TWO RESPONSES
ACTS 13:46-48 NKJV
46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us:
'I have set you as a light to the Gentiles,
That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
This chapter begins the story of Paul and Barnabus. They had been supernaturally sent out by the Holy Spirit and began their ministry of spreading the gospel of Christ.
In our passage for today, they had come to the city of Antioch. On the Sabbath, they went to the synagogue and were given the opportunity to speak to the people.
This is where we see the pattern that Paul would use all over the world. He would go to the synagogues and speak to the Jews first. Then he would take his message to the Gentiles.
Paul would always appeal to the Jews from the context of Old Testament scriptures. They knew scripture and knew the history of God's dealings with His people.
Paul's sermon was a great job of showing how God had reached out to His people. He would always wind up preaching Jesus as the Savior and Messiah.
The first response to Paul's message was positive. The next Sabbath, the crowds showed up in big numbers. Instead of being excited, the Jews were envious. They had never had this type of response.
Paul boldly spoke that since they rejected the word of God, they would turn to the Gentiles. And that became the pattern. Jews had a chance to receive God's word first. Then they would preach to the Gentiles.
And the Gentiles were excited and glorified the word of the Lord.
One group rejected the word of God and thus rejected everlasting life. The other group glorified the word of God, believed, and received eternal life.
APPLICATION:
The same responses exist today. We can reject the word of God or glorify it.
When rejected, we lose out on the wonderful benefits. When we receive God's word, it's life to us.
Here is something important. We must glorify and receive God's word in all areas. We start with salvation, but we don't stop there. We want to glorify the word of the Lord across the board.