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Concerning His Son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh

  Good morning. Today we begin the book of Romans. He has not been to Rome yet. My Bible says that there is a verse near the end which talks about the collections that he was going to take to Jerusalem, which is the occasion near the end of Acts which got him into trouble. Paul basically introduces himself at the beginning and gives his qualifications for writing. He says that he was a bond servant of Christ Jesus. My Bible says that this is different from being a hired hand. He completely belonged to his owner, Jesus. Called as an apostle. There are too many people who are designated by others or even by themselves as apostles. The true ones, like Paul, are designated by God as apostles. Set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures. God did not make up everything as He went along. He had everything completely planned out and revealed it through hints to His prophets in the Old Testament. Concerning His Son who was born o...
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Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen

  Good morning. The Jews replied, we have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. That was good. They did not have any preconceived notions about him. Thank goodness they did not have cell phones back then. They could judge for themselves based on what he said. But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere. They came back another day, and Paul explained to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening. Just like all the places that Paul went, some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. Paul finished his presentation by saying, the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, you will keep on hearing, but wi...
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The father of the leading man of the island was sick. Paul prayed for him, and he was healed. After this, the rest of the people on the island brought their sick to be healed

  Good morning. The father of the leading man of the island was sick. Paul prayed for him, and he was healed. After this, the rest of the people on the island brought their sick to be healed. It doesn’t say whether or not Paul shared the gospel with them; but it certainly gave him a golden opportunity to do so. At the end of three months we set sail. What is ironic is that if they had stayed for the winter where Paul told them to, they would probably have gotten to Rome at about the same time, and they would have avoided all of the stress and strain they endured on the ship. Finally Paul makes it to Rome. He was allowed to stay by himself, with a soldier who was guarding him. I guess this was kind of like house arrest. During all of this, Paul did not say, woe is me. He knew he was on a mission. He called together the leading men of the Jews. He explained to them what had happened in Jerusalem and in Caesarea. When the Romans had examined me, they were willing to release me because...
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Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on a certain island.

  Good morning. Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on a certain island. Now God could’ve had them make it safely to Rome; but they may have gotten there before He wanted them to. Also there were some people on the island that needed to hear about God. After 14 days in the storm, the sailors realized they were approaching some land. Some of the sailors tried to escape in the ship’s boat; but Paul told the centurion that unless they remained in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved. I’m not sure why that is true. They finally run aground, and the ship is being broken up by the waves. The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners so that they could not escape; but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention. One way or another all 276 persons made it to shore. The natives of the island received them with kindness and started a fire for them. As Paul was...
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For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, do not be afraid; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.

  Good morning. So the ship was caught in a nor’easter, and they could not make it go the way they wanted. They gave way to the wind and sailed under the shelter of a small island. My Bible shows a map of where they were. Remember they were only a short distance from the city where they wanted to go. The island was south west of where they wanted to go – because they were hit from the north east with the storm. Of course there was no way to know exactly what path they went after that because they were in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The map just shows a squiggly line until they get to the island where they were grounded.  The storm went on for many days and the and men lost all hope of being saved. So what did Paul say – I told you so. I told you not to go. Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, do no...
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When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them to not continue, because he perceived that not only would there be a loss of the cargo but also of their lives.

  Good morning. When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion. Notice that “we“ returns. Luke has not been mentioned during the entire two years that Paul was at Caesarea. I guess it is safe to assume that he was in the area during this time. We will leave out the names of a bunch of places where they passed. They had sailed for a good many days and began to have trouble with the wind. This was a warning of what was about to happen. When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast (Day of Atonement) was already over, Paul began to admonish them to not continue, because he perceived that not only would there be a loss of the cargo but also of their lives. The centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. They did not want to get stuck for the winter in the port where they were located. They actually were only g...
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I state nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.

  Good morning. Paul continues his message to King Agrippa. I declared, even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. That’s the same thing that John the Baptist told the Pharisees when they came to be baptized. He tells how the Jews wanted to put him to death, but he obtained help from God. I state nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. So Paul has given King Agrippa the gospel in a nutshell, tailoring it to both Jews and Gentiles. My Bible says that King Agrippa was allied with the Sadducees. Remember that his relative, the first King Herod, was extremely upset when the Magi said they were seeking the One born king of the Jews. While Paul was talking to King Agrippa, he was also talking to Festus, who was a Gentile. Festu...
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