Pleasing God

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

PLEASING GOD

Acts 18:18-22

18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

NIV

This translation makes it appear Paul shaved his head, but the original text does appear as if it was Aquila who shaved his head, and that is a highly differed opinion among all the great theologians both of the past and the present. But the point is that one of them felt compelled to adhere to their Nazarite vow and as that time period of the vow was over had his hair cut off. Part of the Nazarite vow was to not put a razor to the head, or leave the hair grow long for whatever the voluntary time period was of the vow. This was a vow to separate oneself unto the Lord. It was completely voluntary and was in no way prescribed or commanded by God, although God did set the rules for that type of vow. Because it carries some outward signs, it would appear this type of vow was intended to show others one's intent of being completely committed to God. Was that Aquila, or Paul or perhaps even Priscilla, we will never really know, but one of them had taken that vow and the time was now over so off with the long hair. What can we learn here? Is it about a vow? Is it about having companions for a time? Is it about doing what God desires instead of what men want of us? Paul left his friends, to reason with more Jews in the synagogue and left them for another town even though they asked him to stay longer. Perhaps that is the lesson here both in the vow and in the moving on. Paul was all about following the leading of the Spirit instead of listening to the desires of people. It would seem a good thing to serve one another, or fulfill the desires of others, but that should not be the motive of service. We serve one another because God desires us to, not because they want us to. Paul was about following God, and if that meant leaving behind people to reach others, he left. It would seem natural that people would want Paul to stay and be their teacher, or pastor so to speak, but he was not to be that to them, he was called to be an evangelist and that is what he was about doing.  This could be our lesson also, that we should be what God has called us to be, and not what men think we should be. Men might want us to serve in some capacity but if it is not God’s calling we need to keep moving on. It is not about pleasing men, but about pleasing God. 

Anger

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ANGER

Acts 18:14-17

14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law — settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things." 16 So he had them ejected from the court. 17 Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.

NIV

A strange situation is at hand here and it seems to make little sense as to why the Jews would beat their own synagogue ruler because the Roman governor would not rule over their complaint. However it does make sense that he would not rule over such a complaint as Rome gave both Jews and Greeks religious freedom and did not meddle in their faiths. Now we just saw a man named Crispus who was the synagogue ruler become a believer, so this Sosthesnes must have been his replacement. We know nothing else about him other than he was beaten in angry rage by the Jews. Did he too become a believer? Was it because he presented such a weak case before Gallio that it was thrown out? We really do not know, but we know is that the Jews were so angry because they did not get their way, they had to beat someone. Here is where we could get our life lesson. If we are so concerned with getting our own way that we end up beating someone because we did not get our way we are in deep trouble spiritually. Now of course we do not physically beat people because they hamper us from getting our way, but we certainly can beat them verbally, emotionally or even spiritually. When things are not going the way we think they should or according to how we would want them to, we can have two responses. One is to adjust and the other is to lash out. We can lash out verbally, openly opposing what is happening we do not like, or we can withdraw emotionally or spiritually from the situation, becoming distant, not getting involved because we are not getting our way, things are not going the way we think they should. Either case we are in some sense beating on them in anger. What those Jews , who professed to live by the law, did not realize was they were sinner in their anger, thus breaking the very law they were professing. We must make sure we do not allow anger to cause us to sin. We must make sure we are not so self-centered that we become upset or angry about things that do not go the way we want them to. We need to be able to adjust, remain objective, see the spiritual truths and move forward for the kingdom of God. 

Worship

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

WORSHIP

Acts 18:12-13

12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. 13 "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."

NIV

It’s always about the law. Why do men always want the law instead of the freedom Christ brings into a person’s life? Is there a prescribed method in which we must worship God? Do we really need an opening prayer, three hymns, an offering and then a message? Maybe it is some other formula or pattern we have but it seems we are most comfortable with a pattern, which is about the same feeling these Jews were under. They had a pattern of worship, at least which was their excuse for attacking Paul for sharing a message which was not according to their pattern. It would seem we are much like those Jews in that sense. We have our way of worship and we do not like it to be changed, in fact, we might even think another churches style of worship is wrong, or at least feel very uncomfortable with it. Some people might even complain to the pastor if he deviates from the normal pattern of worship one Sunday. The point here is that we need to worship in spirit and in truth. It does not matter about a pattern or not having a pattern. What matters is that we worship God, and not the pattern. If the pattern of worship or the lack of a pattern distract us from worshipping God then we need to examine our motives for being in church. If we are distracted it might be possible we are in the flesh and not in the spirit and thus we cannot truly worship God for we must worship him in spirit and in truth.  It is all about worship. 

Never Silenced

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

NEVER SILENCED

Acts 18:7-11

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. 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city."  11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

NIV

There is always going to be opposition to the message of Jesus Christ, but here we see that the Lord assures Paul that he will be with him and that he should not allow any opposition to silence his voice. The Lord also assured Paul there were many other believers in that city and he would not be the only one so to some degree there is strength in numbers. Perhaps the idea was that because of so many who the Lord had in that city it would be difficult for a few who opposed the message to stir up the crowd against Paul like in those other cities. That does seem to hold true today in that when we are just one voice and among a large group of nonbelievers, they all seem to gang up against our message, but are a bit more reserved when we are a whole church bringing a message. But the point here is still about not being silent, and it is not because of many other people, but because the Lord is with us. It is good to have a support group of others who believe the same way we do, but it is far more important to know that the Lord is with us. As human beings we have a whole host of skills and talents which the Lord has bestowed upon us. It can appear we can accomplish many things in our humanity, evidence being in the many things non-believers do. But if we are going to be effective in sharing the gospel message we cannot do that simply in the flesh, we need the power of the Holy Spirit, and we need the Lord to be with us. The Lord desires for us to keep speaking, keep talking about the message, to not be silent, to find a way to share his great gift of Jesus Christ. It is not a message about rules and regulations, or a message about hope and change, or a message about giving up a lifestyle, or a message about being good, but it is a message about the gift of God, Jesus Christ, who died for our sin so that we can have eternal life. It is a message about a free gift that we cannot earn nor can we repay. This message should never be silenced.

Move on

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

MOVING ON

Acts 18:5-6

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."

NIV

We certainly cannot badger someone into the Kingdom of God. We cannot grab them and drag them into the kingdom. All we can do is tell them the story and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. If they oppose us, they are really not opposing us but they are opposing God. Because we believe and know the scriptures, we know the fate of those who oppose God. Paul certainly made it clear that they blood was on their own heads. Their fate of destruction would be their own fault because they refused the message about Jesus Christ. This is certainly a life lesson for us. We can tell the story but it is up to each person we tell to make up their own mind, to accept or reject the message. Sure we might get a little upset and think it is a rejection of us, but it is not, they are simply rejecting the message. Now that is to say that might relate us to the message and therefor reject us as well. But we can shake out our clothes in protest to their opposition of the message and tell them we are clear of our responsibility and they fate is not in their own hands. There are some, not matter how persuasive we might try to be, who will always reject the message. We need to come to grips with that fact, knowing they will not accept the message, but it might also be good to leave them with that kind of a warning. Yet we have to know it still is up to each person and we have to be good with that. Rather than trying to keep on with the same people, who keep rejecting the message, we need to move on to others, who might receive the message.

Labor on

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LABOR ON

Acts 18:1-4

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.

NIV

Now we find out what Paul does for a living. He is a tent maker or something like that as the word used here to describe his trade has a wide usage. But nevertheless we see that Paul worked for his bread. There may have been times when he lived off the bounty or giving of others, but as we know from his letter to the Corinthians later he mentions he work for his own keep so as to not be a burden on them. When exactly the practice of pastors for hire came into being surely could be found in some historic record, but it appears it was not during the time of the early New Testament church. What we can learn here is that it is an honorable task to work for our bread. It would appear Paul labored during the week, then reasoned in the synagogue on the Sabbath. This would be a great life lesson for all of us. Labor for our bread, and meet with others to reason with then about Jesus on the Sabbath. It is not clear how we wandered from this pattern, especially when we profess to a New Testament church. Even though Paul was going to the synagogue on the Sabbath, it was because it was a place where Jews, who did not either know of or believe in Jesus as the Savior, attended.  We go to church on our Sabbath, but certainly not to reason with all those who do not believe. So how do we look at all like the early church? It is true they met together most likely in someone home, to worship together as we do, but they were going to places where non-believers were to reason with them. Do we do that? Are we involved in activities where we can reason with people, all the while we are laboring for our bread. The scripture does not seem to sustain the idea of pastors for hire, or of one person dependent upon another person for their bread. The scripture does support the fact that each man should earn his own bread by his own labor so as to not be a burden on others. Of course we are aware that Paul told the elders that rule the church should be given double honor which has been interpreted to mean a higher salary then others. Yet Paul who was indeed an elder in the Church worked for his own keep so perhaps that message in the letter to Timothy has been misunderstood. Perhaps it was meant as double honor as in esteem or respect which that Greek word is also used. But either case, because we are not among that group, our lesson remains in tack. We should work for our bread and reason with those who do not know Jesus yet. 

Followers

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FOLLOWERS

Acts 17:32-34

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

Someone coming back from the dead is difficult to comprehend for some people. We see some of the people here even sneered, This Greek word for sneered has the same connotation as the Hebrew word in Psalm one for sitting in the seat of mockers. That is giving lip service, a whole lot of meaningless words. There were people like that then and there are people like that today. But there were also those who wanted to hear more, they were touched within by the words Paul spoke about regarding Jesus. Some of them followed after Paul becoming believers. They did not actually became followers of Paul, but follower of Christ, believers in Jesus Christ as God. That Greek word for followers, actually means to clue to, or stick to, so in sense they followed after Paul, sticking to him, rather than staying put in the council. That could serve as a lesson for us in that when we find a person who preaches the truth of the word we should stick to him so we can hear more about Jesus, learning more, improving our understanding in the ways we should live. It is true that back then many people did not have God’s word and in fact could even read it if they did have it. It certainly was not like today when we have multiply translations of Bibles stacked on bookstore shelves across country. The availability of having a bible has never been better, and for the most part, we all can read it and gain the knowledge within. Even with all the availability of God’s word there are still people who sneer at it or make mouth at the word of God, as in the first psalm it refers to giving God lip service. We could make that leap here and say that we must either be followers or be giving lip service, but we cannot be both. 

Idols or Jesus

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

IDOLS OR JESUS

Acts 17:29-31

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."

NIV

A time is coming and it is when God decides and has absolutely nothing to do what is going on in the world. Yes we have been given some indications when certain things happen it might be close, but in all actually we have no idea at all when that day will happen. He has already set the date, it is not in response to what we do, but it is because he set it. We also see here we should not be ignorant. We should know better than to make any form of an idol in our lives, especially of gold and silver and stone. Now that certainly could apply to those people who actually had statues of those materials, but today we do not do statues, so gold, silver and stone, as in gems, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and the like could be consider as an idol if we put too much of our faith in then for our lives than we do God. Certainly we cannot judge the motions or the lives of others, but we have to examine our own life and make sure we do not have such idols as these. We need to always be ready for that day when God has appointed. We would certainly think that because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior we have been saved and this judgment is for those who never repented. He will judge whether or not we have or have not repented and accepted Jesus. But does that give us the freedom to live in any manner, or still put our faith in gold and silver and gems to sustain our lives? We must always know it is God and God alone who sustains our lives. Yes we need to work for our income, but we should not even believe our income is due to our grand efforts, but it is because God sustains us. We are who we are, and where we are and when we are because God determined it so. Now whether we acknowledge that in our lives, he has left that up to us and at the day he has appointed he will judge every soul as to having acknowledged Jesus or not. Some may prefer to have idols but as far as this believer is concerned Jesus is everything. We cannot have both, it is either idols or Jesus.  

Life and Breathe

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LIFE AND BREATHE

Acts 17:24-28

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.'

NIV

A whole lot of sermons could be preached just from this passage alone, so how do we focus for a singular life lesson? To begin with we should note it is an unworthy task to build great edifices, calling them churches. There is no value in having a gleaming palace to visit in order to visit with God, as he does not reside in any of them. These places are not any more holy than any other building built by men. Yes, it is good to have a place to gather together and worship God, but as we know he is already with us and it is not needed to be there to be with or worship him. He is God. What can we give to him except our heart? Any material resources of our never actually goes to God, but it simple pays to maintain a building and all the staff employed within. Other resources are shipped out to other staff elsewhere hired to share the gospel in some way. Perhaps that is the modern way of doing business as a church. But that does not seem to be the New Testament church we see here. The point is we all should be telling the story of Jesus Christ to all men. If we have been born at the exact time and place that God determined for us then he has a plan for us to do. We are living right now because that is when God determined us to live, and we are living exactly where he wants us to live at this time and so we have a mission that must be accomplished for the kingdom of God. It is not acceptable to simple be a payer for others to do some work, we must do the work as well. It is not acceptable to just meet with God in a church, as we must walk with him each and every day of our lives. It is in him we live and move and have our being. If God stopped thinking about us, we might just vanish into thin air. Surely we would die. He is the sustaining of our life, he is God. We cannot make church our god, or even the good deeds we do in his name. He is God, we are his children, his offspring, and we will inherit everything that which is his. We should be only focused on God, on Jesus Christ as our Savior. There is no other god, but God himself. Thank you Lord for being our God and for being so close to us. It is because of you we have life and breathe.

Consider

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

CONSIDER

Acts 17:22-23

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.

NIV

So now Paul begins his presentation of the gospel to all the thinking people who gather to hear and discuss thoughtful ideas. That seems like a reasonable way to approach life, open to hearing others ideas, even if those ideas are rejected. Of course Paul had a great opportunity here because they had an altar to an unknown god, just to cover their bases so to speak. Today we do not have people who make altars to unknown gods, and for the most part, we do not have people willing to listen to new ideas. So what can we learn here? Is it us who should be like those men of Athens, willing to hear other ideas? Are we open-minded about the scriptures enough to learn a truth we formally did not understand or even see for the matter? Are we so dogmatic in our personal interpretation of the scriptures that we refuse to discuss the possible of another view? It would seem there is one singular truth as to how we are saved, but even that has some alternative views. It would seem no matter what the word of God says, some will see something different than others. So how much should we be willing to discuss or be open to hearing? Is it a matter of one is right and the other is wrong, or can both be right? There is only one truth so someone has to be wrong. Can we say that we are the only ones who have the Spirit to discern the truth? What if both of us have the Spirit and still have differing views? One of us has to be falsely claiming the presence of the Spirit in our lives. It would have to seem that way unless God reveals different truth for different people, which seems highly unlikely, but yet maybe it is possible. But then why would he do that? There can be only one truth, there has to be. So why are there so many different denominations with different views, and all seem to be closed-minded about differing views? If we are seekers of the truth we must be like those men of Athens, at least willing to sit and listen to new ideas about God. As they did, we can either accept or reject what we hear, but we should at least hear and consider, thoughtfully. It does seem easier to simply stand staunchly to our singular belief and denounce other views as just wrong. But why do we believe what we believe? Is it because this is the way we were raised to believe, or did we search the scriptures to find the truth for ourselves, with an open mind so the Spirit could reveal the truth. Yes, this is the answer to all those questions. The Spirit is the ultimate teacher of the truth, and we must sit and listen to him explain it all to us. But at the same time we should not close off the views of others as not from the Spirit. We can always decide to accept or reject, but we can at least consider. 

Ideas

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

IDEAS

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

Be ready to explain Jesus in a way our listeners can grasp seems to be one of the lessons we can learn here. We are going to see how Paul uses their own idols to prove who Jesus is, but for now we should know that took notice of the social setting he was in and in fact was distressed by how many idols this society had. Although people today do not have statues and temples for various gods, there still is a large variety of gods available to worship. It almost seem like the god of self is the biggest one these days. Certainly the god of gold or money has a great many followers but my not over power the god of self in fact the god of gold might be one of the god of self’s offspring. Considering we were told that we cannot serve both God and the god of gold, or money, it is clear it is a god designed or fashioned by man for man. Yes we must live and we need some money to do that, but to serve it, to make it our goal to accumulate as much as we can, we become its follower. Those who lived in Athens had more gods then they knew what to do with in fact the one Paul used was the statue to the unknown god. We have to be careful not to be entrapped by the gods of this society, even ones that we may not know are gods. But the greatest danger we fact is that god of self. We should be ever vigilant not to allow that god to overtake our belief in Jesus. We should be greatly distressed over these gods, especially the god of self. There is only one God and we need to worship him and him alone. It is easy to fall prey want worship the god of self, always looking out for our own best interests. We can get ensnared into always thinking about our situation, what we should do, where should we go, how should be live, how can we get this or that, how we can achieve a certain goal. Our life can be completely overshadowed by the god of self that we have no time to worship God, or what is worse we try to squeeze him into the time we have dedicated to the god of self. We cannot be like those in Athens always ready to listen to some new idea, new thoughts about whatever. The world has many new ideas, as well as supposed scholars and theologians coming up with new theories and concept about creation and evolution and how they co-exist. Ideas that God took millions of years to bring about man in his image. If this were the case perhaps we are still not in his image, that we need to evolve millions more years into what the image of God is. It is so bizarre what people will come up with in order to worship their own form of a god instead of God. We need to remain focused on God. It is one thing to have ideas, but we cannot change the idea of God. 

Continue On

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

CONTINUE ON

Acts 17:13-15

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

What is it with this guys from Thessalonica? Couldn’t they just be satisfied they had run Paul out of their area? Now they had to come to Berea and cause trouble. It seems we will always find some that are so opposed to our message about what we believe to be true, mainly because it is true. But will we encounter those who will hunt us down just so they can discredit our message? Of course they are people today we agitate the crowds stirring them up against the message of Jesus Christ. They are stirring up the crowd when they pour out the propaganda about evolution, or climate change, animal rights, gay rights, hate speech and pro-choice. These are all anti-God sentiments. Instead if after to run after us from town to town as they had to do in Paul’s they now have the use of multi-media and social networks to spew their hatred for the truth of God and stirring up support for their cause from the low information portion of society. Those ideologies entrap, ensnare their followers with false information which sounds good but has no truth. God will set people free, the truth actually set people free from the bondage of sin which causes death, a spiritual death. Yet we will always have people who will hate the truth so much they will try any tactic to shut the truth up. There may be some day when we will actually be hunted down, and if that happens we need to be prepared to take our stand against the forces of evil. Yes, Paul escaped the crowds, to preach another day, but in fact he was standing up for God. The message would reach many more people and the church will be build and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. As Paul was a messenger, so we are as well. We are all called to take out stand. The world might try to discredit our message, but we will continue on. 

Accepting

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ACCEPTING

Acts 17:10-12

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.

NIV

Can we say it requires noble character to be open to a new message, a new idea, examining the facts, and then change a long standing position held? Could we then say that those, like the people called Thessalonians, who refused any new ideas, are not of noble, or at least less noble of character? It would seem this is the case. But this word noble implies well born, or of high ranking, which could also indicate more highly educated and thus more thoughtful. It would make sense those who are not well born, and of a lower rank, would have less opportunity to be educated and this thoughtful. This of course is not a hard fast rule to apply to all people, but it seems this is what is implied here. This might indicate that Christianity is a thinking man’s faith. People who are thoughtful, who are open to ideas, and research to determine if those ideas are valid, or test them in some way will see the truth of Jesus Christ. Those who refuse this truth may never have actually examined it thoroughly, but only responded out of emotion, or an unwillingness to consider their current position in life as possibly not correct. Now does this mean us Christians are more noble then non-Christians? That is not a great statement for surely there are noble people who have yet to believe. But it does say those who do believe do so because they are nobler, more thoughtful, more open, then those who refuse to believe. Believers are therefore open minded people and those who refuse Jesus Christ are closed minded. That is simply the facts. Yet want life lesson we learn here. It is to remain open minded continuing to examine the scriptures for truths that apply to our thinking, our behaviors, our lifestyles and not only the willingness but eagerness to make those changes that are needed. We cannot afford to be so rooted in one belief, one denominational doctrinal position that we are closed to truths in the scripture, only seeing the ones, perhaps even out of context, that we make our position from. We need to see all the scripture, the whole truth, for our positon in life and more importantly in our relationship with God. We need to be always eagerly accepting the message. 

So Be It

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

SO BE IT

Acts 17:5-9

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

What is it with people that they are so angry and violent toward anything that has to do with Jesus Christ, or in fact God? Why would Jews, especially, not see the spiritual aspect of life over the physical life under the Roman rule? What is also a bit unusual is that because they could not find Paul and Silas to impose their anti-Jesus, anti-God sediment towards they took Jason instead, one of their own citizens. They would prefer the government controlling their behavior than God. That is not much different than today as many people would rather look to government then to God. Many are violent, perhaps in a different way, toward the message of Jesus Christ. Could this be the reason we try to blend into society, as to not rock the boat, so to speak? Could we fear some form of anger, turmoil or even retaliation from those who prefer government over God? Government, or the laws of man might be easier to live under then the laws of God. What they do not understand that under the laws of men, there is punishment, but under the law of God, salvation through Jesus Christ, there is grace, mercy, peace and forgiveness. But some would rather have the law of men which does not speak to their morality as Jesus does. Under the law of men, the rule of government they can hide in the darkness of their sin, but when they accept God, he exposes sin so we can repent and seek forgiveness. Although Roman rule actually oppressed those under its authority those men would rather have that then the freedom Christ gives. They were so steeped in their tradition of religious ideas and free to practice it under the Roman rule, as some mainline denominations of today, which do not threaten man’s law, they could not accept the truth. What we can learn is that we will always have those who hate what we stand for, but that we should not back down from their actions against us. We cannot conform to their way of life just so we do not experience their anger toward us. If there is no anger toward us, then perhaps we simply are not exposing them to Jesus Christ. We cannot just tell them God loves them, or show them the love of God by good works, as humanitarians do good works. We need to be showing and telling them about Jesus Christ, about forgiveness of sin, about salvation, about eternal life and eternal death, about being saved, being born again. If we do that we will find some who believe and will be saved, and we might find others who are thrown into turmoil against us, but so be it. 

Methods

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

METHODS

Acts 17:1-4

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.

NIV

Sometimes it takes a little while to get the message across to some people and it takes a bit of reasoning. On the premise of this reasoning was the scriptures which those in the synagogue believed in. Proving Jesus was the Christ from what someone believes in should be a lot more effective then having to reason with someone who does not believe in the scriptures. We also notice that some of the Jews were persuaded, not all. In some of the past examples of Paul proclaiming the message of Christ, we were not told it took him this long or that he was reasoning with them. What we might learn here is that each situation of sharing the gospel message might be different of others. We cannot have a set plan that we must stick to in order to share the message. We have to be able to adapt to the need of each individuals situation for them to understand the truth. Some we might be able to simply ask, “Do you know Jesus?” while others we might have so spend days reasoning with them from the particular translation of the bible they believe is the right one. The point is we cannot be frozen with a formula that we must use each and every time. Of course we are not all called as Paul was to travel around persuading all that he can that Jesus is the Christ. But in some sense we are all called to go into all the world. We each have a world that we are in, a world or circle of influence that we live in, people we associate with on a regular basis. Do we bring them the message in anyway at all? How do we if we are not allowed to by the rules of engagement in which we work? Yet the point is we should be open to various methods of sharing the message. 

Laws

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LAWS

Acts 16:35-40

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

It does seem a little strange that Paul and Silas did not mention they were Roman citizens before when they were before the magistrate when he had ordered them stripped and beaten and thrown in jail, when now they make it known. Were they wanting everyone to know the reason for their mistreatment was for the sake of the gospel? What was the purpose of withholding their Roman citizenship until now? We may never know, but what we do know is that Paul and Silas wanted them to realize how irrationally the officials and the magistrate behaved, doing what they did without finding all the facts. Paul and Silas did not want to go quietly into the night, allowing everyone to think poorly of them or more importantly of their message. If they had simply vanished as requested the people of the town would always think poorly of them, so they wanted to add the value of their Roman citizenship to their message. This must have meant something special, and gave them rights that were violated as the magistrate was now very worried and tried to appease them. What life lesson can we take away from all this? Certainly we should act within the law of our land, as Paul was making the point these people did not act in accordance with the law, punishing them without hearing their case. When we act outside the law, doing that which is not permitted by the law, we take away the value of our message. If we are persecuted unjustly because of our message, we should know our rights under the law, but if we break the law while proclaiming the message, what rights do we have? It would seem Paul and Silas wanted all to know they were innocent men with a good message from God. If our message is to be of value we need to be innocent within the law. That is not to say those who have broken the law, and are imprisoned cannot be saved and from then on have a valued message. But the point is, as the scripture declares to us, we need to abide within the law, so our message can ring true within the hearts of all.  

Filled with Joy

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FILLED WITH JOY

Acts 16:29-34

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.

NIV

We are in the midst of this story, the meat of it as it were, because this is one if not the most important part of the story. We have Paul and Silas beaten and jailed because of casting an evil spirit from a slave girl. We have seen God move breaking down the door and the chains holding them, giving them the opportunity to run away, but no, they stayed put and even assured the jailer they were there so as not to kill himself over losing all the prisoners in his charge. Now the jailer is the focus of this story as it is his turn to find Jesus. The only thing we really know about this jailer is that he was either a man of great character or he was a coward. He was so distraught thinking he had lost his prisoners, through no actual fault of his own, he was going to kill himself. But after finding them all in place, and surely he had heard Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns, he knew all this was because of them, or their God rather.  We see how he reacts, wanting to know how he can be saved. Perhaps he was not asking about being saved from sin, but saved from punishment from the magistrate. But because of the great shaking of the jail along with all the supernatural aspect we have to believe the jailer was so impressed with Paul and Silas and what had happened because of their God, he wanted what they had, he wanted to know their God, he wanted that kind of protection, safety they had. Perhaps this is the life lesson for us. Yes we know the jailer did get saved, his whole family and they were all baptized and that all this happened during the night hours. But the point here is that he was saved because of the attitude of Paul and Silas in the middle of hardship, and the moving of God on their behalf. We can be certain, the jailer made a very emotional heartfelt belief in God, because we are told he was filled with joy because he come to believe in God. This was not some intellectual decision because of a great thoughtful debate about God. This was a man so moved because of what God had done on behalf of his servants he had to know this God and be a part of that kind of life. Perhaps if we want to share Jesus with others we need to live in such a manner so that God is revealed to them through our lives in a supernatural way. People need to see God at work. People need to see God at work in our lives, saving us in every situation, doing mighty works on our behalf. But then we also must live in that kind of manner, always praying, trusting, looking to him for our lives, singing hymns, living in a manner totally devoted to him. We cannot afford to rely on our own efforts, but must rely completely on God, as Paul and Silas were, even in the darkness of times. As we live completely dedicated to God, he moves in mighty ways in our lives, and others will see how he cares for us, and want that kind of life as well. Perhaps the jailer was filled with joy as he saw Paul and Silas having joy even in the jail. God brings us this joy. 

Attitude

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

ATTITUDE

Acts 16:25-28

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

We just saw the judge ordered them flogged and throw in jail with their feet firmly entrapped by stocks, a form of wooden holding devise that would be impossible to escape from. Their situation seemed a bit hopeless to say the least, but their behavior would indicate they were not in despair as they were praying and singing hymns to God. We could focus on what God does here, which we will get to but it is interesting they were singing hymns to God. This does cause the question if our singing, our worship, the words of our songs are actually directed to God. It does seem some of our hymns are indeed focused on God, and could be directed to him, but there are some that seem are more directed to other people, then to God. When we pray and sing hymns to God we are indeed lifted into his throne room spiritually and this must have been the situation with Paul and Silas as it appears they were not much concerned about their physical situation at all. Now as far as them praying and singing hymns to God we see God in action, whether that was a result of their praying and singing or whether God was already about to do what he did, they were still experiencing the power of God at work in a real and personal way. Although we can be assured God will act when we are in need, as he did here, we also could focus on the attitude and behavior of Paul and Silas. This could be one of the many life lessons we could learn here. Although times might look grime, and we might be going through a difficult situation it does not mean we should forgo prayer and singing hymns to God. That is to say our attitude should not get negative or we should not become discouraged or fall into despair for our God is more than able to deliver us. Perhaps the reason we are not seeing the power of God in action is because of our attitude that is not conforming to one of praising him in prayer and hymns. It certainly appears that even though we love the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength we might have to endure some hardships as we see Paul and Silas going through here. Just because they were believers it did not mean God kept them from every harm, but it does mean he used their situation to show his power and might thus ultimately bringing people to him. By saving Paul and Silas, he saved many more. We might have to endure some hardships but we must also continue to pray, praise God, with hymns and have an attitude of praise and thanks and as a result God will use us to bring more souls to salvation. It is all about our attitude. 

Mad

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

MAD

Acts 16:19-24

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.

NIV

It is rather amazing how people are more concerned about making money than about seeing someone free from being possessed by an evil spirit. But what is such a travesty is they were so angry they retaliated making up false charges and even became physically abusive to Paul and Silas. Why would the crowd join in this abusiveness? It might be understandable the men who owned this slave girl were upset about having their source of income dry up in an instant because of Paul and Silas, but why the crowd. The crowd were the payees in this case, not the one getting paid. But it does show the human condition or the bent toward evil of the human heart. Rather than stand with Paul and Silas, rather than praise God for the miracle they just witnessed, they became violent. Is there a life lesson for us in this? Is it possible that we too have that kind of ability to bend toward anger and if not physical, an emotional or mental violence against that which is right? Can we be guilty of rebellion against what God is doing? Certainly there can be times when God causes an uproar within. When God is doing a work within us, we might not like all that he is doing because we are wanting to have things the way we like them, what we are accustom to, what we accept and practice. Now it also could be a lesson about how the world views us, and the anger and violence that is possible if, of course, we were actually out there sharing the gospel in such a forceful way as Paul and Silas did, even to the point of freeing some from evil spirits. But we tell the story of God’s love, and how great our church is and that is about it. Sometimes it seems we do not want to be offensive by using the name of Jesus Christ by which they can be saved. Perhaps if we were standing in the square on a soap box of sorts proclaiming their sinful state and need of Jesus Christ, we might get some abusive behavior toward us. In fact, Christianity has in some sense been dragged before a judge and it has to a certain sense been thrown in jail, being kept from the public square, public schools and such. This event in acts could be applied in all those ways, but we need to make sure we are not the ones upset about what God might do in our lives. We have to make sure we are not guilty of being mad. 

Troubled

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

TROUBLED

Acts 16:16-18

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.

NIV

We are at the beginning of a rather long narrative that has several opportunities for us to take a life lesson from. We are going to see throughout the whole of the narrative a lot of action but let us focus in on this beginning situation. Of course we know this spirit that possessed this girl was from Satan and we also know that he or his demons live in the spirit realm and know God very well. They were at one time living in his presence at least before the fall. The demons or spirits know quite well the truth when they hear it and this one was very vocal about it. As far as being able to actually predict the future may be a bit more than most demons can do, or perhaps whatever it predicted it caused to happen, thus entrapping both the owners of the slave girl as well as those who paid them to get a prediction into believing in something other than God. It is a point that we know exists today. Many people are interested in the supernatural, in the spirit world, in haunted places, ghosts as it were, but they are not interested in God. People are drawn to the supernatural, but not drawn to God. In this narrative we see that Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ and his understanding that God was far more spiritually powerful than all of his creation, including that spirit, or demon within that slave girl, that he demanded it to leave, and it did, at once. All the forces of evil must leave when faced with the name of Jesus. Evil cannot take its stand against the name of Jesus Christ. Evil must always give way to the name of Jesus Christ. Yet many in the world are still deceived by evil, by the spiritual forces of Satan. We do not know if there are any like this slave girl who earn money by spirits who dwell within them, but it is quite possible some are living today. But we can be sure many are oppressed by the influence of the evil one and are by default his slaves. Should we be as Paul here, so troubled by all them, that we turn and claim their freedom from Satan in the name of Jesus Christ? Perhaps we should first claim our own freedom from any attempts by Satan or his spirit demons to deceive us. It is temptations which come in many forms that are carried in the hands of demons right to us that we need to make sure we use the name of Jesus Christ to command them to leave, and they are obligated to do so, at once. We should be so troubled at any sign of evil, that we turn and claim the name of Jesus Christ. The question we must ask ourselves is, are we troubled or do we attempt to coexist? Do we attempt to exist separately or independently but peaceable, while remaining rivals or adversaries with evil? If so we should be troubled. 

Follow the Leader

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

FOLLOW THE LEADER

Acts 16:11-15

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

NIV

Clearly a travel log is the beginning of this section, but as we know they are making their way to the Philippi which is the leading city of Macedonia which is where the Spirit was leading them. Paul had that vision in the night and they had no other place they could go except Macedonia, so here they are. It is interesting that Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come as they needed help and the first encounter we are seeing in Paul talking to Lydia and the women who had gathered at the river. We know Lydia was a worshipper of God, thus not a pagan, but one who was sensitive to the ways of God and thus he was able to open her heart to the message about Jesus. Certainly Lydia had the gift of hospitality as she persuaded them to stay at her home. She was a woman of substance being a merchant of purple cloth so we could surmise she had a large enough home to accept visitors. Several men were in this party that we know of, Paul, Timothy, the author of this account, Luke as well as there may have been a few more. We know after accepting Jesus she was baptized as well as the rest of her household, who again we do not know who or how many they were. So what can we learn from this? What can we apply to our lives from this story? Perhaps all this was told to us because they were going to river expecting to find a place of prayer. Although we know that we should be in prayer on all occasions, when we are walking, standing, sitting, lying down. We are told, on fact by Paul, in his letter to those in Ephesus when he talks about the armor of God and that we should pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Yet here we are seeing them going to a place to have prayer. There is something about finding a certain place to be alone with God, without the distractions of life. Although we should always be aware of God, in communication with God, at all times, there is something special about our alone time just with him. This is the time we can be still and know he is God. This is the time we can hear from him deep within our soul. It is also true they were a group that was going to this place of prayer, they were going to pray as a community of sorts. This too is important for us to see as although we do need our alone time, we also should be praying with others. This may not be the time for personal confession or petitions but a time of direction for the community of believers. What does God desire us to do as this community of believers? How can we further his kingdom? What is the focus of our life together? Perhaps prayers for the city we are in, and the people God will bring us in contact with. We are not told what they were going to prayer for, but we know arriving at that place, they were presented with opportunity to share the gospel message. God has led them straight to Lydia. God had a plan. Paul and the group could have said, “Oh no, we told we could be alone to pray, and here is a bunch of women” , but instead of prayer, he was able to share the message of Jesus Christ and he followed the leading of God, doing that which he was called to do. We can also learn from this truth as well, in that what we might this is an interruption in what we think we should being for God, might be just what God intends for us to do. It is all about following the leading of the Lord. 

Listening

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

LISTENING

Acts 16:6-10

6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

NIV

Today the life lesson for us is all about hearing and listening to the voice of the Spirit as to where we should be in service to our Lord. We see here there were places they just could not travel to and there was a place they simple had to be. The Spirit prevented them from going to certain cities in order for him to direct them to the specific place they should be at that time. All too often we could hear the voice of the Spirit and not listen to him. Hearing and listening are completely different. Hearing simply implies we hear the Spirit, but listening carries that implication of understanding and obeying the direction of the Spirit. If we are not listening to his voice than it only leaves us to living on our own, doing and being what and where we want to be and that simply may be the greatest mistake of our lives. We learn here that we must be aware of where the Spirit desires us not to be and where he desires us to be in order that we could be the best service to the Kingdom of God. It seems some of us are happy that God calls our people in the ministry to certain places, but we do not think he calls us to certain places. Yet that is not the case as he calls us all to his service and all to the ministry of his word and thus he directs our footsteps as to where we should be. As we see here we are not free to travel about the country as we see fit, but we must hear from the Spirit, listen to his voice and obey his directions. He will lead us. God has led his people throughout all of time, he is not about to stop now. The question is, are we headstrong, stiff-necked people determined to press on our own path? Or are we willing to listen to the Spirit, not going where he does not want us to, and going exactly as he instructs us to. Are we listening?