Before he died in 1955 at the age of 24, the American actor James Dean starred in his second film Rebel without a Cause, in which he played a moody,…

As the world around us builds moats we are called to construct bridges. Let’s listen to the builders of the early Church and to the voice of the Spirit which empowered them. These are troubling times, but there is kingdom work to be done.

Even more importantly, we want to see our kids grow in Christ and hit it out of the park spiritually. Remarkably the foundation for a focused purposeful Christian life starts very young. Those initial convictions about what life is about, and for, will go on to shape our children’s path all through their lives and in the generations which follow them as well.

Isaiah wrote 700 years before his birth, “He shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.” Can any human being live up to such titles? Only one in the history of the world ever would, Jesus Christ.

Sidetracks aren’t necessarily bad but can be perplexing and frustrating. Sometimes a shipwreck crashes your plans or dreams on the rocks, and all you can do is pick up the pieces. Shipwrecks are painful and scary, and you wonder, “Okay God, what now?”

What made this doctrinal crisis work out as beautiful as it did was the Church’s AIM.

First, the church in Jerusalem made sure The gospel, was never compromised.
Throughout this debate, the gospel of Christ, the gift of Jesus shed for our sins, the call to repentance, was never compromised. The church understood what people—Jew or Gentile—have to do to be powerfully saved.

This could have been a moment when the gospel of salvation could have been terribly confused, and the church could have divided over doctrinal misunderstandings.
• But the church preserved what Paul would say to the Corinthians in chapter 1, when he said: If anyone pulls the cross out of the gospel in any way, shape, or form, they’re wrong.
• So the gospel of salvation was preserved in this great debate.

Second, they preserved the unity of the body of Christ.
No one walked.
• We don’t hear ourselves well in today’s society.
• We are being so in love with a customized society in which every person wants everything his or her way.
• Whether we’re talking about business and the stores we go to,
• or the clothing we buy,
• or the job we do,
• everybody demands that you do it his or her way.
• If not, they walk.