A Deliberate Call
The book of Acts is one of my favorites. It is rich in historical data, sets forth the foundation of the New Testament Church, chronicles the exploits of the Apostles, and provides an overview of the life of Paul. For today's post, I want to use a portion of chapter 26; copied here from the KJV. Follow this link for the entire chapter.
16But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Here Paul recounts the words previously recorded in Acts 9:3-6 then elaborates a bit more on the message from Christ in verses 16 - 18. For our study today; I want to glean from the text some reasons Christ makes Himself known to us. Why He takes us out of the world just to send us back unto it.
- to make us His ministers/servants
- to make us testimonials/witnesses of His power/acts
- to use us as His heralds of the revelations He will show us
- to enable us to enlighten others; to be guides
- to aid us in turning others from darkness into light; to be reflections of the Light
- to use us to loose those who are bound by satan; to be agents of deliverance
- to use us to teach sinners what is required to be forgiven; to be teachers
- and to show them how to lay claim to what belongs to the sanctified; to be models
No different than Paul; we all are called and empowered to be His witnesses. We must declare the same message as Paul, as we minister to the world .
Also worth mentioning: We must be knocked off of our "high horse"of sinfulness before we can be of use to the Lord. Secondly, we have to stand up/become attentive in order to receive instructions for salvation and ministry. We can't work in the Kingdom lying down!
4 comments:
Thank you for stopping by Dancing in the Light. I hope you come back. I have been visiting and reading here. You are a very gifted writer. I appreciate this post very much. Too many of us think Christianity just happens, we can sit around and wait for eternity. You are right about not being able to work lying down. We need to get up and get with if we want to go home.
Peace
neva
This is a great post!!!
Are you refering to what I call "passive Christians"? Those who douse the fire within, and become comfortable in the waiting, go to church on Sunday morning, and are too accepting of the ways of the world after leaving the "building"? We ALL need to be active in the body of Christ. Everything, no matter how seemingly small, that is done for Him is important and is a major contribution to the body. I think many of us need a time for learning, but there does come a time when each person will not grow until he is extending his roots, (which is the list you have posted here) I call it "stepping out".
Thanks for stopping by, my sisters.
Rita, passive is one word for them. Lazy will fit some of those folks too. blessings to you all.
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