Acts 14:21-28 Light of Life!

Acts 14:21-28  They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.  Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.  “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.  Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.  After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.  From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.  On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.  And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

After escaping death by stoning in Lystra, Paul has a successful ministry in Derbe: won a large number of disciples.  After Derbe, he and Barnabas decided to finish off their first missionary trip by going back through these dangerous communities of Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, to strengthen the new converts in those areas.  In these communities of trials and persecution, they encouraged the body of believers to be true to their new found faith.  As they journeyed back to Antioch of Syria, they ministered on the truth of the gospel to every community they traveled through.  Paul and Barnabas established dozens of churches in their 1,200 mile missionary trip.  Even though they faced much physical danger, they were faithful in spreading the Good News to the lost wherever they traveled.  Paul had seen a great light on the road to Damascus, a light greater than the sun, a light of purity and holiness.  This Light gave him a commission: to go into all the world, ministering the name of Jesus Christ as the Light of the world.  As Jesus said of himself, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)  Paul and Barnabas had gained this Light in their lives by faith; they understood their souls would never die, for the eternal Spirit of God lived in them.  They knew Jesus’ resurrection was the precursor of their own resurrection into eternal life. They too as Jesus did would take this journey from physical death to eternal life with God.  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  (John 11:25-26 KJV)  These disciples were willing to face persecution and even death for the marvelous truth of life everlasting.  They went into dangerous communities, exposing themselves to hostile men and women who were adverse to the Good News and its message of eternity with the God of creation through faith in Jesus Christ.  For Jesus’ followers, the cause of Christ was greater than the security of their lives.  They would willingly die for this message of eternal life for all men and women who would accept the Good News.  Some in these Greek communities were freed from their Egypt, a place of bondage and hardship.  However, most were content to remain in their Egypt, their dark lives of trials and captivity to sin.  Consequently, these sin-bound people were opposed to the Light that Paul and Barnabas were ministering.  As Paul and Barnabas journeyed back to Antioch of Syria, they reminded the converts of these newly established churches that traversing the wilderness after escaping the captivity in Egypt and the hold of the devil on their lives is not an easy journey.  Often the wilderness can be a sparse and hot place with long days, full of trials and hardships, persecutions and threats of death, but they should keep their minds on Canaan, the end of the journey.  Both of these disciples were good examples of believers fastening their minds on the Promised Land and the subsequent glory they will receive in heaven.  Paul and Barnabas were willing to suffer for the CAUSE OF CHRIST.  Regardless of the cost, they brought the Good News, the Light of God, to a desperate, dark, and dying world. 

Jesus in his ministry to the Jews in Israel often found himself in the midst of a desperate people, people who needed an answer in their lives.  At times He attempted to move away from the clamor of the people.  But the people would follow him, constantly monitoring where He was or where He was going to be.  On one of these occasions when Jesus and the disciples felt a need for finding solace for themselves, they got into a boat, seeking a place away from the crowd.  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.  (Mark 6:32-34)  Even though Jesus was tired and needed rest, He saw the large crowd that met him in this solitary place.  These people had spent a lot of physical energy and their time to meet with Jesus and his followers.  Jesus had compassion on them because they were desperate for a shepherd, someone who would lead them by still water and into a green pasture.  They needed an overseer, a guide, a comforter, an exhorter, a lover of their souls, so they followed Jesus and listened to his words.  Paul and Barnabas were for many a Jesus in their lives.  These two men claimed to know God and the truth of people’s existence.  Many of the people in these Greek communities were desperate to find the meaning of life.  They were frustrated with their lives that existed on a treadmill of futility.  Even though the two disciples often were upset with the opposition they faced in these Greek communities, they landed the boat and presented the Shepherd who said, “Whosoever will may come."  Jesus came to deliver people from darkness and captivity.  He cast out demons from those who were oppressed by evil spirits.  He healed the blind, the lame, the sick.  He raised the dead and proclaimed the gospel to the poor.  Paul and Barnabas did likewise in these Greek cities.  They shepherded the tired, the weary, those who needed a doctor.  As Jesus, they did those good deeds even though they had a target on their backs, placed there by the devil and his cohorts.  Jesus said of these people that were in opposition to the Good News that their father was the devil.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.  (John 8:44)  These enemies of Jesus were also the enemies of the two disciples.  As with their desire to murder Jesus, they wanted to kill these two disciples who were followers of Jesus.   Paul and Barnabas carried the news of Jesus to the Greeks.  They traveled many miles to deliver the gospel to them.  In their travels they were never outside of danger; they lived in fear of being killed in and out of these towns, for it was a danger for strangers to walk from city to city in those days.

After Jesus had delivered Legion from his many demons, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee back to his home area.  The throng of people gathered around him immediately as he landed.  They came to him with their many requests, pushing and shoving to get near Jesus, beseeching him for answers in their lives.  One of the first to greet him was the leader of the synagogue, Jairus.  Being the leader of the synagogue, Jairus was was an important member of the community.  He told Jesus of his young daughter’s illness.  He asked Jesus to come with him to his home, believing Jesus can heal his sick daughter.  Jesus asgreed to his request.  On the way to Jairus’ house, Jesus felt the Spirit of God going out to someone who had touched him with faith.  This is the same faith that Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, David and the  prophets had in God’s goodness and love towards them.  Jesus turns around to see who possessed this foundational faith in God, this same faith that great men and women in the Old Testament had in the God of creation.  “Who touched me?”  Which one of you possesses the faith of the forefathers, those who believed the Father God is good and merciful, full of enduring love?  Which one of you touched me with that kind of faith?  Jesus turned around, seaching with his eyes for a man or woman in the crowd with the faith of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.  He did not see Moses, Joshua, David or one of the prophets in the crowd; He saw only a little woman who had a chronic bleeding issue for twelve years.  The Spirit of God, the active power of God, went out to her and healed her.  She was a nobody, not the leader of the synagogue or someone important in the community.  She was a desperate woman who believed God is good, and if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would experience the goodness of God.  This was the message Paul and Barnabas were preaching to the Greeks: reach out and touch the goodness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  You do not have to be famous or important in this world; you even might be an uncilized Greek bound by sin, but Jesus is available to you.  Eternal life is yours in Jesus.  Accept him as your redeemer and God will honor you above the angels, you will exist in the throne room of God forever.   This is the message Paul and Barnabas taught, a message of purity and redemption.  Even today, the crowd might be in your way.  The devil’s temptations might be enticing, disrupting your intention to accept the gospel wholeheartedly, but press in regardless, push your way to Jesus.  In this story, we find Jesus completing his walk to Jairus’ house.  Jairus’ young daughter had been pronounced dead.  The mourners in Jairus' house ridiculed Jesus when He said, she is not dead, but asleep.  They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.  But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up.  Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.  Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.  (Luke 8:53-56)  We see this day that the Good News came to the woman who had a bleeding issue because she possessed the same faith of the patriarchs and the prophets.  Later that day, the twelve-year-old girl received life again because of the touch of Jesus in her life.  As children of the living God, we also have heard Jesus’ words to us: My child, get up!  Eternal life is ours because of the cross.  Paul and Barnabas traveled over a 1,000 miles in their first missionary trip to tell people to "get up”.  Faith in Jesus is the redeeming work of God.  We know Jesus IS ETERNAL LIFE.  John says it so clearly,  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning THE WORD OF LIFE.  THE LIFE appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you THE ETERNAL LIFE, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  (1 John 1:1-2)  Jesus has come--Eternal Life has come to all people who put their trust in the works of Jesus Christ.   Paul and Barnabas were willing to give their lives for this message.  We too have that same message: Christ, the Light of the World has come.  Come and hear the Good News!  

Acts 14:8-20 The Light Has Come!

Acts 14:8-20  In Lystra there sat a man who was lame.  He had been that way from birth and had never walked.  He listened to Paul as he was speaking.  Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”  At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.  When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”  Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.  The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.  But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Friends, why are you doing this?  We too are only human, like you.  We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.  In the past, he let all nations go their own way.  Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”   Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.  Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.  They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.  But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.  The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

In the above focus, we see Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, a day’s walk from Iconium.  The disciples journey to Lystra because of the persecution they faced in Iconium.  In Lystra the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that a lame man had faith to be healed.  There sat a man who was lame.  He had been that way from birth and had never walked.  He listened to Paul as he was speaking.  Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”  This man’s condition was very serious for it was from birth.  The Lystra community knew well of the lame man's condition.  When they saw the man healed by the prayer of Paul, the Lycaonians became very excited, understanding this healing was a supernatural act.  Being very religiously oriented the Greeks in Lystra thought Paul and Barnabas were gods.  When Paul looked at the shrines and idols in Athens, he said of the Greeks that they were very religious.  I see that in every way you are very religious.  (Acts 22:17)  The Greeks in Lystra assigned Paul and Barnabas the names of  Zeus, and Hermes.   They commenced to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods who came down to earth to visit their community.  The priest of the temple of Zeus brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.  This worshipping of the disciples, believing them to be mythical gods, stresses Paul and Barnabas greatly: they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Friends, why are you doing this?  We too are only human, like you.  Even so, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.  This clamor of devotion to the disciples went on for some time until some Jews from Iconium arrived with a different version of Paul and Barnabas’ ministry. They had walked twenty miles to Lystra, to bring this message of dissention to Lystra.  Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.  Their hatred of Paul and Barnabas caused these Jews to follow the disciples from city to city.  The Jews from Antioch had walked over a 100 miles to bring this discord to Lystra.  These contrary Jews to the message of the Good News illustrate well what Jesus said about these Abraham’s descendants.  I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers.  Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.  (Matthew 23:34)  The Jews of Antioch and Iconium’s intense hatred of Paul and Barnabas caused them to pursue the disciples from town to town.  In Lystra, they thought their mission of stamping out the Good News from the lips of Paul was finally over.  The people in Lystra stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.  Paul was so thoroughly beaten that he lay seemingly dead, probably bringing much satisfaction to those Jews who were chasing him from city to city.  But  Paul was not dead.  God protected him, allowing him to survive this wicked act of stoning.  He got up and went back into the city.  

In Rome, we hear Paul’s frustration about the Jews; their unwillingness to accept the Good News that the Messiah has come to them in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:“‘Go to this people and say,“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  ”For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”  (Acts 28:25-28)  Paul’s intense love for his own people to hear the Good News is revealed clearly in that he willingly ministered in the synagogues, exposing himself to much criticism and many threats.  Paul understood well that his ministry in the synagogues would rouse up opposition to him and Barnabas.  Paul’s anguish over his people not willing to open their hearts up to the message of salvation is best expressed by him in Romans.  I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race.  (Romans 9:1-3)  Paul, as Moses and Jesus before him, was willing to give up his life for his enemies.  Paul's willingness to be away from God forever for the cause of his beloved Jews could not happen, for he had already died with Christ and possesses eternal life.  Moses’ led a rebellious people out of Egypt, thwarting God’s wishes for them, following other gods rather than THE ETERNAL CREATOR.  Moses also as Paul would give up his place with God for the salvation of his people.  We see In Paul’s time many Jews in these Greek communities, shying away from the light of God, unwilling to take the Good News into their hearts.  Many in Israel followed Jesus while He was on earth.  They were astonished by the depth of Jesus’ words and the miracles He performed.  However, Jesus assesses many of them as following him for the bread and fish He provides for them at times.  For many of them, their temporal needs were primary in their lives.  However, Jesus came not to feed them but to restore them to his Father by giving himself as the living bread on the cross.  To have eternal life, they would have to drink of his blood and eat of his flesh.  They would have to forsake their way of living and turn to Jesus as their Messiah with their whole mind, spirit and soul. They needed to know Jesus as their Messiah.  For Jesus is the complete message of God to the world.  “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  (John 8:12)  Turning to Jesus and repenting of their rebellion to God would expose them to the brilliant Light that Paul met on the road to Damascus.  Paul knew this Light would lead them out of their blindness into eternal life with God.  Through and  IN JESUS, they would shed their hatred, lust, and Godlessness.  Their destructive nature, their violence would turn to peace and love. God would be in their lives through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, known as being born-again.  

The Jews of these Greek cities knew their God that they served as a God of love and mercy, yet they wanted to kill Barnabas and Paul, the messengers of Good News: God’s grace for all people.  Jesus in the scene of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery portrays God’s mercy and love for all people.  These men wanted to know what Jesus would do to her for the sentence of adultery is stoning.  Jesus, knowing the law, should have pronounced the judgement of stoning on her.  However, Jesus knew of himself that He was the completeness of all the law.  He alone satisfies every requirement of the law.  He also knew He would lay his life down for the sins of this woman.  Knowing the sins of these men who also need forgiveness of their sins, he merely says, Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.  (John 8:7)  In the focus for this morning, we know these men who were chasing Barnabas and Paul from city to city also needed their sins to be forgiven.  But their hearts were hardened against God’s mercy; they knew only the harness of the law.  Therefore, they were harassing the disciples, not out of caring for the essence of the law, but out of their own discernment of the law.  But the fulfillment of the law says something different. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.  (Matthew 22:37-40)  Jesus is the fulfillment of the law; for as God is love, so is Jesus the Christ: He is love.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  (John 4:16-18)  The men pursuing Paul and Barnabas were very zealous. They feared that the disciples' teaching would distort Judaism and lead the people away from God.  But the fulfillment of the rigidness of the law without God’s nature of love and mercy would destroy men, not bring them to God.  Jesus could have said, go ahead and stone this sinful woman, destroy her for that is God’s desire for her.  Instead, He avoids the sentence of death upon her sin and says to the men, if you have not a blot of sin on your life, stone her.  Jesus did not come to destroy life, to condemn people of their sins and carry out the subsequent penalty of death.  He  came to deliver all humans out of the grasp of the devil.  He came to bring freedom to all people from the darkness of Egypt.  The truth of eternal life is in the hands of Jesus.  By hearing his words and by being obedient to the words of Jesus, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  (John 8:32)  The slavery in Egypt is gone; a new life is to be lived, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:36)  This is the message Paul preached from city to city.  His love was so great for the people, he was willing to endure stoning so that some would be saved from the judgment of God.  Darkness hates this message of freedom, so darkness chased after them from city to city.  But the message to us today is still the same, no matter whether darkness is pressing upon us.  God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  (1 John 5:11-12)  We who are around this breakfast table rejoice in that Good News, let us be emblematic of that wonderful news of grace to the world.  We need never walk in darkness, for the Light has come!  

   

  

    

    

    

  

 

    

Acts 14: 1-7 Let Everyone Dance!

Acts 14: 1-7  At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.  There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.  But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.  So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.  The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.  There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.  But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.

Paul and Barnabas, after two difficult weeks of ministry in Antioch of Pisidia, left that area and walked 96 miles to Iconium, a three or four day journey.  In Antioch they were threatened with death so they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to the people of that city.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.  But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.  They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.  And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 13:49-52)  As these two disciples journeyed inland in Turkey, their hearts were filled with joy, for the word of the Lord had been spread through that whole region.  Even though they left with a target on their backs: the threat of death by stoning, they knew they had fulfilled the will of God in that part of Turkey.  They went away from Antioch of Pisidia with glad hearts, experiencing Jesus’ words, Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:11-12)  First in Cyprus, then in Antioch of Pisidia they were participating in Jesus’ commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  Now after being threatened with death, they were going to Iconium to deliver the salvation message that Jesus the Messiah has come to earth to redeem men from their sins.  Both Jews and Gentiles in these communities where they had ministered had accepted this message of the Good News, but there were also people in these areas opposed to their ministry.  Many Jews were fervently marshaled against the gospel.  Jesus said about them, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”  (Matthew 21:42-44)  Those who should have been the builders of the knowledge of God and his redemptive plan were dead-set against the salvation message that Jesus is the Messiah.  Paul would continue to preach in the Jewish synagogues, but the message of the Good News spread like wildfire in the Gentile world.  Many Gentiles gladly accepted this message of redemption, and as a congregation of believers they became a nation bearing the fruits of it.  People of all kinds would accept the wonderful message of being born again, having eternal life with God through faith in the substitutionary work of the cross of Jesus Christ.  As Jesus said about the tenants who were initially chosen as caretakers of his vineyard: their betrayal of the owner of the vineyard would bring horrible judgement on them, grinding them into powder.  As Stephen said at his stoning, “You stiff-necked people!  Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.  You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?  They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.  (Acts 7:51-52)  Paul on that day of Stephen’s stoning was part of the stiff-necked people.  He threw his lot in with the murderers of Stephen.  But his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus changed him completely.  He was no longer a tenant of betrayal but became a caretaker of the vineyard for the glory of the owner: God.

Jesus, the Good News, was born into a world racked with sin and chaos.  It was a world with sinful people, as in Noah’s time: every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.  (Genesis 8:21)  Even God’s chosen, led out of slavery in Egypt by miraculous events, crossing the Red Sea on dry land, failed to be obedient to God.  On Mount Sinai they were given the perfect law of God, but they carried idols of other gods in they satchels.  In the Promise Land, as we read in the book of the Judges, we find the Israelites unfaithful to God.  Why were these people who had seen God’s marvelous work of deliverance from slavery not faithful?  They lacked faith because even in the best of men and women, humans are lawbreakers, for they possess the DNA of Adam and Eve.  The Jews were religious at times, faithful at times, but inconsistent in their service to the One and Only True God.  They were like sheep who have chosen their own pasture.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.  (Continued below)  Because of such rebellious behavior, they needed a true and faithful Shepherd.  Jesus came to be that Shepherd.  However first he had to pay for their sins of disobedience, for God demands total allegiance.  Jesus came to place men and women in right standing with a righteous God, carrying the people’s sin to the cross: but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isaiah 53:6)  Paul is preaching this Good News of redemption in the communities of the Greeks.  These Gentiles were not chosen initially to hear the message that Moses received about God on Mount Sinai, wrapped in the Law.  Now Paul is talking about Jesus who has satisfied all the requirements of the law.  He is ministering about the circumcision of the heart: obedience to the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, not through works.  In a Jewish synagogue, Jesus read a passage from Isaiah:  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.  (Isaiah 61:1-3)  We see Paul and Barnabas as oaks of righteousness.  They are fulfilling Jesus’ mission on earth by proclaiming the good news to the poor.  They are healing the brokenhearted.  They are setting people free from their captivity to Satan.  They are telling Jews and Gentiles that Christ has come to bring great favor to them, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  To deliver this redemptive news of Christ to the Jews and the Gentiles, they faced much adversity.  To combat this adversity from some in Inconium, Paul and Barnabas performed many miracles to substantiate what they were saying about Jesus Christ.  Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.  As with the world today, when people are overlaid with great darkness because of the devil’s hold on them; they often need signs and wonders to confirm the reality that there is a God in heaven and that He sent Jesus Christ to deliver them from their captivity to sin.  Many times in lands that are controlled by cults that worship many gods, God comes to people with miraculous signs, dreams, trances and visions.  God’s love for all people is so fervent that He will reveal his existence to those who call out to him in earnestness.  He stopped Paul, a radical Pharisee, on the road to Damascus by blinding him with a great light.

Now in Iconium we see great resistance cropping up.   There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.  The disciples are now aware of this threat so they leave the area to go to Lystra, 20 miles away, a good day’s walk.  The message of salvation has taken root in Iconium, now for the disciples it was time to move on.  The struggle for existence will always be in Paul’s life.  At first he was with Barnabas, a fellow Jew, and then later he would journey with Silas, a Gentile.  But always there would be a target on his back.  Zealous people who were adverse to the Good News would plot and scheme to kill Paul.  He never knew safety from these haters.  They jailed him, beat him with rods, stoned him.  He was never out of harm’s way absent from these communities either.  For in between these Gentile cities there were gangsters and robbers who might accost him, stealing from him and abusing him.  He also faced natural disasters such as drowning at sea or in rivers.  Paul’s life was always precariously lived.  Jesus promised his disciples that their lives would always be on the line from persecution and even death.  I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)  These disciples knew the resurrected Lord, but still to follow Jesus unreservedly was a difficult assignment.  Peter complained about that when Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep.  Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then he said to him, “Follow me!”  (John 21:17-19)  With such a prognostication about his life, Peter wanted to know about John’s future.  Is he also going to be treated so terribly when he is old?  But Jesus told him not to be concerned about what might happen to John but to be concerned only about his life.  And his life should consist of following Jesus to the end.  As with all Christians we are buried IN CHRIST and we live IN CHRIST.  We will dance the dance Jesus made for us and we will sing the song he has prepared for us to sing.  We are his vessels as long as we live.  No other tune will we dance to or sing.  We know as children of God as we progress through our lives, the sweetness of Jesus’s voice as we dance.  His closeness, his song in our ears brings the warmth of love to us.  And someday as this earth passes from us, we will be present with God and his beloved Son.  Nothing we can think of is better than to be in the household of God.   Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.  Lord Almighty blessed is the one who trusts in you.  (Psalm 84:10-12)  Friends around this breakfast table as we look at each other, we know we will be present with the Lord.  Our faces might be glad or sad now, but one day all trials of this earth will disappear, tears will be wiped away, and joy will radiate our faces.  We love the account of Paul and Silas in jail.  Everyone in the jail heard them singing praises to God when they were chained in the depths of a jail.  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  (Acts 16:25)  Are we singing this morning, even in chains?  Or do we feel we are chained to a wall in an everlasting prison?  Dear ones, hear the redemptive music God is singing even when you despair.  Dance with him.  Paul had to hear that music or he would have quit many times.  But the music is always playing for you--the dance is always on.  As Jesus would say, You who have ears, hear the voice of God and his songs.     

Acts 13:40-52 Seeking a Home!

Acts 13:40-52  Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:  “‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your day that you would never believe, even if someone told you.  ’”As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.  When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.  On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy.  They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.  Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first.  Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.  The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.  But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.  They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.  And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

In the above scene we see Paul and Barnabas finishing up their work in Antioch of Pisidia.  For two weeks Paul had tried to convince the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles to follow Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  As in most of these Greek cities where they evangelized, some Jews but many God-fearing Gentiles accepted the Good News.  As the prophets foretold, many Jews were scoffers.  They wonder and perish for they fought openly against the Good News.  Paul became very tired of the Jews contradicting what he was ministering.  They heaped abuse on him, and probably as did the Greeks in Athens, Greece, they ridiculed what he said.  On the second Sabbath a large crowd gathered to hear what Paul was ministering; this made the Jews jealous to see such a large gathering.  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy.  Of course this happened in Jesus’ ministry too.  Large crowds followed him, making the elite Jews of Jerusalem jealous of him.  They knew they were losing the people to this man, Jesus.  Now In Antioch of Pisidia we see the same thing: jealousy and hatred of the two disciples of Christ.  Paul knew his commission from Christ was to go to the Gentile world, so that is why we find the two in Turkey.  However, since they were both Jews, they felt the best reception to the Good News would be from the Jews.  But Paul’s primary mission from Christ was to minister the gospel to the whole world.  I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.  So we see this once respected Rabbi, Paul, out into the the Gentile world, talking about a man, Jesus Christ, who was resurrected from the dead.  Paul had lost his place of honor within the Jewish community.  When he was hunting down Christians to have them murdered or at least tortured in Jerusalem, he had the confidence of the High Priest.  The elite priests of Jerusalem knew Paul had all the qualifications and qualities to be part of their brotherhood: leaders of the Jewish society in Israel.  He was a Pharisee who conformed to the laws and regulations of Judaism in the strictest manner.  (Acts 26:5).  Nevertheless, when Paul is presented to King Agrippa after his two years of confinement in a Roman prison, Governor Festus introduces him as a person hated by all Jews everywhere.  The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city.  At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.  Festus said: “King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, you see this man!  The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.  (Acts 25:23-24)  Paul was a scourge to the majority of the Jews everywhere.  When he was arrested in Jerusalem, the Roman soldiers had to lift him to their shoulders to keep the mob from killing him.  This once respected Rabbi, a darling of the elite, was now considered an anathema to the Jewish people.  He was perfect when he was killing Christians, but now he was hated by the majority of the Jews, who were willing to do anything to have him killed.  When he was killing others for the sake of Judaism, he was acceptable.  Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme.  I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.  (Acts 26:11)

Paul had lost everything in life: all of his closely held dreams of what he would become eventually as a strict follower of God.  He thought that through the works in his life as a dedicated follower of God, he would win many promotions in the Pharisee sect.  He probably knew he would after a time become part of the Sanhedrin that rules Israel.  Once loved by leaders of Israel, now he was hated by them, with a constant target on his back.  Jesus’ call to him on the road to Damascus cost him everything: his life, aspirations, dreams.  ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?  It is useless for you to fight against my will.’ "‘Who are you, lord?’  I asked.  “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.  Now get to your feet!  For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness.  Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.  And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles.  Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.  (Acts 26:14-18)  To emphasize this call, Saul was blinded for three days.  And we can assume that he requested many things from Jesus, but not to be an anathema to the whole Jewish community.  He might have pleaded with God as Jesus pleaded with God.  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  (Matthew 26:39)  But the cup was not taken away from Jesus and neither was it taken away from Paul’s life.  We hear Jesus say to Saul, Now get to your feet!  A command given to all of us who are born-again because we met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Your feet, your hands, your lips are to be used.  No divine intervention will happen; you will carry out your assignment in the flesh.  We heard the angel who rescued Peter from jail, “ Get to your feet and get dressed.  You are going to carry out your assignment in fleshly deeds and work."  Peter walked out of prison.  He had to walk.  He did not float out of prison, he walked!  Jesus carried the cross; He was totally in the flesh.  He did not just find himself at a place called Golgotha.  Jesus walked, Peter walked, and Paul will walk out his life, walking thousands of miles to drink the cup that God had placed on his life.  For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness.  Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.  And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles.  Jesus rescued him as he was on the missionary field, but finally in Rome after his mission was completed as God directed him.  It is told by history that Paul died a violent death.  When he fulfilled his mission, God took him home.  He found his home that he was seeking all along.

Paul was disgusted with his fellow Jews; he knew one reason they did not want to move away from Judaism: the cost in their lives would be very great. The followers of Jesus would certainly find themselves ostracized from the Jewish community.  No longer would they be accepted in the synagogues.  They would lose their standing in the Jewish society.  To be a follower of Jesus would carry much trauma.  The Jewish leaders and the Greeks of high standing rallied against Paul’s ministry.  The Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city.  They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.  So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium.  By this discouraging outcome of their ministry in Antioch of Prisida, Paul and Barnabas knew their target for the Good News was primarily the Gentiles.  We see later on in their ministry, some Jews believed but many Gentiles believed.  The strongest opposition to the Good News came primarily from their fellow Jews.  Paul always carried the charge of Jesus Christ when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  He could not avoid this command of Jesus.  He could never go back and blend into the Jewish community.  God had called him for a special mission, one that was held in the heart of God from the beginning that salvation through Jesus Christ is to all people.  God through Paul, would open the Good News to all people.  However, the cost was great to this missionary, Paul.  But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.  Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:7-11)  Paul was conformed to the death of his Savior, a cross-bearing life.  He counted his life as nothing.  He sold his life to Christ.  The price of servanthood is sometimes very great.  To keep in step with the Spirit sometimes leads us to a place where we do not feel comfortable.  For some of us, we say to ourselves, why should I start my day with Jesus and end my day with Jesus?  Why?  Because we are the light of the world; we are ambassadors of a kingdom that is eternal, that will never fade away.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  (John 14:1-3)  Paul’s whole ministry speaks of a home for all people that is eternal.  He spoke of a resurrected Christ who has paid the price for this home.  We shall never die if we put our trust in this gift of love: Jesus, who has been given to us by the Creator himself.  This message is pure love for all people whom He has made in his image.  It cost Paul a lot to deliver this message.  He lost honor and prestige with his own people to give this message to the world.  Then the question for us is how much are we paying for our home.  Are we unwilling “TO GET UP” and deliver the Good News in words and actions to all we meet?  Often we hear good messages coming from our pastors.  We hear them and say, Amen!   But then the feet, the hands, the lips that are necessary to carry out what we heard in church are not there.  Paul carried a message of Good News to the world.  At that time implementing the gospel message would cost some their lives and for others, they would face persecution.  In this Christmas season as we celebrate a little baby’s birth, let us remember in our celebration, that we, whether new or old in Christ, must carry out our assignment in life as Paul did.  The Jews in Antioch did not accept his message, but did not prevent him from going to Iconium.  Let no obstacle, no discourgement in our lives prevent us from going to Iconium.      

    

    

      

    

  

 

Acts 26-39 Seeds Grow on Good Soil!

Acts 26-39  “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.  The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.  Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.  When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.  But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  They are now his witnesses to our people.  “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestor, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.  As it is written in the second Psalm: “‘You are my son; today I have become your father.’  God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay.  As God has said,“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’  So it is also stated elsewhere:  “‘You will not let your holy one see decay.  “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.  But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.  “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

In the above passage we see Paul introducing the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch to Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus might have been known to some of them, for Jesus’ popularity had spread to other lands, but for most of them, they were probably quite ignorant of what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem and why.  Paul tells them that he and Barnabas and others, who knew and walked with Jesus, have the responsibility to present the message of salvation, the GOOD NEWS, to the world that has come in and through Jesus Christ.  The Romans, at the behest of the Jewish elite, executed Jesus on a cross.  By condemning Jesus to death, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.  Jesus' agonizing death on the cross fulfilled the Psalmist's words: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.  My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.  Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me they pierce my hands and my feet.  All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.  They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.  (Psalm 22:14-18)  In Jesus’ dying moments He experienced everything the prophets wrote about him.  He fulfilled their words of what the Messiah would experience in his last few minutes on earth.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away.  Yet who of his generation protested?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:7-9)  In the land of the living where people were enamored with violence and sin, He was sinless.  He carried their sins to his death.  He became God's propitiation for the people's sins.  Paul tells the people of Antioch, by the death of Jesus, God ransomed Jews and all others from the hands of the oppressor, the devil.  But God’s Messiah, Jesus, did not inhabit the tomb long, for as with Jonah, He was in the earth’s domain for only three days.  God raised him from the dead.  After his resurrection, he presented his resurrected self to his followers and commissioned them to tell of this Good News that God through faith in his works would give all people, everywhere, eternal life.  By being raised from the dead, He fulfills the promise God gave King David:  I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be his father, and he will be my son.  I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor.  I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.  (1 Chronicles 17:10-14)  Of course, David a man of flesh eventually fell asleep, he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.  But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.  But his offspring, God promised would never face decay, instead He would reign forever over the house of David and all others.  The Good News is that Jesus paid the price for sin and death.  Through him eternal life is guaranteed to all people who place their trust in his work on the cross.  He paid the complete price for the transgressions of humans, for their rebellious nature to the God of creation.

This promise of eternal life to all people began in the Garden.  God made people in his image, in his likeness.  In their freedom, Adam and Eve chose to go their own way.  This was part of God’s plan for humans from the beginning of time.  God made humans with the privilege to organize their lives as they desire, not necessarily as God desires for them.  Eve, because of Satan’s words, chose to be like God, to plan out her own existence.  This desire to be separated from God brought a condition of sin and rebellion in humans. The crescendo of this rebellious nature happened In Noah’s time, hundreds of years after creation.  The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  (Genesis 6:5)  God dealt with this generation by destroying them through the flood, starting over with mankind through Noah’s family.  Yet the decay of sin was still present in humans.  However, God was gracious to mankind and chose not to punish them further; instead, He gave them grace through an idol worshipper: Abraham.  God called Abraham’s family out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans, northern Turkey.  Later they settled in southern Turkey where Abraham’s father, Teran, died.  Then God through unmerited grace told Abraham to leave the land of his forefathers and settle in Canaan.  He also told Abraham things that were improbable or even impossible: The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  (Genesis 12:1-3)  This intervention into Abraham’s life left Abraham with a choice: either believe these words he heard from God or keep his mindset of believing in his idols.  He chose to believe God’s words, which God credited to him as righteousness.  God gave Abraham right standing with him because Abraham chose to believe God’s words instead of his inclination towards serving idols as the direction in his life.  Abraham so much believed God’s words that he even was willing to give up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice because God requested that of him.  For him, in his fleshly understanding, God could fulfill his promises to him through his son Isaac, but God asked him the unimaginable: give Isaac to me on an altar of sacrifice.  Because Abraham stood solid in his faith, God affirmed his words to Abraham by saying to him,  “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.  Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”  (Genesis 22:16-18)  Now Paul is affirming this blessing to Abraham in the synagogue in Antioch.  He and Barnabas and others are going to all lands spreading the Good News that was given to Abraham, through your offspring [Jesus] all nations on earth will be blessed.  This blessing is encapsulated by faith in Jesus Christ, the resurrected One.  Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

God has never lost contact with, or forgotten, his eternal plan to make humans into his own, eternal children.  Through freedom as God has freedom, the human race lost contact with God, rebellious to him and his nature.  To the Antioch congregation, Paul is declaring the Good News of God’s salvation plan to alter the composition of mankind, making them born-again people.  We see Paul quoting Psalm 2:7, You are my son; today I have become your father.   We know Christ from the beginning of time was united with God the Father.  He has always been with the Father, a part of the household of God.  But Jesus called himself, the Son of man.  Christ became flesh as we are flesh, and his flesh died, as we will die.  When resurrected, He became the universal created one, from the flesh, as the son of man, to eternal life: Today, you are my son, passing from the fleshly garment of a human into the raiment of eternal life.  We too who are buried with Jesus in faith will hear that announcement in our own resurrection: Today, your are my son or daughter.  We are the seed that fell on good ground.  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”  (Matthew 13:23)  We will flourish because of the work of Christ in us.  We are those that Jesus is not embarrassed to introduce us to his Father.  For we are those who accept the Good News of transformation of the flesh into eternal life.  This is a promise not only for us but to all the people of the world.  Each of the redeemed can say, I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.  (Isaiah 61:10-11).  The blessings of Abraham have come to all of his descendants.  And who are his descendants?  All who are clothed in righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ, the Jews first and then the Gentiles.  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  (Galatians 3:26-29)  We should consider the blessings of Abraham as ours.  He went to a new land, a land he did not own. There in that land he was promised that he would become the possessor of it.  All of this was unimaginable to his flesh, unobtainable for sure by human effort.  But God promised it to him, and it was fulfilled through his descendants who came out of slavery.  We too have been in slavery to sin and rebellion, but God has delivered us from slavery through the blood of Jesus Christ over our lives.  The Jews were delivered from Pharaoh’s hand, through the blood of lambs.  We have been delivered out of sin and death by the blood of THE LAMB.  Our release has been completed.  We now have a land to occupy, forever known as the kingdom of God.  We are no longer homeless, bound to the waywardness of this world.  We have a home with the eternal Father.  He will never leave us or abandon us, for He gave his only begotten Son for us.  This is the GOOD NEWS that Paul was trying to hammer home.  God’s salvation plan from the beginning has been culminated IN JESUS THE CHRIST who lives forever, so WIILL WE.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  (John 3:16-17)  Praise the Lord!