Student Devotional Week 17: A Growing Church: The Church at Antioch

Key Verse: Acts 11:21, "The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."

I don't know about you, but I'm continually amazed at how quickly babies grow. You see them one month, and they're small and helpless. Then just a few months later, they're walking, talking, and generally creating havoc wherever they go.

Amazing.

Most of us have stopped growing by now, so maybe we don't appreciate this as much. I'm sure God meant for babies to stop growing at a certain point, but not the church.

In Acts 11:19-26, we see the Church multiplying and growing exponentially as the gospel moves into new areas. This growth is explosive as the Church tears down the barriers of cultural prejudice, geographical isolation, racial division-to be continually expanding and bringing more people into the knowledge of Christ.

The same Holy Spirit who inspired this expansion is continuing to work in us today. Many of the barriers faced by the early Church members still threaten us, but they can be torn down just as easily through the Holy Spirit power.

This week we're going to find out that God wants to use us to reach the world by multiplying the number of believers in our churches.