Christianity stands or falls on one major claim – Jesus the Christ physically died and physically rose from the dead. If this claim is false, Christianity is false. If this claim is true, it has profound implications for you and me!
All other religions are founded on private revelations. Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, claimed to have had a very private revelation of the four noble truths. Muhammed ibn ʿAbdullāh, known to Muslims as the Prophet, claimed to have had a private encounter with the Angel Gabriel and a private revelation that God (‘Allah’ in Arabic) was one and that the Qur’an was His final revelation to mankind. Joseph Smith claimed to have had a private encounter with an angel called Moroni who privately revealed to him golden tablets inscribed with Hieroglyphics revealing a fantastic story of the ancient Hebrews migration to the Americas. But Christianity is public. The miracles surrounding the birth of Jesus (the first Christmas, were public). Christ’s demonstration of miracles, which included – instantly healing leprosy, blindness, lameness, palsy, and raising people back to life, were done publicly. His second greatest miracle, the raising of Lazarus from being dead having been dead for 4 days, was witnessed by scores of people with many of them being sceptics! His encounter with angels and dead saints were seen publicly. His post-mortem appearances were witnessed by those who had seen Him executed by the Romans. At one time, up to 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus – very publicly!
At Easter, it is good to be reminded of the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
The Romans killed Christ with many witnesses to the death.
The lifeless body of Christ was buried in a wax-sealed tomb secured by armed guards.
The tomb was found on the following Sunday morning to be empty.
The women who went to the tomb that Sunday morning met, talked with, and touched the resurrected Jesus.
Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus to two despondent followers.
Jesus appeared to His surviving disciples and ate with them.
Jesus appeared to the sceptical Thomas.
Jesus appeared to 500 people at one time prior to His ascension.
His opponents could not present the dead body of Christ.
Thousands of Jewish converts immediately changed their day of worship from the Saturday Sabbath to Sunday (the day Christ rose from the dead).
It was July 1995 when my life had a major course adjustment. We had recently pioneered a church in very tough part of Melbourne. We had seen the church grow quickly and saw some amazing stories of conversion to Christ happen before our eyes. In three years, the hall we were meeting was just about full. We had a Board that loved our church and helpe to oversee our growth. Then God spoke. Our time was up. I remember the following Sunday when our resignation was announced to church and it was met with tears from the congregation. The shock, sadness, and disappointment was quickly forgotten when it became obvious who God had already prepared to take over. We were presented with several opportunities by the leadership of the Assemblies of God, but none of them were God’s will for us. Then one, very none-eventful, night, God spoke to me. “I’m sending you to Tasmania!” We didn’t know anyone in Tasmania. We arrived unknown, unannounced, and uninvited.
I was invited to preach at Legana Assembly of God on Sunday September 10th, 1995 which met in the Legana Memorial Hall. The following Sunday, September 17th, was the existing pastor’s last Sunday, and after I had preached the week earlier, the pastor asked me if I would be prepared to have my name presented to the church’s members as their next pastor for them to vote on. Perhaps because I was the only candidate these 17 members had to choose from, I got their vote and commenced as pastor of Legana on Sunday September 24th 1995. In the hand-over from the outgoing senior pastor to myself, I boldly declared that God had revealed to me that this was the church I was to sow my life into and that it would grow to be a church of hundreds. The pastor and his assistant smiled at me with one of those ‘I’m-smiling-on-the-outside-smiles-because-on-the-inside-I-think-you’re-an-idiot’ smiles. I guess they thought, “This guy is stupid! How could this church ever be hundreds of people when the whole town of Legana is only 1500 people?!”
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
Because Christ told Peter that He would build His Church, His words have shaped my life as a minister within His Church. Time and time again the Holy Spirit has caused me to see how Christ is far more concerned for our church than I could ever be! And with my mind’s eye I occasionally get what seems to be a glimpse of what He has in store for us – where I again see a church of hundreds of people – which I saw before I even commenced my pastorate at Legana. In my early years, in my energetic exuberance, I gave glimpses of my glimpse to my congregation. This was largely met with looks of indifference – and a few gave me those same creepy smiles that the outgoing pastor and his assistant gave me the first time I shared it! Then there were those who baled. They left with claims that since I wanted more people to come to Christ and join His Church I obviously didn’t care too much for them. Undaunted, I persisted in teaching several sermon series on Christ’s vision, mission, and make-up of the church. Still, not many caught a glimpse of the glimpse. But some did. And they rolled their sleeves up too and joined me behind the plow.
Does he not speak certainly for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. First Corinthians 9:10
Ten Little Christians, Poem
Ten Little Christians came to church all the time; One fell out with the preacher, then there were nine.
Nine Little Christians stayed up late; One overslept on Sunday, then there were eight.
Eight Little Christians on their way to Heaven; One took the low road, then there were seven.
Seven Little Christians, chirping like chicks; One didn’t like the singing, then there were six.
Six Little Christians seemed very much alive; One took a vacation, then there were five.
Five Little Christians pulling for Heaven’s shore; One stopped to take a rest, then there were four.
Four Little Christians each as busy as a bee; One had his feelings hurt, then there were three.
Three Little Christians couldn’t decide what to do; One couldn’t have his way, then there were two.
Two Little Christians each won one more; Now don’t you see, two plus two equals four.
Four Little Christians worked early and late; Each brought one, now there were eight.
Eight Little Christians if they double as before; In just seven Sundays, we have one thousand twenty four.
In this jingle there is a lesson true; You belong either to the building, or to the wrecking crew.
~Author Unknown
I was speaking with a pastor this week who said that he believed God gifted local churches with particular strengths that made them unique. He believed each church then played a part in contributing to God’s plan for their city. The part we are gifted to play is a part of our ongoing story which is summed up in our symbol.
Churches take on a shape based on their strengths, giftings, resident ministries, and leadership. It’s a beautiful thing that God places His children in appropriately shaped churches. This also includes where He places certain pastors. Naturally (or perhaps I should say, supernaturally), churches can change shape as they grow. This is why it is important for a church to understand who God has called it to be. This is what we might call a church’s identity.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16
SHAPE #1: DIFFERENT SHOPS
Some churches have the shape of a corner store. All of the customers are regulars. They know they can their newspaper, milk and bread and a few treats in their corner store. They also probably know the owner of the corner store. Some churches are like department stores who not only sell milk, bread, and newspapers, but they also a wider range of items in their departments. Customers probably don’t know the manager of the store, because they are more likely to know the department staff they see regularly. And still, some churches are like shopping centres where customers come because they enjoy the experience of being there and the almost unending range of things that are offered.
SHAPE #2: DIFFERENT DOGS
Dogs, like churches, come in different shapes. There are really small dogs. There are really big dogs. But the strange things about really small dogs is that they are the most ‘yappy’ of all dogs! It’s as if they think they can bluff bigger dogs into thinking that they are actually larger than they are – if they bark a lot. When a really big dog, such as a Great Dane, enters into a compound of various other dogs, there is no doubt in the other dogs’ minds that this Great Dane is bigger than them. Yet, the Great Dane doesn’t have to yap and bark to demonstrate how big it is. Churches can be like dogs. I think we should carry ourselves more like a big dog than really little dog. This requires a big attitude, a big heart, and a big role in protecting the people of our community – even if they aren’t members of our church.
While we are in a canine mood, I also think that within a church comprised of what Jesus described as sheep (John 10:11-14). Australian shepherds use trained sheep-dogs to direct, care for, and protect their sheep. Despite the benefit these dogs undoubtedly provide for sheep, sheep have a natural aversion to dogs. Within a local church, God places a shepherd and then calls people to assist by serving as ‘sheep-dogs’ (elders, home-group leaders, team leaders, department leaders). Charles Spurgeon writes in his book, Soul Winning, that his success as an evangelist was largely due to his ‘hunting dogs’. He describes an incident where he was talking with one of his deacons after a Sunday morning service whose eyes were scanning the balcony of their church sanctuary as they chatted. Spurgeon, says that he was mid-sentence when the deacon suddenly excused himself and darted up into balcony. Upon returning some time later it was discovered that the deacon had spotted a person in anguish of soul and had approached them with an offer of leading them to Christ which was accepted.
I hope that we can become a church of sheep who are being transformed into big dogs, sheep-dogs and hunting-dogs. When we are called upon to explain our commitment to Christ and His Church, it is reassuring that because we are on the side of truth, we can present our case reasonably without sounding like a little dog trying to bluff those around him.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, First Corinthians 3:15
SHAPE #3: FIRST RESPONDERS
First Responders are members of the Emergency Services (Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade). Even when these people are off-duty, they are still ready to be on-duty. When they attend a disaster, they arrive equipped, in uniform, and ready to implement their training. They enter into the disaster – but they distinct from it.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. John 17:15-16
I hope that our church equips everyone to have the demeanour of a First Responder. That when we go about our daily activities we ready to be on-duty by sharing the Gospel’s message of hope and forgiveness with those whose lives have crashed.
The vision for our church over the next few years isn’t just about our church growing to hundreds and hundreds of more people, or having improved facilities, or more staff, or more programs, it’s about who we are becoming in the process. It’s about answering the call from God to be a difference where it is needed. It’s about stepping up so that we can step out into a world that doesn’t know how to do life/relationships/love very well. It’s about caring enough to pray for the lost, hurting, and broken in our community to come to the Refuge. It’s about being present where it’s messy – equipped to help, in ‘uniform’, ready to implement our training. It’s about a greater commitment to the assembling of God’s people that at times will require sacrifice and raise questions from those who want what you have been found for.
¶ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10
There are many things in life which we take for granted. Those things which we often take for granted the most are usually the things we value the most. Sadly, it often takes the loss of these things before we realise just how valuable they are to us. I’m using the word things extremely broadly and honestly, probably inappropriately. This is because the ‘things’that should matter the most to us are not material things.
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16
Everyone gets two precious gifts from God for which none of us are thankful anywhere near enough. The first is our life. The second is the time we are given to use it for good. Both of those most precious gifts are of incalculable value. Consider for a moment that if we are prepared to surrender them back to God in this life and time, He will give us eternal life! This infinitely valuable gift comes at the supreme price that God Himself could pay. If you consider all the vain things that charm us most – possessions, riches, good health, popularity, fancy clothes, fine food, new toys – they pale into pathetic insignificance when compared with the infinitely valuable and incomparably extravagant gift of eternal life given to all those who are prepared to surrender their life and time to God. Isaac Watts was so moved by this incomprehensible thought that he wrote-
Isaac Watts
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast save in the death of Christ, my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them through his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Have you surrendered your life and you time back to God? Is God the Navigator of your life – or just a passenger? You do not know how much of your life you will have at your disposal, or how much time you have in this life. What a tragedy of eternal proportions would be if you scorned God and His offer of eternal life for the false and vain hope that you could live better without God! Your life and your time are seeds that can only bear fruit when planted in the right soil. Your job is not the right soil. The object of your earthly affection is not the right soil. Your money and possessions are not the right soil. The accolades of the crowd is not the right soil. Surrendering your life and life to God is the only soil that you have been created, designed, and intended to sow your life into!
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:32-33
When you seek first to sow your time into God’s service, you are developing godliness (Christlikeness), you will be fruitful and effective and position your life for His blessings in this life and in the life to come!
for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. First Timothy 4:8
The only thing you can take with from this life and time into the next dimension of eternal life and eternity, is your level of godliness (1Tim. 4:8).
We sometimes find them irritating. We sometimes find them annoying. We sometimes find them frustrating. We sometimes wish they would stop interrupting us. People. Some we like. Some we don’t. If we could learn to listen to people, and to see them, I’m sure we would have more time for them. The main way that God ministers His grace to us is via people (1Peter 4:10). I think He does it this way because it develops one of the most desirable virtues of godliness in us – humility. It takes humility to be ministered to by another person. Our pride prevents us from spending time with people who deeply care for us because we know that they will challenge us and make us feel uncomfortable. Our pride prevents us from letting people get too close. Our pride prevents us from being honest with people about how we are struggling. Our pride stops us from reaching out to others because we think our problems mean that they should reach out to us. Our pride stops us from showing hospitality to strangers because strangers are just strange to us. Yet it is the very thing we push out of our lives that God has ordained to enrich our lives!
Our pride stops us from realising the truth that people are more important than we think!
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:10
Being planted in a church brings together in one place of each of these things for our good. It involves our life. It involves our time. It involves people. God has designed for us to each grow by being planted in a church whereby these 5 things happen. Firstly, we worship God in Christ together (Heb. 10:28). This is essential for our souls to be nourished (Col. 2:19). Secondly, we are to come together in united fellowship to encourage one another to good works (Heb. 10:24-25), to receive prayer and to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16). Thirdly, we assemble as the church to receive instruction from God’s Word which also brings insight/inspiration/illumination. Fourthly, we come together as the church to be discipled in godliness so that we can each be more effective in our witness as people see Christ being more fully formed in us by GOD’s Word and Spirit. Fifthly, we multiply our evangelistic effectiveness when we come together because a non-Christian, the apostle Paul tell us, is more inclined to believe when they are in a gathering of believers (1Cor. 14:24). This is why we meet Sunday morning, and then again Sunday night, and then fortnightly in our Home Groups. God has ordained these gatherings of His people so that you might grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15-16). He calls this growth, a walk (Col. 2:6). If your walk with Christ has come to a standstill, then something is wrong! Horribly wrong! If your love for God and His church is not growing, then you are not growing! But it does not have to be this way. Father God wants to lead you out of the shadows and into the green pastures where He has prepared a table for you (Psalm 23). Come back to the table and fall in love again with God and His House (Rev. 2:4-5).
I can guarantee you that church is far more important than any of us think!
What would it have been like to have been with Christ?
Was there ever a man in more demand than Jesus of Nazareth? Thousands upon thousands of people waited eagerly day after day to see, hear, and meet Jesus the long-awaited Christ. Royalty wanted to meet with Him. Religious leaders wanted to meet with Him. The sick and infirmed queued to touch Him. All the while Jesus was on a mission of paramount importance and not only had all these enormous physical demands laid upon His shoulders, He also had unimaginably evil forces attempting to oppress, distract and thwart Him. Yet, with all this happening, the Gospels are punctuated with individual encounters with the Christ.
He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). ¶ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” John 1:41-43
A night with Jesus by Nicodemus
I’m trying to learn from Christ. This involves paying prayerful attention to what He taught, but it also involves how He taught. For me this encompasses how He interacted with people. His interaction with Nicodemus is fascinating.
The first thing I notice in John’s third chapter is that Jesus risked His reputation by befriending someone from a group of people He had publicly condemned for hypocrisy. Jesus didn’t just spend time with those who were already His friends.
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:16-17
Jesus was surprisingly accessible to individuals. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Jesus made Himself available. Perhaps He had developed a habit of being in a particular place at night. Nicodemus knew where to find Him. When Nicodemus met with Jesus He attempted to give Christ His due, and while many preachers would welcome the stroking of their egos, Jesus immediately overlooked this and looked directly into Nicodemus’s heart, and answered the Pharisee’s unasked question. This exchange exposed Nicodemus’s religion as mere cold formalism – and not the heart-connected, soul-satisfying, intellectually enriching, entrance into GOD’s intimately love-drenched presence. Christ was not intimidated by speaking to ‘The Teacher of Israel’ and was prepared to give the first properly done rebuke in human history.
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. John 3:10-11
The rebuke that Christ had offered in public to the Pharisees, He now gave personally in private. Unlike our rebukes, Christ’s must have been tender and soothing. Nicodemus welcomed what followed. What followed was Jesus giving thelight that Nicodemus lacked.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” John 3:19-21
Jesus was a friend to Nicodemus.
In John chapter 4, Jesus befriends a Samaritan woman and heals her soul.
In John chapter 5, Jesus befriended an invalid and healed his lame legs.
In John chapter 6, Jesus has a conversation with Philip, then a small boy, and then Simon Peter, and then feeds them.
In John chapter 8, Jesus spoke with a woman dragged out into the dirt to be stoned and saved her life.
And so on.
In each of the nine days that John selects to paint a picture He depicts Christ as being present with individuals. Now that Christ has been resurrected and glorified, and dwells in eternity, how much more does He now have time to be with individuals?
What did people feel who had been with Christ?
It’s possible to be physically and geographically with someone but not present. What I am learning from Christ’s interactions with this sample of people whom He was present with, is that being present is a demonstration of God’s love. With each person that Christ engaged with, whether it was a religious Pharisee, a woman with a reputation, an elderly invalid, a young boy about to eat his lunch, an adulterous woman, a blind man, a grieving sister, a Roman Procurator, a thief on an adjacent cross, a beleaguered disciple, Christ was present.
We busy people are generally lousy at being present. We can be with someone and be a million miles away at the same time. While someone is chatting with us we are continually checking our phone screens. This is rude and a denial of our presence. Presence involves seeing and hearing. It involves connecting to some level with someone’s heart. This all takes practice. In the Gospels I see Jesus being present. What must people have felt when Jesus was present with them? We can do more than surmise the answer, we can experience it now.
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am (present) with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
One of the many things in which life and Scripture agree, and repeatedly remind us, is that our lives are constructed in what we interpret as chapters or seasons. Yesterday, the last day of February, was the end of a season. Today, the first day of March, is the beginning of a new Autumn. Recently, I had to stop doing something I enjoy which I had done since I was a child. For me a door closed and a season ended. I knew that day would eventually have to come. Fortunately, I had a hand in determining when it would be. But for many, life’s doors close without notice and seasons suddenly halt without our permission. It is in these times that the child of God needs reminding that it is our Heavenly Father, not mere circumstances, who closes doors for our benefit and changes our seasons for His.
¶ “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Revelation 3:8
I was quite ill recently. It involved being hospitalised for four days. I had well-meaning people tell me that ‘the Devil was having a go‘ and that we needed to pray against Satan’s schemes. I’m yet to find any Biblical justification for praying against Satan (or anything for that matter) in the Scriptures – but I can’t help seeing the Scripture teach the buffeted child of God to give thanks, praise, and worship to the Lion/Lamb in the midst of their adverse cirmcumstances.
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. First Thessalonians 5:18
You too may have experienced a door closing in your life. It may look like the end, but it’s probably just the beginning.
for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. First Corinthians 16:9
Joseph was given a multi-coloured coat from his father, Jacob. This flagrant display of favouritism drove his envious brothers to stage his death and sell him into slavery. A door closed for Joseph. He was bought by Potiphar. A door opened for him and a new season began. But Potiphar’s wife resented young Joseph’s high moral stance and unjustly had him thrown in prison. A door closed for Joseph. Pharaoh dreamed a dream. Joseph was the only one who could interpret that dream. A door opened for Joseph and that night he was made the Prime Minister of Egypt.
One day, our lives will end. A door will close. But for the child of God, a glorious eternally open door will be set before them. Then, we will ultimately discover what most of life’s veterans have found to be true, when God closes a door, He does it for our benefit and His purpose.
¶ The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
¶ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:15-19
At the tender age 15, Frank Boreham was a junior clerk at a brickworks. His job involved checking the dispatching freight trains as they pulled out. On one particularly foggy morning, he and a rail worker went down to the tracks to do their respective jobs. Frank was to check the deliveries while the rail worker was to switch the tracks so that the train headed in the right direction. At that junction the switch points were controlled by dual levers. Frank was often embarrassed by his awkward day-dreaming and clumsiness but never more so because of this fateful morning when when he inadvertently took his position in front of the other lever to the one the rail-worker then switched. Just as the freight train came past the junction, the lever behind Frank suddenly knocked him under the train. Frank was dragged some fifty metres along the tracks before the train stopped. His right leg had been severed just below the knee. He spent 9 months at the door of death battling septicemia. Finally, his parents were told by doctors to prepare for the worst. Frank's mother went to their local church to plead with God for the life of her son. She prayerfully and tearfully bargained with God that if He saved her son, she would give her Frank to God for Him to use however He wanted - wherever He wanted. News came that very hour that Frank's condition had suddenly improved. Frank had had aspirations that required him to be able-bodied. He loved playing cricket. He loved nature walks. But that door was now closed to him. The door that God opened for Frank was a door that led him to Christ, into Spurgeon's Pastors College, then as a pastor in Mosgiel, New Zealand, then the world stage as a writer and preacher from which he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity Degree from McMaster University (Canada) and an O.B.E. from Queen Elizabeth II. And I for one am glad that God closed the door that He did for Frank, because He, as He always does, opened another for Frank's benefit and for His own purpose, as He always does.
Christianity stands or falls on one major claim – Jesus the Christ physically died and physically rose from the dead. If this claim is false, Christianity is false. If this claim is true, it has profound implications for you and me!
I was invited to preach at Legana Assembly of God on Sunday September 10th, 1995 which met in the Legana Memorial Hall. The following Sunday, September 17th, was the existing pastor’s last Sunday, and after I had preached the week earlier, the pastor asked me if I would be prepared to have my name presented to the church’s members as their next pastor for them to vote on. Perhaps because I was the only candidate these 17 members had to choose from, I got their vote and commenced as pastor of Legana on Sunday September 24th 1995. In the hand-over from the outgoing senior pastor to myself, I boldly declared that God had revealed to me that this was the church I was to sow my life into and that it would grow to be a church of hundreds. The pastor and his assistant smiled at me with one of those ‘I’m-smiling-on-the-outside-smiles-because-on-the-inside-I-think-you’re-an-idiot’ smiles. I guess they thought, “This guy is stupid! How could this church ever be hundreds of people when the whole town of Legana is only 1500 people?!” 
Because Christ told Peter that 
One of the many things in which life and Scripture agree, and repeatedly remind us, is that our lives are constructed in what we interpret as 