The patient pursuer of our hearts has been on a rescue and redemption mission since Genesis 3 for His beloved creation. Out of captivity, the God of the Universe led the Israelites by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21). The Lord drove the sea back and turned it into dry land to lead His people to safety (Exodus 14:21). Later, in the person of Jesus, \u201cthe Word became flesh and dwelt among us\u201d (John 1:14). What the Israelites thought was a rescue and redemption mission for them alone was, in fact, a God-orchestrated mission for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This mission continues in the book of Acts. But as the disciples began to make disciples, trouble found them again. Persecution of the church in Jerusalem led to a scattering of God’s people throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The church had \u201cdevoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer\u201d (Acts 2:42). Yet opposition, hardship, and persecution accompanied the blessings, miracles, and the spreading of the gospel. Rather than insist on their original church planting blueprint, they instead adapted and adjusted to these devastating roadblocks despite their disappointment and fear of the future. The result? \u201cThe Lord\u2019s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord\u201d (Acts 11:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you handle the detours of life? You know, when you\u2019ve planned, prayed, and prepared for the trip, the purchase of a home, or the career\u2014and out of nowhere, the lane you\u2019re driving in is closed and you\u2019re forced to abandon your original plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though it might be hard to realize in the midst of the season, there are gifts from God in the roadblocks we face. Most often those gifts extend far beyond our own lives as God performs miracles, signs, and wonders for the building up of His body and for the display of His glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The violence and persecution the Church experienced in Jerusalem were not the end of the story. Although it was not the way they had planned to spread the message of Christ, their dispersion allowed the church in Antioch to be born\u2014a multi-ethnic melting pot of people who played a pivotal role in spreading the gospel message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Church could have given up, and the gospel message could have stopped right there in Jerusalem. But the rescue mission continued. Though they were persecuted, they persevered, and many came to know Christ in Antioch and other regions of the world. May we, too, continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise and not neglect doing good in Jesus’s name (Hebrews 13:15\u201316). Even in the detours, we have the beautiful opportunity to turn toward people whom God loves and share with them the good news of His saving grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The patient pursuer of our hearts has been on a rescue and redemption mission since Genesis 3 for His beloved creation. Out of captivity, the God of the Universe led the Israelites by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21). The Lord drove the sea back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":72918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts26"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73104],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH<\/b>
\r\nby Rachael Wade<\/i>
\r\n
The patient pursuer of our hearts has been on a rescue and redemption mission since Genesis 3 for His beloved creation. Out of captivity, the God of the Universe led the Israelites by day in a pillar of cloud and by night in a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21). The Lord drove the sea back and turned it into dry land to lead His people to safety (Exodus 14:21). Later, in the person of Jesus, \u201cthe Word became flesh and dwelt among us\u201d (John 1:14). What the Israelites thought was a rescue and redemption mission for them alone was, in fact, a God-orchestrated mission for all.<\/p>
\r\n
This mission continues in the book of Acts. But as the disciples began to make disciples, trouble found them again. Persecution of the church in Jerusalem led to a scattering of God's people throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1).<\/p>
\r\n
The church had \u201cdevoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer\u201d (Acts 2:42). Yet opposition, hardship, and persecution accompanied the blessings, miracles, and the spreading of the gospel. Rather than insist on their original church planting blueprint, they instead adapted and adjusted to these devastating roadblocks despite their disappointment and fear of the future. The result? \u201cThe Lord\u2019s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord\u201d (Acts 11:21).<\/p>
\r\n
How do you handle the detours of life? You know, when you\u2019ve planned, prayed, and prepared for the trip, the purchase of a home, or the career\u2014and out of nowhere, the lane you\u2019re driving in is closed and you\u2019re forced to abandon your original plan?<\/p>
\r\n
Though it might be hard to realize in the midst of the season, there are gifts from God in the roadblocks we face. Most often those gifts extend far beyond our own lives as God performs miracles, signs, and wonders for the building up of His body and for the display of His glory.<\/p>
\r\n
The violence and persecution the Church experienced in Jerusalem were not the end of the story. Although it was not the way they had planned to spread the message of Christ, their dispersion allowed the church in Antioch to be born\u2014a multi-ethnic melting pot of people who played a pivotal role in spreading the gospel message.<\/p>
\r\n
The Church could have given up, and the gospel message could have stopped right there in Jerusalem. But the rescue mission continued. Though they were persecuted, they persevered, and many came to know Christ in Antioch and other regions of the world. May we, too, continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise and not neglect doing good in Jesus's name (Hebrews 13:15\u201316). Even in the detours, we have the beautiful opportunity to turn toward people whom God loves and share with them the good news of His saving grace.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"17","scripture":"Acts 11:1-30, Hebrews 13:15-16, 1 Peter 4:16-19","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}