SCRIPTURE: Acts (NIV) 12:24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
OBSERVATION: Steven had been stoned to death. Saul had traveled from city to city to take believers as prisoners to Jerusalem. James had been recently put to death by Herod. Peter was then thrown into prison from which he miraculously escaped, being let out of prison by an angel. The social and political climate was not conducive to Christianity, but the “word of God” continued to “increase and spread.”
APPLICATION: The above passage obviously could not mean that more Bibles were being printed because the printing press had not yet been invented. There were very few copies of the scriptures available to the early church. Yet we read, “the word of God continued to increase and spread.”
I think that the word of God was spreading because people were receiving the truth of the Gospel and it was being lived out through their daily lives. The presence of the Holy Spirit was making the truth of scripture obvious to those early believers. It was not the Word of God written in scrolls or books, but the Word of God written on the hearts of men and women!
If we want revival in our neighborhood, we must let the Word of God increase and spread in our personal lives. We must let our neighbors see God’s Word in action every day! They see us gathering in fellowship groups and churches, but how is the Word of God increasing and spreading in our daily lives?
PRAYER: Lord, let your Word, first of all, increase and spread in me and my family. May it spread to every day and every part of my life. Then it will increase and spread where I live and where I work. Amen
Pastor Leon
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