Friday Countdown...Which Came first the Christian or the Disciple?

Act 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Did you know Christians were known as disciples or followers of Christ first before they were called Christians at Antioch? Today, I dare to think that most church attenders including some KP people think that being a disciple is optional and what really counts is being called a Christian. Such thinking is false, scripturally unfounded, and even dangerous.

In Acts 2 after Jesus' ascension, we see the offical start of the church with the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the upperroom. One-Hundred and Twenty followers of Christ were filled and "went forth proclaiming the gospel, teaching (making disciples)and baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28:19 paraphrase)

Everywhere they went they converted people to Christ and made disciples. They didn't just attend church services, they weren't just good moral people, and they didn't care whether they were considered conservative right-wing evangelicals...they were simply focused on folowing after the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So much so, they(the world) called them "Christians" first at the church of Antioch.

Our calling is to be followers of Christ or disciples, and if we are fortunate people will look at our lives and call us "Christians."

-Pastor Randy