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James Montgomery Boice · Citado em PreceptAustin
Atos 14
Boice points out that "The apostles did not go into these cities to do miracles, and then to preach. Rather, it was the other way around: They went to preach; then sometimes there were healings.” Jack Andrews comments that "That’s a good rule of thumb for preachers! Unbelievers in the crowd will discourage you. Scoffers in the crowd will frustrate you. Preachers need to find those who believe and focus on them and keep preaching the truth!" Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote, “There have been numerous times in my own ministry when, while I was speaking from the pulpit, I have seen a response on some particular face in the audience, and I knew that the Holy Spirit had begun a work of grace in that person. Frequently, after the meeting was over that person would come to me and tell me that at that precise moment he knew—just knew—that Christ had died and risen again for him and that he was truly born again.”
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Boice writes that "The apostles had left behind only a tiny core of believers, and these had hardly been taught anything, since the apostles had been there at best for only a few weeks. How could this little group survive? It survived because the work was actually being done by God. The church was His church.” Jack Andrews comments that "Church ought to seek the Lord diligently with prayer and fasting before calling on a new pastor! Churches can get in a great mess and get out of the will of God if they do not call a God called heaven sent servant of God!" (Expository Sermons) Elders (4245)(presbuteros the comparative form of présbus = an old man or an ambassador) referred to men who were older or more senior with no negative connotations but rather a sense of venerability. This word does not necessarily refer to physical age, but of spiritual maturity.It speaks of spiritual leadership and is interchangeable with pastor, shepherd. (Cf 1 Th 5:12; 1 Ti 5:17; Heb 13:17; 1 Pe 5:1-3). Church (1577)(ekklesia from ek = out + klesis = a calling, verb = kaleo = to call) literally means called out and as commonly used in the Greco-Roman vernacular referred to citizens who were called out from their homes to be publicly assembled or gathered to discuss or carry out affairs of state.