Biblical Examples of Persons of Peace

 

   Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast

that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

When I started planting churches in the 1980s, I had never heard of a “person

of peace” and neither had my fellow church planters. We had studied Luke

10:1-10 where the Lord Jesus taught 72 of his followers to find persons of

peace. But, somehow, we didn’t focus on Jesus’ greatest teaching in that

chapter: There are men and women in many places who have been prepared by

God to be receptive to the Gospel and to receive people who proclaim the

Good News. Look for these men and women. Stay with them as you proclaim

the Kingdom of God.

One of the most interesting Bible stories about a person of peace tells about

when Jesus met a woman at a well (John 4:1-43). Jesus met a Samaritan

woman who had a bad reputation. But she was hungry to know God. When she

heard the Good News, she told the whole town about Jesus. Our Lord stayed

with the Samaritan believers for two days before going on with his ministry in

Galilee.

After Jesus rose from the dead and poured out his Holy Spirit on the men and

women in the Upper Room, the apostles were slow to put into practice Jesus’

teaching about finding persons of peace. Yes, they developed their church in

Jerusalem, and yes, they proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom of God. But

the apostles did not go looking for persons of peace outside the city. It took

several miracles to make that happen.

Peter found a man of peace when he met Cornelius. The story of their

encounter is found in Acts 10. Cornelius was a Roman army captain. Because of

his cultural upbringing, Peter did not want to have anything to do with Romans.

But God made it clear to him in a dream that he should go to Cornelius. When

he got to Cornelius’ house, he found a man with a good reputation who was

hungry to know God. And Cornelius had gathered his relatives and close friends

to listen to Peter’s teaching. As Peter told the story of Jesus and explained the Old

Testament prophecies about him, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the

message. That’s right, the Holy Spirit was poured out even on Gentiles! Peter

baptized the believers and stayed with them for a few days.

Do you see the pattern? God prepares people to hear the Gospel. He gives them

a hunger to know God. Believers go with the message of Jesus, the message of

God’s big story to save broken humanity. When persons of peace hear the Good

News, they receive it. Persons of peace are hungry to know more. They don’t

keep the Gospel to themselves; they invite their friends to hear. The believers

who proclaim the Good News stay with the new believers to strengthen them in

their faith.

There are persons of peace God wants you to find. There are people who live

near you who are hungry to know God. Pray for them. Look for them. Pray with

them. Share the Good news with them. Stay with them. Tell their friends and

relatives about Jesus. Yes! There are persons of peace God wants you to find.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?”

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #PersonsOfPeace