Acts 14:26 And there sailed to Antioch, from where they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.… The Syrian Antioch is here referred to as the place "from whence the two great missionaries had been recommended to the grace of God," and from Acts 13:3 we learn in what this recommendation to the grace of God consisted: "And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." We fix attention, then, on the point that we know what were the prayers of these Antiochene disciples. They were intercessory prayers, and they lovingly commended the Christian laborers to the grace of God. When prayer, for any reasons, cannot be precise and definite request for particular things, it can still be offered, and take this every-way satisfactory form, a commendation of those for whom we pray to the grace of God. We may show how (1) such a kind of prayer may satisfy our love and our longing for the good of others; and (2) how it may secure for them even better blessings than any precise requests, based only on our thought of their well-being. What can we do so well for our friends as bring down over them the hallowing shadow of the Father-God? I. SUCH PRAYER MAY SATISFY OUR LOVE AND LONGING FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS. For, after all, just the one thing we want for them is to have God for their portion. No requests for temporal blessings can adequately express our hearts' desires. Ask what we may, we feel that we have not asked enough or asked the best things. So we get no rest in prayer for others until we learn simply to commend them to the grace of God. The same may be shown by pointing out that our knowledge of cur friends' needs is never adequate, and we may make serious error by asking unsuitably. There can be no mistake if we ask for them God's grace. II. SUCH PRAYER SECURES THE REST BLESSINGS FOR OUR FRIENDS. For in having God they have all. To be within the grace and keeping and supply of God is to have the best blessings, in fittest adaptations. Illustration should be taken from the first missionary journey of Barnabas and Paul. They were prospered and preserved because they were within the grace of God. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. |
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