One Year Bible June 22nd, "Elisha Helps a Poor Widow" "Paul and Barnabas Go to Lystra and Derbe and Then Return to Antioch"
Elisha Helps a Poor Widow
Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors: Elisha made this woman commit herself in faith to God’s provision. To borrow vessels in this manner invited awkward questions, but she did as the word of God through His prophet commanded her.
Elisha told the woman to take what she had – one jar of oil (all that she had) – and pour that out in faith into the borrowed vessels. As she did this, the oil miraculously kept pouring from the original vessel until all the borrowed vessels were filled. At the end of it, she had a lot of oil.
The miracle was given according to the measure of her previous faith in borrowing vessels. She borrowed enough so the excess oil was sold and provided money to pay the debt to the creditor and to provide for the future. Had she borrowed more, more would have been provided; had she gathered less, less would have been provided. - Guzik
Elisha and the Woman from Shunem
This remarkable relationship between Elisha and the Shunammite woman began when the woman sought to do something for the prophet. Elisha didn’t seek anything from this woman; she eventually persuaded him to eat some food as the guest of her hospitality.
About this time next year you shall embrace a son: To this barren woman this promise seemed too good to be true. The stigma associated with barrenness was harsh in the ancient world, and this promised son would answer the longing of her heart and remove the stigma of barrenness.
The woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her: The woman who so generously provided material things for the prophet of God was now blessed by the God of the prophet, blessed beyond material things. - Guzik
And they were preaching the gospel there: Paul and Barnabas did many miraculous works, one of which is recorded in the following passage. Yet they did not travel as miracle workers. Their focus was always preaching the gospel.
To the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them: Paul called the Lystrian crowd to consider the real God, the One who stands behind all creation, not one of the lesser (and imaginary) Greek gods. Paul did not preach to these pagan worshippers the same way he preached to Jews or those acquainted with Judaism. He did not quote the Old Testament to them, but instead appealed to natural revelation, to the things that even a pagan could understand by looking at the world around them.
So when they had appointed elders in every church: Paul and Barnabas were committed to not just making new Christians, but in establishing new churches, places where these new Christians could grow and be established in the Lord. - Guzik
“The apostles had left behind only a tiny core of believers, and these had hardly been taught anything, since the apostles had been there at best for only a few weeks. How could this little group survive? It survived because the work was actually being done by God. The church was his church.” - Boice
They reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles: Their success with evangelism among the Gentiles, and the blessing of God that it demonstrated, showed that what God did in Antioch was not unique. God wanted to replicate this work all over the world. - Guzik
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