Week #25 Insights: June 17-23

This week's blurbs are written by Adam Goede (Monday) and Lois Gleason (Tuesday-Sunday).

June 17 – Acts 18: Several highlights from today’s reading: Roman Emperor Claudius’ order for the Jews to leave Rome is confirmed by his biographer Suetonius, who wrote that this happened because of riots caused by “the agitator Chrestus.” Historians believe this is a misspelling of “Christ.” In other words, like we see repeatedly in the New Testament, there was conflict between Jews who did and didn’t believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Also, that Gallio was proconsul of Achaia is confirmed by an inscription found with the dates A.D. 51-52 (this also helps date Paul’s visit to Corinth and his letters to the Thessalonians). In verse 5 we see that when Silas and Timothy arrive from Macedonia, Paul was able to do ministry full-time. This was likely because they brought an offering from other Christians that funded his work. Study question: How do our offerings make us participants in wider ministry?
 
June 18 – Acts 19:1-22: Something that stands out in today’s reading is the beating of the seven sons of Sceva by a man with an evil spirit who knew Jesus and knew of Paul but did not acknowledge any authority of the seven sons of Sceva. After word spread of this, people who practiced sorcery were so afraid they publicly burned their scrolls, which were worth fifty thousand day’s wages. That’s a lot of sorcery scrolls. But these people came forward and confessed their wrongdoing and held the name of Jesus in high honor. Study question: Do we have or do things that oppose Jesus? Have we confessed it? Gotten rid of the items and stopped doing the evil deeds? It’s probably time to consider this. God forgives all sins.
 
June 19 – Acts 19:23-41: Verse 32 tells us the rioters in Ephesus were confused and “most of the people did not even know why they were there.” We humans can easily get caught up in chaos, passionately defending or criticizing a hot-button issue—not because we’ve thought seriously about it, but because that’s what our neighbors are doing. It’s human nature to get caught up in the heat of the moment. In the next section, the city clerk tells the crowd the disciples had done nothing wrong. Throughout the New Testament, people get passionately angry with Jesus or his disciples, wanting to jail, hurt, or kill them without any evidence they had broken a law. The teachings of Christianity ignited a lot of passions. Study question: How can we learn to stand up for Jesus even in the midst of heated opposition to his teachings?
 
June 20 – Acts 20: In verses 7 through 12, we see how God used a possible weakness of Paul’s (droning on endlessly) to show his strength. Bringing a dead man back to life surely stuck in everyone’s memory, even if every single word Paul said that night did not. When we get discouraged that we are not “good” at something or wish we could “fix” our weaknesses, we can take heart in knowing God’s grace is sufficient for us, and his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Study question: Think of something about yourself you perceive as a weakness. Are you shy? Too talkative? Bad at sports? Can’t carry a tune to save your life? Whatever weakness you focus on, I bet you can think of an instance God used this weakness for his glory.
 
June 21 – Acts 21:1-16: When Paul and Luke and his group were in Caesarea, a man named Agabus prophesied Paul would be imprisoned in Jerusalem. Paul’s friends then begged him not go to Jerusalem. Paul, however, said he was willing not only to be bound but also to die for Christ. What a powerful, faith-filled statement. What a difference from the days when he used to help kill Christians. Now Paul is willing to die for Christ. Study question: If God could turn Paul’s heart around, is there anyone’s heart he could not? There is hope for all mankind!
 
June 22 – Acts 21:17-36: Paul’s ministering to the Gentiles is highly controversial. Many Jews do not understand what he is actually preaching to the Gentiles or why he is proclaiming God’s word to them. Maybe they feel the Gentiles will taint the Jewish faith and not respect it or revere it. The fact that Paul was worshiping with Gentiles definitely made the Jews in Jerusalem uncomfortable. Their uneasiness and sense of fear is understandable. They couldn’t quite believe Jesus had set them free from many of the laws of Moses. It seems they had a hard time understanding Jesus came to save all sinners, not just the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Study question: When the culture dramatically shifts around us, we often hang on to familiar customs in order to feel anchored. How can this help us? How can this hurt us?
 
June 23 – Acts 21:37 – 22:29: Paul recounts in detail his upbringing, his former life spent persecuting Christians, and his miraculous conversion and direct message from Jesus. He tells the crowd that God sent him to the Gentiles to proclaim Jesus. At this they grew very angry. I find it interesting that Paul was a Roman Jewish Christian. It seemed to startle the Romans that he spoke Greek, and it startled the Jewish crowd when he spoke in Aramaic. Later, the Roman soldiers were even more startled, and alarmed, to discover he was a Roman citizen with all the civil rights that come with citizenship. God used all these parts of Paul’s background to witness to the Romans and to bridge gaps between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Study question: How do we use our own individual circumstances in our upbringings to help reflect Jesus to the world?