Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / December 9 - Acts 21

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December 9 - Acts 21 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, Sean here. It's Monday, it's the 8th of
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  December. We are well and truly in the
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  thick of end of year celebrations.
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  Hope yours are going well. Mine.
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  Oh, thanks for asking. I haven't been hungry oh for
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  days now. You know what it's like.
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  You go from one party to the next and you think, oh, I'll be
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  more sensible this time. I won't eat too much.
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  And then that second round of dessert comes out and you think,
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  oh, that looks delicious. It's OK, it's OK.
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  That's why we have other notches in our belts that we can expand
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  into. I hope you're going well and
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  this part of the year is treating you well, friends.
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  And wherever you are, no matter what's going on, thank you for
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  taking a moment to put it all down so that you and I can come
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  before our God and hear His word to us.
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  And of course, we are still going through the book of Acts.
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  We've got two more weeks, two more weeks in this story.
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  And today, Paul heads back into Jerusalem, into the thick of
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  trouble, and he gets himself arrested.
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  Oh, there'll be plenty more of that as the story continues to
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  unfold. So, Holy Spirit, open our
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  hearts, open our minds, put down the busyness and all those
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  thoughts that are whirling in our heads so that we can hear
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  your quiet, still voice speaking to us.
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  Ah, friends, you ready? All that's left to do is for us
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  to read. So let's do that as we read
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  together Acts chapter 21. After saying farewell to the
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  Ephesian elders, we sailed straight to the island of Kos.
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  The next day we reached Rhodes and then went to Patera.
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  There we boarded a ship sailing for Phoenicia.
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  We sighted the island of Cyprus, passed it on our left and landed
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  at the harbour attire in Syria, where the ship was to unload its
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  cargo. We went to shore, found the
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  local believers and stayed with them for a week.
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  These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that
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  Paul should not go to Jerusalem. When we returned to the ship at
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  the end of the week, the entire congregation, including women
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  and children, left the city and came down to the shore with us.
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  There we knelt, prayed and set our farewells.
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  Then we went aboard and they returned home.
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  The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted
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  the brothers and sisters and stayed for one day.
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  The next day we went on to say Syria and stayed at the home of
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  Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven men who had been
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  chosen to distribute food. He had four unmarried daughters
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  who had the gift of prophecy. Several days later, a man named
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  Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea.
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  He came over, took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands
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  with it. Then he said, The Holy Spirit
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  declares, so shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish
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  leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.
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  When we heard this, we and the local believers all begged Paul
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  not to go on to Jerusalem. But he said, Why all this
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  weeping? You are breaking my heart.
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  I am ready not only to be gaoled at Jerusalem, but even to die
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  for the sake of the Lord Jesus. When it was clear that we
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  couldn't persuade him, we gave up and said the Lord's will be
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  done. After this, we packed our things
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  and left for Jerusalem. Some believers from, say, Saria
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  accompanied us, and they took us to the home of Nason, a man
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  originally from Cyprus and one of the early believers.
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  When we arrived, the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem
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  welcomed us warmly. The next day, Paul went with us
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  to meet James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church
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  were present. After greeting them, Paul gave a
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  detailed account of all the things God had accomplished
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  among the Gentiles through his ministry.
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  After hearing this, they praised God, and then they said, you
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  know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also
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  believed? And they all follow the Law of
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  Moses very seriously. But the Jewish believers here in
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  Jerusalem have been told that you are teaching all the Jews
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  who live among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of
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  Moses. They've heard that you teach
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  them not to circumcise their children or follow other Jewish
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  customs. What should we do?
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  They will certainly hear that you have come.
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  Here's what we want you to do. We have 4 men here who have
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  completed their vow. Go with them to the temple and
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  join them in the purification ceremony, paying for them to
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  have their heads ritually shaved.
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  Then everyone will know that the rumours are all false and that
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  you yourself observe the Jewish laws.
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  As for the Gentile believers, they should do what we already
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  told them in a letter. They should abstain from eating
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  food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of
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  strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.
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  So Paul went to the temple the next day with the other men.
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  They had already started the purification ritual, so he
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  publicly announced the date their vows would end and
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  sacrifices would be offered for each of them.
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  The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province
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  of Asia saw Paul in the temple and roused a mob against him.
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  They grabbed him yelling Men of Israel, help us.
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  This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere
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  and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws.
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  He speaks against the temple and even defiles this holy place by
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  bringing in Gentiles, for earlier that day they had seen
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  him in the city with Trophemus, a Gentile from Ephesus, and they
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  assumed Paul had taken him into the temple.
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  The whole city was rocked by these accusations and a great
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  riot followed. Paul was grabbed and dragged out
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  of the temple and immediately the gates were closed behind
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  him. As they were trying to kill him,
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  word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all
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  Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately called out his
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  soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd.
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  When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they
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  stopped beating Paul. Then the commander arrested him
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  and ordered him bound with two chains.
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  He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done.
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  Some shouted one thing and some another.
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  Since he couldn't find out the truth in all the uproar and
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  confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress.
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  As Paul reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent the soldiers
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  had to lift him to their shoulders to protect him, and
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  the crowd followed behind shouting Kill him, kill him.
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  As Paul was about to be taken inside, he said to the
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  commander, May I have a word with you?
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  Do you know Greek? The commander asked, surprised.
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  Aren't you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and
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  took 4000 members of the assassins out into the desert?
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  No, Paul replied. I am a Jew and a citizen of
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  Tarsus in Sicilia, which is an important city.
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  Please let me talk to these people.
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  The commander agreed. So Paul stood on the stairs and
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  motioned to the people to be quiet.
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  Soon, a deep silence enveloped the crowd and he addressed them
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  in their own language, Aramaic. Jesus, you have prepared each
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  one of us for a life of service to You, and day to day we don't
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  know very much about what that service is going to look like.
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  But we do know that our lives are here merely to serve You,
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  our wonderful God, our incredible Saviour.
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  So Lord, each day we just pray for Your guidance, that you
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  would prompt us, that you would lead us, and that as we move
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  through this life that we would do so as your ambassadors of
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  grace and peace and truth. Because, Lord, we are so
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  grateful that we inhabit your grace, we hold your peace, and
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  we know your truth. You are truth.
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  Jesus, thank you for that gift that you give us and for
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  inviting us to be part of your solution, bringing your Kingdom
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  to this earth. We just thank you and praise you
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  and lift up our hands to you, our loving, incredible Saviour,
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  in whose name we pray all these things, Amen.