{"id":21530,"date":"2022-05-09T22:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_21_26-40-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-05-03T20:28:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T03:28:06","slug":"acts_22_1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_22_1-16\/","title":{"rendered":"When Was The Last Time You Shared THIS with Others?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p><strong>Acts\u00a0 22:1-16 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts+22%3A1-16&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21532 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/22-0510.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/22-0510.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/22-0510-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is Acts 22:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Acts 22:1-15 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:<br \/>\n<sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;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.<br \/>\n<sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,<br \/>\n<sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.<br \/>\n<sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.<br \/>\n<sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, &#8216;Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?&#8217;<br \/>\n<sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;&#8216;Who are you, Lord?&#8217; I asked. &#8220;&#8216;I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,&#8217; he replied.<br \/>\n<sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.<br \/>\n<sup>10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;&#8216;What shall I do, Lord?&#8217; I asked. &#8220;&#8216;Get up,&#8217; the Lord said, &#8216;and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.&#8217;<br \/>\n<sup>11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.<br \/>\n<sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there.<br \/>\n<sup>13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He stood beside me and said, &#8216;Brother Saul, receive your sight!&#8217; And at that very moment I was able to see him.<br \/>\n<sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;Then he said: &#8216;The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.<br \/>\n<sup>15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verse 15:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Yet notice that Paul doesn\u2019t go into the Scriptures when defending himself in front of this Jewish audience, many of whom were bent on killing him.\u00a0 Instead, he shares his story, his testimony of how he encountered Jesus.\u00a0 It goes to show that\u00a0<strong>your testimony about the way you encountered God is a powerful tool that you can use as part of defending your faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re sharing your testimony, I suggest that you keep in relatively brief.\u00a0 See if you can share your testimony in 3 minutes or less where you cover: (1) what your life was like before you received Jesus, (2) what made you decide to receive Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, and (3) what difference having Jesus in your life has made.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Always be ready to share your testimony with others.\u00a0 God can use it in a powerful way.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Acts 22:16 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.&#8217;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verse 16:\u00a0 Here we see the importance of baptism.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Baptism is the next step you take after receiving Jesus into your life.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a graduation but a beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a statement about how good you are, but about how good God is.\u00a0 It\u2019s not you saying you\u2019re a perfect person.\u00a0 It\u2019s you saying you\u2019re a sinner who needs a Saviour and His name is Jesus.<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s not you putting your hope in yourself and what you do, but putting your hope in what Jesus Christ has done for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you been baptized to evidence your faith in Jesus?<\/strong>\u00a0 For more info on baptism, go to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thrivechurch.us12.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=77ec4e1ba0a9c0c7b9605a214&amp;id=f77bd5dc81&amp;e=b608fe02a2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/thrivechurch.us12.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u%3D77ec4e1ba0a9c0c7b9605a214%26id%3Df77bd5dc81%26e%3Db608fe02a2&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651719751876000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1lX4aBXONbpTrCLWPaCa0S\">mythrive.info\/baptism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Father, thank You for the beautiful way that You rescued me.\u00a0 May I always be ready to tell that story and may You use my testimony as a powerful tool to lead others to You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is Acts 22:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p>Acts 22:1-15 (NIV)<br \/>\n1\u00a0\u00a0&#8220;Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.&#8221;<br \/>\n2\u00a0\u00a0When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:<br \/>\n3\u00a0\u00a0&#8220;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.<br \/>\n4\u00a0\u00a0I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>On verse 15:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Yet notice that Paul doesn\u2019t go into the Scriptures when defending himself in front of this Jewish audience, many of whom were bent on killing him.\u00a0 Instead, he shares his story, his testimony of how he encountered Jesus.\u00a0 It goes to show that\u00a0your testimony about the way you encountered God is a powerful tool that you can use as part of defending your faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21530","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\/21530","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=21530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21533,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21530\/revisions\/21533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}