In the times of Jesus, you had two groups of people; the Pharisees and the disciples of Jesus.
The Pharisees "knew" the scriptures and were supposed to be those that "knew" God. When Messiah came, they were the ones who "knew" how'd he be, how'd come and how he'd be towards sinners and sin. The were the "Christians" of the day. But JESUS didn't come like they thought. He didn't speak, act or conduct himself even close to how they perceived him to be. They expected him to be one thing and he turned out to be totally different. They rejected him and tried to kill him because he posed a massive threat to what they perceived God to be like.
The disciples were the closest to Jesus. They knew him for months if not a year before he appeared on the water to them. They were in fear and thought him to be a ghost. They didn't expect him to come to them as he did. And when he did they were apprehensive and afraid. He assured them that it was him and that they need not be afraid. Even they, after spending day in and day out with him, didn't even recognize him that night. Amazing. They were so close to him, they knew the sound of his voice, they knew what he looked like....and yet they didn't recognize him. But when they did, he came and they were together again.
God is coming. There is a tidal wave of a move of God about to sweep this planet and he's going to be coming in ways that will be radically different to what you and I have ever seen him before. He'll be speaking through men and women whom you would normally discount and right off for whatever reason. He's going to move through the church down the street which you don't agree with and through that Christian that you don't really like. He's going to bless those people whom belong to a different congregation and denomination that you don't agree with and he's going use men and women who's theology doesn't quite line up with yours. He's going to use people whom got saved weeks ago in ways he's never used you even though you've been saved for twenty years! God is going to do this. He's going to break glass ceilings and break the boxes of our prejudices and religiousness.
God is saying, "Don't be like the Pharisees. Don't write people off because you perceive differently or because you don't recognize me in that move." Test it, nothing wrong with that. Discern the fruit and judge the tree, but do it with much kindness and lots of patience.
