JULY 21, 2024
READ: Acts 11: (Focus vs. 19-30)
MEMORY VERSE
“A great number of people were brought to the Lord.” Acts 11:24
BACKGROUND
On February 5, 2023, Christian Atsu kicked the winning goal for his football (soccer) team in a match in Turkey.
A star international player, he learned to play the sport as a kid running barefoot in his home country of Ghana. Christian was a believer in Christ: “Jesus is the best thing that ever happened in my life,” he said.
Atsu posted Bible verses on social media, was outspoken about his faith, and put it into action by helping finance a school for orphans.
The day after his winning goal, a devastating earthquake shook the city of Antakya, once the biblical city of Antioch. Christian Atsu’s apartment building collapsed, and he went to be with his Savior.
Two thousand years ago, Antioch was the fountainhead of the early church: “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26).
One apostle, Barnabas, said to be “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit” (v. 24), was instrumental in bringing people to Christ: “a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (v. 24).
We look to the life of Christian Atsu not to idolize him but to see in his example an opportunity. Whatever our circumstance in life, we don’t know when God will take us to be with Him.
We do well to ask ourselves how we can be a Barnabas or a Christian Atsu in showing others the love of Christ. That, above all, is the winning goal.
By: Kenneth Petersen
INSIGHT
One advantage of the persecution the early believers in Jesus faced in Jerusalem and Judea was that they dispersed to other regions “spreading the word” as they went (Acts 11:19).
The Jewish believers witnessed only to other Jews (v. 19), but some believers in Christ from Cyrene and Cypress “began to speak to Greeks also” (v. 20).
Luke, who wrote the Acts account, tells us that “the Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (v. 21). The attempt at stamping out Christianity served only to spread it.
By: Tim Gustafson
APPLICATION
What does it mean to be a Barnabas to others? What opportunities do you have to talk about Jesus?
PR’s RE-EMPHASIS (From Post)
“Whatever our circumstance in life, we don’t know when God will take us to be with Him. We do well to ask ourselves how we can be…showing others the love of Christ.”
PR’s (PASTOR RICHARD) TAKE
“…I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” 1Corinthians 9:22-23
PRAYER
“Dear God, I pray that You’ll give me opportunities to share my faith.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL” West Coast Baptist College
Through the power of Your Spirit
You called us to the cross
Where Your precious blood redeemed us
When our hopeless souls were lost
You have saved us to be servants
Who share the light of truth
With a world who needs the Savior
And the glorious good news
For the sake of the gospel
Purify Your church
As we carry the message All throughout the earth
Let each heart be surrendered
To pray, obey, and go For the sake of the gospel
For Your glory alone
Saving faith will come by hearing
And hearing by the Word
So we preach to every nation
‘Til the day that You return
Seeking first Your holy kingdom
May we lift Your banner high
And take up our cross to follow
As Your name is magnified
For the sake of the gospel Purify Your church
As we carry the message All throughout the earth
Let each heart be surrendered
To pray, obey, and go For the sake of the gospel
For Your glory alone
By Your strength,
By Your grace
We’ll lay down our lives And proclaim
Jesus saves No matter what the price
*For the sake of the gospel…
READING THROUGH THE BIBLE THIS YEAR (DAILY)
PROVERBS 25
