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When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him

  Good morning. So what did the elders tell Paul to do? We have four men who are under a vow (this was connected to keeping the law); take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their head; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk orderly, keeping the law. Because of what happens later, it makes me wonder if they were telling him what God was saying to do, or else was it man’s remedy for the problem? Too many times we do what in the natural seems the right thing to do; but it is not what God would have us to do. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Now if he had not done all of this with the seven men, would the following have even happened? When the seven days were almost over, the Je...
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For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus

  Good morning. So Paul said, you’re right! I won’t go to Jerusalem – not! What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So his interpretation of what the Holy Spirit said through Agabus was not that he should not go to Jerusalem, but that he was going to go through a lot of bad things there. And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, the will of the Lord be done! This kind of reminds you of Jesus in the garden when He asked that the cup be removed; yet not My will but Thine be done. Neither is a reason for us to tack on “if it be Thy will“ to every prayer request. If it’s not His will, He won’t answer it. They started on their journey up to Jerusalem. The next day he went in to James, the Lord’s brother, and all the elders were present. He told them all of the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it they began ...
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They kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.

  Good morning. Paul and crew looked up the disciples and stayed there seven days. They kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. This is the only place I can find that it seems like God was telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem; the other places seem to be peoples’ personal feelings. But then later Jesus speaks to Paul and seems to say he was supposed to go to Jerusalem. My Bible says that the total now is 36 days since Passover. They continued on in the boat and came to Caesarea. They entered the house of Philip the evangelist. He is the one who spoke to the Ethiopian Eunuch and then vanished. The last we saw of him, he was in Caesarea; so apparently he stayed there all these years. He was one of the seven original deacons, and is now known as an evangelist. He had four daughters who were prophetesses. As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He is the same one who had foretold the coming of a famine. He took Paul...
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I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them

  Good morning. Then Paul says, I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. That is not something that any church would expect to hear. You tend to think that nothing like that could happen at your church; that everything will go along great with or without a particular person. It would be especially grievous for it to occur because of people that are already members of the congregation. Sadly too many times it does happen. People try to take over when a strong leader is no longer there. Therefore be on the alert. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. He knelt down and prayed with them. They began to weep and embrace...
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I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God

  Good morning. Paul continues: but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. (we keep hearing from the pulpit testimonies of people in other countries who feel the same way – that their lives are not dear to themselves when it comes to spreading the gospel). I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. We all go about our lives assuming that we will see the people we know once again. We never think that this time will be the last time. Of course if we conducted our lives like this time would be the last time, we would not treat our friends and relatives badly like we do sometimes. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. It would be easy to leave out something, if we thought that that would bring a disagreement with those to whom we were speaking. ...
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Paul decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

  Good morning. Remember that Paul’s destination was Jerusalem. To get there within any reasonable amount of time, he would have to go by boat. Just like buses and trains today make stops that you don’t want to make, boats also made stops that the travelers might not want to make. Paul decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is 50 days after Passover, and my Bible says that he had already spent 16 days of that 50. Instead of going to Ephesus himself, he called for the elders of the church there to come to him. He reminds them of how he preached the gospel there despite the plots of the Jews. I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Je...
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After a plot was formed against him by the Jews, he decided to return through Macedonia.

  Good morning. After the commotion in Ephesus, Paul left to go to Macedonia (remember the offering he was going to collect there). He finally came to Greece. He spent three months there (my Bible says that he stayed in Corinth, and that he probably wrote the book of Romans at that time), and after a plot was formed against him by the Jews, he decided to return through Macedonia. Possibly when he went through Macedonia, they decided to send an offering; and when he came back through, they gave him the offering to take to Jerusalem. He was accompanied by several men, including Timothy. Those men had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. Notice that Acts returns to the use of “we“, and that they are in the city of Troas, where Paul first met Luke. They had just finished the days of unleavened bread, which includes Passover. On the first day of the week, when the church was gathered together, Paul began talking to them intending to leave the next day; and he prolonged his me...
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