December 1st, 2020
By Jack Broomell
Well, we are now just past the Thanksgiving holiday! I hope it went well for everyone despite it potentially being different than previous years, I know mine was. Even in the build up to Thanksgiving there were questions if I was even going to be able to see my family as I tested positive for Covid early in November. Thankfully I did not have a severe case and tested negative on Tuesday. I will say that a strict quarantine might have been one of the weirdest things to experience. Even back in March and April I was still able to see my family from a distance outside, I saw my coworkers as we prepped for online worship and saw my neighbors when I would be outside with my dogs. Now this time both Kerri and I had to stay home without contact to anyone, thankfully we are still happily married after these two weeks!
One of the weirdest bridges to cross was how we still can spread the gospel while being in this situation. It involved talking to youth online, reaching out to other families and continuing our personal journey all while in our home. It was frustrating but I had to ask myself why it was frustrating. It was because I set my own standard of how I wanted my spiritual life to operate. Yet I had to go back to the question “How is God trying to use me today?” and I had to adjust my own attitude to this situation.
One of the verses I read as I go through Acts was in chapter 14. I have been rereading this book because of my want to help return our global church to one that has outreach like the early Christians, that boldly proclaim how they did. When I was reading I came across how Paul responded to persecution:
Acts 14:19-28
“But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went with Barnabus to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.
It is amazing Paul’s response to this. He was beaten by the crowd he was preaching to and thrown out of the city assuming he was dead. Yet he got up, and started preaching the very next day. That is an extreme testament to his faith and dedication to God’s will. After that he kept on proclaiming all the great things God had done for him, not taking credit for anything and not boasting how he still preached after being beaten.
With 2020 being what it has been I want to be like Paul. I want to preach the day after I was beaten down, I want to go and praise God for all his glories and all his mercies, and I want to declare all He has done for me. If Paul did this at the brink of death after being stoned I can do this with whatever challenges, not because of ourselves but because we have faith in a great God. I am Thankful for our God, not just on Thanksgiving but every day. Covid, politics, stress, anxiety, or anything else should not keep us from preaching the gospel tomorrow.
Well, we are now just past the Thanksgiving holiday! I hope it went well for everyone despite it potentially being different than previous years, I know mine was. Even in the build up to Thanksgiving there were questions if I was even going to be able to see my family as I tested positive for Covid early in November. Thankfully I did not have a severe case and tested negative on Tuesday. I will say that a strict quarantine might have been one of the weirdest things to experience. Even back in March and April I was still able to see my family from a distance outside, I saw my coworkers as we prepped for online worship and saw my neighbors when I would be outside with my dogs. Now this time both Kerri and I had to stay home without contact to anyone, thankfully we are still happily married after these two weeks!
One of the weirdest bridges to cross was how we still can spread the gospel while being in this situation. It involved talking to youth online, reaching out to other families and continuing our personal journey all while in our home. It was frustrating but I had to ask myself why it was frustrating. It was because I set my own standard of how I wanted my spiritual life to operate. Yet I had to go back to the question “How is God trying to use me today?” and I had to adjust my own attitude to this situation.
One of the verses I read as I go through Acts was in chapter 14. I have been rereading this book because of my want to help return our global church to one that has outreach like the early Christians, that boldly proclaim how they did. When I was reading I came across how Paul responded to persecution:
Acts 14:19-28
“But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went with Barnabus to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.
It is amazing Paul’s response to this. He was beaten by the crowd he was preaching to and thrown out of the city assuming he was dead. Yet he got up, and started preaching the very next day. That is an extreme testament to his faith and dedication to God’s will. After that he kept on proclaiming all the great things God had done for him, not taking credit for anything and not boasting how he still preached after being beaten.
With 2020 being what it has been I want to be like Paul. I want to preach the day after I was beaten down, I want to go and praise God for all his glories and all his mercies, and I want to declare all He has done for me. If Paul did this at the brink of death after being stoned I can do this with whatever challenges, not because of ourselves but because we have faith in a great God. I am Thankful for our God, not just on Thanksgiving but every day. Covid, politics, stress, anxiety, or anything else should not keep us from preaching the gospel tomorrow.
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