Acts 28:23-31 – They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 26 “‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” 27 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ 28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. 30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
“They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus.” Onesiphorus was a friend of Paul. Not a fair-weather-friend, but a true friend who stood by him when others scattered. Of him Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:16-18 “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. When Paul was in prison, his friend Onesiphorus regularly visited him and provided for him. He was a brother who truly loved Paul and who knew how to express it. Many of us genuinely love each other. Onesiphorus knew how to express it. For him love truly was a verb. (James 2:14-17) Paul remembered him and prayed for him. Paul also mentions him in V4:19. He loved the Apostle Paul. As Paul prayed for him we can be sure that he knew that the Lord will reward Onesiphorus for his kindness to Paul “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Matthew 10:40-42
Remembering that Onesiphorus loved Paul, it is said that he described Paul’s appearance to Titus as “small in size, bald-headed, bow-legged, well built, with eyebrows that met, rather long-nosed and full of grace.” It is consistent with other descriptions of him. This causes me to pause and consider how God does not judge a person by physical appearance, but by the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) The Lord knew the heart and character of Paul when he was the number one human enemy of the church. The devil used Paul’s misdirected zeal for God to fight against God (as he still does today with innumerable people today.) Bowlegged Paul was tireless for the Lord. A small man who, walking with God, had no fear of man (Galatians 1:10). A man whom people could have considered physically inferior because of his short stature (he has been described as 4’8” tall). And yet, after all that he has been through here is Paul, standing, among the “successful” people of the world, people of his heritage, who came to see him because he invited them to. A large crowd to see this physically unimpressive man. And Paul, not short Paul, but Paul who was mighty in the Lord, spoke from morning till evening, with them hanging on his every word. Paul spoke with the authority of a man not endeavoring to his own eloquence, but in the power of the Spirit to reveal the Truth in the scriptures to them, the scriptures that they all very well knew. Paul’s goal was not to lift up himself, but to lift of the beauty and majesty of the plan of God to save the world. Paul was unveiling the scarlet thread of Jesus throughout the Bible, telling them how the Messiah was revealed throughout their holy scriptures. He followed the woven path in scripture that lead to the unveiled Messiah that was the Hope of Israel. He followed it from the books of Moses through the inspired prophecies of the prophets of God. He pulled the thread up that was sewn into scripture and followed it to show them that the end of the thread was found at the feet of Jesus. This is what the Apostle Nathanael (who was a dedicated student of scripture) understood so quickly. (John 1:45) Jesus said of this scarlet thread “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44)
Paul spoke from morning to night, as the Holy Spirit led him (Mark 13:11, John 14:26). Family, if we want the Holy Spirit to remind us of the Word to witness to people, first we must have loved it, studied it, caressed it in our minds, sought God for the truth of it, and cherished it in our hearts, deep into our very spirit. Paul was such a man. He loved God and sought God. The Holy Spirit precedes the Word. It is the Holy Spirit who calls us and a tool that He uses is the Word. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us and He uses the Word. We cannot separate the Word from the God who gave it. We cannot understand it and have the completed puzzle of it formed within us unless it is the work of the Holy Spirit within. And yet, the beauty of it is that God wholeheartedly loves to pour forth His wisdom that is contained in the Word into us. (James 1:5) When in our burning pursuit of God we have read all of His Word (again and again) while simultaneously pushing in to fellowship with Him and know Him better, then the Holy Spirit reveals the mysteries and beauties of the Word of God. As He does, He brings us to the throne room of God, to the presence of God, and there we know the Father God, and we see Jesus beside Him. We see the things of God not with physical eyes, but with the spiritual insight that becomes ever the more fine-tuned as we seek Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23). We learn that our physical eyes are limited, but our spiritual eyes (only opened by being born from above (John 3:3)) are able to see what only those who love Jesus can see. Paul received (the wisdom of God) with a mind transformed by the Spirit of God (Romans 12:2). He sought and was driven to stay on the guided tour of spiritual insight whose tour guide is God the Holy Spirit. Paul was only a man. Yet he was a man possessed to know and love all of God that He could. God can give us all of that knowledge also. God searches our hearts and knows them (Romans 8:27) and He know those who seek Him with all their heart, their soul, their strength and their minds. He knows those who have Him placed on the throne of their hearts and minds and have no idols to pollute His throne room. When we love and seek God as Paul, a mere man, did, then we too will be able to have the Holy Spirit flow through us and be able to be God’s witness from morning till evening. It will be because we don’t merely have doctrine and words memorized, but because the whole of it lives within us and is unveiled evermore day by day. Oh Lord, help us and Lord, please make it so. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”