Gossip: Exodus 20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (One of the Ten Commandments) Proverbs 6:19 “a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” One of the things that God “hates.” Proverbs 12:22 “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” Should anyone believe a claim against a…
Continue ReadingActs 22:2-5 – When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their…
Continue Reading2 Corinthians 13:14 – May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…” What is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? We commonly, and rightly, understand grace to be unmerited favor from God. What does “unmerited favor” mean? Simply that…
Continue ReadingActs 22:1 – “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” The word here translated as defense is the word from which we today get the words apology and apologetics. It is same word translated as “answer” in 1 Peter 3:15. It is to give a reason, an answer, or a defense for something said…
Continue ReadingActs 21:37-40 – As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?” 39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen…
Continue ReadingActs 21:27-36 – When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought…
Continue ReadingActs 21:27-36 – When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought…
Continue ReadingActs 21:27-36 – When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought…
Continue ReadingActs 21:20-26 – When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their…
Continue ReadingActs 21:20-26 – When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their…
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