Paul's legal proceedings began when he appeared before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council (Acts 23:1-11). Then, he faced the challenging sea journey to Rome, a journey filled with adventure, hardship, danger, and influence. #Daily bible devotions kjv series#First, he faced a series of legal hearings before he even left for Rome. He is faithful that hath promised, and he is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence, Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. The road is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest precipice. Oh, if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which watches over us day by day! Think, how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to cast ourselves down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, "Glory be to him, who is able to keep us from falling." We have many foes who try to push us down. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can wound us we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down. These feeble knees of ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped." If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much but in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. ** This concept is taken from 1 Corinthians 10:33-11:1. In Jesus' name and for his cause, I pray. I want to imitate him in this passion just as he imitated the Lord Jesus' love for the lost.** Holy Spirit, increase your influence in my heart and will as I offer myself to be used to reach others seeking to know Jesus, especially the ones who do not realize that he is the one they are yearning to find. O Father, give me a heart like the apostle Paul for people who are lost. * Both sets of our Related Scripture Readings today emphasize this focus in Paul's ministry. He sought never to offend because he wanted to win as many Jewish and Gentile people as possible to Christ.* He could live like a Jewish person or he could live among Gentiles. While I'm saddened by the result of what Paul did to appease these Jewish critics, I do believe what he did was submitting to the church leaders in Jerusalem and was consistent with the heart of someone who genuinely ached for all people to come to Christ, regardless of their race, social standing, or gender!* Paul's Christian ministry always tried to take into consideration the context of where that ministry was happening. Paul's Jewish critics from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, and they knew he had come to Jerusalem with representatives from Gentile churches, so they accused Paul of violating the Temple by bringing Gentiles into the Temple (Acts 21:27-28). Rather than appeasement, the exact opposite occurred. Having come to Jerusalem hoping to weld together the hearts of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, Paul followed the leaders' instructions. The leaders wanted to appease Paul's Jewish critics. Yesterday, we focused on the leaders of the Jerusalem church and the pressure they put on Paul to participate in and pay for the purification ceremony for four men who had taken a vow.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |