DEAR THEOPHILUS
11th Jun 2014
What would we know about the early church after Pentecost, if Luke had not sat down and written a letter to Theophilus? Luke wrote two long and comprehensive letters to his friend, one we know as the Gospel of Luke and the other The Acts of the Apostles. If he had not put pen to paper our knowledge of the ministry of Jesus and the early church would be greatly impoverished.
Writing letters is becoming a lost art. Social media and email’s are in danger of robbing us of our history. Even when we receive an encouraging email from a friend we are told not to print it to “save the planet”!
Recently we received a letter from a friend, with a wonderful testimony of how God had used both Joyce and I in very significant ways in her life. We were surprised and greatly encouraged.
When did you last write a letter to someone to encourage and strengthen them in their faith? At a time of trial and testing we need others to pray and stand with us in faith. How do they know of our prayer, faith and commitment unless we tell them? A post on Facebook is lost and forgotten in a moment - a letter, or a card containing message, a word from the Lord and a Scripture lasts.
The written word is far more enduring than the spoken word; the books Joyce & I have written have gone around the world. A friend was in Africa, in the middle of nowhere, when a pastor held up my book, “A Man under Authority” and asked, “Where can I get more of these, I need one for each of my pastors?”
Last week, I was encouraging a friend to write her life story, which is an amazing testimony to God’s goodness.
1 John 1:4 says, “We write this to make your joy complete.”
The burden of this message is - Write, Write, Write! Send a letter of encouragement, write down your story of living faith, write down what God is saying to you each day.
by Charles Sibthorpe
