Acts 23:11,12

Acts 23:11,12 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. These are two very opposite verses. One tells us that Paul will preach in Rome, but the other says that these forty men will do everything that it takes to kill Paul. So, which one do you think succeeds? The second is forty Jews who make the prediction, but the first is God Who tells Paul that he will go to Rome. I think God’s prediction will come to pass, don’t you? Paul was in big trouble in Jerusalem. But God told him to be of good cheer. Even in the midst of trouble, God has a purpose and His Holy Spirit is at work making things happen in such a way that God himself will get the glory. The Pharisees were condemning Paul. The Scribes were speaking out against Paul. Forty men took a suicide promise to kill Paul. But God had other plans. Rest assured, God will not let us die until we have fulfilled what He has for us to do. And Paul had a job in Rome – and to Rome he went!

Acts 22:25-28

Acts 22:25-28 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. After the riot at the Temple, the Romans rescued Paul dragging him into the Fortress Antonio which was right against the Temple itself. The captain wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, so he commanded Paul to be beaten so that he would tell the truth. But Paul let the centurion know that he was no ordinary criminal; Paul was a Roman citizen. They couldn’t just beat a Roman citizen – they had rights. The captain was surprised because he thought that Paul was just an ordinary troublemaker. Paul was released and allowed freedom until his court appearance in a couple of days. Paul was a sharp man. He spoke Greek to the Roman soldiers and spoke Hebrew to the Jews. He used his Roman citizenship when he needed to. God gave Paul many opportunities to speak for Him. And Paul used them all. I hope we speak up for Jesus when our time comes. Jesus did so much for us on the cross; we should serve Him when we can!

Acts 22:7,8

Acts 22:7,8 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Paul retold the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus. What a great story it was! What were the circumstances when you were saved? I was a little boy of six years of age at a revival service at Maple View Baptist Church in Joppa Maryland. Our pastor was preaching and gave the invitation for salvation. But I was too scared to go forward. My friend, Miles Howell, was talking to me and the preacher saw what was going on. The pastor came back to me and asked if I wanted to be saved. I said that I did, and he sat right down beside me and explained to me how to be saved from my sins. I trusted Jesus as my Savior that night, April 17, 1956. I am like Paul. What a wonderful day that was when I was born into God’s family! Have you been saved? If you haven’t, why not accept God’s gift of salvation right now? It will be the greatest day of your life!

Acts 21:39

Acts 21:39  But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. When Paul came to Jerusalem, he purified himself, as was the custom of the Jews, and went into the Temple area. But those trouble-making Jews from Asia stirred up the people against Paul and accused him of defiling the Temple and they started an uproar. The Roman centurion had to intervene. But Paul wanted one last time to try to convince his countrymen that Jesus was their only Savior. The centurion allowed Paul to speak until the Jews started yelling once again. Paul never gave up. He never quit trying to get his people to believe in Jesus. What a great example he was! We should never give up on praying for someone to get saved. Never!

Acts 20:27,29,35

Acts 20:27,29,35 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. The old apostle Paul sailed to Miletus and called for the leaders of Ephesus to come and see him before he went to Jerusalem. He wanted to see them because he had an idea that he would not ever see them again. That is he would not see them again before they met again in heaven. He gave them some last-minute advice and warnings. He warned them to look out for wolves. Not wolves with four legs, but wolves with two legs: crooked preachers who would not preach the truth but twist the truth of Jesus Christ and lie to their congregations. Paul was pretty hard on those kinds of preachers. But how do we know if a preacher is preaching the truth or not? We have to read the Bible for ourselves in order to tell if a preacher is preaching truth. Do you remember the church that checked out the Scriptures? Remember Acts 17 and the church at Berea? And Paul himself was a fine example of a preacher. Paul supported the weak and told the Ephesian leaders to do the same. He quoted Jesus Christ, Who said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We should give instead of looking to get. That is the Christian attitude. If we help others we will be blessed, and we will be more Christ-like.

Acts 20:22,24

Acts 20:22,24 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. The Apostle Paul was followed everywhere that he went by the unbelieving Jews. When he preached about to love of Jesus, they tried to get everyone to believe the opposite. But that didn’t bother him. Paul got into trouble with the local authorities because he wouldn’t worship their idols. He was often beaten and put into prison. But that didn’t bother him. Paul was threatened and chased out of towns often. He was always risking his life when he went into a new city to preach. But that didn’t bother him. So, why was Paul so determined? Why did he keep on preaching? Why did he not give up? Verse 24 gives us the reason: Paul was doing what Jesus Christ wanted him to do. He was sharing the good news of salvation that Jesus had brought to earth. He cared about people and he cared about Jesus Christ. He obeyed God’s calling. We should obey God also. How do we know what God wants us to do? Read His words in the Bible and pray. He will tell us what to do, just like He told Paul what to do. If we obey God, we will be happy, because He made us to be His children. God loves us so much. We will be blessed if we love Him back.