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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
In Acts 13, Saul and Barnabas, having been called by God and set apart by the fellowship at Antioch, sail for Salamis in Cyprus. They have young John Mark with them as an apprentice. This became the normal pattern. Two men go out together to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and teach the Word of God, and they take a younger man with them so that he can observe and learn from the more mature men of God. This is how we learn to minister.
We can learn some things in the Colleges and Universities, but normally we only begin to learn how to minister in the love of Jesus and in the power of The Holy Spirit as we watch and come alongside others.
They went into the Jewish synagogues first proclaiming The Word of God. Barnabas and Saul looked for the synagogues. They looked for places of worship, where at least the people believed in God, and where people knew something about God.
They would speak to these people about Jesus the Messiah - the Christ - the Son of God - Who came and died and shed His Blood on The Cross to wash away the sins of men and women. They would preach that this same Jesus is Risen and Alive, and that He is able to do all this today, for all who will believe.
They preached the Word of God. They did not go with any plans for new churches. They had no idea what would happen, but they believed that something was going to happen, and they were prepared to leave that up to Jesus - to do whatever HE wanted to do. Their work was simply to preach The Word of God.
Our task is to share the Word of God - the truth of God - give our testimony when opportunities arise - and allow the God the Holy Spirit to do His sovereign work in the hearts and lives of those to whom we speak.
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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