Acts 19:8-12\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Paul entered the synagogue\u00a0and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.\u00a09\u00a0But some of them\u00a0became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.\u00a0So Paul left them. He took the disciples\u00a0with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.\u00a010\u00a0This went on for two years,\u00a0so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia\u00a0heard the word of the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>11\u00a0God did extraordinary miracles\u00a0through Paul,\u00a012\u00a0so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured\u00a0and the evil spirits left them.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cPaul entered the synagogue\u00a0and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 In Ephesus Paul could be found, as was his custom, at the Synagogue contesting with the rabbis about how their scriptures showed that Jesus was the Messiah.\u00a0 For three months he had success with them and that means that some believed and were saved.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut some of them\u00a0became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.\u00a0So Paul left them. He took the disciples\u00a0with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.<\/i>\u00a0 After three months some of the Jews hardened their hearts.\u00a0 When people harden their hearts to things of God it is their choice.\u00a0 God does not drive people away from Himself.\u00a0 As the Pharaoh of Egypt would not listen to God, as he became more angry and more determined, his heart and mind was hardened to the things of God and his spirit became more and more hardened toward God.\u00a0 Sometimes this is expressed as God hardened his heart.\u00a0 It should be understood in the same way as those in the synagogue hardened their hearts when Paul was speaking.\u00a0 Paul was certainly intending on bringing his fellow Jews to Christ so that they might receive salvation.\u00a0 He loved them so much that in\u00a0Romans 9:1-3<\/b>\u00a0he wrote that he would be willing to be cursed for the sake of his people (the Jews).\u00a0 Since his passion was so deep he certainly was not trying to harden anyone in the synagogue, he was not there to push them away but to make peace and draw them in.\u00a0 It is just as God did not separate Himself from Pharaoh, but Pharaoh separated himself from God.\u00a0 When people will not believe God, when they do not want to come to God, and yet God persists, the stubborn will become angry and resentful and desire that God would stop calling.\u00a0 But God does not stop calling.\u00a0 His desire to save, which is best for them, does not wane.\u00a0 Just as we would not stop calling to an inebriated man in danger as he walked on a busy street.\u00a0 We would persist till either the man gets out of harm\u2019s way, or until he foolishly is struck and killed.\u00a0 We know that God loves all people in the world and wants none to perish (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9<\/b>).\u00a0 God does not harden hearts, those who rebel against God, and those who reject God, harden their own hearts and thereby doom themselves.\u00a0 And they do so by stifling the truth within them from rising up lest they have to change from the evil in their lives.<\/p>\n
There is a point of running from God, of refusing God, when hearts become irrevocably hard and will not be saved.\u00a0 Not because grace through Jesus has lost its power or sufficiency, but rather because a person has hardened the heart so as the seed of the Gospel cannot be received (Matthew 13:4<\/b>).\u00a0 It is the most awful place to be. It is likely the heart and mind of the person is becomes so calloused that (Again not by God) by their own rebellious will.\u00a0 So this happened to those in the synagogue who refused Paul\u2019s ministry.\u00a0 It brings to mind what was shouted by those demanding that Jesus be crucified \u201cAll the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children<\/i>!”\u201d\u00a0 (Matthew 27:25<\/b>)\u00a0 Is this the curse brought on them by their own?\u00a0 Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, recognized the condition of their hearts and realized that he had to separate from the synagogue lest the arguers poison the new faith of those who came to believe.<\/p>\n
Paul moved to the lecture hall of Tyrannus.\u00a0 The original word used is that Paul moved to the \u201cschool\u201d of Tyrannus.\u00a0 Interesting is that this word \u201cschole\u201d (school) carried a meaning of leisure, or even laziness.\u00a0 It is because most could not take time from their labor to go to a school to talk, philosophize and learn.\u00a0 An education was truly a luxury for the more affluent.<\/p>\n
Family and Friends, we can learn from these scriptures that those who reject or resist God do so at their own peril.\u00a0 They may think that later they will believe, later they will yield, but they don\u2019t understand that resisting God may have a hardening rather than a softening effect.\u00a0 The Word says that \u201cToday\u201d is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2<\/b>).\u00a0 Resisting can cause someone to never see that Today is today and that will lead to the most tragic of endings. Let all daily yield to God, to His love, His grace and His will.\u00a0 Let us not harden our hearts.\u00a0 This is about eternal life and death.\u00a0 Let us who are alive in Him celebrate and praise Him that He has saved us.\u00a0 Let us praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acts 19:8-12\u00a0–\u00a0Paul entered the synagogue\u00a0and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.\u00a09\u00a0But some of them\u00a0became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.\u00a0So Paul left them. He took the disciples\u00a0with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.\u00a010\u00a0This went on for two years,\u00a0so that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,100,101,94,1874,90,17,10],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-peter","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}