Quarantine Devotional – Day 12

Passage to Ponder: Acts 14:1-23

“After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” -Acts 14:21-22 (NLT)

   

  STOP! If you didn’t take a few minutes to read Acts 14:1-23, do it now. If you don’t, you won’t get the impact of “They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” I’ll stop writing and give you a minute to read it. I’ll start writing again when you get back…

  …All done? Good! The chapter began with such an exciting event, didn’t it? Paul and Barnabas preach in the synagogue at Iconium (in modern south-central Turkey) and many people become Christians—both Jewish and Gentile. Have you ever noticed that when your faith is going well that it doesn’t take very long for opposition to arise? When life is smooth sailing that the seas start raging? Some of these things are the natural course of life. We all have ups and downs. But that is not what happened to Paul and Barnabas. They weren’t victims of circumstances; they were under attack from the enemy. Wicked people fought against them until it reached the point where they were forced to leave town. 

  Just down the road were the twin cities of Derbe and Lystra. At Lystra, the attack began again. This time Paul was taken outside of town and stoned to the point that his enemies figured he was dead and left his battered body there in the ditch by the road for the vultures. Verse 20 is one of the most poignant verses in the Bible. “But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.” Wow! Bloodied, bruised and left for dead on the edge of town, Paul struggled back to his feet and went back into Lystra! He went back into the battle! Rocky Balboa was a wimp compared to the Apostle Paul. I don’t think Rocky would have gotten back into the ring if the crowd watching the fight was bent on killing him. But Paul got back in the ring! The next day he went down the road to Derbe to preach. Then verse 21 tells us that Paul doubled back through Lystra on the way back home to Antioch.

  Serving the Lord is easy at times. God is gracious to ring the bell to end the round of the fight and let you sit on the stool in the corner to catch your breath and drink some water. But then the bell sounds and it is time to get back into the fight! You are going to take some punches. You might even get knocked down a few times.  Then the real fight reaches it hardest moment. Defeat or victory is decided while you are down on the canvas with the world counting down from 10. It is the battle of your faith. Will you get up off the canvas and get back in the fight? Will you throw in the towel of surrender? 

  In all those Rocky movies do you know why Rocky Balboa kept getting back up after being knocked down? IT WAS IN THE SCRIPT! If Rocky didn’t get back up, there would be no point of making the movie. The script said the end was not going to be in doubt. Now look again at verse 22…“They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” You can choose faith and get up again in the face of many hardships because the end of the SCRIPTure says that after the fight you will “enter the Kingdom of God”!

   

Love,
Pastor Larry

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(This is from a series of devotionals written during our time of restricted meetings and activities due to the coronavirus.)