Acts 21:17-19\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters\u00a0received us warmly.\u00a018\u00a0The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James,\u00a0and all the elders\u00a0were present.\u00a019\u00a0Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles\u00a0through his ministry.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c<\/span>When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters\u00a0received us warmly.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Oh how Paul had longed to be back in Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0He had been raised in Judaism and though he know walked in the freedom of the Gospel, he was well aware of the beauty and power of the ancient scriptures contained in the Old Testament.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, the story of Jesus is only partially told without the Old Testament and the beforehand testimony of God concerning Him is lost if the Old Testament is discarded.\u00a0\u00a0The story of God\u2019s love and promises is told in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament.\u00a0\u00a0He loved the rituals that told of the coming of Christ.\u00a0\u00a0He loved the Jewish culture, traditions, holy days and celebrations.\u00a0\u00a0He loved the beauty they told of God and how He would redeem the world.\u00a0\u00a0He loved how the celebrations pointed were symbols of deep truths, they were clues, they were loving encouragement from God giving hope of a coming Messiah, who had then came.\u00a0\u00a0Paul loved the religion he had been raised in and though most of the teachers of it were missing what they most looked forward to, that is the coming of the Messiah, Paul knew the truth and beauty and power of the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament.<\/p>\n Though he was well aware of the troubles that awaited him, he was overjoyed to be there.\u00a0\u00a0He was lovingly welcomed by the Jewish Believers.\u00a0\u00a0They were happy to see him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They had heard reports of how the Lord was using him and they were anxious to hear of what the Lord had done.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James,\u00a0and all the elders\u00a0were present.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The next day Paul went to see the leaders and elders of the church.\u00a0\u00a0It is clearly established that James, the physical brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55, Galatians 1:19<\/b>) was now the leader of the Church is Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0Though Paul was, as far as is noted in scripture, was the man most used in the New Testament, he remained humble and led by the Spirit of God to submit himself before the authority of those in Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0Of course the elders also lovingly greeted Paul.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/b><\/span>Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles\u00a0through his ministry.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The most important part of this sentence was and is the most important detail that any missionary or minister of God must always continuously profess and that is that it is God who has done the work and gets full credit for it.\u00a0\u00a0When a carpenter builds a beautiful house does the hammer speak up and say look what a great house I have built.\u00a0\u00a0No, the hammer without the carpenter is nothing but unused potential and could easily be replaced by another hammer.\u00a0\u00a0Unused potential is like fruit that rots on the ground after falling from a tree.\u00a0\u00a0All of us, without the hand of God can do nothing.\u00a0\u00a0It is God who ordains and enables.\u00a0\u00a0God uses men to fulfill His will but the man is nothing, the work is done by the One who has crafted us to be used.\u00a0\u00a0God also empowers us.\u00a0\u00a0Without God none are saved.\u00a0\u00a0None receive the truths of God, if His Spirit does not bring it all about.\u00a0\u00a0So yes, let us all look and admire what God has done!\u00a0\u00a0Even in creation when we see a beautiful sunrise let us praise the Son and not the sun.\u00a0\u00a0When we see the beauty of a waterfall and hear its thunderous roar, let us not praise creation but praise the Creator who is God.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we consider the wonders of the universe and are awed and humbled by a dark night filled such a vast amounts of shining stars, let\u2019s not discount the Creator but praise Him and not the night sky.\u00a0\u00a0When a surgeon masterfully performs a surgery that saves a life, let us know that his patient only lives because the Creator and Sustainer of Life has so ordained it.\u00a0\u00a0So all that Paul did was to glorify God and it is God whom we ultimately give our gratitude to.\u00a0\u00a0All that Paul did he did not because he was great but because God is.\u00a0\u00a0The one who claims to bring people to God without giving full credit to God is a false teacher.\u00a0\u00a0To God belongs all the glory, and all the thankfulness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As it was then so it is now.\u00a0\u00a0Be thankful to each other without forgetting to thank God for using them to bless us.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Thank God!\u00a0\u00a0Hallelujah!<\/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 21:17-19\u00a0–\u00a0When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters\u00a0received us warmly.\u00a018\u00a0The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James,\u00a0and all the elders\u00a0were present.\u00a019\u00a0Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles\u00a0through his ministry. \u201cWhen we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters\u00a0received us warmly.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Oh how…<\/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":[82,1969,101,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-galatians","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002","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=2002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2002\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}