“21. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. 26. And when he had found him(Saul=Paul), he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Your driving down a back road and see two hunters dressed in camo or hunter orange, loading up a deer; do you think to yourself, are those guys hunters? Or maybe they don’t even have a deer, but just dressed for the field with gun or bow in hand! Let’s say you stop to have conversation with them! Do you ask them if they are hunters? Do they say to you we are hunters? No, that is obvious! Most of the time you can tell a hunter from a non hunter by how they act, how they talk, how they dress, or even a dead animal in the back of the truck! When you go hunting and bump into others you surely don’t have to tell them your a hunter, they can figure it out real quick. Where is Christianity today? What makes someone a Christian? Its sad to see religion across the country and the world, that quickly say, I am a Christian, but yet their deeds and lifestyle don’t add up to anything but sin. We can see in this passage of scripture that the first term of Christian came about at Antioch. Paul and Barnabas are two names mentioned in this passage of scripture. There are some important things to know about these two that would signify Christian: it appears that Barnabas may have received Jesus Christ as his Savior in Acts chapter four, it may have been prior, but it is certain he was saved. Paul, who is still called Saul at this point was saved in Acts chapter nine on the road to Damascus. When Paul and Barnabas was saved they were not called Christians even at that point, but we can draw the conclusion that as they lived Godly and holy lives they were identified as Christians. In these two verses of scripture we can see that they were preaching the gospel and assembling with the church! Are you a Christian? Do you tell yourself your a Christian, or do others see Jesus Christ living in you? Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Salvation must come before good works, but after we are saved the world should see Jesus Christ living in you! Are you at church faithfully? Are you preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to others? If your not doing these two things, how does the world identify you to be a Christian? Remember its that camo and bow that makes things obvious! When your soul-winning, people will see that your a Christian and you wont have to tell them!
Memory Verse Week 3/5/18
Ephesians 2:10
“For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
