Thoughts From Acts 18 - Part 1

 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. Acts 18:1-11

 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. 5 Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’ Ezek. 33:1-6

        I've got to think that Paul, as familiar as he was with the Old Testament or Testament (they didn't have the New Testament yet just like Home Alone is not called Home Alone 1,) knew of Ezekiel 33 and recognized that he was the watchman warning of impending judgement. He had previously said that the judgement for worshipping things other than the one who made them all would be carried out by Jesus who He resurrected from the dead.

      Today, I was approached while walking to my AirB&B by a man who had a flat tire and was short $15. He seemed legit, pointed to the car and his wife who was having surgery at the hospital that day so I gave him a 20 and told him I do it because Jesus told me to give to anyone who asks. Now I've been approached at least 5 times in my life for the flat tire ruse, I'm sure they take credit cards for tires, and although this guy seemed more legit than any other time, he probably scammed me. Or did he? Was he scamming me or Jesus if everything I own belongs to Jesus - actually I don't own anything, I'm just managing His money. It's one thing to scam me, it's another thing to scam the one who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart and will judge rightly. So I just turn it over to Jesus and don't stress about it.

      Jesus is the judge. The first time He came to die and forgive and serve and save. The next time He will come riding a horse with judgement in His hand and it won't be good for all those who have usurped His throne. Like Ulysses came to judge those who had contempt on His hospitality and his bride, He will come with judgement in hand. We know this to be true so we are "watchmen", right? We are responsible for warning people, yet we allow them to live in rebellion without telling them for fear of rejection, mockery, or just being accused of self-righteous judging. We will have to answer for this at the Bema seat and although we won't incur wrath, we won't hear "well done my good and faithful servant." I don't know about you, but I want him to say, "well done, Jim".

Thoughts From Acts 17 - Part 3

 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. Acts 17:24-34

         It's all about God. He made everything in the world and the world itself, and He is the master of everything on it and above it in the Heavenly Realms. It's not like we can go to a temple or worship a man-made statue of Him because He made the hands that fashioned the gold that He made that built the temple out of materials that He created. Man wants to dumb Him down so that they can compartmentalize and comprehend the transcend ant incomprehensible God. It's also not like we can take credit for anything because we could have been born with an IQ of 70 in a third world country as a slave in the 8th century. God determined that all. If we understand this about God, it should lead us to awe and wonder saying, "Why did you make me and what could I possibly offer to you that would make any sense?"

        And that's what God wants, a humble recognition that He gives us our next breath and is totally responsible for our life and for us to just say, "Thank you and I'm sorry for taking credit for so long." Paul also says that people are now "on the clock". God put up with their ignorance of Him long enough but now they are without excuse because He sent Jesus from Heaven to reveal Him to the Earth and proved He did it by miracles and finally the resurrection. Someday the countdown timer will go off, and it will be too late to humbly bow the knee. Not only does the Earth have an expiration date but each person has a 70-year clock ticking. (I'm 70, let's make that 90) God wants everyone to bow before Him and enter His eternal family so Paul is saying that God is going to judge the world and the clock is ticking but it's been ticking for over 2000 years now. It's sort of like that game "Hot potato" where you wind it up and pass it around and the person holding it when it goes off loses. People are holding on to it saying it's not going to go off and I have plenty of time, but someday it will when least expected.

         Are you still "Master of Your Universe"? How ignorant. How short sighted. How out of touch with reality. You are like a hero in a novel who only exists because the author wrote him into the story. You are like Harry potter without J.K.Rowling. Think about that!

Thoughts From Acts 17 - Part 2

  While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. Acts 17:16-23

        Paul left Berea for safety reasons. I'm sure it wasn't his idea, but his "bodyguards" got him out of there and sent him to Athens where it was safe as he waited for his entourage to meet him there. If that was me, I go to the hotel, relax, watch some TV, maybe work on some messages while I wait for the guys to show up. Instead, he walks through the city and is grieved that these people are worshipping everything but the true God. They don't even know about Him, so Paul uses their idol of an unknown God, which they are paying homage to in case they are inadvertently missing one (which they are) as a jumping off point to introduce them to the true God.

      This makes me ask a few questions of myself. First, am I grieved by the lostness around me? The Milwaukee Brewers just won the World Series, a feat I never thought I'd see in my lifetime, and the celebration went on for days. What kind of celebration? A whole lot of drunkenness both of players and fans and I must confess, I scrolled the shorts on my phone with glee wasting hours. I must confess, my first thought wasn't - what lostness but rather, this is amazing, they are living the life! My mind finally went there but Paul saw with lasered focus the condition of the Athenians and gieved.

     The second question is what am I doing about the lostness? Here I am in Memphis again for 9 days. How am I going to reach people for Jesus? What is my plan? Paul observed the city, the poets they were reading, what they were worshipping and formulated a plan. The residents all love "Harry Potter". Maybe in slow times, if there are any, I watch it with them and point out things like isn't it amazing that all the great stories have similar themes - good versus evil, sacrificing yourself for your friends, being willing to give your life for your friends, the danger of seeking power but the joy of sacrificial love. These all point to the Biblical account of Jesus. One objection, like the Athenians accused of Paul, "You're a babbler." The Greek of that is "seed picker". In other words they said Paul took ideas from everywhere and came up with his beliefs. One resident said to me that Christianity took their ideas from a bunch of other religions. The problem is that the Bible goes back to the beginning. It is the original thought.

    The midterm elections happen tonight. Maybe I comment that it really doesn't matter who wins because God is in control and Jesus is coming back. I don't know, but the main thing is to have a plan and always be laser focused on why I'm here, not to make money but to reach the lost. God help me to stay focused!

Thoughts From Acts 17 - Part 1

 

17 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Acts 17:1-15

        Charlie Kirk was fun and informative to watch as he set up on college campuses and had intellectual debates with college students from a conservative, Christian, Republican foundation. I especially enjoy his clips where he is defending Christianity which I felt became more and more frequent and concise the closer he got to his end on earth. I picture Paul to be like him (although Paul couldn't care less about politics, in fact his main message was submit to authorities because God put them in place, even the bad ones) setting up a place at the synagogue, pontificating about Jesus and entertaining questions and objections. If you've watched Charlie's clips, you can see the vehemence in some of the questioners, and we see the hatred that Paul experienced. Charlie had bodyguards to protect him, and you can see Paul had men who would whisk him away at the sign of trouble. Bryce Crawford is beginning to do this, too and Ray Comfort from Living Waters Ministry and Cliff Kinechtle and his son have been doing it for years.

       On Ray's videos you can see the responses that Paul got from mockery to walking away, to listening and in some cases praying a prayer of salvation. With Charlie, his events became so famous that organized dissidents would follow him from city to city just like they did with Paul and there were riots at Kirk's and Paul's sites.

       The noble response, like the Berean's is to listen, study, and see if there is validity and if not, throw out the arguments. If there is, then rethink your position and grow. I hope that I am teachable. The problem is when we become so dogmatic and unteachable we become ungracious, angry, and unloving. We should be able to be unwavering and convinced in our beliefs without being unkind but because of our insecurities, different beliefs are seen as threats to us. Let's be confident in what we believe yet loving enough to listen to others and gently share the truth as we leave open lines of communication with unbelievers in hopes to win some.