Get Your Pretense On!

134 • Get Your Pretense On!

connected to the jailer through trusting relationships and ongoing contact. Not only did the jailer repent and believe on the Lord Jesus, being baptized by Paul and Silas, but “all his household” as well. They ate together that night, rejoicing as an oikos that they had believed in God. In one meeting, the entire family, friendship, and associate network of the jailer entered the Kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ. This incident highlights the most natural, direct, and most effective way for the Gospel to spread. Each one of us is connected to others, by birth, proximity, or by some relationship that connects us to a network of people who know, recognize, and associate with us. These networks represent the “fabric of our lives,” the web of relationships that provide us with identity, friendship, and connection. This story illustrates the power of the Gospel to penetrate society, and reveals how the Good News spreads through the work of the apostles. Through their web of influence, their network of relationships, the Good News touched every strata of society, every corner of the Roman empire. We marvel at the work of God through the apostles, as we should. We also should look carefully at the natural, spontaneous, and very real way the Gospel spreads – along the lines of real family, friendships, and associates. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28.18-20 Go and Make Disciples . . . in the ‘Hood’