Acts 16
Your Faith Legacy is People!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, July 23.
To whom are you passing on your faith? Who is your faith legacy?
In Acts 16:1-5, Paul welcomes Timothy to the mission team and “the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (vs 5).
Chapter 16 continues in verses 6-15, Paul was invited in a vision by “a man of Macedonia” and in the first city of Philippi Lydia and her household are saved, and she opens her home to the church.
Then, in verses 26-34, Paul and Silas are put in jail and shortly afterward an earthquake, the despondent Philippi jailer and his family are saved.
The jailer asked Paul in verse 30, “What must I do to be saved?”
In accordance with the Jerusalem Council’s decision in Acts 15, Paul replies simply in verse 31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Paul is in unchartered territory. He has been asked to build churches where there has never been a church. Paul was able to travel through a large area bringing people to Christ, finding homes for the gatherings to occur (such as Lydia’s), and appointing elders to oversee the continuing work of God in his absence (ref. Acts 14:23).
The key was that Paul knew that he had to pass on his faith in Jesus Christ and empower other people to lead the ministries and carry it on in his absence. Paul knew that at the heart of the Christian faith was passing on to other reliable people what had been given to Him (2 Timothy 2:2).
It’s time for you to name names… In whom are you investing? Who will carry on your ministry?
Seize the moment and realize that the days are short. Who will carry on the faith because of your spiritual friendship? Who is your faith legacy?