Good morning. Paul begins giving his testimony; how he was trained under Gamaliel (which meant he was highly trained in the law); had men and women put into prison because they followed the Way; and was going to Damascus to continue doing so. He tells about getting knocked off his feet and his encounter with Jesus; how Ananias prayed for him to receive his sight and told him to get up and be baptized, and wash away his sins, calling on His name. Paul tells about returning to Jerusalem (probably several years later); praying in the temple; and falling into a trance. Jesus told him to get out of Jerusalem because they would not accept his testimony about Him. Paul disagreed with Jesus telling about all the bad things he had done against His witnesses, thinking that that would make it OK to stay – that no one would harm him. Jesus told him to go; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was one thing to talk about Jesus to Jews; but it was quite another to even go near the Gentiles. The crowd was going to tear him to pieces; but the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks and that he should be examined by scourging (similar to what Jesus went through – to gain a confession) so that he might find out the reason they were shouting against him that way. That is totally alien to our way of thinking. That is torturing someone to get them to admit to a crime that they may not even have committed. We will continue this next time. Father help today to be a fresh start for the reader. Help everything to be brand new for him/her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners

  Good morning. So, was the law a bad thing? We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (not to control people, as some were), realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer etc. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Formerly Paul was good in the eyes of the law, but unrighteous in the eyes of God. Despite that, God was more than able to use him in a magnificent way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Father thank You that Your Grace is gre...
Read more

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...
Read more

Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

  Good morning. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. This is the area where Jesus had the discussion with the woman at the well. Remember from Acts 1:8 that after Jerusalem, Samaria was mentioned. Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews and considered more or less half Jews. A lot of the Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away and replaced by others who were not Jews. They intermingled with the Jews that were living in the northern kingdom. Even though Samaria was not far away, the disciples had not come there to preach the word before this. The disciples may have even thought that it was impossible for them to get saved, just like the Gentiles. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Even though he was “just a deacon”, God worked throug...
Read more