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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
We have reached Acts 11:19. Let's take time to review and see how The Word of God has been spreading so far.
Recapitulation can be an important aspect of education and learning and understanding.
There had been this most violent wave of persecution against The Church of Jesus Christ, and this caused The Church to grow, in various dimensions.
In these verses we learn some important principles. Saul, being confronted by the risen Jesus, spends these first three days praying and fasting, and receives ministry from a new friend, brother Ananias, and is given the outline of the type of ministry he was to have, described by God. (Acts 9:16).
Saul is baptised in The Holy Spirit and baptised in water. He begins to preach and he also begins to suffer. It is almost a principle - begin to preach, share, testify - and you also begin to suffer.
With his life under threat, his friends help him to escape from Damascus. When he arrives back in Jerusalem, he needs Barnabas to hear his testimony, so that he can be received by The Church in Jerusalem as a genuine disciple. He was for real.
His life is in danger again, and he is hustled off down to Caesarea and dispatched to his hometown of Tarsus.
Then Luke turns to Peter who visits the scattered wounded saints. A paralysed man is healed in Lydda. In Joppa, Tabitha is raised from the dead, and many come to believe.
Further north in Caesarea, Cornelius the Roman Centurion receives a vision from God, as does Peter in Joppa, when he goes to pray. Two men who are poles apart come together.
Cornelius, the Gentile officer in the army of Rome and those who were present on that occasion when Peter came to speak, turn from their sins and repent, believe in Jesus Christ and receive the gift of The Holy Spirit with the same consequences as everyone else. They are baptised in water.
Peter has to face various questions back in Jerusalem, but when he explains everything precisely, they too change, as prejudices disappear, and they have - NO FURTHER OBJECTIONS.
GOD had initiated all this. GOD was behind what was happening. Peter moved and ministered as GOD led - not according to his own wishes, good ideas, feelings, or dreams.
Doors were unlocked. Hearts were opened. Lives were changed and being changed.
People had to move and get out of Jerusalem. The Gospel of Jesus Christ having begun among the Jews was now reaching places outwith Israel. Israel had been raised up to be a light to the Gentiles, and had NOT been so. Now, GOD was bringing in Gentiles from very early times.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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