2-22-2025 Confirming souls
Acts 14:1-40,
Acts 15:36-41
Acts 14
Paul and
Barnabas went to Iconium and preached there. Unbelieving Jews stirred up the
Greeks there and they would have stoned Paul, but he and Barnabas fled to
Lystra and Derbe which were in the province of Lycaonia. Here, through Paul’s
ministry a lame man in Lystra was healed and the people called Paul and
Barnabas gods but Paul used this situation to preach Jesus. Certain Jews came up from Antioch who caused
an uproar over Paul’s teaching which resulted in the stoning of Paul. They presumed he was dead and threw his body
outside the city. The next day, Paul
stood up in the midst of the disciples and then he and Barnabas went and
preached in Derbe.
There in
Derbe), Paul preached the gospel and taught many and then returned to Lystra
and Antioch. There, he confirmed
the souls of the disciples and exhorted them to continue in the faith with the understanding
that they would experience difficulties.
Then he ordained elders in every church, prayed and fasted and
commended them to the lord, on those who believed (v 22–23).
Then they went
to Pamphylia via Pisidia and preached the word from Perga to Atalia. They returned to Antioch where they shared
the work which God had done and opened the door to the Gentiles.
Acts
15:36-41
After many
days, Paul said to Barnabas, “Lets go back to the cities we have been to and
see how they are doing”. There was
contention about taking John Mark with them so Paul took Silas and Barnabas
took Mark and they parted company. The brothers commended Paul Silas to God’s
grace and they went to Syria and Cilicia confirming souls (also Acts
18:22-23).
Take note
that Paul was in Corinth about a year and a half (Acts 18:11) and was in Ephesus
for about two years (Acts 19:10). In
other words, he didn’t just preach and go but he spent some time in the areas
he visited teaching the people and building a foundation for life.
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Paul took
time to assure tht people understood as he preached and revisited those who had
been converted through his ministry and assuring they had leaders to carry on
the work. Paul was concerned about their
welfare so he returned to verify their love for Jesus. Some of the churches did stray after Paul had
left, even of those he revisited. Even when
he was unable to return personally, he found himself writing letters to get
souls back on track.
Ministry is
not ‘just’ getting souls ‘saved’, but getting them grounded in the faith as
well.
Paul has
given an example for us non-Jewish believers (Gentiles). Paul left the people with a foundation for
their belief and a structure to encourage continuing growth in faith. Yes, structure is important, but structure
without true faith is incomplete. And
that structure should assure continuing growth in the love of God. Working with new Christians helps them
develop a reasonable level of Spiritual maturity and that they are in a place
where they can receive mature, Spiritual guidance for Spiritual growth from
other brothers as well as the Lord.
We are a
people of faith. We believe that our
Lord Jesus has provided us the way to eternal fellowship with the Father (Rom.
10:9). We believe that the Holy Ghost is
in us (1 Corinth. 3:16). We believe that
we should abide in God’s love (1 John 4:16).
So to please God, we know that we need to learn how to abide in
His love. If we don’t believe God is,
how can we abide in His love (Heb. 11:6)?
Jesus defines God’s love as “Hear (listen up!), the Lord our God is one
Lord and you should love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength and the second commandment is like it “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself” (Mark 12:29-31). The Law, the
prophets and everything since then hangs on these two commandments (Matt.
22:40), from Genesis to Revelation.
These 66 books (73 if you’re Catholic) describe how God loves us and how
we should love Him in return. Many
examples of good and bad are given throughout the scriptures for our
benefit. Yes, we see examples of what
not to do as well as what we should be doing.
Faith
without works is dead (James 2:14-26) and yet works without faith is just an
empty shell (Matt. 6:1-8). We show our
faith in the Lord by doing His good works in what we say and do. We know the cliché “actions speak louder than
words”? So, our actions and our words
should always be in agreement. There are
many organizations and groups that advocate mentorship, discipleship and
Spiritual growth and these are good.
They advocate learning how to walk closer with our Lord, but are these
concepts working as they should in today’s churches?
Read the
scriptures and we see the terms “shall be saved” (Acts, 2:38, Rom. 10:13). Jesus clarifies this by saying “Not everyone
that says ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does
the will of My Father (Matt. 7:21).
As we grow in God’s love, our Spiritual growth is assured which
reassures (in our heart) entrance into heaven (eternal life).
Confessing
Jesus as Lord and Savior is just the first step but as we abide in God’s love,
the Holy Ghost confirms that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). Are we listening to the Holy Ghost? As examples for us, Paul encountered twelve
men in Ephesus. As he talked with them,
he realized that they had never been baptized in the Holy Ghost and Paul laid
hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-7). Cornelius and his household received he
baptism of the Holy Ghost as Peter preached to them (Acts 10:44-48). The Holy Ghost gives us the power to live and
do what we need to do (Acts 1:8, Acts 3:12-16, Phil. 4:13). As He abides in us
(John 14:16), He leads us into all truth and understanding (John 16:13). As we continue to grow, this helps us to help
others grow in the Spirit so we all can receive greater doses of God’s love and
mature therein.
We help
others to grow in the Lord and as we are confirmed, we grow in love and in the
Spirit. As we grow, we learn to
recognize Father’s love for ourselves and move into a deeper relationship with
our Lord and Savior. Reassurance of our
relationship with Father comes from the Holy Ghost and others.
Paul made
effort to reconfirm souls to assure that they were on the right track and be
part of God’s heavenly kingdom. How is
this being done in today’s church?
As Paul
followed Jesus, are we following his example?
Amen