Good morning. Even after
Paul was mistreated in Philippi: we had the boldness in our God to speak to you
the gospel of God amid much opposition. In fact it always seemed like the more
opposition Paul had, the bolder he was. Most of us would have stopped with even
a little opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity
or by way of deceit. Originally the word translated deceit meant a lure for
catching fish. It looked like the real thing, but in the end it meant
destruction for the fish. So too Paul's words were not a lure to deceive his
listeners. Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the
gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts. God
showed His approval by signs following. When Paul spoke, he did not try to
"tickle their ears", but told them what God wanted them to hear, even
if they did not like it. Men may preach the gospel from wrong motives, but God
knows what is in their hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you
know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is witness – nor did we seek glory
from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ, we
might have asserted our authority. I believe I told you this before: I was at a
church where these people came in claiming to be apostles, and they flattered
our pastor by saying he was an apostle. They wanted us to amend our bylaws to
more or less put them over us. Some evangelists go around to different churches
preaching just so they can make a living. "Give more to God, and He will
give more to you". Father thank You that You bless the reader richly. You
give him/her the guidance he/she needs.
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...
Comments
Post a Comment