The Service.

You know, in my Christian life, I've seen in the scriptures... what has been revealed to me. But my eyes were not always completely open, sometimes I refuse to see what is there, sometimes I'm blind to what is there, and sometimes I only see what I'm led to see.

Tonight, as the family was reading our Daily Portion, I saw what I'd never seen before. It made me wonder if I've ever read this portion before.

Acts 13
13From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak.”
16Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said:

So what is it? What was it I saw for the first time? Paul went to talk to the Jews, on the Sabbath. There was reading of the Torah and the TaNaCH. And then there was Midrash. Why have I never seen this before? Well, because up until this year, this format was foreign to me. To me, Church never looked like this. Church was a Sunday thing, and Singing and Preaching.. and then leaving. Now that I'm at Lighthouse to the Communities, I recognize this format, as this is how our weekly service goes.

Sadly, the other thing I saw was the Paul - a Jew- went to talk to Jews in other areas, and was rejected, and it was the non-Jews who listened, who heard, and who followed. Why is that? Well Acts 13:45 says that the Jewish leaders were jealous, but it goes deeper than that. Look at this: Measuring God's word against itself

Psalm 118 22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

Zechariah 13
7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!"
declares the LORD Almighty.
"Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land," declares the LORD ,
"two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
9 This third I will bring into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, 'They are my people,'
and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "

1Peter 2
5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”[a]
7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,[b]”[c]
8and,
“A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for.

May Adonai give me ears to hear and eyes to see.