Todays Bible Reading - Judges 10 & Acts 14 Happy Sunday to everyone! We were fortunate to worship with family and friends this morning, and I hope you were able to worship our Lord today as well! Judges 10 continues the account of the Roller-Coaster ride of Israel - they would fall into sin, cry out to God and be delivered, then before too long fall back into worshipping other gods, and be punished again... As I learned at the beginning of the book of Judges, God sent 12 Judges, or deliverers, to deliver Israel from sin during these times... Its easy to read these accounts and think, How could they not stay in favor, and worship God.... But, in truth, I fail My Lord every day, and I know I am saved saved by His grace, and know all about His love for me, the miracles he has done for my family (Im not being radical here... Theres just no other explanation for some of the health issues, situations, and crises my family and friends have overcome), etc... It is evident that we all fall way, way short of being worthy of the gift of Christ - even today. In the latter parts of Judges, the sons of Ammon are mentioned... You should research the story of the Ammonites... They are descendants of Lot and one of his daughters... Genesis 19:30-38 tells the story of how Lot and his two daughters had escaped the destruction of Sodom, and how the daughters got Lot drunk so they could sleep with him, in order to continue the family bloodline... The resulting children were Moab and Ammon - sound familiar? My Bible study calls them and their descendants the picture of ungodliness. APPLY - Desperation will drive us to do terrible things - a daily walk with God is the only way to keep our eyes on Him and hopefully resist the constant temptations of this world! Acts 14 describes the continuing spread of the Gospel through the Roman Empire by Paul and Barnabas... 14:1-7 - they entered Iconium and many were saved, but many denied the message of Christ... The unbelievers threatened to stone Paul and Barnabas, so they left and entered other cities to preach and teach. 14-8-19 describes Paul healing a person, crippled since Birth, in Lystra... When the people saw it, they thought Paul and Barnabas were Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, and began showering them with gifts... Paul and Barnabas tried to convince them that they were just men blessed by Christ, but it didnt convince the unbelievers... Jews from Iconium and Antioch had followed them, and stoned Paul in Lystra - the Jews thought he was dead, and drug him outside the city and left him for dead. 14:20 tells us that Paul got up - my bible doesnt comment on how Paul recovered so quickly, but when I googled Acts14:20 a miracle?, there were many references and commentaries that stated that this had to be a miracle - how could Paul be stoned and left as dead, then get up and re-enter the same city? Nothing less than a miracle from God, at least in curing him from his injuries... I googled Jewish Stoning Methods and found several references - one describes stoning as a very brutal and deliberate process: 1. The place of stoning was typically twice as deep as a man was tall, and full of rocks. 2. The victim was thrown into the pit by the first witness, in such a way that he fell face-first onto the rocks. 3. The victim was then turned over and, if still alive, a second witness would strike him in the chest with a very large stone... If the victim died, the stoning was finished... If he was not dead, all of Israel would stone the victim. It had to be a miracle from God that Paul would survive and go back to the battlefield! 14:21-28 - The latter part of Acts 14 tells us that Paul and Barnabas made many disciples in Lystra and moved on to Derbe the next day... They then travelled back through Lystra, Iconium, (encouraging the Christians, and appointing elders to serve the churches), and eventually back to Antioch. It is believed that, while in Antioch, Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians (Lystra, Derbe and Iconium were in Galatia), and Paul was encouraging them to fight the good fight against the many pagan gods and idols. They were also warned about false teachers like the Jews who attacked everything about Christ, and who taught things contrary to what Christ taught. APPLY - Paul and Barnabas continued to preach and share Christ, knowing they were in danger... They had just escaped stoning, but went to the next city and started preaching Christ again! I pray that I can, and will, one day be this bold, to stand for Christ if I am ever put to the test. In the meantime, I pray that I can be A Christian witness for Him. May God bless each of you and your families on this Sunday!
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:41:05 +0000
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