOUR BIBLE THROUGH AGAIN THIS YEAR
JUNE
9th Sunday - 2 Samuel 16, 17, Acts 7:37-60 Proverbs 14:19-25
10th Monday - 2 Samuel 18, Acts 8:1-24, Psalm 71:19-24
11th Tuesday - 2 Samuel 19, Acts 8:25-40, Psalm 72
12th Wednesday - 2 Samuel 20, 21, Acts 9:1-22, Psalm 73:1-14
13th Thursday - 2 Samuel 22, Acts 9:23-43, Proverbs 14:26-35
14th Friday - 2 Samuel 23, 24, Acts 10:1-18, Psalm 73:15-28
15th Saturday - 1 Kings 1, Acts 10:19-48, Psalm 74:1-9
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FOR LINKS TO OUR CHRISTIAN BLOGS
Search and follow the links.
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MEMORY VERSE
“The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” - Acts 2:47b
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Asked once why so many Christians seem much less than perfect, C.S.Lewis replied, “You should have seen them before they became Christians.”
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We were called to be witnesses, not lawyers.
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