{"id":21126,"date":"2022-04-17T22:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_14_1-12-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-04-12T15:45:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T22:45:04","slug":"acts_14_3-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_14_3-28\/","title":{"rendered":"No Risk, No Reward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts\u00a0 14:13-28\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 14:13-28.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 14:13-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the past, he let all nations go their own way.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 When the people of Lystra try to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas thinking that they are reincarnations of their gods Hermes and Zeus, Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes to emphasize their humanity and urge them not to worship people but the living God whom they cannot see.\u00a0 To persuade the crowd about God\u2019s kindness and goodness to them, Paul and Barnabas point to evidence such as the rains that come, the crops they harvest, the food they eat and the joy that they have.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 As James 1:17 tells us, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming from the Father.\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0every good thing we know in life is a gift from God.\u00a0 When we receive any good thing, whether it\u2019s rain, or a return on our investment (\u201ccrops\u201d), or food, or things that bring us joy, remember to thank God for His goodness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 14:18-19 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-19:\u00a0 What a bummer when your critics go out of their way to find you and hurt you.\u00a0 That\u2019s what happens with Paul and Barnabas.\u00a0 Their critics who tried to hurt them in Antioch and Iconium travel to Lystra to try to hurt Paul and Barnabas again there.\u00a0 They succeed in getting the crowd of Lystrans to stone Paul and drag him outside the city.<\/p>\n

Acts 14:20-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-23:\u00a0 I love Paul\u2019s courage and perseverance.\u00a0 After the people of Lystra stone him and drag him outside their city, Paul still gets up and goes back into the city.\u00a0 After going to Derbe (about 35 miles away from Lystra) and having a fruitful ministry there, Paul, Barnabas and their team even decide to go back to Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, the very places where they had encountered so much persecution.\u00a0 They do so for the sake of following up with the Christians there, \u201cstrengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith\u201d (v22).\u00a0 They also take it upon themselves to help the churches they started in these cities to establish a leadership structure so that each church could continue to operate and grow (v23).
\nThe willingness of Paul, Barnabas and their team to risk their lives for the sake of strengthening the believers and churches in different cities is truly remarkable.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0To do a pioneering work, going where no person has gone before, you need to be willing to risk something of yourself and you need to be resilient in the face of opposition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another lesson is that\u00a0people don\u2019t just need to hear the Gospel, but after they respond positively to the gospel they need a home church to belong to and to grow with<\/strong>.\u00a0 For this you need good leaders who are willing to lead the church and watch over the people.<\/p>\n

Acts 14:24-28 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia,
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-28:\u00a0 After preaching in Perga, the city where they parted ways with John Mark before (Acts 13:13), Paul, Barnabas and their team make their way back to their church in Antioch in Syria, where they were first sent off on their assignment (Acts 13:1-3).\u00a0\u00a0 There in Antioch they report to the church about all that God had done through them and stayed a long time with the disciples there.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0We all need to a base to come home to, a place where we are not feeling as much the pressures of being out in the world, a place where people know us and we know them and we can call each other family.<\/strong>\u00a0 That home is your local church.\u00a0 Just as Paul and Barnabas had been busy establishing local churches in each city where they went, so they returned to their own home church in Antioch to rest, to report on what they experienced, and to be refreshed.<\/p>\n

Another lesson I learn is\u00a0the power of the local church<\/strong>.\u00a0 Here was one local church in Antioch that ended up making a big, life changing difference in the cities of Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Debre, and Perga, all because they were willing to give of themselves for the sake of the gospel.\u00a0\u00a0May we as a church family likewise be willing to give of ourselves and what we have for the sake of the gospel\u2019s advancement around the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for every good thing we can know and experience on earth.\u00a0 I pray that I would be willing to sacrifice and give away some of the good that You gave to me so that Your gospel around the world could advance and other people could be blessed.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 14:13-28.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 14:13-17 (NIV)
\n13\u00a0\u00a0The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:
\n15\u00a0\u00a0“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0In the past, he let all nations go their own way.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”<\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 When the people of Lystra try to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas thinking that they are reincarnations of their gods Hermes and Zeus, Paul and Barnabas tear their clothes to emphasize their humanity and urge them not to worship people but the living God whom they cannot see.\u00a0 To persuade the crowd about God\u2019s kindness and goodness to them, Paul and Barnabas point to evidence such as the rains that come, the crops they harvest, the food they eat and the joy that they have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21129,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126\/revisions\/21129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}