Fickle People!

Job 9; Job 10; Acts 13; Acts 14

Scripture

Acts 14: 8-20 “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 “Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.”

Observation

“Never take a pat on the back unless it is way down low”, that is what Dr. Waylon Moore used to tell me when I first started out in ministry! Don’t let flattery go to your head. Paul and Barnabas knew that it wasn’t by their power that the man was healed.

These people one minute were going to bow down and worship Paul and Barnabas as the gods, Zeus and Hermes and then the next minute they stoned Paul and they dragged him out of the city and left him for dead! To my amazement the apostle Paul got up and went back into the city! I bet no one messed with Paul when he walked back into that city. He must have looked pretty dead when they left him outside of town! They may have thought that he sure enough was a god when he walked right back into the city!

It is always a good to remember that there is a big difference between an honest compliment and flattery.

Application

Paul and Barnabas didn’t share the Good News because it made them popular. We don’t serve Christ just to have people like us. Not everybody is going to like us.


Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me be faithful serving you no matter what. Help me to share the Good News with folks this week. Keep my heart pure and my motives pure. Thank you for the conference that I was able to attend today. Thank you for the encouragement that I received by participating. Thank you for those that went with me and for what you are going to do in their lives.



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