{"id":1653,"date":"2019-06-19T05:01:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T13:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2019-06-19T05:01:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T13:01:05","slug":"devotion-acts-1119-21-a-plan-for-all-to-know-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1653","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 11:19-21 A Plan For All To Know Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    Acts 11:19-21\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed\u00a0traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,\u00a0spreading the word only among Jews.\u00a020\u00a0Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene,\u00a0went to Antioch\u00a0and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news\u00a0about the Lord Jesus.\u00a021\u00a0The Lord\u2019s hand was with them,\u00a0and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

    \u201cSome of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene,\u00a0went to Antioch\u00a0and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news\u00a0about the Lord Jesus.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 As\u00a0V19<\/b>\u00a0has told us, most of the Christians were Jews who were telling other Jews, as they encountered them, about Messiah Jesus.\u00a0 However there were some Christians, who lived among the Gentiles and whom may have been converts to Judaism who then became Christians, spread the Word among the Gentiles.\u00a0 Acts amanuensis Luke has been revealing to us the plan of God to bring salvation to the world.\u00a0 God is cracking away the hard Jewish shell of belief that God belongs only to them.\u00a0\u00a0 But He has selected and prepared the right people to begin the sharing of the Gospel to the whole world. Praise God!<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe Lord\u2019s hand was with them,\u00a0and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.<\/i>\u201d As these from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to share, God was with them and as they shared to the Greeks (Gentiles) a great number believed and turned to Messiah Jesus.<\/p>\n

    It is noteworthy to remember that Barnabas was also from Cyprus, which is a sizable island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria.\u00a0 Barnabas was not one of this initial group, but his name means something like son of consolation, exhortation or comfort.\u00a0 He was perfect for discipling new believers.\u00a0 As Cyprus was his hometown and the Lord had gifted him as an encourager, Barnabas was the right person for the job to encourage them.<\/p>\n

    Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.\u00a0 It was largely gentile populated and chief among their idols was Daphne whose legend is that she was the daughter of a river god and she was very beautiful.\u00a0 She was virtuous and resisted the advances of all, including Apollo.\u00a0 When fleeing the pursuit of Apollo she prayed to the earth, or her father, to rescue her.\u00a0 She was transformed into a laurel and then Apollo caused the laurel to be what was worn by poets.\u00a0 The people of Antioch, as was usual with Gentile cities, was steeped in such idolatry.<\/p>\n

    It is strange how it is easy for us to assign the people lost in deep sin as people who would not be interested in hearing the Good News of salvation through Jesus.\u00a0 Yet, God has shown over and over again that they are the very people who often run the quickest to His grace (Luke 7:47<\/b>).\u00a0 We see that if a person considers themselves \u201cgood,\u201d and if that may seem so by the world\u2019s standards, then pride wells up in that person and that person thinks they have no reason to be saved.\u00a0 But the one who regrets and cries over their many sins, often runs to the grace of God.\u00a0 They don\u2019t need to be convinced that they are sinners, they know they are.\u00a0 When they are presented with the free grace of God, they run to it.\u00a0 They instantly know that the grace of God through Jesus is their only hope.\u00a0 They know what all people should know, that they can never be good enough by their own merit.\u00a0 It is only through Jesus that we are welcome to live eternally at peace with our God.<\/p>\n

    God has always had a plan to save men, even before the sin of man.\u00a0 God has a plan to save the world.\u00a0 It began with the Jew and then was extended to every other person.\u00a0\u00a0 Praise God who has loved the whole world that He always had a plan to save all from eternal torment, that is all who would come to Him through Messiah Jesus.\u00a0 The mysteries of God\u2019s salvation plans are deep and wonderful and a mystery that He reveals to us as we walk with Him.\u00a0 We see that God loves to walk and talk with us and to give to us from the riches of His wisdom and knowledge.\u00a0 Praise our God, truly He is good and loving!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

    Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

    Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

    Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Acts 11:19-21\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed\u00a0traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,\u00a0spreading the word only among Jews.\u00a020\u00a0Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene,\u00a0went to Antioch\u00a0and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news\u00a0about the Lord Jesus.\u00a021\u00a0The Lord\u2019s hand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,106,94,17],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-luke","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1654,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/1654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}