Evangelizing Pisidian Antioch, Part Two

Acts 13:44-52
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, December 06, 1998
Copyright © 1998, P. G. Mathew

We all receive invitations, don’t we? We are invited to weddings, birthdays, graduations, and other celebrations. We may respond to some of these invitations, but most people cannot respond to all of them.

But there is one invitation to which everyone must respond: it is the invitation of the eternal God to his everlasting, heavenly banquet. How do we receive this invitation? Through the preaching of the gospel. And it matters tremendously how we treat this invitation, because it comes to us from the very throne of God and our eternal destiny rests upon our response to it.

In Acts 13:16-41 we read of the gospel invitation as preached by the apostle Paul at Pisidian Antioch. In this passage, Acts 13:44-52, we will examine several responses to this gospel invitation: the response of the Jews in unbelief; the response of the Gentiles in faith; and the response of God, both to those who rejected and to those who received his gospel invitation.

Background

In our study of the book of Acts we have been considering the ministry of St. Paul in Pisidian Antioch, a city of southern Galatia located about one hundred miles north of the modern Turkish city of Antalya. On the Sabbath, as his custom was, Paul went to the synagogue to worship, and he was invited to give a message of encouragement to those gathered in the synagogue.

What did Paul say? He spoke of how God took the initiative in providing his chosen people with a Savior, who was Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David according to God’s promise to the patriarchs. He taught that the people of Jerusalem and their rulers, rather than recognizing and acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Savior, condemned him to death. He told how God reversed their judgment by raising Jesus from the dead, and that now God grants to all who believe in his Son Jesus the holy and everlasting blessings promised to David–the blessing of grace, the blessing of forgiveness of sin, and the blessing of justification, meaning the blessing of having the gift of the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Paul also taught that after Jesus died and rose again, these blessings have flowed from Christ to everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, who repents and believes in Christ.

What a great message Paul brought through the gospel preaching! The synagogue rulers had asked Paul to give the people a message of encouragement, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest message of hope. It is an invitation to life!

The Gospel Invitation

The preaching of the gospel, then, can be likened to an invitation given by a king to a great banquet. This invitation is given throughout the Bible, including in Isaiah 55:1-3, where we read, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” That is what grace is. “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

The gospel invitation is for a banquet which will nourish our souls, and it comes to us without cost. That is the meaning of grace. And what does this banquet consist of? Everlasting communion with God. It is unending time of inexpressible, glorious joy in the presence of God.

But this invitation must cause us to ask a question: How can we who are sinners experience such communion with God? We can do so only through the grace of God and forgiveness of our sins. God can have no fellowship with sinners unless all their sins are forgiven. But he offers us forgiveness of sins through his Son, Jesus Christ, and gives us the gift of righteousness so that we may dwell in his presence.

Thus, the question we must ask is, what is our response to this king’s gracious invitation to this soul-nourishing, heavenly banquet? Are we accepting or rejecting this invitation from God? Are we refusing God’s invitation through unbelief, or receiving it by faith?

As we examine this passage, I urge you to carefully consider how you are responding to this invitation. Your response to God is the most important decision you can make in your life. Because those who reject the King’s invitation shall be rejected by him forever. But those who receive his invitation shall be received by him into his great banqueting hall to live in communion with him eternally.

The Response of the Jews

The first response to the gospel was the response of the Jews, meaning the response to unbelief. In Acts 13:44-45 we read, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.”

What was happening here? Paul and Barnabas, ministers from Jerusalem, had come to Pisidian Antioch and had spoken in the synagogue. After they spoke, they were invited to speak further the next Sabbath. During the intervening week I am sure there was quite a bit of discussion about Paul’s message by the “experts,” the rabbis of Pisidian Antioch. News of Paul’s message became the talk of the town so that, on the next Sabbath “almost the whole city” came to hear what Paul would say next.

No doubt the Jews had tried before to evangelize and not been very successful. Now some strangers, Paul and Barnabas, came to town, and people were crowding into the synagogue to hear them. Instead of appreciating how many people were coming to hear the word of the Lord, the Jewish leaders became full of jealousy.

The Jews’ response was not the work of the Holy Spirit. When we study the book of Acts, we see the phrase, “they were filled with the Holy Spirit,” used repeatedly. However, we also find mention of the activity of Satan. For example, in Acts 5:3, Peter said to Ananias, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?” meaning Ananias was filled by Satan, not God. I suspect that the jealous response of the Jews of Pisidian Antioch was the work of Satan as well.

Now, one thing we must note about this response is that those opposing Paul and Barnabas were the chosen people, not Gentiles. But they were not rejoicing that large numbers of people from the city had come to hear about God’s promised Savior, the son of David, the son of Abraham, through whom people can receive grace, forgiveness of all sins, and justification. Rather, they had given themselves to the devil, who filled them with envy and jealousy.

These Jews were first-soil people. Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the soils? There were four types of soil into which the word of God fell, which speaks about four types of people. When the seed fell on the first soil, the path, the birds came and ate the seed, and in Matthew 13:19 we find the interpretation of this type of people. Jesus said, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom,” which means the gospel preaching, “and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.”

Who are these first-soil people? They are those who hear the gospel but do not understand it. They do not care to understand. They want to study and know about everything else but when they hear the gospel, it is of no consequence to them. The evil one comes and snatches away the word of God that was sown in their hearts. Wherever the gospel is preached, Satan is working, and he takes away the seed of the word as soon as it comes to some people.

That is what had happened to these Jews. The word had been taken from them. Filled with jealousy, they had one week to analyze the sermon and meet with the experts, the rabbis. What was their conclusion? “Oh, no, don’t believe what Paul is saying. It is simply not true.” Their response to the gospel message was unbelief.

Unbelief Leads to Blasphemy

The unbelieving response of the Jews to Paul’s message led to a further response. In verse 45 we read, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.” Not only did these Jews refuse to believe the gospel message in their hearts, but they also began to stand up publicly and interrupt Paul during his sermon.

Let me tell you, that is the work of the devil. Whenever someone contradicts the gospel and takes a stand against it, it is because he is inspired by the devil to place himself against Jesus Christ.

In the Greek text it says they blasphemed the message. One reason may be they didn’t want to accept what others rejected. Perhaps they reasoned to themselves, “Well, Jerusalem rejected Jesus. The rulers rejected Jesus. The Sanhedrin rejected Jesus. They all had valid reasons to reject Jesus, so we should reject him also.”

Another reason may be that they were reacting to Paul’s earlier sermon in which he said no one could be justified by the works of the law. Perhaps, as many people do, they were trusting in their own righteousness to be saved.

What is another reason? Perhaps they didn’t like the way Paul was offering the gospel on equal terms to Gentiles as well as to Jews. No doubt they heard Paul tell the Gentiles they didn’t have to first become Jews to be Christians, but, rather, they needed only to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. No doubt they also heard Paul tell the Jews not to rest in the law, which will only condemn a person.

Why do you think these things bothered the Jews so much? Because Paul was reducing all people to the same level. His message was that all, Jew and Gentile alike, have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But he also taught that all can be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can give a person grace, forgive all his sins, justify him, and invite him to his great, everlasting banquet.

Like the Jews, most of us would not like this message of Paul either. We want someone to look down upon. The Jews thought that, as God’s chosen people, they were superior to everyone else. The gospel Paul was preaching took away that sense of superiority and they didn’t like it. So they scoffed at Paul’s message.

Not only that, as we said before, they blasphemed what Paul was saying, as we read in the Greek text. We can imagine what they said: “Paul, we refuse to believe in your preaching that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Messiah. He can’t save anyone, because we know that he was crucified, and the Bible says a person who is crucified is accursed. That means Jesus is an accursed one, a criminal, not a Savior or Messiah.” No doubt they shouted words like this at Paul as they stood up in the middle of Paul’s second sermon in the synagogue.

Paul’s Response to Unbelief

What should we do when people interrupt us, contradict us and shout blasphemy at us? We can do what Paul did in this situation. In verse 46 we read, “Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly.” I suspect that term “boldly” means they were so filled with the Holy Spirit that they were given great confidence, boldness, and courage to deal with this antagonism.

What did Paul and Barnabas boldly tell their opponents? First, they said, “We had to speak the word of God to you first.” Why did Paul say he had to speak to the Jews first? The Bible tells us that salvation is of the Jews, and in Romans 1 we read that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles. It was God’s plan to save the Jewish people first so that they, in turn, would declare the gospel to the nations. In Acts 3:26 Peter told the Jewish people, “When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” He sent Jesus first to the Jews.

On every missionary journey Paul always went to the local synagogue first and declared the gospel to the Jews, because it was God’s ordination that they would be presented with the message of salvation first, before other people. We find this idea also in the words of Jesus when he told his apostles, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth,” meaning the gospel would be preached first to those closest to the apostles, that is, the Jews.

So Paul told the Jews of Pisidian Antioch, “We had to speak the word of God to you first.” But then he continued, “Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.” We can conclude from Paul’s words that these people did not accept God’s gospel invitation, and so now Paul was going to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

Why is it such a serious thing to reject God’s gospel invitation? Because doing so demonstrates unbelief, which, in turn, tells us a person stands condemned by God. In John 3:18 we read, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.” Unbelief is proof that a person stands condemned already because, as John continues, “he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

In his gospel John also gives us the explanation why people such as these Jews rejected, contradicted, and blasphemed the gospel. In John 3:19 we read, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men loved darkness rather than light.” What were the Jews saying when they opposed Paul? “Turn it off! The light of God’s gospel–turn it off! We prefer darkness. We are nocturnal beings who love the darkness of our sin, wickedness, rebellion, and stubbornness. We love doing our own thing our own way. Turn off that gospel preaching! Turn off the light of God’s word!

We must pause here to recognize that our own nation is saying these things today, isn’t it? Anyone who is serious about the Bible and Christianity is mocked and reviled by the sophisticates of this world, even in this country.

Why do you think people mock and reject the gospel light? Again, look at John 3:19: “Men loved darkness rather than light. . . .” “because their deeds were evil.” And in John 3:36 we read, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life but God’s wrath remains on him.”

So in Acts 13:46 Paul told the Jews, “Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life,” meaning in their minds and hearts they did not value the gospel, “we now turn to the Gentiles.” Rejection, contradiction, and blasphemy of the gospel prove a person is unworthy of eternal life.

Unbelief Leads to Persecution

What else did the unbelieving Jews do when they heard the gospel? In Acts 13:49 we read, “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region.” This is always true: when people reject the message of God, they will also reject his messenger.

This verse tells us the Jews “incited the God-fearing women of high standing.” The powerful, influential women of Pisidian Antioch were of Asian, not Greek, heritage. Some of them attended the synagogue, and the Jewish leaders incited these women to stir up their husbands, who probably were city fathers and prominent people, against Paul. Probably they went to them, saying, “Did you hear what this man is saying? He is not speaking about Judaism. He is spreading an illicit religion that has already been rejected by the leaders in Jerusalem. These men are seeking to disturb the pax Romana and incite Rome against us. You need to take action against these men and kick them out of our town!”

Oh, how deceitful the heart is above all things and desperately wicked! This is the open hatred against the gospel that we see whenever we speak about Jesus Christ.

Who were these people who were speaking against Paul? They were very nice people, just like we have in this country. Here everyone is nice and everyone smiles at others. But what happens when you tell “nice people” that Christ is the only Savior? All of a sudden antagonism erupts like a volcano out of the very depths of their being and their niceness vanishes.

I travel a lot and have met many nice people who think I am a Hindu, simply because I am from India. But when these people find out that I am a Christian, most of the time there is instant antagonism and hatred.

“Expel them!” these nice people said about Paul and Barnabas. So the apostles left, and in verse 51 we read that they “shook the dust from their feet,” as Jesus Christ had instructed his disciples to do. If someone refuses to receive the gospel, we must go away, shaking the dust off our feet against them. When we do that, it means those people are cursed.

The Jewish people knew what this shaking the dust from their feet meant because they used to do it as well. Whenever they traveled from a pagan country to their country, they would shake off any unclean things from their feet before entering a house. (PGM) Thus, when Paul shook the dust off his feet against them, he was declaring, “You are worse than pagans. You are unclean, and you have no part in God’s salvation which we freely offered to you.”

We must understand one thing: Listening to the gospel invitation is serious business. This is not an invitation to a birthday party or to graduation. This is an invitation from the eternal God to rebels. What is the invitation? “Surrender and enter.”

Response of the Gentiles

The second response to the gospel was that of the Gentiles. In Acts 14:46 Paul told the Jews, “Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”

Taking the gospel to the Gentiles was a fulfillment of God’s purpose. In Acts 9:15 we read that God had called Paul to preach the gospel not only to the Jews but also and especially to the Gentiles. It was God’s plan to bless all the families of the earth. When God called Abraham, he said in Genesis 12:3, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you,” meaning through Abraham’s offspring, and that offspring specifically is Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. God’s purpose is to bless all people of the world.

Paul continued in verse 47, “For this is what the Lord commanded us,” and then he quoted Isaiah 49:6, which presents to us the Messiah as the light, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth,” meaning that the Lord Jesus Christ may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. That is why Jesus commanded his disciples to preach the gospel in all the world, “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” That is why Jesus first said, “I am the light of the world.” Every Christian has a responsibility to witness not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. We are the light of the world.

These Gentiles were the dregs of their society, not the prominent and powerful people of their time. But God was extending the gospel message to them and many Gentiles gladly received God’s invitation.

Generally speaking, those who are powerful, mighty, sophisticated, and beautiful in the eyes of the world are those who reject the gospel when they hear it. Paul spoke about this in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28. Addressing the Corinthian church, he wrote, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are. . . .”

God has always chosen the weak, the lowly, and the nothings of the world to be his people. He chooses the dregs of society, like the Samaritan woman. Why does God choose such people? Because he loves them. And so, just as Jesus went through Samaria in search of one woman, Christians must go into all the world as lights and tell everyone they meet that Jesus loves sinners.

So in Acts 13:44 we read, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered. . . .” For what purpose? “To hear the word of the Lord.” These people came for the singular purpose of hearing the word of the Lord. May God help us also to come with minds prepared and ready to hear what God has to say concerning us. And what was the word of the Lord to these people? It was the glorious gospel invitation offered to all rebels: Surrender and enter!

What was the response of the Gentiles to the word of God? In verse 48 we read, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad,” and in the Greek the verb is in the imperfect tense, meaning, “they kept rejoicing.” That was the first part of their response. These Gentiles were so excited that God would love them in Jesus Christ. They had thought no one cared for them, but when the gospel was proclaimed and the apostles told them, “You are invited also. From the highways and the byways, all are invited. Come!” The Gentiles rejoiced.

Not only that, it says, “they honored the word of the Lord,” and, again, in the Greek it is an imperfect verb, meaning “they kept honoring it.” Remember how the shepherds told Mary what the angels said at Jesus’ birth? Luke 2:19 tells us Mary treasured these things in her heart and meditated upon them. That is what these Gentiles did with Paul’s gospel invitation. Through Paul the word of God came to them saying that though they were sinners, they were also invited to God’s banquet. They honored, treasured, and revered this wonderful word.

And not only did they rejoice and honor the word, but verse 48 tells us, “They . . . believed the word.” Through faith these Gentiles received God’s wonderful invitation to eternal life. In Acts 13:25 we read, “Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.” What was the response of the Gentiles to this invitation? They believed it, received it, honored it, and rejoiced in it.

What else did they do? Verse 49 tells us, “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” I believe these people not only rejoiced, honored, believed, and were saved, but they also went out to the whole region and began to spread the gospel to others, saying, “There is a God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loves not only the Jews but also the Gentiles. We are all welcome, because Jesus loves sinners.”

The Response of God to Unbelief

The third response to the gospel is the response of God to the response of those who have heard it. After God invites us, he does not sit idly by. God responds to our response, whether it is rejection or reception.

First, we find God’s response to those who rejected, abused and blasphemed the gospel invitation. In Acts 13:40-41 Paul said, “Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you,” and then he quoted the Septuagint version of the prophecy of Habakkuk 1:5. I would translate it this way: “Watch out, you scoffers! Wonder and vanish! For in your days I myself am doing a work which you will not believe even if it is told to you in great detail.” God’s response to unbelief is judgment.

In Habakkuk 1 God says that if his people refuse to believe in his word, he will bring Babylon to judge and destroy them. We modern people do not like that picture of God, do we? To us God must always be nice and forgiving.

In 586 B.C., the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, and in the book of Lamentations we find a shocking description of what happened. Remember how God spoke through Habakkuk, “For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told”? In Lamentations 2:20-21 we read, “Look, O Lord, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? Young and old lie together in the dust of the streets; my young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered them without pity.” These things were foretold in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but during Jeremiah’s lifetime they actually happened.

In other words, God was saying in Habakkuk, “If you scoff and treat my word with contempt, if you take my gracious invitation and throw it in the garbage, I will do something,” and he did, through the Babylonians. He did it again in 70 A.D., this time by the Romans.

In the book of Hebrews we find a couple of passages that may help us to understand that God will not tolerate mockers. In Hebrews 2:1-3 we read, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” The greatest sin in the whole world is the rejection of the gospel, which is the rejection of Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. When he is rejected, he must act against those who reject him.

In Hebrews 12:25-26 we read, “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more, ‘I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.'” This is a serious issue, isn’t it? God must judge, God has judged, and God will judge.

The Response of God to Faith

What is the response of God to those who believed the gospel? In Acts 13:48 we read, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.” This is a very interesting verse. All those whom God ordained believed.

Let me make this point: If God ordained certain people to be saved, they all will be saved. That does not mean they will be saved automatically. The means of salvation is the preaching of the gospel. But the truth is, when the gospel is preached, such who are ordained to salvation will believe. You may have two people sitting together in a pew. One person hears and believes, and begins to rejoice, honor, believe, and follow, because the Spirit of God has regenerated that person and given that person the faith to receive God’s word. In the same way, the other person may sit there like a stone, untouched by the gospel message. Nothing will happen to that person. But we can be sure that not even one person who is ordained to salvation will be left out. All will be saved.

What are we appointed for? Eternal life. Eternal life means the great banquet of God, everlasting communion with God, which is the greatest joy one could experience.

Now this word “ordained,” tetagmenoi in the Greek, from the word tassō, can also mean “inscribe” or “enroll.” Remember how Jesus told his disciples, “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven”–in the book of life, in other words. That is what ordination means. It is all written down. Everyone whose name has been written in God’s book of life will hear the gospel and believe and will honor the word, rejoice, and be saved.

Again, let me assure you, if you are mocking the gospel, you are proving that you are not ordained to eternal life. Faith in the gospel proves God’s prior action of ordaining us unto salvation.

God ordains the end, which is our salvation. But he also ordains the means for that salvation, which is the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, don’t think that God will save you, whether you believe or not. God saves through the preaching of the gospel, which is the declaration that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification, and that he alone is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who forgives all our sins and justifies us. But we must repent and believe in this gospel.

Verse 48 tells us “All who were appointed for eternal life believed.” All, not some, who are ordained to salvation by our Sovereign God will come to hear the word of the Lord, believe in it and be saved. Why? Because God will grant them the gift of faith in the context of the preaching of the gospel. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, preach the gospel. Don’t worry about who rejects and who receives you. Lift Jesus higher that he may draw all men unto him. Preach the word in season and out of season. Because the gospel proclamation is the only God-ordained means for a person to be saved. The gospel, Paul says, “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16).

Through the preaching of the gospel the Gentiles of Pisidian Antioch were saved. But there was one problem: When the apostles were expelled, the Gentile believers were left without leaders. What did they do? Verse 52 tells us, “The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Here we find another imperfect verb meaning “they kept on being filled” with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

God himself was filling and sustaining these Gentile believers in their new Christian life. And this verse tells us that the Christian life is not a monotonous, dreary life. The gospel message is an invitation to a great banquet, remember? These Gentiles received the invitation gladly and believed in Christ, and what was the result? Joy! They were filled with the Holy Ghost and experienced true satisfaction, fulfillment, and peace.

What Is Your Response?

Even now, God is inviting you to a great banquet, but it is not the fatted calf that is killed for this banquet. It is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was killed on behalf of those who accept God’s gracious invitation. This is God’s everlasting banquet that will provide us with unending joy.

What is your response to the gospel invitation? Are you scoffing at it, mocking it, contradicting it, and blaspheming it? Or are you honoring and believing the word, repenting and confessing, “God, I am a rebel and a sinner. Have mercy upon me, God! I cannot believe that you love me, even me, a sinner. I thought you just loved only the Jewish people, only nice people, big people, educated people, sophisticated people, beautiful people. I am just nothing. But, God, I heard in your invitation something that I cannot believe. Are you telling me that you love me, a sinner?”

What is God’s answer? “Yes.” God saves the weak things, the foolish things, and the things that are not. And so, as we read in Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Are you thirsty? Are you lost? Are you sick? Are you poor? Are you heavy-laden? Are you weary? If so, why do you labor for that which is not bread? Come to Christ today and be saved! God is offering you his free gift of salvation. My prayer is that you repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today and be saved. Amen.