Posts

When her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities.

  Good morning. So the demon has been cast out, and everything is hunky-dory; not exactly. When her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities. Notice that there is no mention of “we“. Luke did not get dragged along with them. When they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, these men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans. That does not sound like any kind of crimes that need to be punished. The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore the robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. Then they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. There it would be dark and dank. It would either have been very hot or very cold. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

They found a woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

  Good morning. They found a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira (where one of the churches in Revelation was located), a seller of purple fabrics (this city was famous for its dyeing works, especially royal purple – i.e. Crimson – roll Tide!), a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us to come into her house and stay. It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after us, she kept crying out, saying, these men are bond servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. The Greek would normally be translated “a” way of salvation; which would mean there was more than one way. Whether it was that or the fact that a servant of the devil was doing the proclaiming, Paul was extremely agitated....
Post a Comment
Read more

They passed through the region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; ... , and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them

  Good morning. They passed through the region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and later they were trying to go into another place, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. Why does it say Holy Spirit one moment, and the Spirit of Jesus in the next? I know that a lot of people would say that it was just for variety in writing; but I think that there was actually a distinction in what happened. When it says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, I think it meant that there was an out loud verbal communication – “Thus saith the Lord”. When it says the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them, I believe it meant that within them they felt this uneasiness about going into that region. We have all been this way at times – conflicted within and without. They come to Troas. Finally, a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. What...
Post a Comment
Read more

Paul chose Silas and left; being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.

  Good morning. Barnabas and Mark went to the island of Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left; being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. So Paul had the stamp of approval by the church in Antioch. That does not necessarily mean that he was right in his argument with Barnabas. So Paul went back to all the churches that he had established previously (like he was wanting to do with Barnabas); but my Bible says that he went in the reverse order from before. At one of the places, he found a disciple there named Timothy – yes THE Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. Paul writes in second Timothy: I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I’m sure that is in you as well. Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. My Bible says t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message

  Good morning. They arrived at Antioch and delivered the letter to the congregation. The two that came with them from Jerusalem, Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message. That does not mean that they had a lengthy, “thus saith the Lord…” Prophets can also give messages, just like the pastor. That becomes important later in the 14th chapter of first Corinthians. After spending some time there, they went back to Jerusalem. After some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are. We do not know whether or not that was of the Lord, but it is normally a wise thing to do. Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along with them also. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them and had not gone with them to the work. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from on...
Post a Comment
Read more

In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

  Good morning. An admonition we all need at times: be anxious for nothing. But you don’t know my circumstances… It doesn’t matter, if we are standing firm in the Lord. When we are anxious, we’re taking all the responsibility for solving the problem upon ourselves. We think that the solution is up to us. OK smarty-pants, what should we do? In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Seriously, and that’s it? Notice that it says “with thanksgiving“. We are thanking God for the solution, even when we are in the midst of the dilemma. By the way, the Greek word for thanksgiving here is the one from which the word Eucharist is derived. Sadly our normal procedure is: we try to solve the problem in our own ability, and then scream “help!” to God when everything messes up. In the Old Testament, King Asa became severely diseased in his feet. “Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.“ It’s not that we should ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Therefore in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

  Good morning. And because of all that Paul just said: therefore in this way stand firm (like he talked about in the book of Ephesians) in the Lord, my beloved. If we believe all that Paul talked about the last few verses, we should fear nothing and no one. Nothing should shake us. And now the verse that was made into a song decades ago: “rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice...” We get it Paul – rejoice! We rejoice, not because everything is going the way we want it to, but in the fact that no matter what happens, God is in charge. Let your gentle spirit (King James, moderation) be known to all men (sometimes it’s hard to be gentle when we are mistreated harshly). The Lord is near. Even though Paul said that 2000 years ago, the time is nearer than it was even yesterday. We should live every day as if Jesus could reappear any instant. Father help us to stand firm no matter what happens; to rejoice whether things are good or bad; letting our gentle spirit be known to ...
Post a Comment
Read more