Heralds Digest

“When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭11:23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/act.11.23.nkjv While it is generally taken that believers are first called Christians in Antioch, it is mostly a general concern that sustaining the character and charisma of Christ is difficult. However, Barnabas appeared to open the silver lining in his exhortation to believers in Antioch by differentiating between God’s grace and the gracious God. It is always amazing to discover the benefits of God’s grace, including salvation from sin for the unthinkable, healing and deliverance from the bondage of sickness for the lawful captives, and engagement in the ministry for the least-worthy of men on earth. Notwithstanding, many are often not wary to ride grace with conscious focus on the gracious God. Whereas, Barnabas “encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with...

“And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭11:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/act.11.21.nkjv Faithfulness without fruitfulness breeds frustration. No matter how effectively managed, frustration is manifested by the variant of discouragement, delay, indifference, frivolity, insensitivity, etc. Although the persecuted disciples in the early church interpreted faithfulness as consistent commitment to the preaching of the gospel message, their commitment would have been fruitless without the helping hand of the Lord. Under the influence of the Spirit, discretionary sharing of the gospel message among different categories of recipients (Jews, Hellenes, Greeks, etc) quickly turns out as divine strategy. Little wonder how much we need the hand of the Lord in most frustrating family, work, and fellowship projects today. Instead of encouraging subtle frustration due to an absolute subscription into fruitless human management and...