More on More than Words...

Update to today's post-

In reflecting on today's lesson and after further prayer I believe there is an important message that I initially missed in the passage I read today.  So here Paul and Barnabas come into Lystra and Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to pronounce a man healed. The witnesses reacted by ascribing deity to Paul and Barnabas and they began to offer sacrifices to them...

Acts 14:8–15 (ESV)⁸ Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, ¹⁰ said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. ¹¹ And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹² Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. ¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.  

Paul and Barnabas were distraught over this and pleaded a very important message to this crowd that I now plead to any that would hear...

The example of the apostles who were used by the Lord, the example of the apostles that hear his voice, the example of the apostles who fast and pray, the example of the apostles that sacrifice their lives for the kingdom, the example of the apostles that impact generations, the example of the apostles that live with conviction and purpose, the example of the apostles that carried the message of salvation, the example of the apostles that had compassion for the lost and the needy, the example of the apostles who were sold out to their great commission, the example of the apostles who sought to be blameless and pure, the examples of the apostles who walked with Jesus, the example of the apostles who did things we think amazing and impossible, the example of the apostles who loved the Lord and served each other as brothers bound to one another in love, the example of the apostles who feared God, the example of the apostles who made his kingdom their vocation, the example of the apostles who knew of the grace and the mercy of God and who prayed like nothing would happen without it...

These were men like us. 

These were men with a nature like us. These were sinners. These were men that needed to eat and needed a place to sleep and who had friends and who had problems...

We can read about men like this. We can also read about the mighty men of the recent centuries who had powerful lives of prayer and were filled with the Holy Spirit. We can read about heroes of old. We can read about men who sacrificed for their families and for their faith. We can read about men that make us praise God's goodness. We can read of men that change their world. We can read of men that impact generations through their selfless obedience to Christ. We can read about men who wake in the early hours to meet with their Savior in that quiet place of prayer. We can read of the men who pray earnestly for their families day by day. We can read of the men who pray for their neighbors and their pastor and their own hearts...

Or we can be those men.

Soli Deo Gloria!