Acts 13:43 – Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Revival! But will it last? Many times the spark of revival is only that and nothing more; nothing lasting.
The ones who “continue” make it a priority to show up at the next meeting (vs. 44). The reason they came was “to hear the word of God” and the response was split: the Gentiles received the word and the Jews rejected it. The ones who were receptive took advantage of the opportunity to hear from God.
Next, there was a stirring up of the people. The envious Jews were stirred up with hatred and spite, but those believing Gentiles were praising the Lord and preaching the gospel (vss. 48-49). God had stirred them up. They were excited at what God was doing and wanted to serve him fully.
Invariably when revival comes there is always someone nearby to throw a wet blanket on the fire of God. Here the Jews are so envious they persecute Paul and Barnabas and have them “expelled” from the area. When this happened they simply shook off the dust and moved on.
Years ago on a farm a man’s old dog had fallen in a dried up well unbeknownst to the farmer. It just so happened the farmer had planned to fill in the old well and began to do so with the dog in it. The old dog didn’t have much bark left so the farmer didn’t know he was down there. When the dirt would fall on top of the dog, he would just shake it off and then step up on the pile of dirt. More dirt would fall and he would shake it off and step up. He kept doing this until he reached the top of the well.
If we are going to continue we must show up, be stirred up, and shake off the criticism while stepping up!
