Forthright Magazine http://www.forthright.net Straight to the Cross Got Twitter? Facebook? Yahoo? Google? Forthright Press is wired for you. http://forthrightpress.com/#SignUpFree COLUMN: HANDS-ON FAITH Let There Be No Doubt by Barry Newton Twice mentioned, that's all. Only two events are identified in Acts with the language "baptized with the Holy Spirit." The message God sent has left no doubt about the hues of skin color God desires in the pew and around the table. Prior to his ascension Jesus had foretold his apostles that in a few days they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:5) Then the day of Pentecost had come. Hearing a loud wind, crowds gathered around the house where the apostles had assembled to discover some uneducated Galilean men speaking in other languages! Peter explained that what they were witnessing was the result of God pouring out His Spirit. There should be no doubt. God was at work. God's community built on Christ would include Jews. Fast forward. Again we find Peter preaching and the Holy Spirit falling upon some individuals. Once again the recipients began to speak in foreign languages. Furthermore, Peter acknowledged the recipients had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 11:15-16) There could be no doubt. God was at work. But unlike the first occurrence, it was the preacher and the saved who would learn a lesson. Despite some Jewish Christian's initial astonishment and other’s later objections (Acts 10:45;11:2), there could be no doubt God’s community built on Christ would include all races. (Acts 11:18) First upon Jews and then upon Gentiles, the Spirit had descended. With God indicating his desire that there be no ethnic barriers preventing fellowship, Peter commanded Cornelius and those with him to be baptized with water. Thus began the expansion of the church among non-Jews. As non-Jews, do we take it for granted today that we can be part of God's people? Have we ever wondered whose idea a multi-ethnic church is? Let there be no doubt. In dramatic fashion, God has shown that he intends for those of us who do not share a Jewish heritage to belong to the one community he is building. -- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfhzvn COLUMN: REALITY CHECK Look at the Hypocrites! by Stan Mitchell "He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, 'Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him report to me, so that I too may go and worship him'"(Matthew 2:8). "All right," Jill thought, "I'll go to church today, but I won't like it!" Church was a drag! Then it hit her. She knew what to do! She would sit in church and watch all the hypocrites. Every person who came pretending to be holy and righteous, and she would take note. Anyone not paying attention, anyone whispering to their neighbor, everyone looking round at others instead of worshiping. Then she would name them all to her mom when she got home! Funny - now she couldn’t wait to go to church! This was going to be fun! Next morning she began her survey. Finding a good vantage point, she sat down and began to swivel her head this way and that. Who wasn’t singing? Who wasn’t listening? Who was bogus? She was stopped cold, however, when a little boy sitting near her turned to his mom and declared: "Mom, why is that girl not paying any attention?" He was pointing at her. Stunned, she realized that while watching others … she in turn was being watched, and had been found to be, well, a hypocrite. Not everyone that goes to church goes to worship. Herod declared his intention to come worship Jesus. We suspect he was being as candid as a politician on the hot seat. So why do you go to church? To spot a hypocrite? Beware. Someone much bigger than that little boy is watching. ---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/dzw35e You can help get the word out. Here's how: http://www.forthright.net/editorial/lend_a_hand.html