April
Living OUT Loud in our Worship in our Work and in our Witness… What have you done to Live OUT Loud?

When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were graciously received by the whole church, including the apostles and leaders. They reported on their recent journey and how God had used them to open things up to outsiders….

“And God, who can’t be fooled by any pretense on our part but always knows a person’s thoughts, gave them the Holy Spirit exactly as he gave him to us. He treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed in him.”

Now that you’ve cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your life depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life.

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him – with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

Fellowship, connections and relationships with others are vital to the life of any person and particularly important to the members of the body of Christ. In Acts, you can see that the members of the early church had a strong fellowship amongst themselves however they struggled with how to welcome “outsiders”: Those who were not Jewish and converted to Christianity but the Gentiles, pagans and others who believed in Jesus Christ. The members of the early church struggled with how to welcome these individuals until Peter pointed out that God isn’t fooled by pretense. God treated the outsiders the same.

We live amongst such a diverse group of people. Sometimes it is easy to get lost in pretense, expectation, social norms and preconceived notions and prejudices. Instead we should be striving to be like God. Drop the pretenses and realize that God loves everyone no matter how low or high, rich or poor, educated or not; there is no such thing as being an outsider to God. Trust God “with laughter and singing” and welcome all to the fellowship.

Write it down and feel free to share your OUT Loud moment by dropping this page into the collection basket or going to www.StJohnsMCC.org and clicking on the virtual Living OUT Loud wall under Main Menu on the left. We will post these OUT Loud moments in the Friendship Hall and on line and want to hear from you every month!