02/04/2012 - Greek discovery

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And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:21

The persecution that followed Stephan’s death caused many godly people to be scattered, but not all of them were so because of cowardice. Some people say that The Lord prevented them from wasting time in Jerusalem “doing some broidery work on the saints’ garments”. Many things are allowed to happen to us so we will not do always our own will. In fact, everything that The Almighty allows to happen to us brings within a message. Those who live in the divine presence surely get to find out the reason why He deals with them that way.

Some went away from Jerusalem all the way down to Phoenicia which is Lebanon currently; others headed further away for Cyprus and Antioch. Yet, the sad thing is that they did not speak to anyone about Jesus except for the Jews. They probably had not understood that the gentiles were also supposed to get the message. Who knows whether they would have been more successful provided they had turned to the non-Israelites? Did they ask the Lord whether they should or not take The Word to those who were not descendants of Abraham?

Among them there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene who were wiser considering that as soon as they arrived at Antioch they announced their faith in Jesus to the Greek (Acts 11:20). Those who did that happened to find out something extremely significant: the hand of The Lord was with them. That means that the power of God performed wonders among them. Today the same thing happens to those who really believe in The Word God tells them to announce. A true servant will see that, through him, IT will bring about the miraculous power of the Lord to heal the sick, to expel demons and to perform wonders. What is missing here is our determination to just believe in what is written and preach The Truth to the lost.

The church in Jerusalem was going through bad moments. All of a sudden, that good news came to the ears of our brothers there. The notoriety of such deed moved the hearts of the apostles who shortly afterwards decided to send Barnabas to Antioch. As Barnabas got there he rejoiced. When a child of God rolls his sleeves up and gets hands-on, they find out that they had lost a lot of time before. Gosh! How good it would be if our people began fulfilling the commandment of The Lord! And if everybody opened up their mouths to announce that, in Jesus, there is a way out for humankind’s problems, we would certainly be hearing of many reports of wonders! 

Barnabas’ stay in Antioch was quite profitable. Being a good man, full of The Holy Spirit, he exhorted those in that town who had showed interest in The Gospel to stand firm in Christ with their whole heart.

That must also be our concern. People touched by The Lord must be encouraged not to leave the protection of the divine hand for The One who began the good work in their lives shall finish it indeed. Nobody has their heart opened to The Gospel out of the blue. In fact, God has a purpose for that life and, if they stand firm in the divine grace which reached them with The Truth, they will be greatly blessed.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Sores