LIVE FAITHFULLY AMONG THE FOOLISH Claiming to be wise, they became fools. —Romans 1:22             College and University professors, scientists, doctors, psychiatrists, plumbers, electricians, politicians, the homeless or anyone else that thinks it is wise not to honor God, give thanks to God or suppress the truth about God are fools.  This is what God says about them!  It does not matter where they fall in the intelligence scale or the social-economic scale.  If they do not want to acknowledge Him then He will “give them up” their own wicked ways (Romans 1:24, 26 28).  That is a horrible place for people to be. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There…

SHARE YOUR STORY! “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.  Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.  “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus…

HIS WILL SHALL BE DONE THROUGH YOU! The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” —Acts 23:11 Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.  Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” —Acts 23:16-17 And he wrote a letter to this effect: “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.  This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be…

HIS WILL SHALL BE DONE THROUGH YOU! The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” —Acts 23:11 Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.  Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” —Acts 23:16-17 And he wrote a letter to this effect: “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.  This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be…

WILLING TO DIE FOR JESUS After we had been there several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’”  When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.  Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord…

FAITHFUL FOCUS On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.  There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered….  And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. —Acts 20:7-9, 11             As I read about Paul I am truly challenged.  He spoke until mid-night until the young man fell out of the window and died.  Then after the Lord raised the young man from the dead through…

GOD CREATED ME, ALLOTTED TIME FOR ME, PLACE ME WHERE I AM The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually…

DISAGREEMENT IN MINISTRY  And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”  Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.  But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.  And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,  but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.  And he went through…

THOSE APPOINTED TO ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVE And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.  After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.” —Acts 13:14-15 This gave Paul the opportunity share what God did for the nation of Israel in Eqypt for 450 years, then the 40 years in the wilderness, through the period of the judge judges,  then the kings and finally focused on David whom Jesus’ lineage would come through.  Paul spoke of John’s baptism of…

LIVING IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. —Acts 9:31             I am encouraged that the church can grow and be strengthened during “a time of peace.”  It is true in the context above that the church at this time had just gone through a season of persecution led by Saul, but when our Lord Jesus saved him the persecution stopped for a time.  Yes, it was through that “time of peace” that the church “grew and was…