God Speaks
Paul Preaches the Gospel and Establishes Believers in Corinth, Caesarea, Antioch and Ephesus
Verse of the Day: [May the LORD God encourage missionaries and Christan leaders just as He did with Paul.] One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” (Acts 18:9-10 NIV 2011)
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We Respond
Acts 18
Reflection: Paul left Athens and traveled to Corinth where he partnered with Aquila and Priscilla. Every Sabbath he went to the synagogue where he testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah they were expecting according to the scriptures. When some Jews opposed and insulted him, Paul went next door to the home of Titius Justus who was a Gentile who worshipped God. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and his whole household came to believe in the LORD Jesus and were baptized. This enraged the opposition even more. The Lord reassured Paul in a vision that many people in Corinth belonged to Him, so he kept on preaching the word of God there for a year and a half. When Gallio became the governor, some of the Jewish leaders brought Paul up on charges, but Gallio dismissed the case since he saw that it was a religious dispute and not a legal one. When they didn’t get their way, the Jews committed violence against Sosthenes, the man who had replaced Crispus, but Gallio ignored them. Sometime after that, Paul wanted to return to Jerusalem to complete a vow. He took Priscilla and Aquila with him and dropped them off at Ephesus on the way.
Even though the new Jewish believers in Ephesus wanted him to stay longer, Paul hurried on to Caesarea and then to Jerusalem. Then he went back to his sending church in Antioch. After spending time reporting to and strengthening the church there, Paul left again and did the same for all the believers in Galatia and Phrygia. In the meantime, back in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila met privately with an eloquent Jewish speaker from Alexandria named Apollos. They recognized the gaps in his knowledge and understanding of the gospel and filled him in on such things as the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Apollos went on to be a great asset to the work of growing the church.
Prayer: Dear LORD who guides His people, please use even persecution to move Your servants to the places where You want them to be. May our homes, workplaces, schools, and businesses be places where people learn and discuss the values and principles found in Scripture. Whenever we are persecuted, may we remember what You told Paul, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I [God] am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” Please protect Your people from those who falsely accuse them of violence, misconstrue their words, and call them names. May judges refuse to hear such matters and pay the accusers no attention; however, may these judges deal swiftly and forcefully with violence and vandalism. Please give Your missionaries the courage to go on obeying You, reasoning with unbelievers, and strengthening all the disciples. Like Priscilla and Aquila, may “ordinary” believers be able to instruct other people and explain the way of God so that they in turn will use the Scripture to show that Jesus is the Christ. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will pray that the great masses of people who are fleeing war, extreme poverty, or persecution will find safety, support, and security in Christ through interaction with His followers.
- I will invite people into my home so that I can share with them what it means to live “in Christ.”
- I will study the scriptures so that I can prove using them, to anyone who will listen, that Jesus is the Christ.
- I will take courage and do whatever I can to correct the problems I see in my family, community, state/province, and nation as God directs.
Acts 19
Reflection: While Apollos was Corinth, Paul arrived in Ephesus and discovered several believers who knew only about the baptism of repentance preached by John. He filled them in on the rest of the story about Jesus’s ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit. Once they had heard the whole truth, they were baptized both with water and by the Holy Spirit (twelve men in all). The Holy Spirit used Paul in mighty ways to lead people to faith and to heal them of diseases and evil spirits, even from a distance. They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery; if so, then the seven sons of Sceva were paying honor to Paul by evoking his name along with Jesus’s name while trying to cast out an evil spirit. Unfortunately for them, the evil spirit rejected their claimed authority and overpowered and disgraced them. Many from occult backgrounds came to faith in Christ and voluntarily burned their books of incantations. Although he stayed in the area for a while, Paul announced his intention to go to Rome. Serious trouble developed in Ephesus instigated among the silversmiths by a man named Demetrius: he claimed that Paul’s preaching the good news of Jesus Christ defamed their worship of the goddess Artemis (Diana) and would wipe out their businesses. They held a loud and forceful protest in the city’s amphitheater for two hours until the mayor was able to calm them enough to speak and urge them to bring the matters to the courts rather than rioting. He was eventually able to dismiss them, and they dispersed.
Consider the events depicted here. Does any of it sound similar to what is happening in our day especially in the past several years? Let’s ask God to show us how He wants us to respond and then obey Him.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, You are the ultimate teacher; please bring out the truth of all that You are and do. Please unite the church-at-large to understand fully and operate in that truth. Raise up and empower gifted people, like Paul, to so reason with people that all the residents of a region will hear the word of the LORD, whatever their ethnicity. May You do such great works of healing, miracles, and casting out of evil spirits that many place their faith in Jesus. May those who are trying to copy Your work be exposed and dealt with to such an extent that the fear of the LORD falls on many and the Lord Jesus is extolled. Please give public officials (Christian or not) cool heads and clear reasoning and cause them to prevail in the midst of great confusion. commotion, and even rioting. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will ask the LORD to commission and empower wise, influential leaders in every area of society to correct incomplete information so that the truth of God can be known and obeyed.
- I will seek to do my part to act on and spread the truth of Christ in my personal sphere of influence.
- I will study the word of God so that I can apply it correctly to the issues of the day.
- I will praise and worship the LORD by reciting scriptures, especially the psalms, and by singing great hymns and worship songs.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.