MY TESTIMONY

Today's reading: Acts 11-12

"However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to Gentiles about the Lord Jesus Christ. The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord." Acts 11:20-21 NLT

I've never been to the area of Antioch in Syria, or to the Libyan city of Cyrene, but my testimony of knowing Jesus began there. 

You see, when Jesus's earliest Jewish followers left Jerusalem, carrying the power of His life, death and resurrection with them, they became missionaries.

At first, they only spoke to other Jews about the new Messiah.

In their little gatherings. In their homes. In their workplaces.

But eventually, they started talking to their Gentile (non-Jewish) neighbors--and the topic of their hope, their joy, their peace and their love, came up.

That's how Jesus came into my life!

You see, I'm not Jewish. There is no relation between Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and myself--except that their mothers and my mother were mothers.

But these Christian Jews in Acts couldn't keep Him to themselves and many, many years later the Good News they shared traveled across Europe, over oceans, into the United States and eventually to a little church in a  deeply rural and unknown area of southern Illinois where I sat, at age 7,  and listened to the message, on an Easter Sunday, about saving grace!

(I know, I know--that was quite a long run-on sentence...but it's exactly how it happened.)

My thanks and appreciation to these Acts 11:20 believers for their role in me coming to know the Lord. My appreciation to the Lord for filling His people so full that they cannot keep Him to themselves. My gratitude for the Holy Spirit for knowing no boundaries.

And if you know Him, there's a very good likelihood that they have played a part in your testimony, too!