Up to this point in Paul's first missionary journey we have seen him chastised, rebuked, and still share the message of hope with whoever might listen. The power of the truth of God's message is best seen in the way it answers all of life's questions. That power draws others to want to hear more of it and actually unnerves those searching at their core. In Acts 13:42 and following, the truth of the Word is doing just that as people are begging Paul and Barnabas to share more of the truth with them. So Paul and Barnabas go to the synagogue and begin teaching and preaching more, and then it happens! The next Sabbath day the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. The whole city! You want power in a message? Then share the word of God and see what happens. The purity of the Word is so amazing it causes all who are searching to do anything they can to hear it. Paul and Barnabas knew that the Word would do exactly what it did and so they stood their ground on the message of Christ and God's power was seen through the amounts of people who assembled just to get a little of the message.
Which brings to mind our present day world and the needs of it. I believe we have bought into the lie that our modern day schools have great truth in the knowledge they share. WRONG! Our universities and colleges have actually become a breeding ground for a flawed philosophy about where pure knowledge and wisdom come from and that lie has enslaved our whole society with a perception about that truth. The only truth is from the Word of God!! Let that statement rock your world! The slavery of the mind has warped into the slavery of the soul and it is progressing throughout our world and deceiving more and more who buy into the academia that is touted from those in high positions. The very moment our universities, that were established as Christian schools, quit teaching the Bible as the pure source of knowledge and wisdom, God took his hand off of them. We are reaping what we have sown and the crop is very worldly and lacking in purpose and direction. Why are students fighting against the thought of Donald Trump or any kind of absolute thinking? They don't know where our absolutes come from. It is an exercise in idiocy and flawed judgment due to a lack of Biblical truth. Really you say? Should the Bible be our source of knowledge for everything in life? YES! God's Word and the study of it has been minimized to the point of making it look like a fairytale. In Acts 13 the whole city turned out begging to hear God's Word and Paul shared it with them. The Jewish church "leaders" and many of the academic persuasion saw the crowds and in verse 45 it says they became jealous and started trying to contradict what Paul was saying. Paul said, "Since you reject the truth, we will take it to the Gentiles." You know what the Gentiles did? In verse 48 it says, "When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord." Then scripture says the word of the Lord was spread throughout the whole region. So the Jews got some devout women and leading men of the city to incite a riot against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district. Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet and went to Iconium. In verse 52 it says, "And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." Wow! God's word was powerful then and just as powerful today to help us live the life God wants us to live.
I think those street preachers who set up shop and start reading the word of God aloud may have a good idea about changing our world. How will they hear unless someone preaches? And how will they know unless we read it? If we really trusted the Word of God like Paul and Barnabas we would do whatever we could to get it out to the masses and then they would realize the purity of it and be begging to hear more. I hope we never get in our minds that the reading of God's word is just for those who are in churches. It is for all people, everywhere and we need to lift up the Bible and let the message be heard. Personally I have heard enough of men's impressions of what God's Word says and means. Time to just hear the Word of God and turn it loose. Time for real knowledge and real wisdom to take center stage in our world and set the Bible free from the restrictions of our society. Time to lift up God's Word and let it hum like a well oiled engine and that will bring our world back into order. By the way. That is our only hope of direction and change.
The Pilgrimage continues....
David Warren
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