Author: missionspaul

Who is behind you?

Acts 15: 36 “Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

In the age of only knowing what is going on in people’s lives other than you visit them, Paul suggested they go back to see how the believers brought in by their ministry were doing.

I think the most amazing reward in life is to have people behind you who you influenced in some way.

This morning I will again go to the hospital to visit my friend David Tinnion who is seriously ill. I posted his need on facebook and was not surprised to see many people from all over the world sending greetings but also stating how David had touched their life in some way in the past.

Look behind you for a moment, who is there? There will be people you have forgotten. Your acts of kindness, neighbours, old friends, work colleagues, church believers, your words of comfort, cards and letters you have written.

They are innumerable. More than you probably will care to admit. Your humility won’t allow you to speak the truth probably for fear of pride. But the fact is you have many people in your past who benefited from you in some way, small or large.

Look back, how are they doing today?

I often ask this question. My friend in the hospital today fighting for his life, he has a trail of people behind him.

This is the success, the reward of life. It is what you give to others that counts for everything. It is who you have in the past who is better because your path crossed theirs. That my friends is what life is about.

 

Preachers and teachers

Acts 15:35

“But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.”

The circumcision issue is dealt with. Judas returns to Jerusalem with some others, Silas remains along with Paul and Barnabas.

Can you now notice what Luke records?

He doesn’t mention the salvations and healings etc and there would have been those to report about.

He focuses on the teaching and the preaching of God’s Word.

We need both today in our Churches.

Can you imagine if every Church had teachers and preachers?

There should always be an element that is shared in each, for example in teaching, what good is knowledge and understanding if there is no application towards decision? What good is preaching when calling people to live for Christ if there is no knowledge of how to do this?

But I believe we need both unique and separate gifts within the Church.

Preachers have a mixed crowd of believers and non-believers. If they used some teaching element or a theological word like ‘Trinity’ it is really important that they also take the time to explain it, but it does take up their valuable time. Teachers are generally speaking to believers who are there to receive further understanding in order to grow in their knowledge of God. It doesn’t matter how much time it takes to understand the ‘Trinity’ as that could well be what the teaching is about. However teaching always needs to move people to make a decision too.

Several years ago I appointed one of my assistants to be the teacher. I still have those notes on this laptop as I write my morning blog: Angels/Baptisms/Fasting/Heaven and Hell/Homosexuality/Islam/Predestination/Spiritual gifts/The Bible/Trinity. It was a valuable time for sure. The church may not have realised what was happening at the time but they were receiving continued preaching calling them to make decisions and then they were also receiving teaching helping them to live out those decisions for God.

Preachers and teachers are needed.

Preaching is usually monologue style from behind a pulpit whereas teaching can be a variety of styles from Q+A to classroom discussions to even interruptions within the teaching session with observations and questions.

Now that I work with Elim around the world I see one of the greatest needs of the church is for more teachers. It is the most common request. We need teaching on leadership, on the Bible, on practical ministries. I get requests even for teaching for preaching.

I love these 2 gifts. I love great preaching and great teaching. The Church needs both.

 

Why did you stay Silas?

Acts 15:34 (Some manuscripts include here) “But Silas decided to remain there”.

Why did Silas remain in Antioch after he and Judas had been sent away in peace?

Many theologians have their opinions and theories.

The fact is that Paul and Barnabas were remaining in Antioch and Silas decided he would remain there too.

Wherever Paul and his team went then it seemed God was doing something whether healings, salvations and deliverances.

With the teaching given and accepted and now the possibility that many more Gentiles will come into salvation, maybe Silas wanted to be there to see this happen.

I don’t know why Silas remained but he did.

But if I was him I would want to be with leaders who knew God. If I was him I would want to be where God was. If I was him I want to be where the Spirit is bringing revelation and there is freedom in the Church. I still do.

 

 

Sometimes it takes time.

Acts 15:33 “After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.”

Sometimes it takes time. Decisions needing to be made can take time to convey to people. There can be a tendency for leaders to rush through their views, their desires and their vision. They have held the roadmap for a long time and what they don’t want is any wasted time. But time over such important decisions and communications is never wasted. We need to allow people to take whatever time they need to fully understand. And for these people of Antioch? ‘Don’t listen to the Pharisaic believers, you don’t need to be circumcised, you belong to God now.’ It took time for the Antioch church to receive this, it was too good to be true, but it was true and Judas and Silas spent time explaining it to them.

Sometimes it takes time. I remember a few years ago visiting some people with a fellow minister and prior to stepping into that meeting the minister said to me, ‘let’s get this over with and get out of here.’ The whole point was going and coming away, not being there. Receiving a blessing of peace does not come after a rushed meeting.

Let’s slow things down with people. Let’s take time with our conversations especially when we are bringing hope and encouragement. People deserve the time. Let’s enjoy our conversations today. Sometimes it takes time.

 

Prophets, Preachers and People

Acts 15:32 “Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

Prophets are needed where the threat of performance religion exists.

Prophets are needed where division and disunity is rising.

Prophets are needed when decisions are to be made.

Prophets are needed when the people are discouraged.

Prophets are needed when hope is dying.

 

We need preachers who carry words from God.

We need preachers not preaching their favourite subject or spouting their latest theories.

We need preaching that comes from God that speaks into the heart of true situations.

We need preaching that says much, not necessarily the amount of words but the depth and variety of the approach to the message.

We need preaching that leaves the hearers stronger not weaker.

 

People need to hear and listen.

People need to believe, believers must believe!

People need to be ready to move from discouragement.

 

Let God work through prophets and preachers so that His people are strengthened.

 

Happy Church

Acts 15:31 “The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message”.

At last the people are glad.

The message freed them from those who were laying regulations of circumcision and other things on them. They had been coming under a weight of performance that they just could not accomplish.

Then they read the letter and they were relieved, they were happy.

Let the Church be glad today. There is no guilt nor condemnation because there is no law.

They were glad because they were saved.

It might seem trivial perhaps. But perhaps there should be such happiness in every Church.

May there be the joy of our salvation within the heart of the Church again.

 

Send carefully

Acts 15:30

So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.

The team arrive into Antioch and hand over the letter from the Jerusalem Church.

The letter has gone.

The email has been sent.

Whatever we write we need to make sure that once it has left our hands we have no regrets over anything that we have written. The tip is not to write in any state of high emotion.

Whatever we write we need to make sure that we give the correct letter to be delivered and to prevent any 2017 Oscar mishap when the wrong winner was announced!

Whatever we write, check it first. This last week a Columbia University sent out emails to 277 students accepting them onto their Masters programme. Then 75 minutes later they had to email again to apologise to say they were in error. The New York Times called it ‘the dumbest mistake ever’.

In finding that story above I have just waded through a whole bunch of articles on websites for ‘what to do when sending the wrong email’ ‘how to recover your ground when posting the wrong letter’. It would seem there is a whole business out there for when business goes wrong because of lack of concentration or a heated moment! All these sites give examples of apology letters to send. I never realised this happened so frequently!

These last few years one major thing I have learnt in my communication is this: sleep on it. Do it tomorrow if it so urgent that today I could get it so wrong.

So before you send anything today, think, let someone else read it, walk away from it and come back to it because once it has gone it has gone.

Actually there are stacks of websites dedicated to retrieving the email or the letter wrongfully sent. But sadly the only guaranteed way is to go to the house of the recipient and attack the postman before he delivers the letter or also you could break in to the house and hack into the recipients email accounts and then delete the email.

Takes a bit of effort though.

My recommendation is sleep on it.

 

 

Not Goodbye but Farewell, do well.

Acts 15: 29

“You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. “

This is not a compromise with circumcision. The letter from the Jerusalem HQ was not saying ‘if you do the following then you won’t have to be circumcised’.

In fact the vocabulary is far less than a commandment, ‘you will do well’.

However, the whole point is that they aim for unity. Jerusalem and Antioch must not part company. The circumcision issue must not divide. If these Gentile believers paid attention to these practices associated with idolatry then it will make for an easier relationship with Jerusalem.

It is a lesson for us all. Do not let your actions cause division. Even if you feel totally free to take such an action, do not offend your brothers and sisters.

Farewell. Let it go well with you. May you be blessed. The sign-off is good, it is wholesome and it is for their benefit. Jerusalem want Antioch to prosper. That’s how we should address each other too. That’s how we should end the conversation. That is how we part company. We leave no room for any escalation of division.

I have had to say goodbye to many in my life. Some couldn’t come with me and some didn’t want to. Others left me and I couldn’t go with them. I know I will face in the near future the same situation –

But as I reflect back I ask myself did I say farewell? Did I bless them? I think of them as I write this and I wonder how they are doing. I hope they are doing well.

 

The Spirit is here

Acts 15:28

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements”

The most beautiful line in the New Testament showing the partnership of the Spirit with our lives has got to be this very verse.

The letter is being read out to the Antioch believers and the Jerusalem church is saying that after much discussion over the topic of circumcision they had decided it was not a means or evidence of salvation and that this seemed good to them and also to the Spirit.

“Thus says the Lord” is often what we are used to.

As a young person I struggled because I wanted to be able to say that but I was so uncertain over the will and purpose of God. I have grown wiser over the years. I no longer view the Spirit who gives me orders that I have to obey. The Spirit is with me, alongside me, leading me yes but He is ‘for me’ more than anything. He wants me to succeed. He wants me to influence, to make good decisions, to bring changes and to protect His works where no change is needed.

How did this phrase really take shape? How do we know what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us?

It could be through a prophetic word, vision or dream or through the use of Scripture shedding some light on to the topic.

And to us? That could be unity of discussion within the group. There is strength in numbers. We benefit by including people.

The Holy Spirit and to us.

Partnership.

Together.

Let us thank the Spirit for His presence in our lives today.

 

 

Arrange that meeting

Acts 15:27

“Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing”.

The men who we chose to send with Paul and Barnabas are Judas and Silas, they are men who have risked their lives for the gospel. We are sending you the best.

Sometimes an issue is so important that an email/text/messenger is not enough. The quickest route is not always the correct route.

Face to face. It takes time, sometimes painfully slow, but the correct route can be the longest.

There may be issues in your life today that need your attention. The best option for you is maybe to write a letter as it takes longer than the normal way of communication or it may be to arrange a meeting over coffee. Go long that’s the point. The more effort is revealed the greater the impact.