There Are ALWAYS Those Opposed to the Gospel

Scripture: Acts 13:6-8

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.  But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Insights: One of the realities I have often written about on my Thoughts by Scott blog is the opposition we face in our Christian walk.  In today’s verses we read about Elymas, also known as Bar-Jesus, which means the son of the savior.  This man opposed Saul (also known as Paul) and Barnabas.  I share this information because all to often when opposition actually does raise its wicked head up in our lives, we many times are surprised it happened.  We respond with an attitude of, “Well I never saw that coming.”  Beloved, we ought to never be surprised by the working of our advisory, Satan.  He absolutely hates those of us who are called to be followers of Jesus.  He desires nothing more than to trip us up and get us off of course.  There is hope, however.  Thom Rainer in his book titled The Unchurched Next Door writes about the fact that only five percent of lost people are truly hostile to a gospel conversation.  This means ninety-five percent of the people are at least willing to have a spiritual conversation with you.  What do you do, however, we you face this five percent of the population?  The remainder of this week we will learn four practical ways to deal with those who try and oppose the gospel and get us tripped up in our pursuit of Jesus.  Let me encourage you to come back every day this week and read these four simple steps to deal with people of opposition.

Questions:

1. Are you presently being opposed for sharing the gospel?

2. Does this opposition surprise you in any way?

Prayer: Father, this world finds itself in a cosmic battle with the end already written.  Help me to be a man who recognizes the battle for what it is and to acknowledge oppositions will occur in opposition to the kingdom’s advancement.  Amen.