Is the Gospel Annoying?

Peter and John took Jesus' great commission to them and ran with it. They preached the Gospel of Christ with great passion and without apology. The promised Holy Spirit had come and set their hearts and tongues on fire.

The Captain of the Temple and the Sadducees, however didn't like it. They were greatly annoyed (Acts 4:2) that these mere fishermen were preaching about Jesus in the Temple. Why? Probably because the people were actually listening. So, what did this Captain and the Sadducees do? They had Peter and John thrown into jail overnight. Did that stop the people from coming to Christ? Nope. Over 5,000 men (not to mention women and children) came to Christ in spite of their preachers being arrested.

So, since the Gospel is apparently annoying, here's the question. Is it wrong to annoy people by telling others about Jesus? Should we be concerned about offending others with the Gospel and risk being labeled "intolerant" or "radical" or "politically incorrect"? Or even "annoying"? What do you think?

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"And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand." 
~ Acts 4:1-4, ESV

Stepping Away from Distractions

I attended a lady's luncheon at my church this week. Our speaker shared her testimony - how God took her self-sufficiency and chiseled away at it over the years through various trials, and how his grace is always sufficient. It reminded me of my high-minded dreams as a young woman and how God yanked it all out from beneath me in 1997. I became gravely ill, never to be a whole woman again in this life. At least not physically speaking.

I've been on a bit of a high lately from fellowship with dear friends that God has brought into my life. This evening I crashed. Fatigue slammed me and out came the grouch. As I was thinking of a devotional for this week, I reflected that this is probably the reminder I'm in need of:

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." ~ John 15:5, ESV

I need to step back and take some time for myself and Jesus - away from the distractions of my wonderful family and their many needs... away from my writing world and the demands it brings... away from everything that distracts me from my focus on Jesus, my rock who never changes.

What about you?

Heaven Sent Help

I love the book of John. It's filled with so many wonderful pictures of Jesus. Of his heart. Here, he's getting ready to leave this world. The cross is just around the bend. He's preparing his disciples for his departure and he wants them to know that, even though he is going away, they will not be left alone. He will ask the Father to send them a helper that will never leave them - the Holy Spirit. Even the promise that he won't leave them as orphans shows the depth of his love for them. They are his very own - his children. 

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." ~John 14:16-18, ESV

This is the same Jesus who loves us, as we will discover later in John 17. He loves each of his followers with a love so vast we cannot begin to comprehend. 

Do you sense the love of Jesus for you in these verses?