Good morning. Many of the people of Berea believed; but when
the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by
Paul there, they came also, agitating and stirring up the crowds. They weren’t
content keeping their city “safe“ from what they considered to be heresy, they
went to a town nearby to also “protect” it. The brethren sent Paul to the sea
while Silas and Timothy remained there. We haven’t heard anything about Timothy
since he joined Paul and Silas a number of verses ago. Those who were with Paul
took him to Athens, where he gave them a command for Silas and Timothy to come
to him as soon as possible. While Paul was waiting for them, he was agitated
within as he observed all of the idols. He was reasoning in the synagogue with
the Jews and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be
present. Paul did not let all of the conflict he had endured in the other
cities deter him from proclaiming the gospel wherever he was. While Athens was
no longer at the height of its glory in art and other areas, it was still a
bastion of philosophical debate. Some thought he was a proclaimer of strange
deities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. They brought him
to a popular venue to listen to what he had to say, because that is what they
like to do – discuss new and different philosophies. We will find out next time
what he had to say to them. Father help the reader to follow after You with all
of his/her heart. Help him/her to discover Your will.
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
Good morning. While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. It doesn’t say, but I assume it is still during this time of the Passover. This man came to Jesus by night. Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him. It just said that the people believed in His name because of the signs He was doing; yet it does not say what those signs were. Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That is why unbelievers cannot tell what is of the kingdom of God and what is not – they’re not born again. Nicodemus doesn’t have a clue. How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Unless one is born of water and the Spirit ...
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