The Bridge

Acts 11: 1-4, 17-18

“1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step,...17 If then God gave them the same gift [the Holy Spirit] that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Peter’s decision to share the gospel with Gentiles, stay with them and share meals with them, came under fire from the Jewish Christians after Peter returned to Jerusalem.  But he was confident that what he saw and experienced was of God and in God’s will, so he calmly explained how after preaching the Gospel, the Gentiles repented and received the Holy Spirit, in the same way that Jewish Christians had.

Peter, at that moment, was the bridge between the old and the new.  He knew where God had been and where God was leading.  And the leaders listened, and praised God, and walked across the bridge into the new truth of God.

God is constantly revealing His truth to us.  

Let us always walk where God is leading.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)