Speaking Thoroughly

  

DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SPEAKING THOROUGHLY

Acts 19:8-12

8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

NIV

It is not difficult to imagine that some became obstinate and refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. Our culture today is full of the same types of obstinate people. For the most part, this is not among the normal people, but it surely exists in those who are well-known in the political and entertainment arenas, and within the major media outlets. Of course, we, being the little people have nothing to do with them as far as being able to speak to them regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, with Paul, those who publicly maligned the Way were mostly religious leaders among the Jewish community in Ephesus or at least very vocal members of the local synagogue. There is a saying within the retail community that a satisfied customer will tell at least three people they know about their experience, while a dissatisfied customer will tell everyone they know. It appears this held true within the Jewish community in Ephesus. Nevertheless, we still get the message about speaking boldly and doing it consistently over a period of time. This may not excuse us from speaking boldly to one person who we encounter but only once. However, it is an example of the staying power of continual conversations with those who have daily encounters with. There is also a lesson here about taking disciples and having daily discussions regarding the Way, and Paul did this for two years. What we are told is that everyone in that community heard the word of the Lord. Where can we go to have daily discussions about the word of the Lord? Even within the community of faith, we normally have but one day, and perhaps two, if there is some kind of bible study group that meets on a day other than on Sunday. This would fit somewhat with Paul did taking the disciples to the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Again, because of the Greek word that is an extension of the meaning of dialog, it might appear that Paul was the only speaker, although this word can also mean preach or to say thoroughly, which still implies his disciples may not have had much to add to the discussion. However, we do wonder just how much Paul could say thoroughly for two years, without repeating over and over again his same knowledge of and experience with Jesus. Still, because of all the letters we have within the scriptures that he authored under the inspiration of the Spirit, we know his knowledge of how to live in accordance with pleasing God was quite extensive. Therefore, we might also think that his talks, preaching, dialoguing, and saying thoroughly were inspired by the Spirit. Paul was certainly full of the Spirit as we are also told God did extraordinary things through Paul. What we learn here is to always be ready for God to do extraordinary things through us, because we too are full of the Spirit and that also means that we should be always speaking thoroughly about the things of the Lord. God has filled us with His Spirit and given us a voice with which he desires us to use. It does not matter if we can take some disciples to a hall, or church and speak thoroughly with them, or if we take an opportunity to speak fully with whoever we encounter. The point is that we cannot remain the silent minority, but that our voice is heard throughout the area. 

Listening With an Open Spirit

  

DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

LISTENING WITH AN OPEN SPIRIT

Acts 19:1-7

19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. 4 Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

NIV

Paul makes his way to Ephesus, where Apollos had just been some short awhile ago. We cannot be absolutely certain how many people Apollos brought into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but we do know from the previous verses regarding his reasoning with the Jews in the synagogue there in Ephesus that all he was aware of was the baptism of John. We also know that Aquila and Priscilla had invited him into their home to explain the scriptures more adequately, which we would have to think meant including teaching him of the baptism in the Spirit. However, we also would think that Apollos did not go back to all those he reasoned with to correct his error in only speaking of the baptism of John. The reason for our thinking along this line is that Paul upon arriving in Ephesus found some of the disciples, which would have been those who accepted Jesus through the ministry of Apollos. After speaking with them and finding out that Apollos did not speak to them about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, informed them about the Holy Spirit and the power that he works in and through believers. Here is where it gets a little dicey for the denominations that are not of the Pentecostal persuasion. The reason is all about this Greek word Glossa. This goes back to chapter two of the Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Spirit came upon all those disciples waiting in the upper room, as per instructions from Jesus for the Spirit that he would sent to them and when the Spirit arrived and came upon them, they all spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem speaking in languages they had not naturally acquired, which is referred to by the Pentecostal denominations as speaking in tongues. This speaking in tonguse is explained in further detail by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians along with many of the other gifts the Spirit manifests in believers. This doctrine of glossolalia has been at the center of much debate over the years creating a great divide within the body of Christ. Those believers who have fallen on the side against speaking in tongues want to believe this action, this working of the Spirit was only for the early church, and that the Spirit no longer works, in the same way, today, while those who fall on the side of the doctrine of glossolalia believe the Spirit has not changed in his working in the lives of believers, as the Spirit is God and God does not change. We will refrain from making any judgement regarding either side’s view, but only know that it is up to the Spirit and not up to man to determine how the Spirit works in and through the people of God. Where a problem could exist is when the Spirit desires to manifest any of his gifts in a believer’s life, and they either refuse or deny his gifts, whatever that gift or gifts are, they could be much like those disciples that Paul encountered who only knew of the baptism of John, and thus do not have a full understanding of all the scriptures. What we know is that we have to be open to the working of the Spirit in our lives, and whatever that means. Let us continue to listen to his voice with an open spirit.

 

Vehemently With Vigor

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

VEHEMENTLY WITH VIGOR

Acts 18:27-28

27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

NIV

There are at least two notable truths that spring forth to us from this narrative about Apollos. The first is that he was wanting to spread the good news about Jesus. It is interesting when we consider all that Paul had to say about Apollos in his letter to the Corinthians. Apollos had spent some time with Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus fellowshipping as well as learning more of the ways of the Lord from these two friends who had been companions of Paul, and comrades in the business of tent making. Apollos was already a learned man and had full knowledge of the scriptures, however, we were told that Aquila and Priscilla explained the scriptures more adequately. Now the first truth that spring out at us is that when Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, which is an area of Greece that the city of Corinth is, or at least is a part of the area. When Apollos wanted to go there, we have to believe it was due to the leading of the Lord and the brothers in Ephesus encouraged him as well as wrote a letter of referral to the disciples in Achaia. What we learn here is to always be an encourager of our brothers and sisters within the community of faith. It does not matter what their, or our, calling is, we all should encourage each other in the Lord. This Greek word translated as encouraged carries the meaning of urging forward. Therefore, we are to urge others within the body of Christ forward in whatever they are called to do. This is quite the opposite of tearing each other down, such as envy or jealousy, or hurt feelings can do, which can very quickly turn into gossip, the most dangerous words that can ever be spoken. To be an encourager is the way of the Lord and we should always urge each other forward in their service of the Lord. The second truth that strikes us is the fact that Apollos spoke with vigor. The Greek word here, translated as vigorously has this meaning of speaking vehemently, or forcibly. He was not simply having a nice dialog. However, again the Greek word which has its root in the word translated as dialog, has almost a competitive nature, with his meaning of refute in rivalry and effort, almost as if in a contest. This gives us another life lesson, although in our culture today is seems a little out of place to speak with such conviction that might seem to be argumentative. We have been conditioned to take a more gentile approach, not being confrontational or being careful not to offend someone who does not yet believe or has false beliefs about Jesus and/or spiritual matters. Perhaps we should take our cue from Apollos in this matter and maybe be just a little more vehement about our beliefs in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Then again, maybe we could encompass both truths and encourage our fellow believers with vigor and speak out the truth vehemently. 

Speaking The Truth

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SPEAKING THE TRUTH

Acts 18:24-26

 

24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

NIV

Several lessons reside in this portion of the narrative. First, we could learn that it is a good thing to strengthen all believers. One thing that is clear in strengthening is that it is not accomplished by complaining. If we are to strengthen others we need to be focused on them rather than on ourselves. Where are they weak? What could help them or build their faith? Are there areas of their faith they could be stronger? Are we living proof of the greatness of God? Do we testify of his power in our lives so it can be an encouragement to those who are weak? If we are to strengthen others then we need to be looking for ways to do that. The second lesson we could learn here is in the way Priscilla and Aquila acted. They heard Apollos teaching correctly about Jesus but obviously, they did not hear him speaking at all about the Holy Spirit for all he knew of what the baptism of John. So they invited him to their home to explain the rest of the story. They saw his ability to persuade people about Jesus, and they wanted him to be able to speak about the complete truth, which included the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts which accompanied him. When we hear people sharing about Jesus Christ and they are not fully explaining all the truth of God, it might be good for us to invite them to our home so we can explain all the truth to them as well. Now of course the situation of denominational bias comes into play in our world today. They are some who do not believe in the baptism of the Spirit and his gifts. There are others who believe Jesus plus the baptism of John in water is needed for salvation. It would appear all the talking and attempts to teach the truth fall on deaf ears or closed hearts. They are persuaded they are right and we are wrong and even attempt to teach us the real truth according to their doctrine. Then we are faced with the fact both of us cannot be right and then we have to come to grips with the possibility we could be the one in error. Each of us believes we have interpreted the scriptures correctly in order to develop our doctrine but if they leave out the baptism of the Spirit and his subsequent gifts they are much like Apollos, lacking in the whole truth and in need of instruction about the way of God. In both cases, the lesson is about being focused on the truth of God, and always being willing to both hear from God and speak to the truth.

 

If it is God's Will

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

IF IT GOD’S WILL

Acts 18:18-23

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. 23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

NIV

We have already looked at this passage from the standpoint of a vow with either Paul or Aquila fulfilling their Nazirite vow, with the cutting off of his hair. We looked at making vows. But there is something else here that catches our thoughts and that is the statement of Paul, “I will come back if it is God’s will”. Living in accordance with God’s will should be the goal, or perhaps we should say the purpose of every believer, yet we cannot force this lifestyle upon others, but merely make it our personal ambition to always be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, in accordance with the will of God. This would make it rather difficult then to have any personal ambitions, that are driven by self-interests. We need to always be aware of the will of God for our lives. This can only be accomplished through three methods that we can currently think of. First, is to spend time in prayer with our mouths shut up tight, thus it would mean that we are strictly in the listening mode, so that we can hear the still small voice of the Lord. We believe it is rather impossible to hear from God if we are always chattering about our needs and then get up and leave to go about the day according to our plans. Second, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and once again, we think we cannot hear his voice which would be giving us direction, and guidance, as well as leading us into all truth, which brings us to the third possibility of knowing the will of God. We can find much of His will within His word. This may be in the form for all believers, such as when Jesus said that we should love the Lord God with all our being and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the will of God for all of us who profess that we are following Jesus. However, at the same time, there are moments when we are within the word of God that his word speak directly into our spirit, our soul, and our mind and we have a clear understanding of this personal will of God. For Paul, it meant staying in one place for a time, or going on to another place, but always he knew that his purpose according to the will of God was to spread the good news about Jesus. That was his singular calling or purpose in his life. Yes, Paul had an incredible encounter with Jesus that transformed his entire life. However, if we accepted the Lord Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior having both followed him in the water of baptism, publicly confessing our faith in Jesus, and having been baptized in or by the Spirit, we have had an incredible encounter with Jesus as well. This should cause a transformation within us, changing the whole course of our lives. This transformation is not about the do’s and don’ts, or the rules and regulations of denominational living. This change, this transition is about from doing our will to doing his will, at the very least, being concerned about how we can do his will. What is it that God wants to do in and through us? Where does he want us to stay or does, he wants us to go somewhere, to move on from on city to another, from a neighborhood, or even from a church? Are we living exactly where God’s will is for us? Are we working right where His will is for us? Are we in the church that is his perfect will for us, and are we doing ministry according to his will. We have to be very careful to know the difference between our and his will in every aspect of our lives. If we have any motto to live by it should be, “If it is God’s will”. 

A Vow

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

A VOW

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 is somewhat of a confusing passage, or at least one of the things mentioned within it. This cutting off of hair because of a vow to God has been discussed by a plethora of theologians. There are many who think it was the vow of Paul and many who consider it as a vow of Aquila. The reason for the controversy between these thinkers of the past who studied not only the scriptures themselves, but the ancient manuscripts. It is the manner of the Greek verbiage which gives way to these varied opinions. The reason we use the term opinion is due to the simple fact that is all any of us can have, unless we are led by the Spirit into all truth. The interlinear puts it thus: “and Paul there yet after this tarred a while a good of the brethren and then took his leave and sailed into Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila having shorn(shaved) in Cenchrea his head he had for a vow.” So it is that is could have been Paul or Aquila who shaved his head because of a vow. This may or may not be of importance as to which one, but because it is included in this narrative that a man shaved his head, which was most likely because of a Nazirite vow, or some other special religious vow to God. It matters not to us, but what  does matter is if we ever vow or promise God that we are going to do something, we had better make sure we follow through to the fullest.  Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived said:

Eccl 5:4-6

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow . 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.

 

We need to be very careful when we deal with God and our daily lives, Of course, it is also not a good thing not to follow after God, and in some sense when we make a decision to follow Jesus, that could be viewed as our vow to follow Jesus, to do that which he has told us, and to follow his teachings and commands. If we fail at this and have a tendency to want what we want when we want it and live according to our ways, but simply include Jesus in our lives, maybe we might have had our mouths lead us into sin. If we vow to follow Jesus, then we need to follow Jesus and all of what that means.

 

 

Having Deep Roots

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HAVING DEEP ROOTS

Acts 18:12-17

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." 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 very interesting turn of events is happening here. First, we remember that Crispus had been the ruler of the synagogue, however, he and his whole family believed in the Lord and most likely were among the many on Corinth who believed and was baptized. Of course, he was removed from his position as ruler of the synagogue as well as ejected from their assembly. Now we see their new ruler Sosthenes bringing a group of Jews to Gallio, the Roman proconsul who ruled over the Roman territory or region of Achaia, which included all of the Greek Islands. Corinth was within this region so it would have been he who the Jews wanted Roman justice to settle their religious dispute with Paul. Perhaps, and this is just supposition, they heard about the Roman governor Pilate doing the bidding of the Jews who opposed Jesus, and now they wanted Roman justice to do their bidding regarding Paul. But this Gallio would have nothing to do with their petty arguments over their God, whom he could care less about. Their complaint had nothing to do with the Roman way of life, so he ordered them to leave his court. However, before leaving they turned on their own synagogue ruler and beat him. Some older manuscripts refer to these Jews, as Greeks who were proselytes, and thus they turned on a true Jew who was their leader in the synagogue. That might have been the reason for their actions because they were not born a Jew and had no real history of Judaism and the God of the Jews. Their history was that of a Greek who lived in a city, which we would think was much like Athens. This might imply that Corinth also had idols of various gods. So these converted Greeks would not have deep roots of faith and when faced with opposition by this Roman proconsul they turned their backs on a true Jew and beat him right in front of Gallio, who we are told cared nothing of their actions. But here is the lesson we think is for us within this narrative. It is important to have our deep roots in the truth of the Word of God. We may or may not face the type of opposition or a lack of concern for what we believe, but if we do face any opposition, having our roots in Jesus we would be able to stand our ground. The second truth is that we should never turn our attention to doing harm or bringing accusations against our fellow believers, which in some sense gossip is just that. Gossip is never rooted in truth, but merely a vehicle by which we can cause damage, as by beating them in front of others. None of the actions of these Jews fell in line with the truth about Jesus’s teachings about loving each other as He loves us. This is how we must live, using Jesus as our example, as well as seeing how life is without having our roots deeply attached to the vine, Jesus. 

The "I Am" is with us

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

The "I AM" is with us. 

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

After witnessing the frustration of Paul with the Jews in the synagogue, shaking his clothes off against their opposition to the good news about Jesus, we now have the Lord God giving Paul both comfort and counsel. He has determined by the resistance to the freedom in Christ with their insistence to remain tied to the law, that he would focus solely on the Gentiles. Therefore, he left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, who was a worshiper of God, although a Gentile. It is interesting that Paul went right next door to the synagogue. We do not think that Titius, or as some manuscripts use the name Titus, did not invite Paul to be his house guest, but rather opened his house to be used as a meeting place for Paul to continue his preaching of the good news. This would seem right for several reasons. First, we think that Paul continued his connection with Aquila and Priscilla by making tents, to both help support his ministry as well as to continue a friendship that must have developed. We were told that he aboded with them, meaning he took up residence with them. Second, if this is the case, Paul took lodging with those two, and thus Titus’s house being right next door, actually physically adjoining to the building of the Synagogue, as in the Greek, the word next door means would have been somewhat of a slam in the face to those Jews who vehemently opposed him. However, the real story here is all about the Lord God and his hand upon Paul. God speaks to Paul in a vision, which is something to gaze upon, a supernatural spectacle. We cannot be sure just exactly what that means, on a personal note, I have had an encounter with God through hearing his still small voice giving me directions to move locations, cities, and even to a different state. There is no question in my mind that God’s hand has and is working in my life, in a real and physical way. So, when he speaks to Paul in a vision, we believe Paul not only saw something, but heard the voice of God giving him specific details as to what to do, and where to be. One of the most used words of God when speaking to his servants is, “Do not be afraid”, and the reason being is, “For I am with you”.  He instructed Paul not to remain silent, but to keep on keeping on speaking, and again this is because God had many people in that city. That is God was already doing the work in people’s lives, and they only needed to hear the words of Paul to confirm within them that they had begun to sense the Lord God of Israel, but had yet heard about God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The lesson for us today is to follow suit. That is to not remain silent but keep on speaking about Jesus Christ to all who would listen, or at least were within the range of our voice, because God is already doing the work within many people, and today it would seem right to believe he speaks to them through the convicting power of the Spirit. This is not to say that we will not encounter those who are fervently opposed to the good news about Jesus. There will always be people who prefer their own brand of life that does not include God. There will always be people who have been indoctrinated, in some sense, by those who believe man is at the center of all things, having evolution as their god. Nevertheless, God is at work and he is speaking into the hearts of people, and all they need is for us to keep on speaking the truth about Jesus Christ, and let God do the rest. Therefore, we need not be afraid, for the "I AM" is with us. 

Moving On

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

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

It has been quite sone time that we have had any acts from anyone other then Paul. Nevertheless, he is an Apostle and Silas and Timothy are members of a group that traveled with him. However, this is very interesting regarding the response of Paul as he comes up against such opposition from his own people, the Jews. How is it they not only refuse to see the truth but they vehemently oppose the messenger of this good news that the Messiah has come and lived among them, did many miracles, taught the truth about himself and God and ended up on a cross, sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of the sin within people and died for them, shed his blood for them, because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin, and then having been buried, he stay three days in the tomb, just as it was prophesied, and then on the third day God raised him from the dead, and he showed himself to hundreds of people and even Thomas was shaken to the core proclaiming to Jesus, “My Lord and my God”. These were Jews, the chosen people of God, the ones he watched over for years. The ones who had so much history with God and professed to follow God’s commands, which was the law. They would rather live under the law then be set free. For Paul to shake out his clothes in protest of their ignorant opposition was very symbolic showing them that he was done with them. They could rot in their sin; he was going to focus on the Gentiles which was also a great insult right back at them. Those Jews were so self-righteous, thinking they were the chosen people of God, and that Gentiles were simply unworthy people, who God should have nothing to do with. We can only hope that we never become that self-concerned about being the people of God and even as Gentiles. However, the truth is that in some sense we are the true Jews because we know that it is not about the circumcision of the flesh, but about the circumcision of our heart. We are exposing the most important and tender part of our being, our heart. The Jews were concerned about a physical proof of their abiding by the command of God regarding circumcision. Paul has come to the truth about it, and now he finalizes his calling to the Gentiles. We should always be open and be teachable, moldable and willing to accept the correction, the rebuke, if needed, and the teaching of God as well be open to the training in righteousness, so that we will be fully equipped for every good work. This means that unless we meet that criterion, it would be impossible for us to do any god work. So, we look to all scripture so as to allow God to work in our being, in our circumcised heart making all that come truth in order that we are fully equipped. It is sad those Jews were not open enough to see the truth, and even today they are those who vehemently oppose the truth about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When we encounter those kinds of people it is useless to keep arguing with them and in some fashion, perhaps not actually shaking off our clothes at them, but turning from them to go on to find someone who will listen and respond by accepting the truth. To hammer away day in and day out, year after year at those who oppose the truth is an exercise in futility, move on. We do not understand why some spend many years hoping and praying that some person who is opposed to the truth, will somehow yield. The fact is we cannot change a person, or can we convince a person, this is the work of the Spirit to convict and convince, and if they oppose the work of the Spirit, they are not going to ever listen to the truth from us. This is God’s work and his alone and will always come up against opposition, but we continue to move on, looking for one who will listen. Once we have declared the truth and are opposed, we have no blood on our hands, but that does require that we declare to all the people we encounter the truth. 

Reasoning

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

REASONING

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

It is interesting that Paul is somewhat, well at least in our opinion, a vagabond. He is always on the move. We would think that in Athens after making such headway, having a few men become followers, although Luke says they became followers of Paul, he would have stayed longer working with Dionysius and this woman Damaris and the others, disciplining them in the ways of following Jesus. We assume that when Luke said they became Paul's followers, he meant they believed in Jesus as the one true God, seeing the truth about all the idols of stone, gold, and silver as worthless things, meaningless to their lives. However, we do wonder why Paul did not stay to disciple them and begin a new fellowship so that all his dialoguing had a lasting impression in Athens. Perhaps that is just Paul and how he feels he must always be on the move, spreading the good news about Jesus. We certainly have developed a whole different system today. We have those who have felt the call to travel to some foreign soil and take up roots there to spread the good news about Christianity. Of course, we know that Paul wrote many letters to various churches through Asia, where he had been and did dialog with the Jews in the synagogue as well as with Gentiles, like the God-fearing Greeks in Thessalonica and then just in Athens, and we know he wrote to the churches in Ephesus, Philippi and many more, with words far past just the good news about Jesus. His letters were of a disciplining nature, giving them, and us, areas of proper thinking and conduct as believers in Jesus. Yet those who feel that call to travel away from their homeland feel a specific call to be in one village, town, or city working with people, training them in the ways of Christianity. Personally, we have friends who spend many years, 20 or so, and making little headway, bringing but a few to the knowledge of Jesus. Perhaps that is the way we do things today. However, Paul was always on the move, always looking to dialog with as many as he could. Now, as he gets to Corinth, he meets two people of the same profession that he had learned at some time in his life, tent making. Of course, Aquila and Priscilla were Jews, a familiar connection. Maybe this was a good thing for Paul, giving him some repose as he worked making tents. However, again, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue and this time perhaps with an introduction from Aquila, he reasoned with them. Again, this is the Greek word we get dialog from which carries the meaning persuade others to think differently, to mingle thoughts to ponder, to converse, to discourse with one, to argue, discuss, absolutely, or say thoroughly. We wonder if we do anything similar to that at all, or at least, anything resembling dialog. We do wonder if any of the Jews in the synagogue responded, or refuted Paul, having a back-and-forth conversation, having a disputing attitude, or rather they just sat quietly and listened to his reasoning. Today, we know that it would be very rare for anyone to simply listen, for it seems we all, believers, and non-believers alike have our own opinion and are quite vocal in expressing views of life, and about religious matters. Where could we find a place where we could actually reason with people and see them change their thinking?  Perhaps we have become far too silent because of that thinking. Maybe we simply need to start reasoning. 

Judged Worthy

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

JUDGED WORTHY

Acts 17:29-34

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

What an interesting way of seeing that we are God’s offspring, as we have already considered, yet because we look like our Father, he cannot be something of our making, but rather we are of his making, by his will we live and breathe and have our being. Paul is saying that although God always existed and from the very beginning the first man and all men since then fashioned some form of idols to worship. Even after many years of man multiplying and filling the earth, and tried to built a tower to find their own way to the heaven, and he confounded their tongues and thus scattered them into becoming many nations, he choose the one nation of Israel some years later to become the one whom he would reveal his true nature to and at the exact appointed time, the Karios, he came in the form of his creation to redeem them. However, all during that time he left the Gentiles, the other nations, to fumble through life without the expressed knowledge of him. They were ignorant, which is not used in a derogatory sense, but rather as in the sense of lack of knowledge about God. Now Paul is saying that all men cannot be allowed to stay in their ignorance as God appointed the time and place to reveal himself to all mankind, all of his creation, and we are living proof of that revelation. Although God took several men in the ancient times onto himself without their going through the process of death and resurrection, such as Elijah and Enoch, and maybe Moses was taken up after death, as he did appear in the transfiguration with Jesus, Paul is saying that Jesus is the only one who man not only saw die, but actually played a role in the plan of God to bring salvation to his creation, and then were witness to the resurrection from the dead, brought back from the place of the dead and lived forevermore. This is proof to all men, although we must say, that many men have rejected this truth as some of them did that day. It is evident even today that many men would still desire to worship images of their own creation, thinking themselves as the center of life, existing from the time of premortal times when they believe they merely crawled out from this soupy substance and evolved on their own into the most complex physical sentient beings on the planet, thus being the offspring of themselves. This is so bizarre, it only proves that man does not want to submit his own self-created authority of his own life and, in fact, desires to have authority over others. Yet, no one, not a single man can raise himself or anyone else from the dead, without the expressed authority and approval of God, by which he demonstrated his authority over death through Jesus. The beauty of this is that as God’s offspring, through faith in Jesus Christ, we too will be raised from the dead, however that appears. However, all men will also be raised from the dead to stand before Jesus to be judged on the single issue of whether they accepted or rejected this truth. We praise God that because we can be and will be judged worthy, because of his grace and that we accepted that grace through faith in Jesus, to entered into his rest. 

Have Our Being

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

HAVE OUR BEING

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

It is interesting that we are his offspring, which makes us his children, which is seen throughout the entire scriptures. Just as through our earthy fathers, as well as those of us who are fathers have our own offspring. In Greek that is the Genos, which is defined as kin or can also be seen as a nation, a people, race, family, stock, as of the same stock the same breed. This fits perfectly with the fact that God created us in His image, or we should say in their own image for we know God is triune in nature, being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, although they are three persons, they are one, whom we know as God. Paul is making that very point, that we have our very breath, our very being due to God. If there were no God, then there would be none of us. We cannot exist unless God himself gave us life and breath and everything else. Of course, we are descendants of Adam in the physical sense, however, it is because God formed Adam with his own hands and breathed His very breath into Adam that we have this same breath, the very breath of God within us. It is also interesting that in Greek the word Karios appears, which we have just heard used recently. God is the one who sets the appointed time and place that we should live. This can be seen in a couple different ways. First, God set the time and place for each nationality and when they should become that nationality, and how they came to live in a certain part of the world. This would mean that although he chose the Jews to come to earth in the form, which in Greek is Morfee, the form by which a person strikes the vision, the external appearance. This, in and of itself, is extremely important in the sense that Jesus was in the Morfee, the form of man, but that he was fully in the Morfee, the form, or nature of God. The second way we could see this appointed time and place is in an individual sense. This would mean that we were born, a descendent of Adam, which makes us the children of God, the kin of God, of the same family, that being our Father who caused us to have life in our very being, having life and breath in our being. In the earthy sense, we did not choose the time or place of our birth, as it was of the will of our earthy father. So it is in the case with our being the child of God, it is not by our own will that we are his children, but by the will of him who created us to be his offspring, at just the time and place, the Kairos of his making. This should give us, and it does, that we are exactly in the time and place by the will of God, and everything else in our lives are by his will. We might think that we have some choice, or things in our lives are determined by our will, but first and foremost, we could not will our birth, not our rebirth, for without God we would not have had either, nor anything else in our lives, for he is the absolute authority over our very being, for in Him we live and move and have our being. 

Known or Unknown

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

KNOWN OR UNKNOWN

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

We should move on to Paul’s proclamation of who this unknown God they had an altar to, however, the fact that they even worshipped, if that is what they did, a god they had no idea of his identity is strange in itself. We would think that people today would never worship something or someone they had no idea of its identity. People know the reality of their idols, as we have already thought about, such as money, sports teams or individual sports stars or famous entertainers, and perhaps even many of the materialistic things of this world. They would not buy them, or rather to use the vernacular of the times, they would not invest their time or money in these idols unless they were completely versed in both the identity and the function they play out in their lives. Yet, at the same time, we believe there are many people who make statements about God and his role in the world without actually knowing anything about him or his true identity. To them, he is, in all practical sense, unknown to them. We think there might even be believers, who have confessed their sins, repented and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who have remained ignorant of the truth of the Almighty God and all he has to offer as well as commands in our lives. That is they have remained as they were when they began their journey with Jesus. They lack the knowledge of who God actually is and what he desires in their lives. In a sense, they are worshipping an unknown God. That might sound a little critical, or judgmental, however, we have known believers that are like that. It seems a little strange in that when we purchase something new that comes with either instruction or a user’s manual, we pour over it so that we are completely conversant with how it functions, or we might even do all our research on the item before deciding to invest in, or rather buy it. Our material goods are not unknown to us, yet we might not spend quite as much time or effort to research all we can about the living God whom we have declared to believe in. The fact is we do have the most in-depth instruction and user’s manual concerning God the Father, God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit, and it is more than just knowing the names of God, or that he is the God who created all that is created. We can spend our entire lives pouring through this instruction book, the bible, and never fully grasp all there is to know about him, yet that is not only our task, it is our responsibility to encompass that which we discover into the fabric of our lives. At least the Athenians wanted to know about what Paul was teaching, and it seems were ready to make the changes in their lives after learning about Jesus and his act of compassion for them, and that after that act was completed, the Father resurrected him and exalted his name above all other names, which included all the false gods, their idols. This must be our way of life, to learn all we can about our Lord and Savior, and our God, as Thomas said after seeing the resurrected Jesus for himself, calling him, “My Lord and my God”. Let us turn our undivided attention to knowing our Lord and our God. 

Babble or Truth

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BABBLE OR TRUTH

Acts 17:18-23

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.) 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

We continue with this narrative regarding the time Paul was in Athens, Greece. It is interesting that as Paul took advantage of every opportunity to discuss, to have a dialog with both the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue, as well as with anyone who would listen in the marketplace, there were some who considered him to be nothing but a babbler. Of course, these were the Epicureans and the Stoics, both holding to being philosophers, men of high learning who may well have considered themselves of high standings in the community. The word babbler which they thought of Paul, in Greek, means one who is a gossip or trifle in talk, which carries the meaning of treating something as inconsequential. Yet at the same time, they wanted to have him explain himself because it was their form of entertainment. It was how their spent much of their time, being thinkers, talking and listening to the latest ideas. At least these educated snobs wanted to dialog about something new to them so they might sit around and philosophy about this new idea. That was far better than in many incidents today, where people of education, those who have degrees in various specialized areas, who are proud and think themselves better than others are closed to new ideas, particularly of a spiritual nature regarding God and specifically Jesus. At one time in the not-so-distant past, when we first were saved, believers were looked at as people from the other side of the tracks, the uneducated poor people, and weak-minded. However, over recent years there have been members of academia who are thinkers and have come to see Jesus as the Son of God. This does bear truth that Christianity is a thinking man's faith. Instead of considering the things of this world as the things of worship, some have opened their minds to the things of God, as these Athenians were willing to dialog about. Open minds are willing to consider new thinking, at least to place enough importance on it, to listen and dialog regarding this new idea about Jesus being the one and only Son of God who was always in the form of God but came to take on the form of man for the purpose of saving them from the penalty of disobedience or the result of a sinful life. Now we have great thinkers who have become apologetics of the faith, in fact, in almost all cases denominationally, degrees of learning are needed to follow the course of ministry. Again, in the not-so-distant past, we have many men who were considered revelation knowledge preachers. These were men who simply, first heard the call of God and responded by preaching from their own experiences from the hand of God upon them. Now, we may have gone too far in the other direction and have become more of a religious community of epicureans and Stoics who simply want to sit around and philosophy about religious matters. At least they do not have some unknown god they worship; however, many believers still may have idols throughout their lives they are unaware of, which might be considered an unknown gods. Let us always be ready to give a word of truth about Jesus to every segment of society without being a babbler. 

Dialog About Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

DIALOG ABOUT JESUS

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

First, we should note that Paul was greatly distressed, which in Greek, reads more like he was stirred in his spirit, however, that Greek word is also akin to rapid, or sharpen alongside, to be exasperated. Considering that Paul was raised as a Jew who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and he became a Pharisee and a zealot who lived in a monotheistic culture, he would be greatly distressed over a multitude of idols throughout the city. What kind of people are these Athenians? However, there was a synagogue in the town which meant there were also Jews living among all this idol worship seemly contently. We do not know how there were any God-fearing Greeks, however, again the Greek word here means devout persons, or to revere. So perhaps that was to mean God-revering Greeks or other than Jews. The other thing we do not know is that as these God-fearing Greeks were raised in this idol worship culture, did they simply add the God of the Jews to their list of gods to worship, or had they abandoned all their false gods. We know from our personal experiences we have met people much the same. They profess their belief in God, and maybe even believe in Jesus, but they also have a relationship with various idols in their lives. So, Paul, going to the synagogue, began to reason, or dispute some translations put it. In Greek, it is more like he began to speak thoroughly or discuss. This Greek word, dialegmonai, can easily be seen as we get the English word dialog. Paul was having a dialog with all the Jews and those God-revering devout persons who came to the Jews synagogue. Paul also spent time in the marketplace speaking, dialoguing with anyone who would listen. This is the lesson we should pick up on. Before we get into the rest of this account, it would be good to simply focus on a passion for Jesus. There was no doubt that Paul was passionate about discussing or having a dialog about Jesus with whoever would listen, and maybe even with some who did not listen intently, but simply were polite enough to listen, and maybe even some might have been dialoguing with Paul, refuting his ideas about this Jesus, as they had many gods of their own to worship. Are we as passionate about Jesus as Paul was, and are willing to dialog with whoever would listen? Are we even looking for people to dialog with us about Jesus? Maybe we have just become like some of those God-fearing Greeks, in that we are devout in our beliefs about Jesus, or maybe not so devout because we have accepted the idols in people’s lives, and maybe even have adopted some of the idols of our culture. We have been raised in a culture, much like the Athenians, that sadly enough, our culture is full of what would be considered idols. Jesus was very clear that we cannot serve two masters, that is we cannot serve God and money, which definitely can be an idol, along with any form of materialism. This is not to say we should abandon all material things, as we need those things to live, homes, clothes, food, cars, and things that fill our homes, that make life a little easier to live. Then we have all the other interests in our lives, such as various forms of entertainment, and those team sports with all their heroes or stars, which we seem to know more about them than we should. However, we should never put them or anyone or anything before our relationship with Jesus. Again, that is not to say we should abandon all forms of entertainment, yet we should keep it in relationship with our commitment to God. Then perhaps our dialog with people would be more focused on the things of God, especially about Jesus, instead of the latest news about some sports figure, team, or some somewhat famous personality. Again, we can talk about the ordinary things of life, but our goal should always be to dialog about Jesus. 

Continue On

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

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 these 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 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, there are people today who agitate the crowds stirring them up against the message of Jesus Christ. They are stirring up the crowd when they pour out their propaganda about evolution, animal rights, gay rights, hate speech, and pro-choice. These are all anti-God sentiments. Instead, after they run after us from town to town as they had to do in Paul’s time, they now have the use of multi-media and social networks to spew their hatred for the truth of God and stir up support for their cause from the low information portion of society. Those ideologies entrap and ensnare their followers with false information which sounds good but has no truth. God sets people free, the truth actually sets 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 someday 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 Jesus will build his church, 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 our stand. The world might try to discredit our message, but we will continue on.

 

thoughtful

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THOUGHTFUL

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 a noble character to be open to a new message, a new idea, examine 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 thus 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 we Christians are nobler than 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, and more open than 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 what life lesson do 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 position in life and more importantly in our relationship with God. We need to always eagerly accept the message as well as the transformational work of God in our lives.

 

Jealousy Breeds Turmoil

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

JEALOUSY BREEDS TURMOIL

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 an interesting turn of events. Here are God-fearing Jews who lived in Thessalonica who had heard Paul over the period of three Sabbaths explaining through the Scrolls, which were the Torah and the words of the prophets that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah and that he was God incarnate and came to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, and that he rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven. They heard all the good news and yet although some of them did believe and joined Paul and Silas, as well as a sufficient number of prominent women. We are not sure why we are told about these women, unless because they were great women of substance, they might have been supporting the synagogue in the same way some of the prominent women supported the ministry of Jesus and his apostles. This might have been the cause why the Jews, which would be the ones who rejected the reasoning of Paul, were jealous. This might just be supposition, but it seems to give a reason for their jealously, for if their faith in their present belief in the law was strong enough, then no jealousy would have occurred. They also could be of the mind that those who joined Paul and Silas would no longer be members of the synagogue, thus their numbers had dwindled. It would be like being in a smaller church with not too many members and then a number of them leave to join another larger church, leaving the small band of believers to struggle on their own. So, what did they do? They went into the marketplace and found some seedy characters who were most likely Gentiles who were either residents of Thessalonica or from the surrounding area that had come into the marketplace to either sell their wares or buy supplies. Whichever, these men were of bad reputation and so easily turned into this mob mentality. Paul and Silas had not turned the city into turmoil, but it seems lies are believed better than the truth. For Jews to use the belief that Caesar was the ruling king and his decrees were law, is troubling for their Torah, which included the Ten Commandments stating that the Jews were to have no other gods before them. However, in order to satisfy their jealousy, they acted in concert with men of bad character to cause chaos or turmoil in the streets, the very thing they accused Paul and Silas of doing. Jealousy is at the core of their actions, and we know there should be no quarter given to jealousy in the church today. It stands to reason that jealousy will throw today’s church into turmoil, or at the very least, jealousy will throw a person’s heart into turmoil. Jealousy can cause trouble within and can be the motivation to create a mob mentality through the use of gossip or lies that usher in dissension and division. It goes back to the very center of thinking more highly of oneself than one should, as well as not being content with God’s plan for one’s life and rejoicing with those God uses in other ways. The fact is that one cannot rejoice always and again Paul said it, rejoice if there is any hint of jealousy within. We can be sure that jealousy will always breed turmoil.

Methods

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

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. Of the premise of this reasoning was the scriptures that those in the synagogue believed in. Proving Jesus was the Christ from what someone believes in should be a lot more effective than having to reason with someone who does not believe in the scriptures. We also notice that some of the Jews were persuaded, but 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 from 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 individual situation for them to understand the truth. Some we might be able to simply ask, “Do you know Jesus?” while others we might have to 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 the world. We each have a world that we are in, a world or circle of influence that we live in, and people we associate with on a regular basis. Do we bring them the message in any way 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 as well as know the scriptures well enough, at least those regarding Jesus, to reason with those who need required proof.

 

Taking A Stand

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

TAKING A STAND

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

Just go away quietly into the night, or something like that was what the magistrates wanted Paul and Silas to do. The townspeople had gotten all worked up by the owners of the slave girl that Paul and Silas had cast the evil spirit from. After they had been flogged and put in prison the town had settled down and everyone wanted the troublemakers to just leave. But Paul and Silas were not content with being the guilty parties in all this and wanted a formal apology from those who had them flogged and jailed. What do we learn from this narrative? Is it just as simple as to stand firm, to stand our ground, to take our stand against the forces of evil in this world and in the heavenly realms? There are always going to be people, and perhaps we might limit those who oppose the gospel message to the magistrates, or the officials of the land. What we have is almost entirely a humanistic world, which stands against God being in control, or perhaps even opposed to the existence of God. There are those who would not take too kindly to God interfering with their plans for their idea of the future. However, the question is whether we would be persecuted in some way for standing up boldly and declaring their wrongs, as Paul and Silas did. There is evil all around and do we just allow it to exist when we are in its presence, or should we take action as Paul and Silas did by casting the evil out. Maybe it requires that we be troubled by that evil as Paul was. Maybe we have just settled on allowing evil to exist without standing our ground against it. This may not be just in a personal sense, that we take our stand again any evil coming for us but standing our ground again all evil in this world. However, the evil did move directly toward Paul and Silas. So maybe it is that we should not stand against all evil, but just that which affects us. Even in their release, they did not want to just disappear, they wanted the evil perpetrated against them to be exposed and they stood their ground until it was corrected. This is not about knowing that we are Christians by the footprints on our faces. This is about taking our stand, and standing firm, and standing our ground against evil. 

Believe and be Saved

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BELIEVE AND BE SAVED 

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

After this violent earthquake that caused the foundation of the prison to be shaken and all the doors flew open, Paul and Silas remained in the prison. The jailer could not believe that no one escaped. He asked Paul and Silas the question of the ages. “What must I do to be saved?” It is not a complicated question, nor is the answer complicated. Although in some sense there is something we should look at. The Greek word translated as saved carries the meaning of to save, to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction. We are not sure if the jailer understood being saved, in the sense of his salvation, or from the penalty he excepted from the magistrates. However, in the context, we have to presume that the jailer was thinking in terms of having what Paul and Silas had, and maybe the jailer had heard them preaching in the city, or at least he overheard them singing and praising God in their cell. He wanted what they had and so Paul tells him in order to be saved he must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is pretty simple, just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and we will be saved. We understand now that we are saved from the penalty of sin, which is death, and eternal death, never to experience the eternal life that Jesus has given us. Now it gets a little fuzzy, a little in the grey area when we talk about what we are being saved from. The idea of heaven or hell is at the core of this confusion. What we know from scripture is that at some point in time hell or hades will give up its dead and all people will stand before God for the final judgment. Hell is not a permanent place of the dead for it will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur along with the beast, the false prophet, and those who never ever believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not sure about the fate of those who are thrown into this lake of burner sulfur, but we do know the fate of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will be taken up to heaven to the place Jesus has prepared for us. Believing in Jesus is the one and only choice a person can make that will save them. There is nothing else in this world that will give us eternal life. There is nothing we can do to earn being saved. There is nothing we can do to keep being saved, other than to keep believing. We think that we are required to respond by doing good work and maybe that is true in some sense. But we must remember that it is only response and not a requirement for salvation. Believing in Jesus is all we can do, and in reality, that should be the only time we exercise our choice. Once we decide to follow Jesus, then we but follow, which means he leads, and thus how we live is determined by Jesus, where we live is decided by Jesus, where we work, and attending church is also directed by Jesus because we follow, and he leads. Of course, that is in theory, because as humans many of us still what to have a hand in our lives, and make our choices as to where we work, live, church, where we serve, or what part of the body of Christ we become, and even play. But when we override the leading of the Lord by deciding for ourselves, are we then living outside the will of God? Does following Jesus only have spiritual applications, then thus we are free to choose the course of our lives? What are the spiritual applications of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? We get saved, then what? That is all, so then we can go on living just as we always had, making all our decisions in life, doing our own thing, but we are saved? We cannot help but think that life changes when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, we are being transformed into his likeness, with ever-increasing glory. This means that it is also the work of God within us that is changing us into his likeness, and that does not require our good works, but simply our following the leading of the Lord as He transforms us. We can establish all kinds of rules and regulations to live by, but that is just like the law, we will never be able to obtain perfection or follow our rules and regulations to perfection, so then we fail, and feel guilty and shame because we could not be good enough and keep the law. We only need to believe in Jesus Christ, and we will be saved, kept safe, protected, and rescued from danger. Then we must just keep following Jesus. Because we believe and are saved, we live being filled with joy. 

Praising and Singing

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

PRAISING AND SINGING

Acts 16:25-34

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!" 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

So much to consider, yet it would not have been right to break this up as it does complete this portion of the narrative, at least until the next day. The first truth is in the attitudes of Paul and Silas. They had been flogged and now they were sitting with their feet in stocks on a cold stone floor in the darkness of the most inner cell. Now they sat there praying and singing hymns to God. It might have been a good time to complain about their situation and get all upset at God for allowing them to be treated so poorly, considering they were doing his work. But they were not upset, and they were not complaining, instead, they were singing and praising God in prayer. Although this Greek word translated as prayer could mean supplicate, it can also mean worship. Whenever we talk to God it would be considered a form of prayer, but every time we talk to God does not mean we have to ask him for something. We could talk to him with praise on our lips and it would still be a prayer. We could talk to him with thanksgiving on our lips and it is still prayer. So here they were praising and singing to God even in their most horrible physical state. God responded as he is always accustomed to doing when his people praise and worship him in prayer and song. He caused this earthquake that the foundation of the prison was shaken and doors flew open and their chains or stocks flew open and everyone, all the prisoners could have run for freedom. But they did not, and the Jailer knew that it would have been seen as his fault and he would have been executed, so he decided to take his own life. Paul shouted out not to do that because all the prisoners were still there. What happened next was a miracle that we will leave for later. For now, what we learn is that our circumstance is not the issue. We always want to have the best of things, the best of situations, and the best of times. But the fact is that we should be praising and worshipping God in song no matter our circumstances. So we can want and we can ask God for what we want because Jesus told us that we could ask for anything in his name and the Father would give it to us. But the point is not to just ask, but to always be in an attitude of rejoining in the Lord, praising him in prayer and song. 

Serving Who

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

SERVING WHO

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 would have been a nicer story if the owners of the slave girl had any compassion or at the least concern for her, then they would have been happy for her to have been released from the control of some evil spirit. However, quite the opposite happened, as they became enraged against Paul and Silas for interfering in their way of using this evil spirit for profit. This brings us to the question of whether the owners of the slave girl knew that it was not her gift, but that she was possessed by an evil spirit, or were they thinking she just had a gift. Either way, their major concern was about their income. Money was at the core of the issue, not any concern for the girl. It is interesting how everything was fine and Paul and Silas were accepted by the people and they listened to their message without any resistance. Then this happened and it was easy enough for the owners of the slave girl to turn the city against Paul and Silas. These Jews, which seems to be meant in a derogatory sense, are messing with our income. Well, that was true, but this is not their accusation, as they said the Jews are messing with the way of life, they are throwing the city in an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for Romans to accept or practice. We wonder if Paul had mentioned that he too was a Roman citizen or whether that would have made any difference. Anger turned to hatred and the owners of the slave girl wanted them punished. Why is it that money was more important than a freed soul from evil? It would seem that as long as evil is lining their pockets with gold, that makes no room for Jesus in their hearts. So, the narrative continues, and Paul and Silas are flogged and put in prison and in stocks in the innermost cell. That was extreme punishment for messing with these men’s source of income. We do wonder why they didn’t have jobs, or worked for their money, rather than use a slave girl. Nevertheless, this is a story about how God keeps Paul and Silas in the palm of his hand. This is about the power of God at work in people who believe like Paul and Silas. What we know is that Jesus must come first above all else in our lives. Our priority should follow an order of God first and all else comes second, but in reality, we may miss that mark. It seems we have other interests or at least we engage in many other things which we focus on more than Jesus. Oh Sure, we talk about the Lord, and we attend church and even get involved in serving the church somehow. But can serving the church be different than serving the Lord? Then again is serving the church or serving the Lord more about what we like to do, or what we think is a good activity that people enjoy. It seems churches simply develop programs for the sake of having programs. We have to be careful what our priorities are. These owners had money as their priority and we believers of today must be watchful that we do not get sidetracked from following Jesus by looking at money or something else as our source for security. Sure, we need money to live in this world, but it should not be our focus. At the same time, we may also miss out by not being as bold as Paul and Silas were. Such boldness caused them pain and suffering. We doubt that we would be flogged and thrown in prison if we called on the name of the Lord, and either healed someone or cast out an evil presence in a person’s life. Maybe we have gotten distracted by this life, this material world, and all its offerings. Maybe we should be bolder and call evil out when we encounter it, which will always be when we are with non-believers, for everyone serves somebody, either the Lord or Satan, as Bob Dylan once said in a song, “you gotta serve somebody”. Jesus made that clear enough when he taught that we cannot have two masters. These men who owned the slave girl served money, and not God. We must always serve the Lord over all else.  

Commanding Evil

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

COMMANDING EVIL

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

There is more to this narrative as a result of the actions taken by Paul regarding this slave girl. However, the action itself has some merit to consider. Evil was and seems it has always been and will always be among us. Evil was there in heaven and was cast down to earth and began its earthly career in the Garden of Eden. This girl in and of herself was not evil, however, an evil spirit was influencing, or we would say possessed her. Of course, being one of the angels that were cast down alone with Lucifer, or at were his followers, knew exactly who Jesus was. This evil spirit knew exactly who Jesus was because it had once been in heaven with Jesus. What we do not understand is why Paul became troubled over this spirit shouting the truth about who Paul, Silas, and the others were. It must have been that Paul was troubled because everyone knew this girl was demon-possessed and she was hanging around with them, which might have been seen as belonging to their group. We just do not know why he was troubled, but it does serve us with an insight into how we should be alert to the workings of evil and as with Paul, we should be troubled at any presence of evil. If we say there is no evil around us, we deceive ourselves, because evil is always roaming about looking for someone to devour. Although we know that because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within and it is impossible for an evil spirit to co-exist with the Holy Spirit, it does not preclude evil from attempting to influence our mind and our thinking. This was the method he used against Eve in the garden, tempting her mind or her thinking. Granted, Eve did not have the Holy Spirit, but she did have the Lord God who came and walked and talked with them in the cool of the day. What we learn here is that evil is always there, and at times it makes its plea with our minds. For us to confess we never, ever, have an evil thought, or at least an ungodly thought, we would be lying, and the truth is not in us. Temptations are always there, and any temptation that is not from God is evil. God tempts us to do good, to think about that which is holy, pure, right, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Evil tempts us to think more about self and how the self can be lifted up and at the very least, to think about what satisfies us, as the pleasures of the flesh. It is not that we should not consider our circumstances or have needs of the flesh. We need food, clothing, housing, and transportation, along with our social needs, a life partner, friends, etc.  God designed us with the capacity to do good or evil by giving us the choice. We want to always be thinking about Godly things, but there are times our minds might wander, and thoughts of self-satisfaction creep in. Let us turn to those thoughts that might in some way have evil implications and cast them out, for as children of God we can command evil.