As our journey continues, we will get to see the fruit of God’s work in redirecting the zeal of a man once referred to as Saul (Hebrew name), now referred to in this section of Acts as Paul (Roman name), who was called by God to be ‘the apostle to the Gentiles’ (Acts 9:15; Romans 11:13). Paul would become the greatest church planter who ever lived, and go on to write the most letters (13 books out of 27) included in our New Testament Scriptures.
What is encouraging through this journey is that Paul was not perfect, but surrounded himself with like-minded and missional people who held one another to the standard of Jesus. This kept each of these ministry partners true to their purpose and priority of making much of the Name of Jesus, living as true worshipers of Jesus in all aspects of life. When failure would happen, they would cling to the grace of God offered, allowing them to get back up and rejoin the race. When persecution would happen, they would learn how to praise the Lord regardless of their circumstances. It was through these actions that the mission of the Good News of Jesus multiplied.
