Daily Bread Acts 13
Daily Bread Acts 13
Paul Turns to the Gentiles
44 The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45 But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said,
‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. 49 So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. 52 And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Observation:
We see Paul’s strategy for sharing the Good News, as he traveled from town to town with Barnabas. At first, he preached in the synagogues and did find some success there. But as more and more people showed up to hear him preach, some of the Jewish leaders got jealous and stirred up people against him.
When this caused some of them to reject him, Paul decided to bring to Good News to the Gentile, which then became his primary calling. Many of these Gentiles decided to follow Paul and Barnabas and it says the Gentiles too were filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy.
Application:
Paul uses a principle we now call “receptivity’. As we share the message some will be receptive, some will want to hear more, and some will outright reject it and possibly cause persecution to happen. We see Paul’s strategy was to stay where he was welcome, but shook the dust off his feet when people’s receptivity was low.
This principle teaches us that God doesn’t hold us accountable for the response, only to be faithful in transmitting the message. And when people are not open to the message it is not our job to make them receptive. It is only the Holy Spirit that creates receptivity. One of the effective techniques in establishing receptivity is asking probing questions.
Many times the right question will open up a person’s heart and mind to further investigation. Sometimes our job is to till the ground, and someone else might plant a seed, and then another waters. But it is God who causes it to grow. It is important, especially in our culture, to listen to a person and find out what the barriers are. As we find out what their objection to the gospel is we can address how the Good News can truly be Good News for them.
As it is said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Prayer: Dear Lord, lead us to the people who are receptive to the Gospel. Give us boldness to preach the Gospel and also listen to people to hear their objections so we might build a bridge for the Good News to become truly Good News to those whom you have called. Send Your Spirit to guide us in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Paul Turns to the Gentiles
44 The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. 45 But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. 47 For the Lord gave us this command when he said,
‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. 49 So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region.
50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. 52 And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Observation:
We see Paul’s strategy for sharing the Good News, as he traveled from town to town with Barnabas. At first, he preached in the synagogues and did find some success there. But as more and more people showed up to hear him preach, some of the Jewish leaders got jealous and stirred up people against him.
When this caused some of them to reject him, Paul decided to bring to Good News to the Gentile, which then became his primary calling. Many of these Gentiles decided to follow Paul and Barnabas and it says the Gentiles too were filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy.
Application:
Paul uses a principle we now call “receptivity’. As we share the message some will be receptive, some will want to hear more, and some will outright reject it and possibly cause persecution to happen. We see Paul’s strategy was to stay where he was welcome, but shook the dust off his feet when people’s receptivity was low.
This principle teaches us that God doesn’t hold us accountable for the response, only to be faithful in transmitting the message. And when people are not open to the message it is not our job to make them receptive. It is only the Holy Spirit that creates receptivity. One of the effective techniques in establishing receptivity is asking probing questions.
Many times the right question will open up a person’s heart and mind to further investigation. Sometimes our job is to till the ground, and someone else might plant a seed, and then another waters. But it is God who causes it to grow. It is important, especially in our culture, to listen to a person and find out what the barriers are. As we find out what their objection to the gospel is we can address how the Good News can truly be Good News for them.
As it is said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Prayer: Dear Lord, lead us to the people who are receptive to the Gospel. Give us boldness to preach the Gospel and also listen to people to hear their objections so we might build a bridge for the Good News to become truly Good News to those whom you have called. Send Your Spirit to guide us in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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