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Tag: God

  • Death, Judgment and Resurrection in light of your own

    Death, Judgment and Resurrection in light of your own

    For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31 NIV – the Apostle Paul to the men of Athens at Mars Hill

    The Good News of Death!

    The Apostle Paul has just proclaimed Jesus Christ to a LARGE PUBLIC gathering of Greeks in Athens as an unknown god.

    Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols
    ..  but now he commands all people everywhere to repent – Acts 17:30 ESV

    Had this been the 20th century you might have expected an altar call at Mars Hill as public witness of the Apostle’s anointed mission. But that’s not what he did.

    In fact, Paul left town and headed for a new province of Achia and the larger city of Corinth (for Athens was now but a rebuilt remnant of its former ancient glory).

    Acts 17:

    • 16b his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
    • 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons,
    • and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

    Just like in most cities and towns the Apostle has already engaged various groups of listeners in the good news of Jesus’ resurrection.

     “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

    And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus [Mars Hill], saying,

    “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

    Acts of the Apostles 17:18b-19 ESV

    AND as often happens, once Paul proclaims Christ at the risen Son of the Living God the Apostle’s preaching this Good News to the intelligentsia of Athens yields mixed results. The truth of the Gospel sows more seeds of controversy into the hearts of sinners who must confront our own mortality, death and judgment.

    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.

    But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

    Acts 17:32 ESV

    Resurrection

    What else could Paul have said?

    The philosophers among the learned men of Athens had already chosen sides in their entrenched idolatries of self. These men suggesting a willingness to hear more from Paul only sought to use this preacher of foreign gods to support their own unending philosophical debates.

    The Apostle must have also wondered if the Jews of Athens might soon provoke discord in the crowds as had happened recently as the Paul and Silas had fled Thessalonica then Berea? 

    (Many of the Jews did not believe in resurrection or apply the prophesies of their own Scriptures to the leaven of culture in their daily 'better-than-thou' lives.)

    To the Jew who does NOT believe in resurrection death is the end of life — the end of a brief mortal time God gives to Jews and Gentiles alike. DEATH may come as a penalty of righteous men to put an END to the unrighteous. But even the righteous will expire once the LORD has blessed their mortal days.

    The pagan Greeks and pagan Romans, however, worshipped idols of their own making and mythology, molded by the manifold desires of their creatively sinful flesh and guiltless justification of their wicked minds.

    The GREEK and ROMAN gods were DEAD monuments of STONE with no authority over the living worshipers of the temples who willfully indulgenced in wickedness.

    So Paul went out from their midst.

    But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

    Acts 17:33-34 ESV

    18:1 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα χωρισθεὶς ὁ Παῦλος ἐκ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν ἦλθεν εἰς Κόρινθον

    After these things he departed Athens and went to Corinth.

    Acts 18:1 LSB
    Mars - God of War - bringer of death
    Statue of the goddess Athena - powerful namesake of Athens

    Judgment on Mars Hill

    It seems rather ridiculous to look upon a copper Mars (Ares) or stone statue of Athena as gods mortal men should worship. [v. 29]

    Paul points out that the Living God does not live in temples. [vs. 24-25]

    The Living God made man — men and women of every place and nation; therefore we ought to see ourselves as sons and daughters of God. [vs. 26-28]

    (God knows that you didn’t know better — that is, before now) v.30a

    but NOW God COMMANDS you to REPENT!

    Paul did not side with the Stoics.

    At Tarsus, Paul certainly had opportunities for hearing Stoic lectures on philosophy. .. Although not a Stoic technical term, syneidēsis, which Paul used as “conscience,” was generally employed by Stoic philosophers. In 1 Corinthians 13 and in the report of Paul’s speech at Athens (Acts 17), there is much that is Hellenistic, more than a little tinged by Stoic elements—e.g., the arguments concerning the natural belief in God and the belief that human existence is in God.

    Britannica – excerpt on Roman Stoicism

    Neither did the Apostle side with the Epicureans.

    As part of his Physics, Epicurus’s psychology held that the soul must be a body…

    “The gods are not to be feared. Death is not a thing that one must fear. Good is easy to obtain. Evil is easy to tolerate.”

    Britannica

    And as we know well from his persecution by the Jews, Paul’s Gospel was not seen as good news to many Jews to whom the Apostle to the gentiles generally sought to convince first in a new town that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ predicted by Scripture.

    The JEWS know God’s LAW and read the Prophets who warned them in the past to REPENT.

    NOW, the Apostle provides the same proof of the LORD’s COMMAND to Jew and Gentile alike.

    Proof of Judgment (and the One to Judge)

    The Apostle Paul has no reason to return to the centuries-extended debates of Greek philosophers or Jewish parties to traditions formed when God kept silent after speaking through His Prophets.

    πίστις

    Pistis – a word Paul uses here translated in the English Standard Version of the Bible as PROOF – provides an insight into his closing of a logical argument stated before his listeners in the areopagus.

    The same Greek word is translated in the New Testament (King James Version) can also be translated as assurance or belief, even as fidelity; but beyond our limited English understanding most times [239x in KJV] pistis is translated as faith.

    Our 21st century faith seems to lack assurance and proof, let along fidelity to the One God our Lord. Never-the-less, study from Strong's definition Lexicon :: Strong's G4102 - pistis
the better understanding of Paul's audience of first century philosophers.
    1. conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it
    2. fidelity, faithfulness – A. the character of one who can be relied on

    What had happened back in Lystra?

    Acts 14:

    And Paul, looking intently at him [a man lame from birth] and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

    19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 

    This incident of PROOF had occurred on the Apostles' first missionary journey and Paul had returned to them on this current mission.

Same word -- and just after this listen to how Paul uses it in witnessing the PROOF of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit to the church.

    27 And when they arrived [returned to the church in Antioch Syria] and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

    Acts of the Apostles 14:27 ESV

    πίστις – Lexicon :: Strong’s G4102 – pistis

    • in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things
      • relating to God
    • the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
      • relating to Christ
    • a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

    NOW, Paul uses this same word [pistis] referring to Jesus Christ as PROOF even to the Greeks. And how is CHRIST PROOF?

    In act and deed GOD has provided the PROOF by the resurrection of Jesus — an act of FAITH proven which NO MAN could do (who is not God). AND by this PROOF men must believe the command of GOD TO REPENT.

    because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31 LSB – from Paul’s speech at the areopagus in Athens

    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead..

    God IS.

    God excused your ignorance (as your philosophers sought to argue for or against the Him who created the heavens and the earth and all mankind.

    God now commands all men to repent, for He as set a day to judge the world in righteousness. (Of course NO man is righteous, no not one.)

    God appointed a righteous JUDGE to judge YOU and the world.

    (NOT by condemning you to death which is inevitable for moral beings, but after YOU die! (No human EVER escapes DEATH! — that is, except the One Man anointed by God to JUDGE our faith in Him.)

    PROOF TO ALL:

    the RESURRECTION of Christ Jesus!

    ἀνάστασις (anastasis) νεκρός (nekros)

    Resurrection of the dead

    Paul could have returned to Mars Hill to debate with philosophers who continuously look for a new argument about life, death, resurrection, God or gods and how we should live in some semblance of righteousness. Even twenty-one centuries later the debates of the philosophers still seek their own new truths.

    Some will respond to the GOOD NEWS of God. MANY will continue the debate in unbelief.

    The Apostle, therefore, journeys on to ACHAIA and Corinth where they will nurture and build yet another church for more than a year before Paul’s return to SYRIA.

    ACTS of the Apostles [18] – To Be Continued… in Corinth

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel

  • Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

    Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

    The inscription begins "whether god or goddess" (si deus si dea), a phrase indicating that the deity is unknown. Often there would be a request that followed ("Whether you are a god or goddess that rules over Rome, grant us...").

    TO THE UNKNOWN GOD

    TODAY’S LECTURE

    At the Areopagus –

    Visiting Professor of Philosophy & Religion

    Παῦλος – paulos

    πολίτης Ταρσεύς Κιλικία

    Citizen of Tarseus in Cilicia

    The Hill of Ares or Mars’ Hill, depending on language reference of Greek or Roman for the god of war.

    The Apostle Paul is about to make an important speech to the Romans and Hellenists studying in Athens in ~A.D. 50 at the university lecture hall of the day which sits atop a hill facing the crumbling 5th c. B.C. temples of Athena and many idols.

    Areopagus (Mars) Hill view of Acropolis from where Paul preached of the unknown God

    (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.)

    Acts 17:21 LSB
    To best understand the 1st century Roman-Hellenist culture of Athens read our two previous posts.
    Approaching Athena the ruling goddess of Athens
    Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. – Acts of the Apostles 17:16
    Approaching Athens 2 – Addressing gods and goddesses
    Brief summary of Greek mythology

    Acts 17:

    Visiting Professor Paulus teaches on the topic of an unknown God addressing stoics, epicureans and other religious professors of idolatrous worship graciously.

    “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

    Acts 17:22b ESV

    Those claiming Christ in this 21st century A.D. would do well to address unbelievers and idolaters with the same grace as Paul employed in the first century A.D. in the beginning of his apostleship into all the world of the gentiles.

    What is Paul’s outline of a logical approach to the proclamation of the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST?

    The Apostle to the Gentiles points toward the incarnation of Christ as a pivotal recent event in the timeline of human history as part of GOD’S timeless plan for mankind.

    God who made the world

    Therefore,
    the One whom you worship without knowing,
    Him I proclaim to you:

    ACTS 17:23b NKJV – of the Apostle Paul in the Areopagus

    The religious men and other men of Athens, as well as religious Romans adding their own iconic monuments to the Athens’ landscape of religious festivals, admittedly could not possibly know every god.

    Therefore, Paul begins from their own documented conclusion. They need to hear what I have to proclaim about the TRUE GOD Romans and Greeks do not know.

    (And God is NOT just the God of the Hebrews worshiped in Jerusalem.)

    Who IS the GOD WHO MADE THE WORLD?

    (Certainly not Zeus who was not in the beginning, nor the goddess Athena — but Paul does not even need to state this accepted timeline from mythology which does not worship the very God of creation.)

    α – θεός (theos) does not live in temples made by man

    24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

    β – ἀνθρώπινος (anthrōpinos) – mankind, timelines & nations

    26 And he made from one man every nation (ethnos) of mankind (anthrōpos) to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way towards him and find him.

    Although contemporary twisting of imagery limits such use of an archaic word, I like the more literal translation of this picture of man groping for God, as a blind person reaches near for that which can be touched.

     .. in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us

    Acts 17:26a NKJV & others

    γ – ἐγώ (egō) in Him we live and move and exist 

    Now our Professor of Theology, Paul of Cilicia, quotes two poets likely studied by the university he addresses -- NOT Hebrew poets such as David or Solomon -- NOT Jesus, whose many teachings have become well-known these past twenty years -- but GREEK or Hellenist poets revered by the university of classical thought in Athens. 

One is likely from Crete, where earlier along with Barnabas, Paul professed Christ to the gentiles. Paul also quotes a classical Greek poet from the forth century B.C. - source
    Paul's introduction of the One God (of the Hebrews) is non-confrontational, providing an outline of God's plan to have all people of all cultures and all nations seek and find the Living God at a time appointed by Him.

    Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

    “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

    as even some of your own poets have said,

    “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

    Paul could have quoted Jesus here, who quoted David, but instead the Apostle to the Gentiles quotes their own learned teachers.

    δ – οὖν – therefore as God’s offspring

    The question never-the-less remains the same: WHAT IF GOD created YOU?

    (It’s not simply a question of ONLY the FIRST MAN {adam}, therefore the Apostle leaves no room for arguments of philosophers backing him into a creation corner.)

    • What if we are SONS (& DAUGHTERS) of the Living God?
    • WHAT IF GOD CONSIDERS ME FAMILY?

    29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 

    Do you think of your own mother or your own father as one of these idolatrous worshiped things? Of course not!

YET if you belong to GOD's own family with your LIVING human father and mother as progeny of the LIVING GOD and Creator of all life, how can you worship your loving God like a stone, a man-made myth or self-breathed thoughts?

    30 The times of ignorance God overlooked,

    ε – θεός νῦν παραγγέλλω – theos is now declaring

    but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

    30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,

    Acts 17:30 CSB

    ζ – ἄνθρωπος πανταχοῦ μετανοέω – ALL men everywhere repent 

    The apostle to the Hellenists and Romans proclaims a STRONG authoritative choice to listeners in the Areopagus: GOD 'winked' (says the King James Version) but now commandeth all men every where to repent!
    REPENT, therefore, sons and daughters of the Living God!
For YOU are no longer ignorant.

And WHY should you REPENT? 
WHY turn back to the Living God?

    η – ἡμέρα κρίνω οἰκουμένη – a day he will judge righteousness

    because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; 

    Can WE SAVE the earth anymore than WE can save our own FLESH and BLOOD from DEATH and destruction?

    But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

    2 Peter 3:7 LSB
    SO is this professor of the unknown god proclaiming that his teaching must be given authority over all other schools of thought about our gods?

WHO IS THIS MAN Paulus of Cilicia claims will JUDGE all of mankind?

    Α – πίστις – assurance

    and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

    Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

    For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

    Romans 5:12 διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος καὶ οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον & again, Paul’s letter to Roman believers 5:15 ESV

    Ω – ἀναστήσας αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν – by raising Him from the dead!

    He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

    Acts of the Apostles 17:31b CSB

    All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

    Gospel of Luke 10:22 ESV

    I and the Father are one.”

    Gospel of John 10:30 ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν

    παντοκράτωρ – THE ALMIGHTY

    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    The Revelation of the risen Jesus Christ to John 1:8 ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ὁ παντοκράτωρ
    CLICK HERE: For more information about Jesus Christ and Inerrant TRUTH: Our reasoned Biblical Faith.

    ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued…

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel

  • Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture

    Signs of Release from the Bondage of Culture

    The Bondage of Culture and Corruption

    .. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

    This is only reference to ‘bondage’ in the English Standard Bible — BONDAGE is not a very popular word of cultural correctness — and “bondage of culture” does NOT occur in any version of the Bible (though the NKJV mentions bondage more than two dozen times).

    The Shaking of Earthquakes

    IF you will examine the events of ACTS of the Apostles carefully as has Luke, then you will see what some would call ‘natural events,’ such as the Philippi earthquake in Acts 16 by which Paul and Silas had the bondage of their shakles released, as one of many signs of power over nature, the idolatrous ‘mother‘ of many proclaiming the bondage of culture.

    The Keeper of the Philippian Prison

    About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

    And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. – ACTS 16:25-26 ESV

    Wooden bonds shackled to their feet – a chain bondage to a stone floor or base of the wall of their deep prison cell. THEN AN EARTHQUAKE!

    Just then? (What a coincidence of ‘mother nature.’)

    Just when the witness of Paul and Silas heard by the prisoners had been singing to God?

    σεισμός – seismos

     Even the idolaters of the bondage of culture know this, yet minimize God’s power.

    “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes G4578.

    Signs by the One God of Power!

    and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

    Gospel of Luke 21:11 LSB –

    “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.

    Gospel of Luke 21:12

    Isn’t this what has just happened to the apostles Paul and Silas in a Philippian prison?

    Acts 16:

    • .. a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
    • Paul .. said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

    A spiritual bondage to the darkness of evil forbidden by Almighty God. And a bondage of culture to profit from knowledge unavailable to others.

    • ..her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
    • The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison

    These magistrates were Roman leaders. The slave girl’s owners may also have been Roman OR these evil masters of the girl may have been Hellenist (Greek) men of Philippi clinging to the bondage of culture, not only theirs but that of their Roman overseers.

    If you missed it previously READ more about the Culture of Philippi

    The slave girl of spiritual bondage AND the local bondage of culture of her Philippian owners had proclaimed prophetically:

    “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

    Yet the local Philippian owners of this girl bound to sin and under the bondage of culture – the slavery of differences:

     “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 

    Is it customary for culture to beat its prisoners without a trial?

    Yes, if the loudest of crowds can rule over their rulers with impunity.

    It is our own bondage of culture which refuses the Savior Jesus Christ who sent his apostles and Gospel into all the world to free sinners from death.

    Sorry, my public judgment was a mistake

    So just go quitely away from our culture of bondage (to what we insist on doing).

    35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

    (We are moving down the cultural commanding chain of command here.)

    36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”

     But Paul said to them,

    “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly?

    No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 

    Acts of the apostle Paul 16:37, sending out his reply to Philippian Roman magistrates through their jailer

    The Legacy Standard Version [below] may be more helpful in understanding the cultural connection of this injustice.

    But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly?

    No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.”

    Church doctrine a line in the sand. - How will a leader or council of leaders choose what the Church will teach?

    Paul now draws a line in the sand by his refusal to go away quietly.

    He challenges a Roman bondage of culture claiming public justice of their Pax Romana.

    (Working back up the Roman chain of command ruling Philippi.)

    38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

    39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 

    The political leaders of this leading Roman city have publically punished men for crimes and having served an overnight sentence in the stocks they ordered their punished prisoners to go away and don’t come back.

    But Paul’s witness of righteousness in Christ demands that these apostles remain in town after this public incident.

    40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.

    Paul and Silas then visit Lydia and their NEW church in the place where Christ’s apostles were first sent and welcomed — Philippi at the eastern edge of Europe and in the very heart of the Roman Mediterranean Empire.

    What’s just happened?

    FAITH of two apostles singing at midnight in a prison in Philippi and THEN an earthquake!

    They might have been killed in a collapsing cell in the lowest part of this jail!

    BUT it’s more than just a shaking of the ground — this pivotal sign from the All-powerful God of heaven to whom Paul and Silas had prayed and praised. The prison doors are also opened yet no prison trys to escape. They wait in the darkness for the light of the hope of Paul and Silas.

    Returning to the Jailer

     27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped..

    ..the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself..

     “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

    29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said,

    “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said,

    “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

    Acts of the Apostles 16:31b – Paul’s reply to his jailer in Philippi who asked, “What must I do to be saved?”

    And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 

    34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

    We have already examined the cultural bondage of the public court and its magistrates, who later attenpted to apologize and send them away quietly.

    The faith of the apostles had been public before prison, public in prison, public at the house of Lydia and the house of their Philippian Jailer.

    FAITH in the Lord Jesus is a matter of PUBLIC witness every day and in every place.

    And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

    Acts of the apostles 16:40b

    To be continued…