The Ministry of the Stones

Luke 19
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[a]
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

1 Peter 2
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[c]
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

There is a song they sing in Nigerian churches in the Yoruba language, the song literally shows how ignorant most believers are of who they are and the purpose they have been called to serve in the Kingdom of Jesus.
They sing the song thus "Use me for your glory o Lord, do not replace me with stones thou glorious King".

They took the song from Luke 19:40 where Jesus told the Jews that if they refuse to worship him, the STONES will cry out.
The folks singing the song are not JEWS, the scripture does not apply to them but they don't have an understanding of this.
They assume the stones being referred to here are literal stones, they couldn't see the symbolism.
They couldn't connect the dots, that the stones being referred to here was them.
The gentiles.
The ones that were not accepted by the beloved from the beginning. The enemies of God, the infidels, unbelievers, idol worshippers, the unclean and uncircumcised.
We were the stones
Jesus came unto his own, the Jews and he restricted his messages of the Kingdom of God and the gospel to them with the hope that they would believe and be converted.
He had warned them over and over again that rejecting him would lead to those they considered to be the enemies of the Jews from other nations being considered to partake of the gift of salvation.
The Jews lacked the imagination and the invention to see what Jesus said as a possibility.
John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
When they rejected him for the last time in the Book of Acts 7 by killing Stephen after he boldly declared the sovereignty of Jesus, we saw plan B of the plan of salvation come into execution by the Angels and ministers of the gospel.
Acts 8, we saw the rescue of Peter by an angel, the opening of the gospel to unbelievers like the Ethiopian Eunuch and the Samaritans at Azotus.
Acts 9, we saw the conversion of Saul to Paul as he rode towards Damascus and we heard Jesus himself explain to Paul all the things he must suffer to bring the gospel to the unbelievers all over the world.
Acts 10, we saw the angel of the Lord coming to Cornelius and explaining to him that the old way of worshipping God through Judaism was no longer acceptable.
The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter.
When Peter arrived, Cornelius and his household received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
From there the gospel spread all over the world and it became the way for many of us who are non-Jews.
Till today, the number of non-Jews who are followers of Jesus is much more than the number of Jews in this world.
Indeed the stones that were rejected had been given life by the Holy Spirit.
This was what Peter was referring to when he referred to us as living or lively stones.
In his writing, Peter didn't refer to us as being moulded as one would mould clay into shape but as stones being built up into spiritual houses.
The speed with which the unbelievers through the help of the Holy Spirit accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour alarmed the apostles in those days.
The message of salvation seems so difficult for the Jews to grasp however, among the Gentiles, whole cities from Ephesus to Listra, from Collose to Philippi, from Ephesus to Laodecia were getting converted to Christ.
This was one of the reasons Apostle Paul decided to go back to Jerusalem to preach the gospel to the Jews because of his "ZEAL" for them.
He was thrown in jail for all his efforts.
The message was eagerly received by the stones and rejected by the clay.
The evidence of this abound all over the world today.
The believer is the stone that was given life and raised to worship God in place of the clay that rejected the gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus, therefore, the stone should not be scared that he or she will be replaced by another
We have been accepted in the beloved and ushered into the glory of the Son as an indelible part of the Kingdom of God.

The Jews received the law from a mountain of Fear and Terror and the majority of them are still stuck on this mountain out of loyalty, commitment and defiance.
We received Grace from a mountain of Joy, it was the fullness of the finished work of Christ.

The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[d]
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[e] 27 The words “once more” indicate the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

We should therefore remember where we were ushered into and stop thinking of missing it, missing out, being cast out, being unacceptable, becoming a castaway, trying to make heaven and all the toils of a performance mindset that does not glorify God.

We are of God right now, for greater is He that is in us than He that is in the World!

PS: We were once at a gathering in the UK, we were having bonfire fellowship and dancing.
It was great fun.
Suddenly one of us was asked to dance and he said he is from Ijebu land of Ogun State and would only dance to Apala Music (This was said in an atmosphere of joy, teasing and dancing among the saints)
We were all just having fun, laughter and dance
One of us played from Apple Music the only Apala music that was available.
"It was not gospel, it was just music"
A sister took offence immediately, believing those who danced to the song to be ungodly and unholy.
She was wrong.
Mark 7:15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.
I am not saying believers should make a habit of dancing to secular music but a believer must not be too rigid in his or her mindset or in dealing with others.
Taking offence at fellow believers when you can see the atmosphere and context of an event only leads to unnecessary divisive behaviour.
Pharisees didn't become saved by their adherence to the law and mores which Moses gave them, Sadducees were not saved by observance of the ways of their father and in the same vein, no Christian got saved by adherence to moral codes.
We must all learn this truth, that it is not of works or performance lest any man should boast, it is the gift of God.

I love you

-GSW-