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 would we do if after not being able to find out
what God wanted us to do, we saw a vision? - probably the same thing they did. Immediately we sought to go into
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Notice that it now says we – this is probably where Paul and Silas met Luke.
They proceeded to go to Philippi (refer back to the events that follow when
reading the book of Philippians), which is a leading city of the district of
Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in the city for several days.
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were
supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began
speaking to the women who had assembled. It doesn’t say that they had a “Thus
saith the Lord“ directing them to go there – God expects us to use our common
sense. Father help the reader to keep his/her mind on the important things and
to not let the little things distract him/her. Show him/her the way that he/she
should go.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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