Acts 4:18-20<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThen they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.\u00a019\u00a0But Peter and John replied, \u201cWhich is right in God\u2019s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?\u00a0You be the judges!\u00a020\u00a0As for us, we cannot help speaking\u00a0about what we have seen and heard.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Ezekiel 3:18-19<\/b>\u00a0\u201cWhen I say to a wicked person, \u2018You will surely die,\u2019 and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for\u00a0their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.\u00a019\u00a0But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness\u00a0or from their evil ways, they will die\u00a0for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Jeremiah 20:9<\/b>\u00a0\u201cBut if I say, \u201cI will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,\u201d his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
People have complained about me.\u00a0 They want to know why most of my posts in FB are about the Lord God.\u00a0 To those who would complain about me I offer the above verses.\u00a0 Also, I would like to mention that there is many other things to complain about me than this.\u00a0 Many more things that are worthy of complaining about me.<\/p>\n
One point, most of my FB posts about the Lord begin with an email that I send our almost daily (usually).<\/p>\n
The background of\u00a0Acts 4:18-20<\/b>\u00a0is that the religious leaders surrounding the Apostles Peter and John had threatened Peter and John because they were daily proclaiming the Word of God.\u00a0 In short their message can be known by\u00a0Acts 4:12<\/b>\u00a0\u201cSalvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 That name is Jesus.\u00a0 With this sure knowledge (given by God Himself (Matthew 16:17<\/b>)) what was Peter and John to do?\u00a0 They knew the above scripture from Ezekiel.\u00a0 They knew that the Prophet Ezekiel was warned by God that he should not speak out the Word of God so that people might be saved.\u00a0 It was what He was called to do.\u00a0 They also knew, and recognized within themselves, that what the Prophet Jeremiah confessed was exactly what was within them.\u00a0 He, and they, had the Word of God within them and it burned within them to be released to the world.\u00a0 They could not contain the eternal and most powerful Truth of the Gospel that lived within them.<\/p>\n
Surely Jesus had told all the disciples, to share the Gospel (The Good News) with the world (Matthew 28:18-20<\/b>).\u00a0 They had the commandment form Jesus and also from the Old Testament writings that they were raised on (though really, they are the same message).\u00a0 Therefore by commandment they should share the Word of God with as many that would listen.\u00a0 Yet, though the commandments and Old Testament writings were reasons to share the Word, they were not what enabled them.\u00a0 What enabled them was that they had a firm knowledge of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 The knowledge came from the Old Testament, their time spent with Jesus, and from the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 As a result of experiencing the love of God, and having seen the physical incarnation of it (Jesus), they in return loved God with all that they were.\u00a0 It was not the law that compelled them, but the love of God within them that compelled them.\u00a0 First of all they loved God with all that they were and because of that, and as a fruit of that, they loved the people of the world as God does (John 3:16<\/b>).\u00a0 Since they loved the people of the world, they burned to set them free to walk with God rather than to be chained to the world.\u00a0 Sharing the gospel to the world was their act of love to it.<\/p>\n