The Spirit's Leading

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE SPIRIT'S LEADING  

Acts 18:1-8

18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.   6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

NIV

We are introduced to Aquila and Priscilla, who moved from Rome to Corinth, where Paul showed up after leaving Athens. Because of their shared trade in tentmaking, a friendship began that would last. However, the story here is that Paul reasoned with the Jews every Sabbath in the synagogue. Still, as we can see, the Jews opposed Paul's message, not only refusing to accept that Jesus was the Messiah, but they also became abusive. Why is it that people cannot have an intelligent conversation, even with opposing views, without becoming abusive, or to rail at, revile as the Greek word is blasfeemeoo, which is where we get blasphemy, to speak against the Spirit. Interestingly, Paul shook out his clothes in protest and told them, "Your blood be on your own heads!" This is where we come into the story. We might try to reason with people, even with members of our own families, but we are not the ones who can convince anyone, as that is the work of the Holy Spirit. It was plain to see that the Jews in Corinth were not open to the work of the Spirit, refusing to hear the truth about Jesus, even as well as Paul was able to reason. We certainly are not a match for Paul's skill at reasoning with others, but we can tell our story of how Jesus changed our lives. Yet, each person must make their choice, and some just do not accept the truth, but make up their own truths and even become somewhat abusive when we present the facts about Jesus. Do we shake our clothes at them and tell them their blood is on their own heads? That is difficult to do when they are either friends or family members. We want them to see Jesus as we do. We want them to be saved and gain eternal life. How difficult it is to think of their reward as anything other than heaven. Yet, all we can do is pray that the Holy Spirit will break through somehow. If they will not listen to reason, then all we can do is pray they will believe somehow, someday. Our ability to reason may not be enough, as Paul's was not in the Corinthian synagogue. But do we really shake off our clothes, or shake the dust off our feet, because we failed at reasoning? Maybe we need to go elsewhere, as Paul did, to find someone who believes, or we could just follow the Spirit's leading. 

God's Offspring

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

GOD'S OFFSPRING

 Acts 17:22-34

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." 32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

NIV

There is the gospel in a nutshell, though there are other truths we should explore as well. First, we should remember that we cannot build any structure sufficient not only to contain God but even to be worthy of God.  In fact, we should not entertain the idea that we can do anything worthy to serve him. Who are we, but mere mortals, the work of His hands, that we should think we can serve Him? Was man created to be the servant of God? Yet, we use that parable about the good and faithful servant as an example that we should be a good and faithful servant. The Greek word translated as servant carries several meanings. First, to willingly give oneself over to another's will. That would imply that we live according to the will of God, not that we are serving him, but serving others. Second, Christ uses us to extend and advance his cause among men. In the sense that we are serving the Lord, but not as a servant would prepare a meal for their master, or wash their master's clothes, but more like we do what he desires for us to do as his disciples, his learners, his listeners. God made us, whereas men may make idols, but man cannot make God, even into what they think he should be. We are the offspring of God, meaning we are his children, and a child does not serve his father; rather, the father provides for his children. When we say, "Our God reigns," we commit ourselves to his leadership and authority in our lives. In that sense, we serve under his direction, but we cannot do anything for God, meet any of his needs, for he is God who meets our needs. What we can do is repent, or change the way we think about our lives, turning from self to Jesus. Then, as Jesus said, we simply need to follow him. Yes, there is being a servant, but that is to each other. We are to serve one another, love one another, and build one another up. That would be serving God's will for our lives. Because we are His offspring, it would be "Like Father, like son", because God is not unknown to us, we know who our Father is. 

A Strange Idea

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A STRANGE IDEA

Acts 17:16-21

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

NIV

We are now with Paul in the Greek city of Athens, where there were many idols throughout the city. We are familiar with Greek mythology, including gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, and Hades. The point is that Paul used that to start talking about Jesus and the resurrection. The group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed what Paul was saying. Interestingly, the Epicureans did not acknowledge any gods, except in name, but they absolutely denied that any gods exercised any government over the world or its inhabitants. Instead, they believe good was defined by the gratification of the appetites of the senses. So they would not believe in any resurrection. As for the Stoics, they did not deny the existence of the gods but believed that all human affairs were governed by fate, so they too would not have believed in a resurrection. Is it any wonder they disputed the idea that Jesus was a god who came to earth, died, was resurrected, and then went back to heaven? They must have thought Paul was out of his mind. However, there is another truth here regarding them taking Paul to the Areopagus so he could speak to them about this strange idea. These were men who sat around all day, spending their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. Here is where we come into this story. Why would we want to sit and listen to all the latest ideas, or ideologies, philosophies, or other human thoughts about life, or listen to ideas about astrology or astrological signs that determine our personality? There has been the New Age movement, using the rainbow, plus all sorts of human ideas that have no meaning of truth about God. Paul was not persuaded by their thinking, but was steadfast in the truth about Jesus. We will get to his great speech before all those men, but for now, we should learn that we know the truth, we listen to the voice of the Spirit within us, rather than to the meaningless ideas of men. We should be careful not to be influenced by men's strange ideas, but rather to be the influencers of men, telling them the strange idea about Jesus.

 

A Noble Character

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A NOBLE CHARACTER

Acts 17:10-15

10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 13 When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

NIV

Why are we told that the Bearans were of a more noble character than the Thessalonians? Interestingly, the Greek word translated as "noble" is eugenes. This is the base of our English word for human genes, or our genetic makeup, which could be defined as our character. There is a distinct difference between our personality and our character, in that our personality is what we show others, or who we are when we are with people, but our character is who we are when we are alone. This is who the Bearans were, and their character shone through in their personality and how they received the message with eagerness and examined the scriptures for themselves to verify what Paul said was true. This is a genuine way to know in one's own heart the truth about Jesus and the free gift of God, eternal life. It is good to hear the message, but unless we do our own research, searching the scriptures, we would only have what could be considered as hearsay. Just because someone tells us something, it does not mean it is true. Of course, we would hope that someone called to preach or shepherd God's people would exercise due diligence in the word of God, encouraging and strengthening them in their faith in Jesus. Of course, there are also those silver-tongued purveyors of deception that we need to be careful not to be drawn into their false teaching, much like the Jews who came to Berea, trying to stir up trouble for Paul. They did not have noble character, and it showed in their efforts to agitate others against Paul and his message. When people are like that, agitated, angry, and protest against the truth, that is the time to shake the dust off our feet and leave town, as Paul was sent to the coast, for his own safety from the protestors. However, we should glean the truth about having a noble character and how our inner self, the self who loves the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the real us, should shine through our personality, loving each other. Let us live with that noble character. 

Jealously

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

JEALOUSLY

Acts 17:1-9

17:1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. 5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.   6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.

NIV

Jealousy is not acceptable unless it is God's jealousy for his people. What we do not understand is why some Jews would be jealous of Paul and Silas because they were proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, or the Messiah. Were those jealous Jews ones who thought they had the power in the synagogue? Were they stirred up because Paul and Silas gained favor and their reasoning about Jesus turned Jews to join them, accepting Jesus as the Messiah? The worst of this whole narrative of the actions of the Jews in Thessalonica was that they were giving their allegiance to Caesar, or at least looked as if they were, to gain allies in their argument against Paul and Silas. However, their jealousy also made them liars. If we learn anything from this narrative, we should learn two truths. First, never allow ourselves to be silenced about speaking about Jesus to everyone we meet; in fact, we should be talking about Jesus first in the church, then in the marketplace. What we don't understand is that believers seem to want to talk about everything except Jesus. Secondly, we have no reason to be jealous of others, for we will all receive the same reward: eternal life. However, it is in this material and positional life where jealousy can rear its ugly head. Some have more possessions than others, and some are in a more powerful position, or seem to be, than others. It may appear that some are more liked, or that people form little cliques, which could cause jealousy among those left out. What it all comes down to is that jealousy is self-centeredness, and that causes conflict.  Let us always want to talk about Jesus; after all, we profess that we follow Jesus, rather than false gods. Let us rid ourselves of any or all jealousy, for we are all the same in the eyes of our Lord. 

What Must I Do to be Saved?

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

Acts 16:29-40

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God — he and his whole family. 35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men." 36 The jailer told Paul, "The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace." 37 But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out." 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.   39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

NIV

Leading up to this, we are told Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail, and at midnight they were singing hymns and praising God, and the Lord caused a violent earthquake, and all the doors were thrown open, and their chains fell off, but they stayed there. Now, the jailer was assured he did not need to kill himself, came and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. The best question of all time is asked: "What must I do to be saved?" Of course, it took a mighty act of God to bring the jailer to his knees, seeking how he could be saved. What we should learn from this is that people do not come to repentance on their own, but only when they respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or when they witness an act of God they cannot explain and acknowledge as the mighty hand of God. It might just take an internal earthquake to shake a person up enough to come to Jesus. It might take a mighty movement of the Spirit to loosen the chains that bind them, setting them free, so they can come to Jesus. But we know one thing for sure, God will do what God does best. We can testify, we can tell our story, we can praise Him, we can sing hymns and speak out boldly, but we will not convince anyone; however, when God's hand moves and the Spirit speaks into a person's heart, they have a choice to make. Ask what I must do to be saved, or tell him to leave me alone. We are so glad that we witnessed the mighty hand of God. We have witnessed a miracle that we cannot explain away, and so our only choice was to respond: "What must I do to be saved?" 

The Earthquake

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE EARTHQUAKE

Acts 16:19-28

19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice." 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

NIV

Here is where that old truth about the love of money being the root of all evil is demonstrated. These men did not care about the girl, but only that their source of money was gone. Although their testimony about Paul and Silas was a lie, the people of the city, or we could say the people of the world, believed the lies and attacked Paul and Silas, beating them by the magistrate, who then threw them in prison. The world we live in would like nothing better than to imprison those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This would not be a prison like Paul and Silas were in, like the inner cell, with our feet in stocks. However, they are happy to keep us within the prison of our churches; that way, we are kept separate, so we cannot influence their way of life. We know there are believers in other parts of the world who are being beaten, tortured, and even killed to silence their message. That would not work in our county, but there is still this hatred from the progressives, and closed ears and hearts by those who desire to live for their own pleasures. Most are content to keep us silent, but in our church prison, chaining our voices. However, even in the worst of circumstances, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns, and other prisoners were listening. Aren't the people of the world in their own prison of sin? Should they not hear us praying and singing hymns, or at least speaking boldly about Jesus wherever we go? While Paul and Silas were praying and singing, there was suddenly a violent earthquake, and the foundation of the prison was shaken, and all the doors flew open. We wonder in the world heard us praying and singing hymns, or at least speaking boldly about the message of salvation through faith in Jesus, that the Lord would cause a violent metaphorical earthquake in their lives, and the foundation of their prison would be shaken, and the doors of their hearts would be opened. Just a thought. Jesus has freed us from the prison we were in, the cell called death row. Others need to be freed, so let us boldly go forth, praying and singing hymns, so others can hear us, and let God cause the earthquake.