Do you ever feel unwanted?
Hesitant about coming to the Lord or coming to church? Not sure if you’ll fit in or feel accepted?
Consider the following words from Pastor Raymond Ortland, based on Isaiah 56:1-8
“Foreigners and emasculated men were, among others, barred from worship (Deuteronomy 23:1-6). After all, foreign cultures were pagan, and emasculation marred God’s creation. That point had to be made. But it wasn’t God’s last word to us. His last word is openness and welcome for anyone whose faith comes to rest in Christ. So don’t tell yourself God won’t receive you. You might not have a church background. You might feel awkward in church. You might have deeply personal reasons you’d rather not talk about for hesitating. But God wants you to tell yourself this: The one thing that matters to Him is that you rest in Christ and choose what pleases Him and hold fast to Him. If Christ has your heart, God says He’ll give you a place in His home better than sons and daughters born there who don’t treat Christ as their everything. So come on in. To God, insider-ness is no guarantee, and outsider-ness is no obstacle.
–Raymond Ortlund Jr.
“So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.”
(Acts 10:34,35)
“I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16)
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