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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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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, May 4, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Paul’s Sermon in “Antioch in Pisidia” [2] Bible Verse :Acts 13:26-35 "[Paul, traveling with Barnabas, has undertaken a journey through Cyprus to Anatolia—the first bold missionary voyage overseas. He is telling the Greek-speaking Jews there about Christ.] “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’”" Message:
Here, Paul continues the sermon in Antioch in Pisidia, a small town in central Turkey (as distinguished from to the great city of Antioch). He and his companions were asked by the congregation of a synagogue to speak “if they had a message of encouragement.” As we come to know Paul, it should not surprise us that he accepted the invitation.
Paul was obviously an extraordinary man, one marked for leadership. When we first meet him, prior to his conversion, he has become a trusted lieutenant of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. He was present with them at the trial of Stephen, and thereafter became their trusted field agent, responsible for rounding up Christians and returning them to Rome in chains.
Rooster from illuminated Tanakh
Since the time of his conversion, he has constantly risen to the forefront of any group in which he finds himself. Note that, when this mission began, it was a mission of “Barnabas and Saul.” But as we saw previously in Acts 13, the text has begun to refer to the group as “Paul and his companions.” And when the group is asked if it wants to speak, it is Paul who stands up.
As we have seen and will see even more, Paul was a remarkable man — forceful, determined, and driven even before his conversion. He was apparently quite ambitious even before his conversion. His family shows signs of ambition; although they were tent-makers, they were Roman citizens, a rarity among Hebrews. This citizenship shows some sort of action, taken by his forebears, that would have qualified them as citizens of Rome. Most likely, one of his recent forefathers had distinguished himself in Roman military service.
His drive to distinguish himself, and the talents which made it possible, have now been subsumed in another kind of ambition — the ambition not for his own glory, but for the glory of God. Paul will apparently struggle with this to a degree, as will be seen in his many epistles; and, indeed, his name is known and revered even today.
But if Paul struggled with pride and ambition, which of us has not? We are all given gifts of the Holy Spirit, and his gift was one of forceful leadership. Like the apostles, Paul was specifically called by God to a mission; he pushed himself to the forefront, not to glorify himself, but to serve God as he was called to do.
Meditation : [Christianity is called a spiritual walk. It’s not a run and it’s not a jog. (Orel Hershiser)] 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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