Friday, August 8, 2008

As

Sorry for the absence. I have been out of town on a staff retreat the past couple of days. Today, we are going to continue following Paul on his third missionary journey. There is a link in the “sites” section that will allow you to interactively track his journey.


Acts 19
1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. 2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” 5 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.



As. “As soon as they heard.” I don’t know about you; but I sometimes have a hard time accepting something new. Familiarity can provide security. We don’t know when these guys had heard John’s message. If they happened to hear John speak in person, it could have been as many as 27 years between messages. I’m not asking you to believe everything you hear. At the same time, I’m asking you to not dismiss everything you hear. Paul, the guy that introduced these guys to Jesus, probably said it best when he said to “Test everything” (check out 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 22). On a side note, this story is a reminder of the important role we play in telling people about Jesus. Take a minute and check out Acts 4:13-21.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Accuracy

Today, we are given a glimpse of the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey. There is a link in the “sites” section that will allow you to interactively track his journey. Then, introduced to a guy that will become a key figure in the church at Corinth.


Acts 18
23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers. 24 Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. 25 He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. 26 When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately. 27 Apollos had been thinking about going to Achaia, and the brothers and sisters in Ephesus encouraged him to go. They wrote to the believers in Achaia, asking them to welcome him. When he arrived there, he proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God’s grace, had believed. 28 He refuted the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the Scriptures, he explained to them that Jesus was the Messiah.


Accuracy. You can possess all the adjectives in the world (eloquence, enthusiasm, boldness); but when it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus, the most important is accurate. As followers of Jesus, we have a responsibility to be constantly improving our accuracy through private study, group dialogue and personal experience. As followers of Jesus, we also have a responsibility to (graciously!) sharpen the accuracy of others. Priscilla and Aquila provide the perfect example. The key to accuracy is discipline. It won’t happen easily or quickly; but through patience and consistency.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Vow

Today, Paul’s second missionary journey is going to come to an end. If you would like to catch up, there are links in the "archive" section to previous stories and there is a link in the “sites” section that will allow you to interactively track his journey.


Acts 18
18 Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that, then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and went to nearby Cenchrea. There he shaved his head according to Jewish custom, marking the end of a vow. Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. 19 They stopped first at the port of Ephesus, where Paul left the others behind. While he was there, he went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews. 20 They asked him to stay longer, but he declined. 21 As he left, however, he said, “I will come back later, God willing.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 The next stop was at the port of Caesarea. From there he went up and visited the church at Jerusalem and then went back to Antioch.



Vow. I was really intrigued by the idea that Paul took a vow. So, I did some reading (check out Numbers 6:1-21 and Leviticus 27). The idea of a vow was to dedicate yourself to God for a period of time to either ask him for something or thank him for something. This particular vow (called a Nazarite vow) included three elements of dedication (not cutting your hair, not drinking alcohol and not coming into any sort of contact with a corpse). Somewhere in time, we have lost sight of opportunities like this to spiritually express our dedication to God. Personally, I am going to make a vow to revisit them.