Acts Chapter Thirteen
How are you coming along in reading a chapter of Acts each day? I trust that you are reading, not just "cuz we’re supposed to read this", but so that the message can speak to your heart. Acts carries a potent message. The story of the church in Acts is a story of power in action. The more we read the more we see God’s supernatural power impacting the world. Let me remind you that God never changes. His power is just as strong today as ever. The battles today are just as strong as they were back 2,000 years ago. The road to victory is the same – the power of God.
Acts Thirteen starts out something that is central to the heart of God – MISSIONS. Verse two includes the statement: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." God called them to missions, to spread the message of the salvation Jesus bought and paid for on the cross. God is still calling people today to go and tell the message of the love of Jesus.
Why is missions so important? Because no one can do anything more important in their life than receive Jesus as their personal Savior. No one will know about Jesus if someone doesn’t tell them. Hence, missions is critical to God’s plan. We must continue our involvement in missions today because the world needs the message of the love of Jesus more than ever. Chapter thirteen describes the beginning of the first missionary journey. The forces of evil are working hard today to stop the spread of the message of Jesus. We must wholeheartedly support it.
We see the supernatural work of the Spirit of God working through these missionaries, Barnabas and Saul. They faced tough spiritual battles and the power of God in their lives is the only way they made it. We must understand that the only way to win the spiritual battles is through the supernatural power of God.
Chapter thirteen has a few interesting transitions. It starts out talking about Barnabas and Saul. Luke begins to refer to Saul as Paul. He changed his name and this is where the transition took place. The reason for the name change is that God was opening up the ministry to the Gentiles. Paul was called by God to minister to Gentiles. Paul is a form of the Latin name that means "little". We see through Paul’s writings that he had no desire to draw all the glory to himself, but to God.
Included in these transitions in chapter thirteen is that the names are shifted around and it became Paul and Barnabas. Paul rose to leadership in the missions ministry. God’s call was on his life from the beginning, from the time of his salvation. Paul became one of the leading apologists for Jesus. We are also seeing here some of the fulfillment of the prophecy given at the time of his salvation, I will show him the things he will suffer for my sake.
Keep reading a chapter a day. Keep letting God speak to your heart. We are on an exciting journey.
