Acts 15:1-11 NKJV

[1] And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you can not be saved.” [2] Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. [3] So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. [4] And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. [5] But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” [6] Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. [7] And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. [8] So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, [9] and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. [10] Now, therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? [11] But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

I suppose it is the human condition that allows us to think we can take something God has done, and with our own spin, make it better. We look to traditions as a method with consideration to the real means. We subdivide believers into categories, groups, and denominations. I was raised in the Pentecostal faith, so I recognized the division between the Baptists, Methodists, and so on.

Practices and rituals may be responsible for keeping traditions alive, but we are not saved by our denomination of choice. God did a lot of work on me in a small travel trailer nowhere near a church. I experienced real closeness with Him while I was in the middle of a marriage separation. The Holy Spirit did not shun me during my stint in rehab the way some people did. Jesus drew me to Him when I was out of touch with everyone else.

I enjoy the freedom of Pentecostal style worship. I appreciate sound theological Methodist teaching. At the end of the day, it isn't about where we worship... It is Who we worship. It isn't about how we learn... but Who we learn to follow.

Romans 8:33 - Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.