Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. When day came, the chief magistrates sent to the jail in order to release Paul and Silas. But Paul said, they have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out. Why didn’t Paul say this before they were beaten? My guess is that he did not think of it until he was in prison. The next time he’s about to be scourged, he brings it up very quickly. What was the effect of him saying this – the chief magistrates were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. As per Paul’s demand, the chief magistrates came and appealed to them, and kept begging them to leave the city. They went to the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. After they depart, it no longer says “we“, so we may assume that Luke was no longer with them. The “we“ picks up again three chapters later when Paul is again in the ...

  Good morning. So what did Paul tell the jailer that he must do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. That seems simple enough. Because the word believe can be used in more than one way, sometimes there is a mistaken idea of what it means. You can believe that something is so in your head without it affecting your actions. This “believe” comes from a change in heart, and hence, a change in actions. When you believe something in your head, that belief can change overnight; when you believe with your heart, that does not change very easily. Notice that Paul said not only would the jailer be saved but also his household. That is not necessarily a guarantee that that will happen in all instances. It did happen with Lydia in Philippi which we just read about. Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. After he had taken care of their wounds, the jailer and his household were baptized. In the...

  Good morning. And so what happened when Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns instead of complaining? Suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains where unfastened. Pretty cool, right? When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. Remember that there were no lights like we have, and he could not see clearly that the prisoners were still in their cells; he assumed that they had escaped. He knew that the penalty for letting them escape was death. Paul said, do not harm yourself, we are all here! There was probably a lamp where the jailer was; and so the prisoners could see him, but he could not see them. He called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before them. He brought them out, and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Since he called fo...

  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. ...

  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....

  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...

  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...

  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...

  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 ...

  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 ...

  Good morning. After Paul was stoned, he and Barnabas returned to the cities they had come through. They strengthened the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. After what he had just gone through, Paul would know something about tribulations. When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. First notice that it had been at least some amount of time since they had brought the gospel to these cities. The believers would have matured somewhat so that those who were to be elders would have become more evident. Also notice that it was not just a matter of opinion; sometimes believers can seem mature when they really aren’t. They prayed with fasting. That is what happened when Paul and Barnabas were selected to go on the mission trip. They continued on the return trip and finally came back to Antio...

  Good morning. Remember that everyone thought that Paul and Barnabas were gods; but that didn’t last long. Jews came from the cities that had chased Paul and Barnabas out of town, and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. I believe that it was during this time while he was unconscious that the event happened where he later said he knew a man who went to the third heaven, whether in the body or out of he did not know, and this man received a great revelation. While the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. My Bible says that this was a border town in the southeastern part of the region of Galatia. Now unless God performed a great miracle, someone who had just been stoned would show a lot of evidence of that stoning through bruises etc., even around his eyes. I think this is the event that precipitated Paul’s statement in Galatians that it was because of...

  Good morning. Paul and Barnabas went to another city and entered the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both Jews and Greeks. But again the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. Despite this, the people of the city were divided. Some were going to mistreat and stone them, but they became aware of it and fled to another city. A man who had been lame from his mother’s womb and had never walked, was listening to Paul as he spoke. When Paul saw that he had faith to be made well, he told him, stand upright on your feet. And he leaped up and began to walk. And everyone said praise God! No, they actually said the gods have become like men and have come down to us. In fact the priest of Zeus ...

  Good morning. The Jews were upset and Paul and Barnabas said, it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. Throughout Acts Paul seemed to always go to the Jews first. It was only after they refused to listen that he went to the Gentiles. Notice that it says that they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. When you hear the word and refuse to accept it, you are the one that judges yourself unworthy of eternal life; it is not the one giving the message of salvation that judges. Paul quotes scripture, I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring salvation to the end of the earth. When the Jews, including the apostles, read that, they thought it meant the Gentiles would become Jews. When the Gentiles heard this, they said, shut the front door! Actually they begin rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been ...

  Good morning. Paul continues with his message (remember that the pastor says that he does not give sermons – he gives messages). He talked about God fulfilling His promise to the children of Israel by raising up Jesus from the dead. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the law of Moses. This is not the kind of message that they had been hearing all of their lives. They had been hearing that it is through the law by which one is perfected. This however struck a chord with them. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Many of the Jews followed them, and Paul and Barnabas kept urging them to continue in the grace of God. It does not say whether or not they led them in a prayer for salvation. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city asse...

  Good morning. After the incident with the magician, Acts now denotes it as Paul and his companions, instead of putting Barnabas first. It says that John leaves them and returns to Jerusalem. They reach a place and enter the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sit down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Wow, what an opening! Like Stephen did, Paul begins with the children of Israel in the land of Egypt and what God did for them. He continues on until he gets to King David. From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. John admitted that he was not the One who was coming. To us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utteran...

  Good morning. They found a magician, a Jewish false prophet who was with the Proconsul, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But the magician was opposing them, seeking to turn him away from the faith. But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said (remember – whenever it says that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, they usually say something right afterward), you who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness (whee doggies Paul, that’s quite a mouthful), will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Of course by now the magician is thinking sticks and stones… Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time. And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. So it was not just useless words that Paul was uttering – ...

  Good morning. Barnabas and Saul are back in Antioch. There were a group of prophets and teachers gathered together there. It does not say which ones were which, or if all of them were both. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. First notice that this was a group of leaders gathered together and not the entire church. It does not say why they were fasting. It could have been that they were seeking to hear from the Lord and He spoke, or that may have been totally unexpected. God specifically called both Barnabas and Saul to an important task. It does not say whether or not they already had heard from Him within their hearts, but usually a person has an indication of their calling before an audible word of the Lord comes to them. They didn’t just say, goodbye, have a good trip. Even after hearing from the Lord, they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and sent t...

  Good morning. And so when the servant girl said that Peter was at the door, everyone said, thank God our prayers have been answered - Peter is here! Wrong. They told her, you are out of your mind! Even though she kept insisting that it was so, they kept saying, it is his angel. But Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. Why were they amazed? After all they had been praying for his release. Sadly that is the way too many Christians are today. We pray for something, but we don’t really believe it’s going to happen. Then Peter told them what had happened and left. When daylight came, everyone at the prison was discombobulated (always wanted to use that word legitimately in a sentence). King Herod interrogated the guards and said tough beans old man. No, he had them executed. He was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They were afraid because their country was fed by the king’s country. As he was giving a speech, the people began fl...

  Good morning. On the very night when King Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. Talk about rescue coming just in the nick of time! And what was Peter doing - moaning and groaning? No, he was fast asleep. We don’t know whether or not he knew he was about to be executed. However, King Herod had just put to death James the brother of John, so it was highly probable that Peter would be too. An angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shown in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, get up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands. Peter followed the angel even though he did not know that what was being done was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. The iron gate that leads into the city opened for them by itself, and the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel ...

  Good morning. Some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world.  And this took place in the reign of Claudius. We will hear of Agabus again at the end of Acts. When God tells you something, you should act upon it. They didn’t sit around saying oh woe is us; we need to save up all of our money that we can to take care of ourselves when the famine comes. Instead, they collected money to send for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. They sent the collection with Barnabas and Saul to the elders in Jerusalem. Notice that Barnabas is mentioned first. There will come a time later when the order is reversed. Acts now talks about Herod the king. According to my Bible this is not the same Herod who participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. He is the grandson of the King Herod who put to death the babies in Bethlehem after Jesus was born. He had James the brother...

  Good morning. So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. Of course the gospel was to go to the Jews first. Even Peter’s experience did not convince them to also preach to the Gentiles. However there were some that came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks (people who lived by Greek customs and culture) also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. This was just like Peter and John coming to Samaria after they heard of the people there becoming believers through the ministry of Philip. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he encouraged them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. A large number of people were ...

  Good morning. They heard them all speaking with tongues; so Peter said, surely no one can refuse the water for those to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he? As we will see in a minute, this was a very big deal for the Jews. He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Hopefully you have been shielded from this; but there is a big controversy among some people about the formula for baptizing someone as far as into what name you baptize them. One would think that everyone would be excited about this happening when the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. When Peter came to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Seriously? The Gentiles had just received salvation, and all they can think about is Peter eating with uncircumcised men? So Peter told them all that had happened with Cornelius....

  Good morning. And he ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Jesus did not take this assignment upon Himself; it was predetermined by God before the beginning of time. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. Remember that it said earlier that there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. OK so next Peter led them in prayer, and then gave an invitation for all to come to the altar. No, it was totally out of his control. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. If it had been left to Peter, this probably would not...

  Good morning. Peter’s response: I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. As I said before, sadly people do not understand that in the modern world. They seem to think that their group is preferred over another group. Applying Paul’s comments to the church at Corinth to the church universal, there are not many rich, wise, etc. among you. That’s because they tend to think that they’re better than others. It’s hard to trust in God when you trust in yourself. Peter: but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ – He is Lord of all – you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God...

  Good morning. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who will transform the body of our humble estate into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. There is our guarantee that this is not the end of everything. When our body dies, that is not the end. It ain’t over till it’s over. The body that we have now is subject to all types of frailties; but the one that we will receive when He returns will be eternal like His. How can He do that? We say that we believe that He has the power to subject all things to Himself. If so, would it not be a trivial matter for Him to change our decayed body into one like His glorious one? Father thank You that we have a hope that will one day be fulfilled - our bodies will be just like Jesus’!

  Good morning. We saw last time that Peter was very religious. He had never eaten anything unholy or unclean. That is the way Christians are sometimes. They have to have some set of rules to follow, so that they will know that they are doing what they’re supposed to do. Some even have a checklist: read my Bible ✅ , prayed ✅ , gave my tithe ✅ , etc. The easy/hard part of living the Christian life is to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. He will lead you to do everything on the checklist and then some. But there are times when He will have you do something completely off the list, and if you’re not following Him, you’ll miss out on what God wants. The vision of the sheet with animals on it happened three times and then was taken up into the sky. Of course Peter was wondering what this was all about. About this time unbeknownst to Peter, the men from Cornelius arrived at the house. They said they were looking for him. The Holy Spirit said to Peter, three men are looking for you. ...

  Good morning. We left Cornelius with the angel visiting him. And just like we would do if we saw an angel, he said, what’s up dude? Hardly – being much alarmed (just like we would be), he said, what is it, Lord? Your prayers and gifts have ascended as a memorial before God. Just how long he had been praying and giving gifts, we do not know. We also do not know what he was praying about; but considering what will happen shortly, it was probably about how to know God. It is a lesson for all of us, to keep praying and giving even when we don’t see the answer right away. Send some men to Joppa for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; for he is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea. (this is why Peter stayed where he was not too far from Caesarea - about 30 miles away). After explaining everything to them, he sent two of his servants and a devout soldier to go get Peter. In verse two it had said that Cornelius was also devout. The soldier would have been...

  Good morning. So Peter just healed a paralyzed man. In a nearby village, there was a disciple who did many deeds of kindness. She fell sick and died. They sent word asking Peter to come quickly. When he arrived, they showed him all the clothing that she had made while she was alive. Peter sent them all out (like Jesus would do), knelt down and prayed. He then said to her body, Tabitha arise. She opened her eyes. It became known all over the area, and many believed in the Lord. Again, miracles bring people to the Lord. Peter stayed there many days with a tanner named Simon (which was also Peter’s name). As we will see in a little while, it wasn’t just that Peter was there for her to be raised from the dead and minister to the people in the area. God had something else momentous for Peter to do, and he needed to be in the area. There was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion. Even though he was a Roman soldier, he was a devout man and feared God with all his household, and...

  Good morning. All those hearing Paul continued to be amazed, and were saying, is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them back bound before the chief priests? But he kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in the city by proving this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. If you read in the book of Galatians, there Paul is saying that the many days was three years, part of which was spent in Arabia, after which he came back to the city. Their plot became known to him. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. That is the sam...

  Good morning. All those hearing Paul continued to be amazed, and were saying, is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them back bound before the chief priests? But he kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived in the city by proving this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. If you read in the book of Galatians, there Paul is saying that the many days was three years, part of which was spent in Arabia, after which he came back to the city. Their plot became known to him. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. That is the sam...