Faith and Works
“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. (Acts 26:19, HCSB) Ever wonder what sets apart the great men and women of faith? I believe it is implied here: obedience. Interestingly, the word used here can mean “to obey” or “to persuade.” The two ideas are tied tightly together: Paul obeyed the […]
Lord, Deliver Me from Christians
When Jesus appeared to Paul on the Road to Damascus, the Lord began to outline to the future apostle what his ministry would look like. Jesus said: I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them.(Acts 26:17, NIV) This is such an interesting statement to me. […]
Persecuting Whom?
“But I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ “And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. (Acts 26:15, HCSB) If he wanted to fight the Lord on this, Paul had a pretty good argument. You see, he had never even met Jesus – he makes that clear elsewhere in his writings – so […]
The Gospel According to Euripides?
Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense… When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to […]
Some Dead Guy?
The Apostle Paul, who made an appeal to Caesar, was being passed from Festus to Agrippa. Apparently passing the buck has been around in politics since the first century. When Festus attempts to bring Agrippa up-to-speed on the Paul case, he gives an interesting description of the facts: Therefore, when they had assembled here, I […]
Be Alert!
Once Claudius learned about the plot against Paul, he sent the Apostle to Caesarea – to the Governor Felix. Paul told his story again… 25 Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I find time I’ll call for you.” 26 […]
Pretext
17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell […]
Conspiracy Theory
12 When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse: neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul.13 There were more than 40 who had formed this plot. (Acts 23:12-13, HCSB) The internet has really changed things. Before the web, hearing a conspiracy theory was somewhat […]
Standing with Jesus
As you may recall, in Acts 23 Paul is giving an account of his ministry before the Sanhedrin (Jewish religious leaders) in Jerusalem: 10 When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, rescue him from them, and bring him into […]
Mask-wearing
Acts 23:1-3 (HCSB) 1 Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience until this day.”2 But the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to […]
Resident Aliens
Acts 22:22-26 (HCSB) 22 They listened to him up to this word. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this person off the earth—it’s a disgrace for him to live!” 23 As they were yelling and flinging aside their robes and throwing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into […]
We have a Testimony to Give
In our last Catalyst we left Paul before an unruly mob: 40 Having received the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” (Acts 21:40-22:1, NIV) Paul then proceeds though the next […]
