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Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted Isa 53:4 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, November 30, 2024
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Paul in Corinth [2] Bible Verse:Acts 18:9-17 (ESV) "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.” But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about words Aand names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. " Message:
Today’s lesson hints at the size and importance of Corinth. It had been a great city-state in Greece for hundreds of years before the Roman conquest, and it would become home to one of the great churches of antiquity.
Note that, at this time, Roman attitudes towards Christianity and other religions in Roman colonies had not changed since the crucifixion. Basically, they could not have cared less. Rome’s attitude towards its gods was that they should be appeased to help Rome; conquered peoples could believe whatever and worship whomever they pleased. It was unconcerned with the beliefs of a deviant little Jewish sect, which had not shown any inclination to dabble in politics.
Note that Claudius expelled the “Jews”, including some Christians, from Rome just before the events of Acts 18, but not for religious reasons. Nero would murder many Christians but, again, not really for religious reasons. Religious persecution of Christians by Rome developed slowly and sporadically until it became official Roman policy around 250 A.D.
These few verses cover the span of over 18 months. We are in the very heart of Paul’s extraordinary “second journey.” One might liken this section to the invasion of Normandy in WW2, because Paul has crossed a sea to a new continent. He is bringing the Word from Asia Minor into the heart of ancient European civilization. Rome is the political center of the Western world, but what we call “Greece,” the ancient city-states of the Greek peninsula, is still a primary cultural center.
It was during this period, while Paul was in Corinth, that Paul wrote the first epistles that appear in the Bible, two long letters to the little church in Thessalonika (Thessalonians 1 and 2). The chronology of the New Testament is a bit out of whack after the Gospels; all of Paul’s epistles (and probably the non-Pauline epistles) were written during the time period of the Book of Acts, and they do not appear in order of when they were written.
Meditation : Prayer : And finally, may the grace of Christ our Savior, and the Father’s boundless love, with the Holy Spirit’s favor, rest upon me, and all of us, from above. Thus may we abide in union, with each other and the Lord, and possess, in sweet communion, joys which earth cannot afford...........Amen |
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