A Citizen of No Ordinary City Acts 21:37-39 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, May I say something to you? Do you speak Greek? he replied. Arent you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago? Paul answered, I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people. Thoughts for Today: The self proclaimed street magician David Blaine approaches two young men on the streets of Los Angeles, and asks the question Hey, you want to see some magic? They hesitantly nod their approval, and then are amazed at the feats Blaine performs. If youve ever seen David Blaine perform you know he is no ordinary magician, just as Paul is no ordinary man. In our passage today, Paul similarly asks the commander, May I say something to you? Clearly the commander thought he knew who Paul was -- instead he found out that Paul was a citizen of no ordinary city. I really like that phrase because I too am a citizen of no ordinary city. I am a citizen and future resident of the Kingdom of God. The Bible tells us in Philippians 3:20-21, Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Unfortunately it also means that as follower of The Way and of the real history of my people and not HIS-TORY, while I am on this earth, I will mostly feel like a stranger in a strange land -- somehow out of place. Can any of you relate to that feeling? I was listening to a group of guys the other day and as their conversation continued and what they talked about became more clear, what was important to them, how they spoke of their wives, work, morals, their language -- just about everything, was such a contrast to what I believe and how I live. When I look at todays world with all the killing of our innocent, the out and out murder of people, whether black or white and seeing people; our Senate, Congress, Mayors, Senators show no concern over this seemingly at all; is like looking at the lineup of new television shows this year. Clearly what the viewing public is interested in is vastly different than theirs. Im finding myself more and more out of step with the interests of the citizens of this world. Whether its through my studies and beliefs or just the knowledge that wrong is wrong and right is right Questions to Ponder: We cant help having and forming some really great attachments while on this earth: friends, family, work, hobbies, etc. But while were doing it we have to be careful to not take our mind off the prize -- as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 9:24, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Are you running in such a way as to get the prize? Are you behaving as a citizen of no ordinary country? Or are you indistinguishable from everyone else?
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 23:13:13 +0000
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