Author Archive for: meiling

Hi  GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 22:1-16.  Let’s go!

Acts 22:1-15 (NIV)
1  “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
2  When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:
3  “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
4  I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,……

On verse 15:  Paul had spent years in Jewish synagogues throughout the Roman Empire defending the Christian faith and showing from the Hebrew Scriptures how Jesus Christ is the Messiah who was destined to die for our sins, rise from death and live forever as Lord.  Yet notice that Paul doesn’t go into the Scriptures when defending himself in front of this Jewish audience, many of whom were bent on killing him.  Instead, he shares his story, his testimony of how he encountered Jesus.  It goes to show that your testimony about the way you encountered God is a powerful tool that you can use as part of defending your faith.

Hi  GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 21:26-40.  Let’s go!

Acts 21:26-36 (NIV)
26  The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.
27  When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,
28  shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.”……

On verses 26-36:  Now we see why it was such a dangerous and risky idea for Paul to go to Jerusalem, and why others tried to discourage him from going.  Paul was a wanted man in Jerusalem, with many people bent on taking his life.  The violent opposition Paul faced in Jerusalem is reminiscent of what Jesus faced in Jerusalem.  Both Jesus and Paul knew that danger awaited them in Jerusalem.  In Luke 13, when people tried to discourage Jesus from going to Jerusalem, Jesus himself said, “In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day–for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13:33).  Jesus even laments over the people of Jerusalem in the next verses when he says:

Hi  GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Acts 21:15-25.  Let’s go!

Acts 21:15-25 (NIV)
15  After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.
16  Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.
17  When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly.
18  The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present……

On verses 15-20:  Paul and his team finally reach Jerusalem.  The Jerusalem church elders, including James, praise God after hearing Paul’s reports about what God did among the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry.  However, while Paul was away from Jerusalem, a new concern had arisen for the Jerusalem church.  According to the ancient historian Josephus, the mid 50s were a time of intense nationalism and anti-Roman sentiment among the Jewish people in Jerusalem, as evidenced by numerous revolts that the Jews launched against the Roman empire.  Thus many Jews in Jerusalem did not like the idea that Paul was reaching non-Jewish people throughout the Roman empire.  Even more, they thought that Paul was teaching Jewish Christians living outside of Jerusalem to completely disregard the law of Moses.