{"id":21214,"date":"2022-04-25T22:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T05:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_16_25-40-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-04-19T20:27:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T03:27:57","slug":"acts_17_1-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_17_1-15\/","title":{"rendered":"With the Help of Our God, We Dared"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts\u00a0 17:1-15\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 17:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 17:1-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0explaining 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.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some 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.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 Here\u2019s further proof that when Paul said, \u201cSince you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles\u201d (Acts 13:46), Paul was only talking about their mission in the city of Pisidian Antioch but didn\u2019t mean he was giving up on reaching his own Jewish people.\u00a0 For here in Acts 17:1-4 we see Paul, \u201cas his custom was\u201d (v2), going into the Jewish synagogue, this time in Thessalonica.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And there, some Jews as well as a large number of Greek men and influential women find faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

And just like in every other city where Paul went, we see two opposite responses: there are those who respond favourably (as do some Jews and a large number of Greek men and influential women).\u00a0 And there are those among the Jews who cause trouble for Paul.\u00a0 As Paul would later write to the Thessalonians, \u201cWe had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel\u00a0in spite of strong opposition<\/em>.\u201d (1 Thessalonians 2:2)\u00a0 Notice what Paul says:\u00a0 \u201cWith the help of our God, we dared\u2026<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

I pray that the same would be said of us: that with the help of our God, we dared to do the important thing even though it was hard; that with the help of our God, we dared to take risks in order to reach people with God\u2019s love; and that with the help of our God, we dared to do what God calls us to do even though there are challenges and opposition coming against us.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 17:6-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 6-9:\u00a0 Because Jason welcomed Paul, Silas and their team into his home, Jason suffered persecution from those who opposed Paul and Silas.\u00a0 Likewise, when you welcome Jesus into your life, by association with Jesus you become a target for the enemy and may suffer as a result.\u00a0 But don\u2019t let that suffering keep you from following Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0As with Jason, whatever bond you need to post, whatever suffering you must endure, nothing compares to the reward you will receive for following Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 17:10-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians,\u00a0for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true<\/strong>.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-12:\u00a0 May we have the same attitude as the Bereans when we hear others preach God\u2019s Word: may we receive it eagerly and examine the Scriptures diligently to see if what is being preached is true.\u00a0 Like the Jews, Greek men and prominent women in Berea who believed,\u00a0when you choose to listen to the preaching of God\u2019s Word with an eager heart, a thoughtful mind and an open Bible, you will be blessed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Acts 17:13-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-15:\u00a0 Once again troublemakers follow after Paul and try to disrupt his ministry.\u00a0 Jews who had stirred up trouble for Paul in Thessalonica come to Berea to agitate the crowds there.\u00a0 So the church in Thessalonica thinks it best \u2013 for Paul\u2019s safety and possibly for their own safety too \u2013 to send Paul to Athens, while Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea temporarily.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Paul himself knew that in every city he went to hardships were facing him (see Acts 20:23).\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t let the certainty of trouble stop him from doing what God called him to do.\u00a0 May we be the same.\u00a0 Jesus says that in this world we will have trouble, but take heart for He has overcome the world (John 16:33).\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t let trouble stop you from doing what you know is right and what God has called you to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus thank You.\u00a0 Though in this world we will have trouble, we can take heart knowing that You have already overcome the world.\u00a0 Thank You that through You we are overcomers too.\u00a0 Thank You that with Your help we can dare to do the hard but important things and that the reward for doing them is worth the cost.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 17:1-15.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 17:1-5 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
\n3\u00a0\u00a0explaining 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.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Some 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.
\n5\u00a0\u00a0But 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.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 Here\u2019s further proof that when Paul said, \u201cSince you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles\u201d (Acts 13:46), Paul was only talking about their mission in the city of Pisidian Antioch but didn\u2019t mean he was giving up on reaching his own Jewish people.\u00a0 For here in Acts 17:1-4 we see Paul, \u201cas his custom was\u201d (v2), going into the Jewish synagogue, this time in Thessalonica.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 And there, some Jews as well as a large number of Greek men and influential women find faith in Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21217,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions\/21217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}