Soul man
Member
In our verses of scripture, we see the third prerequisite for a revelation of Jesus Christ. The way God has dealt with you personally enters in here. Verse 13 says,
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it."
The term conversation in the Jews' religion referred to one who was very vocal about his doctrine.
Everywhere he went, he would tell people, "I want tell you what it means to be a good Jew. I want to tell you what the Jews think about this. I want to tell you what Moses and the Law says."
He was very fluent and vocal about the doctrines of Judaism.
So Paul says, "ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion."
We are rather like that in speaking of our past, and that is an important thing.
What about our past? Not everything that happened to us in the past is bad. A lot of it might have been wrong, but not bad.
No doctrine or anything that you have ever done was bad for you, if now you are earnestly seeking after Christ, because everything that has ever happened to you was necessary for God to bring you to where you are now, whether it was good or evil, adverse to or parallel to the word of God.
People often say ''I was in an old dead church, and I just wasted 20 years."
That is not so, every year and moment you spent in coming this far, if you have found Jesus, was necessary.
What is obvious is that it was not Gods time.
So all that has ever happened to you was necessary.
If it took a long time, thank God that you eventually came to knowledge you now have.
It takes longer for some to come to understanding. You may have been wrong in many things, but it was not bad if you came to know Jesus, because every step on the ladder was necessary to get to where you are now, even the bad things.
A young man may have robbed, stolen, or been a drunkard, and every bit of that may have been necessary to get him to where he is because that was part of his past which brought him to Christ.
So you see, you cannot discredit the past.
If you have heard and believed and are seeking after Him, thank God for the way He has brought you, it was all necessary.
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it."
The term conversation in the Jews' religion referred to one who was very vocal about his doctrine.
Everywhere he went, he would tell people, "I want tell you what it means to be a good Jew. I want to tell you what the Jews think about this. I want to tell you what Moses and the Law says."
He was very fluent and vocal about the doctrines of Judaism.
So Paul says, "ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion."
We are rather like that in speaking of our past, and that is an important thing.
What about our past? Not everything that happened to us in the past is bad. A lot of it might have been wrong, but not bad.
No doctrine or anything that you have ever done was bad for you, if now you are earnestly seeking after Christ, because everything that has ever happened to you was necessary for God to bring you to where you are now, whether it was good or evil, adverse to or parallel to the word of God.
People often say ''I was in an old dead church, and I just wasted 20 years."
That is not so, every year and moment you spent in coming this far, if you have found Jesus, was necessary.
What is obvious is that it was not Gods time.
So all that has ever happened to you was necessary.
If it took a long time, thank God that you eventually came to knowledge you now have.
It takes longer for some to come to understanding. You may have been wrong in many things, but it was not bad if you came to know Jesus, because every step on the ladder was necessary to get to where you are now, even the bad things.
A young man may have robbed, stolen, or been a drunkard, and every bit of that may have been necessary to get him to where he is because that was part of his past which brought him to Christ.
So you see, you cannot discredit the past.
If you have heard and believed and are seeking after Him, thank God for the way He has brought you, it was all necessary.
