What often strikes me when reading scripture is the 'nonchalant' style of recording momentous events!
"So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."(11:18)
The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.(11:26)
I almost expected to hear drum rolls and fanfare as I read those lines!
GOD gives his 'stamp of approval' on Gentiles, leading the way for an all in-clusive group .. and Christians were born!
Followers of Jesus risked their very lives when they set off to far away places and to spread the good news to a bunch of gentiles!
Pretty momentous!!
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An eight week journey of seeking God as we read.think.pray.live our way through the gospel of John
An Invitation
Please join us during this lead up to Christmas 2009 by doing the four things listed below. Anyone can join at any time throughout this 8 week period although obviously it would be best if you can begin with us on the first of November 2009.
Requirements:
1. Commit to seeking God EVERY DAY in Nov & Dec '09 in a way that is more radical than anything you have ever done before.
2. Read.think.pray.live your way through the Gospel of John in seven weeks (3 chapters each week) and then 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in the final week.
3. Listen to the Holy Spirit and obey whatever he says to do!!
4. Contribute your insights and experiences to this blog.
May we all continue to seek the Kingdom of God before anything else!
Requirements:
1. Commit to seeking God EVERY DAY in Nov & Dec '09 in a way that is more radical than anything you have ever done before.
2. Read.think.pray.live your way through the Gospel of John in seven weeks (3 chapters each week) and then 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in the final week.
3. Listen to the Holy Spirit and obey whatever he says to do!!
4. Contribute your insights and experiences to this blog.
May we all continue to seek the Kingdom of God before anything else!
3 comments:
Lets get "Full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith", then we can bring large numbers of people to the Lord.
Agreed Narelle...Let's! I presume your comment came from verse 24 about Barnabas: "He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord."
Yeah Gemma...we were only talking about this recently...the Bible is not written like a novel...it presents the facts and I suppose it is up to us to imagine the context, emotion etc.
My latest thoughts are that we are supposed to be "living" the things that are in the Bible so as we see the medically incurable people being healed; as we witness people being transformed by Jesus love and being filled with the Spirit we will know the emotion and fanfare that comes with such events firsthand!
There are those roles again - Agabus the prophet!
And - the trusting response: he tells the believers in Antioch about a famine that is going to come... and they don't wait for it - they straight away get aid and relief ready - in anticipation of the event!
Re the matter of factness of narration. I just remember that Luke was writing this all many years after the events he is describing had happened, and he was not a direct witness to much that he is describing. His purpose is to record the facts "since I have carefully investigated everything from the beginning it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you...". I imagine that his heart was pounding at times as he wrote... but he was focussed on setting out truth, uncluttered by emotion, so that the facts would stand the test of time, which emotions often don't!
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