Archive for month: April, 2022

Hi  GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 19:1-12.  Let’s go!

Acts 19:1-7 (NIV)
1  While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples
2  and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3  So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.
4  Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5  On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
6  When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
7  There were about twelve men in all.

On verses 1-7:  Here Apollos and Paul switch places.  Apollos goes to Corinth and Paul goes to Ephesus.  In Ephesus Paul finds 12 men who had received “John’s baptism”, which is probably referring to a baptism where the person being baptized says, “I am turning from my sins and I wait for God’s Messiah to come”.  These 12 men in Ephesus, who may have been taught by Apollos (see Acts 18:25), had not yet been baptized into the name of Jesus, which is where the person being baptized is essentially saying, “I believe Jesus is God’s Messiah who has come and died on the cross and rose again to save me.”  So when Paul finds this out, he baptizes these Ephesian Christians in the name of Jesus.  Also, since these 12 men had never even heard of the Holy Spirit (v2), Paul lays hands on them in prayer, at which point the Holy Spirit falls on each of them in a powerful way as they begin to speak in tongues and prophesy.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 18:1-11.  Let’s go!

Acts 18:1-3 (NIV)
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 the 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.
 
On verses 1-3:  Paul, Aquila and Priscilla had a lot in common: they had all recently moved to Corinth (Paul from Athens, Aquila and Priscilla from Rome); they were all tentmakers; they were all Jewish by heritage; and there is a good chance that Aquila and Priscilla were already Christians by the time they met Paul.  With so much in common, it made sense to them to go into business together.  Just as Paul had Aquila and Priscilla, thank God for those like-minded people God has placed in your life with whom you can work and do life together.  May you make the most of those relationships and not take them for granted.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 17:16-34.  Let’s go!

Acts 17:16-17 (NIV)
16  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 the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

On verses 16-17:  Because Paul was distressed to see so many idols being worshiped in Athens, Paul decided to do something about it.  He begins to preach about Jesus in the synagogue and marketplace of Athens.  When you are distressed by something that you see, don’t just complain about it or be frustrated by it.  With your time and your talents, do something productive in light of it.

Acts 17:18 (NIV)
18  A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute 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.

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 17:1-15.  Let’s go!

Acts 17:1-5 (NIV)
1  When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2  As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3  explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he said.
4  Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.
5  But the 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.

On verses 1-5:  Here’s further proof that when Paul said, “Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46), Paul was only talking about their mission in the city of Pisidian Antioch but didn’t mean he was giving up on reaching his own Jewish people.  For here in Acts 17:1-4 we see Paul, “as his custom was” (v2), going into the Jewish synagogue, this time in Thessalonica.  There Paul shows through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah and that this Messiah was destined to die and rise again from the grave.  And there, some Jews as well as a large number of Greek men and influential women find faith in Christ.