Read: Acts 14:1-7
. . . they continued to preach the gospel. (v. 7)
During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that the Chicago running back, Walter Payton, had accumulated more than nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer then remarked, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!”
Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knew that everyone—even the best—gets knocked down. The key is to keep getting up and running just as hard. That is what Paul did. And we especially see that with regard to his preaching. In this short passage of Scripture, we see Paul’s persistence in preaching. We could describe his preaching as effective (v. 1), bold (v. 3), and as being a message of God’s grace based on the Word (v. 3).
But not everyone believed what Paul preached. In a scenario we shall see frequently as we travel through Acts with Paul, there were Jews who “poisoned their minds against the brothers” (v. 2). As a result, “the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles” (v. 4).
When there was a plot to stone them, Paul and his companions fled Iconium and moved to two other cities, Lystra and Derbe. However, that didn’t stop them as “there they continued to preach the gospel” (v. 7). —John Koedyker
As you pray, ask God to give you courage to keep on sharing the gospel.
About the Author
Rev. John Koedyker has been a pastor in the Reformed Church in America for more than forty years. His ministry began in Japan where he served as a missionary for ten years. After that he has served churches in Iowa and Michigan. He has served as the Stated Clerk of Muskegon Classis, RCA, for the past sixteen years and also presently serves as pastor of congregational care at First Reformed Church of Grand Haven, Michigan. John has written a number of times previously for Words of Hope and he has a bi-monthly religion column in the Grand Haven Tribune. He is married to Marilyn, and they have four grown children and seven grandchildren.
