All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Ears to listen... faith to move

Listen along here: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/2706aef3/ears-to-listen...

How did they do it?

No money.

No buildings.

No Bibles.

No sound systems.

No books or handouts.

Add to that, persecution at the hands of the Romans and the Jewish leaders. And yet, the number of believers in Jesus Christ is growing. How is that even possible?

Friend, thanks for joining me as we look at a momentous time in the spread of Christianity, rendered to us through the pen of Luke (yes, the same man who gave us the beautiful gospel of Luke). Specifically, we turn to the 13th chapter.

The lives of individual believers have been so radically transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, they cannot keep the message to themselves… they have to share … even when sharing could cost them their lives. This is the roots of our Christian faith--the brave men and women who came before us, and I love reading about them. May we be so bold.

Finally, beginning in Acts 13, the spotlight is on Saul of Tarsus who must have thought he had surely missed a memo from God. After all, God had gotten his attention on the Damascus Road, when the former killer of Jesus followers had his mind opened, and then became convinced of the truth of Jesus Christ and the Gospel message, and anxiously waited to be pressed into service for the Lord.

Think of it--after three days of blindness in the city of Damascus, Saul goes to Arabia for three years and then goes to Jerusalem to gather with the other believers who would have nothing to do with him! So he returns to Tarsus his hometown for the next 10 years. In this time of waiting, Saul was not alone . . . I think God oft calls us, but lets us go through some things before he uses us.

For those of us who are waiting, God has something of himself for us.

It would be easy to read right past the first couple verses of Acts 13, but then you would miss the diversity of the people gathered--specifically, Simeon (also called Niger, meaning black) and Manean who was raised right alongside Herod, the son of a nursemaid. Ah, but friends, we remember that in Acts chapter two, as the Holy Spirit came, he empowered those gathered in the upper room to speak out the gospel in the native tongues of those who were gathered in Jerusalem to observe Pentecost.1 Only God could arrange a setup like that. From that very day and occurrence, it is clear: Christianity is not a white man's religion as I have heard some accuse . . . no, ma'am--those who heard the gospel on Pentecost were Greeks, Turks, Iranians, Kuwaitis, Africans (Libyans and Egyptians), Iraqis and Syrians, Afghanis and Pakistanis2 . . . all hearing in their own languages the works of God meant for them--which they would take home to their families and their people.

And now, as the community gathers together to worship God, pray and fast, the Holy Spirit instructs the men to set Barnabas and Saul apart for His work; they did.³ The Holy Spirit then directs the steps of Christianity’s newest missionaries to first one town and then another--what a remarkable journey it is to be!

This is the first time Saul is referred to as Paul. Being born to Jewish parents, he was given the Hebrew name Saul at eight days of age; being a Roman, he was given the Greek name Paul at nine days of age.⁴

Acts 13.1-12 passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+13.1-12&versi...

Same set of factors: No money.

No buildings.

No Bibles.

No sound systems.

No books or handouts, and heck, no coffee cart! And yet - you can feel it. We are on the precipice of greatness.

Why?

The faithful, the devoted sought God … together. Sign me up!

The Holy Spirit came … spoke … led … and activated Paul.

I want some of that.

Luke gives us the recipe:

>recognition that Jesus is Lord!