Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from Psalm Five verse 11, “Those who love your name may exult in you,” (NRSVB). This psalm of David speaks of God who makes a covering over those who respect and know his name to protect them. God revealed himself to Moses, through his presence in the burning bush, as the “I am”. This revelation is the omnipresence that spans the past, the presence and the future, God’s everlasting Name. God, who was, is and shall be, as we read in Revelation 1 verse 8, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord God, He Who is, Who was and Who is to come,” (Amplified Bible). In the Ten Commandments we read that the Name of the Lord must be honoured and not used other than to worship and in calling or crying to him, “You shall not use the Name of the Lord in vain,” (Exodus 20 verse 7). Names identify people. In the history of characters in Scripture there were many who had their names given to them before they were born; announced by angelic visitations to the parents, like Samuel, John the Baptist and Jesus. God wants us to get to know him; he has told us his name. He has made it clear, through his word, that he listens and hears when we call on his Name. He will come to our aid and save us. Through his Son, Jesus, he has heard all the collective cries of humanity’s need for a Saviour. God gave us the Messiah, his only-begotten Son, Jesus. God is near us and will come and aid us in our pain and sorrow, our fear and anxiety, for he knows what we need. Calling on God’s name, the God whom we love, because he loved us first, will bring us to the place where our mourning will turn to joy, and we will exalt his Name and rejoice.
Chapter 13 of the Book of Acts, written by Luke, is a summary of the history of Scripture delivered by Paul in the synagogues where he and Barnabas preached after their consecration in the assembly in Antioch. Paul was one of the later Apostles of Jesus. He received a new name, a name change from Saul to Paul. Paul and Barnabas first went to preach in the synagogues of the Jews, in cities ruled by the Romans. They came to Paphos on the island of Cyprus and met a Jewish wizard who called himself, Bar-Jesus or Elymas, meaning, wise man. Elymas worked for the pro-consul, Sergius Paulus, and was against the conversion to the faith proclaimed by Paul and Barnabas who told of attaining the Kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the Cross. Elymas continued to “make crooked the straight paths and plotting against the Lord,” but Paul was calm and controlled by the Spirit and rebuked the deceiving words of Elymas. Paul told him that because of his lack of insight in the Word and Work of God, he will lose his sight and will have to be led around until he would renounce his evil practices. The pro-consul was moved with awe and deeply touched by the teaching of Christ as Saviour of the World and accepted the faith. Paul and Barnabas sailed back to Antioch and read the Scriptures in the Synagogue and preached on consecutive Sabbaths to the people. Many came to faith in Christ, but there were groups of Jewish leaders who stirred up the people of high-rank in the cities and called for the persecution of Paul and Barnabas, who they finally drove out of the city of Antioch. As Jesus told his disciples, in Luke 10, to shake the dust from the cities that would not accept and invite them, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet and took their message of the Kingdom of God to the next city, the city of Iconium. Despite the persecution and the negative reception their preaching received, they continued to tell the good news, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit,” Acts 13 verse 52, (NRSVB).
Father, help us to continue to proclaim your Name to a world that is in turmoil, Amen.