1 - Paul then came to Derbe and Lystra, and there was a disciple there named Timothy, the son of a faithful Jewish mother and a Greek father. 2 Timothy was spoken well of by the Lystra and Iconium believers. 3 And Paul wanted Timothy to travel with them (likely to take Mark’s place?) so he had him circumcised for in those parts they knew he had a Greek father (unlike Titus who was fully Greek and no one expected him to be circumcised). 4 Then they went from town to town, giving to the believers the decisions the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had made (concerning gentile believers in Jesus). 5 So the faith of the churches was strengthened, and increased in number daily. 6 Later the Holy Spirit prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, so they traveled on through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. 7 Then after coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to enter. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to the seaport of Troas. 9 While “we” were there (Luke, author of Acts, is now with them) during the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia asking him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we left for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, next day landing at Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and one of the major cities of the district of Macedonia, and we stayed there for some days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city to the river, where we thought there might be a place of prayer. Once there we sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a seller of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she believed what Paul was saying. 15 She and her household were baptized, and she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And so we did. 16 One day when we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who earned a lot of money for those ‘owning’ her, by telling fortunes. 17 She followed Paul and us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” [SΓ³tΓ©ria - deliverance, welfare, prosperity, deliverance, preservation, salvation, out of destruction into safety.] 18 This continued for many days, until Paul, annoyed, turned and said to the demon, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly the spirit left her. 19 When her owners realized that their means of making money from her was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the marketplace before the leaders of the city.
~*~
Very Brief Outline of Acts:
Jesus returns to where he was with the Father before his advent/visit (his brief first one).
The Holy Spirit/Presence of God is poured out on the believers who were in Jerusalem on the late Spring holy day of Pentecost. Peter speaks, there are 3000 new believers that day.
The good news message spreads, Peter is invited and goes to a Roman’s house and all believe. The first record of non Hebrew believers (besides likely some on Pentecost).
Persecution breaks out.. jail. stoning. Pharisee Saul leads the persecution, but on his way to Damascus with papers for arrests, Jesus makes himself seen but is so bright Paul falls to the ground and is blinded. After two days he is healed and is a believer, and soon is called Paul. He wrote many (to most) of the New Testament letters, but spent a few years (it seems to me) exclusively listening to the Lord. He established many ‘churches’ in what’s called three missionary journeys, and met and worked with Mark and Luke, and quite a few others. (Luke wrote this Book of Acts.) His fourth journey is to Rome to trial as a prisoner. There’s a shipwreck on the way.. He wrote many of his letters while in prison and under ‘house’ arrest.
π
No comments:
Post a Comment