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Originally Posted by HaShaliach

My dear friends -

It is not how one looks, speaks or even how we act that will make us relevant to anyone "in the world". As pointed out earlier, it will be how we engage these individuals - meeting them where "they are at" and ministering to their needs - right now..

What will attract the attention of those around us - to want to examine us closer - is not our "holy dress", but the fruit of the Spirit. What will attract folks is not our ability to recite Oneness doctrine or even Acts 2:38, it will be the power of our testimony and the witness of our transformed lives.

Or,

We can stay out of the sinners house, like Jesus did. We can stay away from those believe in the same God, but not as we do, just like Peter did. We can keep ourselves separated from those who do not believe in our God at all, like Paul did. We can keep adding to our list of religious laws, like Apostles did. Yes, let's pray that God will send those sinners into the "House of God", so we will not have to go out to the highways and byways and compel anyone to come in.

Oops! Perhaps we need to make some minor adjustments (corrections) to the above statements.

Why would anyone want what we have, when we look and act like we are in worse shape than they are? We love to use David as an example of expressing our joy before the Lord and to justify our worship behavior in church. Well, friends and neighbors, David did not do a wild dance in church (Temple) - he did it in public and in front of the ladies! Now, where are our public expressions of joy before the Lord? Where are our smiles and warm greetings? Where are our helping hands and expressions of compassion? Where are our ministries to the lost and dieing with food, shelter, clothings, medical support, transportation, etc. and yes, don't forget fellowship and the sharing of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven?

It was for these folks that Jesus died. Can we not put up with a little stink of cigarette smoke, stale liquor, and their lousy music? After all, "such were some of you."

Ouch! Make that, "such were some of us!"

Awesome post... as always! We spend too much time and money building up our own kingdoms that we don't have anything left for building up God's kingdom! God's kingdom does not have elaborate multi-million dollar worship centers or learning campuses. God's kingdom is in you and me! We should be spending more money on outreach than we do on our building rent/mortgage! Instead of finding ways to make our "churches" comfortable and luxurious, we should be finding ways to give more to those who need it, like the single mother who had her heat shut off because she couldn't pay the bill, or the homeless family living in their car because their home was foreclosed and their credit is so bad they can't get an apartment.

IMO, seven of the most beautiful words in the Bible are "And such were some of you, but!" The problem is that we so often forget about the BUT! Everyone saved by grace has a BUT! We pat ourselves on the back for how victorious we are, glorying in our Apostolic heritage and how many generations our family has been "in the truth", and forget those who are waiting for us to take the victory back to them.

Can we not put up with a little stink of cigarette smoke, stale liquor, and their lousy music?

Let's face it! If you're going to reach into the fire, you'll probably get burned a little. Should that prevent us from reaching, though?