How They’ll Know

Thanks for joining me for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

I'm Mike Whitmer, and I entitled our reading, How They'll Know. The Gathering in Northern Thailand is an interdenominational, international church. On a recent Sunday, believers in Jesus from Korea, Ghana, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, the United States, the Philippines, and other countries came together in a humble, thread-worn hotel conference room. They sang In Christ Alone and I'm a Child of God, lyrics that were especially poignant in that setting. No one brings people together like Jesus does.

He's been doing it from the start. In the first century, Antioch contained eighteen different ethnic groups, each living in its own part of the city. When believers first came to Antioch, they spread the word about Jesus only among Jews.

That wasn't God's plan for the church, however. Acts 11 records that others soon came who began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. People in the city noticed that Jesus was healing centuries of animosity between Jews and Greeks, and they declared this multi-ethnic church should be called Christians or little Christs. It can be challenging for us to reach across ethnic, social, and economic boundaries to embrace those different from us.

But this difficulty is our opportunity. If it wasn't hard, we wouldn't need Jesus to do it, and few would notice we're following Him. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Acts 11, verses 19-26. Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. Let's pray. Father, your Spirit is calling together people from every race, nation, tribe and language. Thank you for including us in your beautiful church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.