Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Acts 18:1-11.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  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.  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Acts 17:16-34.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  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.

What can we learn from Paul’s example?  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.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Acts 17:1-15.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Acts 17:1-9 (NIV)

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.

The second half of the book of Acts is showing us these great pictures of God’s salvation. Acts 17 is going to show how God is saving his people and the kind of heart needed to respond. You may remember that Jesus told a parable that is the parable of the sower in Mark 4. The parable pictures a sower scattering seed across all kinds of different soils. Jesus explains that the parable as the sower sowing the word and the different soils as the different responses that happen from proclaiming the message of God (cf. Mark 4:14). So the parable is about considering if your life is guided by God’s word.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Acts 16:25-40.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

Acts 16:25-36 (NIV)
25  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
27  The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28  But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29  The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.

On verses 25-36:  Here we see why God allowed Paul and Silas to be flogged and imprisoned. It wasn’t because God was cruel, distant or indifferent. Rather God allowed this painful situation so that Paul, Silas and everyone in the prison with them, especially a lost jailer, could witness God’s incredible saving power. Not only did God save his servants from prison, but even more God used the situation so that the jailer and his family could receive Jesus and be saved from hell.