“As he passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told them, ‘and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:16–18). When we are first introduced to him, he is called Simon. Simon was the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Simeon. The famous fisherman-turned-fisher-of-men was named after the second of Jacob’s twelve sons.

Abraham and Sarah struggled with their inability to conceive and bear children. Isaac and Rachel did too. Isaac was forty-years-old when he took Rebekah as his bride (Genesis 25:20) and he was sixty-years-old when Esau and Jacob were born. For twenty years “Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived” (Genesis 25:21). While the boys were still in Rebekah’s womb, the Lord superna

After the sixth day of creation, God gave Adam “dominion over ... every living thing that moves” (Genesis 1:28). This dominion included the right and responsibility to name each of the animals in the Garden (Genesis 2:19-20). Similarly, as parents, my wife and I had the right and responsibility to name our precious babies. The act of naming implies the authority of the namer over the named. Two millennia later, just before God gave Abram a new name, “the Lord appeared to him,

I’m a proud grand-papa of eleven precious grandchildren! The oldest is ten. The youngest is four. Included in the eleven are three sets of twins which means that I have more twins than singles! And I have the trifecta: twin girls, twin boys, and a twin boy and girl. Also included in my gaggle of grands are two adopted kids, both six, and both bright and beautiful. (They’re only three months apart in age, so they might as well be twins.) They are mine because my daughter and h

On the mount of ascension, Jesus commissioned His disciples, His church, to be outwardly focused. “Go ... make disciples... baptizing them... teaching them!” (Matthew 28:19-20). “...be my witnesses in Jerusalem ... and to the ends of the earth!” (Acts 1:8). Jesus could have established a monastery on the mountain. He might have said, “Stay!” but He said, “Go!” He might have given Peter and John license to build their own empire. “Hey fellas, stay in Jerusalem and establish yo

Think with me. What are some marks or characteristics of a model Christian, examples that we should all seek to emulate? As we’ve looked at Antioch, we’ve been focused on the church as a whole, but what about the individual disciples? What are the marks of a model Christian? In Antioch, the people were students of God’s Word. They were like the Bereans who“received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). As we’ve seen, Barnabas brought Saul to

Though Paul and Barnabas were among their capable leaders, the church at Antioch wasn’t great because of the pastor’s flamboyant personalities, their extraordinary leadership styles, or their superior pulpiteering. As the Scriptures introduce us to this model church, we read that at Antioch they were“proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:20–24). The church at Antioch was a gr

Antioch was located about 300 miles north of Jerusalem in Syria. In the first-century, cosmopolitan, metropolitan, pagan Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman world, boasting a population of about a half-million. It was in Antioch, far from Jerusalem, the cradle of Christianity, that the model New Testament church was established. “The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). The New Testament has several names for those individuals who congr

How do we measure a man? Brains and brawn? The number of digits in his paycheck? His expensive car or his expansive home? How do we measure a church? Buildings and budgets? The number of suits in the seats? Antioch might help us answer this quandary. Antioch is the New Testament’s premiere church! In my humble opinion, Antioch (not Jerusalem) is the model church. Let me make my case... Antioch was an evangelistic church where the Gospel was preached to the nations. “Those who

“I will deliver you” (Judges 7:7). Though the evil army of the enemy is “like a swarm of locusts ... as innumerable as the sand on the seashore” (Judges 7:12), “I have handed it over to you” (Judges 7:9). But how? How could Gideon and his tiny band of just three hundred, defeat an immense, well-equipped, well-trained army? As Gideon pondered that question, the Lord directed Gideon to sneak into the Midianite’s camp at night. There, he overheard two Midianites talking. One was