THE AFTERMATH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Acts 13:42-44

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When we commit ourselves to obediently and boldly carry out the Lord’s will and way, seeking to fulfill His purposes and desires, there will always be a positive outcome. Maybe it will be immediately evident, maybe it will happen sometime later after the work for the Lord has been accomplished, but rest assured that good will come. There’s always going to be some happy ending to any effort done in the name of the Lord.

We see this first-hand as we approach the end of Acts, Chapter 13, as Paul finished up his message of exhortation and then issued a short warning to his Jewish listeners to not repeat the mistakes of their ancestors and write off the possibility that God could make something happen, even if it ranged beyond the point of believability.

How would the members of the synagogue respond to Paul, a membership that included Jews and God-fearing Gentiles?

We find out in our scripture passage for today. Look again at these words here:

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. Acts 13:42-44

After Jesus had spoken in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, the members wanted to toss Him over a cliff. But here, we see a very different outcome in the aftermath of Paul’s message. The people of the synagogue actually invited Paul to come back and speak further on the next Sabbath! They hadn’t had enough yet and were hungry to hear more about this good news found in Jesus that Paul had talked about.

Surprisingly, many of those who stayed around after the worship service had ended were Jews or “devout converts to Judaism”. The scriptures tell us they spoke with Paul and Barnabas who “urged them to continue in the grace of God”. And that was that, that is until the next Sabbath came. It was there that we read of the amazing aftermath of Paul and Barnabas Gospel work.

For we see in our passage that it wasn’t just the synagogue congregation gathered to hear Paul and Barnabas. Rather, “almost the whole city” of Pisidian Antioch “gathered to hear the word of the Lord.”

Think about that for a minute.

Nearly an entire city showed up to hear the Gospel. That was the aftermath of Paul’s message the week before.

Imagine this happening today. This is what it might like,

I live in Virginia Beach, a city of a little more of 450,000. A pastor comes into town and is invited to share a message of exhortation, an offer which he accepts. After he preaches on Sunday to a congregation of around 300, he is invited back to speak the next week to continue to share the promise of salvation from God through His Son Jesus. Word spreads around about the city about the message that the pastor delivered and when next Sunday comes around, 430 thousand people come to the church, a majority of which had never come to church before nor heard the Gospel. The church is overwhelmed by the response and quickly sets up a sound system outdoors so the pastor can deliver his message to the masses. That day, 300,000 people decide to follow Jesus and accept Him as their personal Savior.

Would all the people who attended the service in Pisidian Antioch choose to follow Jesus?

Not exactly. For as we’re going to see over the next two days, things start to go south for Paul and Barnabas, so much so that they have to relocate their ministry efforts.

Still, progress was made for the cause of Christ, all because of Paul’s willingness to speak boldly in the name of Jesus and allow God to take care of making sure there was a positive aftermath.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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