Category Archives: Bible

Prominent Women

By Nancy Ann | Filed under Bible, Christian Living

Paul and Barnabas got in plenty of trouble in their day, but I was recently struck in particular by the chronology of their troubles in Antioch as recorded in chapter 13 of Acts. It’s not that different from some of our modern-day troubles. One of the encouraging things about this episode is though we sometimes see trouble as simply trouble,  we are actually supposed to see some troubles as signs of true success. You might want to take the time to read the entire context (Paul’s sermon is Acts 13:17-41), but this is what happens as a result of his faithful preaching of “glad tidings.”

Things are looking promising. The crowd is growing, and people are begging for more.

  • Paul declares the glad tidings (vs. 32) in the synagogue.
  • “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” (vs.42-43).
  • “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” (vs. 44).

But now the “trouble” begins. Someone is not all together happy about the success of the ministry.

  • “ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy (vs. 45a).
  •  “And contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul”  (vs. 45b).
  • Then Paul and Barnabas spoke with more boldness (vs. 46).
  • “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region” (vs. 48-49).
  • “But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region” (vs. 50).

At this point, some of us may think the persecution was a success. After all, Paul and Barnabas got kicked out of town. But read on. The story is not really over.

  •  So Paul and Barnabas dusted off their feet and headed to Iconium (vs. 51).
  • “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit” (vs. 52).

So here are a few take-way lessons for us.

  • Successful ministry breeds envy. In this case, the envy was among the religious leaders of the Jews.
  • Envy stirs up controversy, and the ensuing controversy has two effects:
    • It causes more boldness in the preachers themselves;  it causes some of the chief men and prominent women to join the wrong team.
  • Sometimes the result looks like failure because the preachers are chased out of town (or out of their pulpits), but the actual result in the church is joy and the Holy Spirit.

We don’t know the names of those chief men and honorable women who were “stirred up” to join in the persecution, but we do know Paul and Barnabas, and we know that the ministry in Antioch continued to flourish. Pity those women who were deceived into joining the wrong team, especially since they were prominent women in the community. They were women of influence, and they used their influence to run Paul and Barnabas out of town. But they did not succeed in stopping the spread of the “glad tidings” of the gospel. They did not stop the Holy Spirit from doing His work.

 

 

 

 

He Is Risen!

By Nancy Ann | Filed under Bible, Christian Living, Daily Devotional Thoughts | Tags:

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The angels met the women very early on that first resurrection morning at the tomb, and they said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ And they remembered His words” (Luke 24:5-8).

What a strange kind of greeting: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” And what a great question! We might ask ourselves such a question today: Why are we looking for Jesus in the wrong place? And next the angels say, “Remember?” How often we forget what He has told us!

One of the common ways we look for Jesus in the wrong place is by looking for Him in our feelings. Sometimes I hear women say, “I just don’t feel like Jesus is close.” But He never told us to look for Him in our feelings. He didn’t say to meet Him at the tomb, He said to meet Him in Galilee. If we think we must look for Him in our feelings, we can try to “do” certain things that will generate a spiritual feeling to reassure ourselves. We have not remembered what He told us.

He has told us where to find Him. Remember? He is Risen! We are raised with Him, and He is above, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). This is why we “seek those things which are above, where Christ is.” Jesus dwells in us through His word (Col. 3:16) and helps us remember all He has told us. So we “eagerly wait for the Savior” (Phil. 3:20) and look for Him in the Word, in the Supper, and in the weekly celebration of His triumph over the grave. And when we look for Him there, we are obeying what He told us to do.