by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
According to legend, Zeus and Hermes had once visited the region of Phrygia seeking hospitality. House after house rejected them until they came to the home of an elderly couple, Philemon and Baucis, who served them the little food they had left. Zeus and Hermes rewarded the couple greatly and brought judgment on the rest of the region.<\/p>\n
When Paul healed a crippled man, the people thought Zeus and Hermes had come among them again. They weren’t going to make the same mistake twice. They started to honor Paul and Barnabas as gods.<\/p>\n
Paul and Barnabas went to great lengths to assure the people, “We also are men, of a like nature with you<\/em>…” (Acts 14:14 ESV).<\/p>\n That’s the key I want to home in on today. I can tend to think Paul, Barnabas, and plenty of other folks in the Bible are some kind of special saints. I can put them on a pedestal as if they had a natural leg up on me. But Paul explains they are just like me. They have the same kind of bodies, the same kind of souls. They didn’t have some special advantage that made them faithful, while I’m just a normal schmoe doomed to fumble and falter all my days.<\/p>\n When we read about Paul, Barnabas, Peter, Abraham, Moses, David, Rahab, Mary, Jael, Abigail, and so many others, we are reading about people just like us. They faced difficulties and temptations. Sometimes, they failed tremendously. Sometimes they succeeded victoriously. All the while, they were facing life the same way we do.<\/p>\n If these normal people could choose faith in God. So can I. So can you.<\/p>\n Have you? If we can help you choose faith in God, let us know.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edwin Crozier According to legend, Zeus and Hermes had once visited the region of Phrygia seeking hospitality. House after house rejected them until they came to the home of an elderly couple, Philemon and Baucis, who served them the little food they had left. Zeus and Hermes rewarded the couple greatly and brought judgment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[170],"class_list":["post-98765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apostles"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9611,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/location\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":0},"title":"Location","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 119:153-160 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Bible doesn\u2019t contain fillers. Every word exists in its text for a reason - I Corinthians 2:11-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean we are always aware of the reason but we should acknowledge that God does know His purpose \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The four gospels only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Part of the Madaba Map showing Bethabara. The map says in Greek, \"Bethabara, the place of Saint John's baptizing.\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Sapsaphas_Madaba-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84199,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-men-hold-a-monopoly-on-the-business-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":1},"title":"Do Men Hold a Monopoly on the Business Meeting?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dale Smelser via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 21, 1987 Several articles by me recently on elders, deacons, and business meetings have led to numerous questions about women attending business meetings. I have noted that the business meeting does not have oversight. We cannot substitute another system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42291,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/be-a-barnabas\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":2},"title":"Be a Barnabas","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant We are familiar with Paul's companion in some of his travels. He is first mentioned in Acts 4:36: \"Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement).\" What a great description of Paul's brother\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95298,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-wait-a-week-to-teach-the-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":3},"title":"Why did Paul wait a week to teach the Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding Acts 13:42, why would Paul have the Gentiles wait a week to hear the word of God? Why would he not simply tell them that the church is meeting tomorrow (the first day of the week) as we are commanded? Thank you Answer: \"But going on from Perga,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1407,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/son-of-encouragement\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":4},"title":"Son of Encouragement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Hebrews :7-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Scriptures tell us of an interesting man \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His name was Joseph and he was from the island of Cyprus, though he was a Jew -- a Levite in particular. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No one remembers him by his true name, everyone calls him by his nickname. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBar\u201d =\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58603,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paul-barnabas-and-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":98765,"position":5},"title":"Paul, Barnabas, and Us!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin We received an email communication from a man named Joe. He is a member of the First Christian Church. He has been using the Internet to search for \"people of like-minded faith.\" In his letter, Joe explains what he sees as the necessary conditions before he can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98765"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98768,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98765\/revisions\/98768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}