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September 4 - Acts 14 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it is a Thursday.
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  It's the 4th of September, burrowing our way deeper into
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  this glorious month of springtime, this glorious time
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  of new beginnings. And I'm not sure what that looks
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  like in your life, but Gee, I hope it is a good week.
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  Or if you are in the northern hemisphere and this is the
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  beginning of the cooler time as the leaves change their colours
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  are. Our world is a beautiful place.
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  Don't know about you, but I often look up in the sky and
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  think how can it possibly be so incredibly glorious?
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  But the the blue sky and the clouds and the light playing off
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  it all, we have a gorgeous world in which we live.
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  And we are continuing to read this gorgeous story.
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  And it can be a little tempting as this is going to be Paul and
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  Barnabas Tastic today's reading as Paul and Barnabas are active
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  in Iconium and then go to Lystra and Derby and then return to
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  Antioch of Syria. And it's Paul and Barnabas this
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  and Paul and Barnabas that. But we know that it's not Paul
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  and Barnabas who are the main characters of this story in
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  Acts. It's Jesus.
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  It is Jesus who is building his church through his spirit.
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  And the players, Paul and Barnabas, are simply there doing
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  the work that they are led by the main character in this book,
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  who is your and my Saviour, the Son of God.
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  That's right, this is the book of Jesus and his acts through
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  the apostles. So let us hear what Jesus is up
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  to as we continue reading Acts chapter 14.
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  The same thing happened in Iconium.
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  Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached
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  with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks
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  became believers. Some of the Jews, however,
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  spurned God's message and poisoned the minds of the
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  Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.
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  But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly
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  about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their
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  message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and
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  wonders. But the people of the town were
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  divided in their opinion about them.
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  Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.
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  Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders,
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  decided to attack and stone them.
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  When the apostles learnt of it, they fled to the region of
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  Lycaonia, to the towns of Lystra and Derby and the surrounding
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  area, and there they preached the good news.
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  While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man
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  with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth,
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  so he had never walked. He was sitting and listening as
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  Paul preached. Looking straight at him, Paul
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  realised he had faith to be healed.
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  So Paul called to him in a loud voice, Stand up and the man
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  jumped to his feet and started walking.
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  When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their
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  local dialect. These men are gods in human
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  form. They decided that Barnabas was
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  the Greek God Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the
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  chief speaker. Now the temple of Zeus was
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  located just outside the town. So the priest of the temple and
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  the crowd bought bulls and wreaths of flowers to the town
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  gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the
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  apostles. But when the apostles, Barnabas
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  and Paul heard what was happening, they tore their
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  clothing in dismay and ran out among the people shouting,
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  Friends, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings just
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  like you. We have come to bring you the
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  good news that you should turn from these worthless things and
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  turn to the living God who made heaven and earth, the sea and
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  everything in them. In the past He permitted all the
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  nations to go their own ways, but He never left them without
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  evidence of Himself and His goodness.
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  For instance, He sends you rain and good crops and gives you
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  food and joyful hearts. But even with these words, Paul
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  and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from
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  sacrificing to them. Then some Jews arrived from
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  Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side.
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  They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was
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  dead. But as the believers gathered
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  around him, he got up and went back into the town.
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  The next day he left with Barnabas for Derby.
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  After preaching the good news in Derby and making many disciples,
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  Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch of
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  Presidia, where they strengthened the believers.
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  They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them
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  that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom
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  of God. Paul and Barnabas also appointed
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  elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they
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  turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they
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  had put their trust. Then they travelled back through
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  Presidia to Pamphylia. They preached the word in Perga,
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  then went down to Italia. Finally, they returned by ship
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  to Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun.
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  The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of
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  God to do the work they had now completed.
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  Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and
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  reported everything God had done through them and how He had
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  opened the door of faith to Gentiles too, and they stayed
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  there with the believers for a long time.
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  Our Lord Jesus, bless us in our day today as we move around and
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  do what it is that we need to do.
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  Lord, I pray that You would provide for us those things that
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  we need, that You would constantly remind us that we are
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  Yours and that as we move around this world, we do not belong to
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  the things of this world, but that we belong to you.
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  We are a member of your family and your Kingdom.
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  Lord, I pray that we can we were able to speak words of peace and
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  that we can bring your love and your grace and your forgiveness
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  where it's most needed. Lord, give us the wisdom of your
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  Spirit that we would know how to behave and what to say in those
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  tricky areas that we're going to face today, and that ultimately,
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  in all we do, we can be way finders finding the way back to
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  You and pointing others toward you and your love for them.
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  Use us. Lord Jesus, we pray all of this
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  in your loving and saving name, Amen.