I have been reading the last words of various people this week. Some are eloquent like General MacArthur’s farewell address at West Point: ”The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished — tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were…In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory always I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.” Some are brief and leave us with questions like Steve Jobs whose mysterious last…

Paul’s Trials You remember where we left Paul last week? He was standing on the steps of the Roman barracks and had received permission from the commander to speak to the angry mob. He raised his hand and there was, as Luke says, “a great silence” as they wait for Paul to speak. What does he say? “I am a Jew” and then he tells his story. Nothing happens until he says, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” That ignited them and they began to scream, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live.” Eric Hoffer wrote in…

Two of the most powerful rivers in the world – the Thompson and the Fraser – meet and join in British Columbia. The train from Vancouver to Banff runs along the ridge high above the exact spot where they merge and you can look down and watch them join. The actual term is “confluence” when two bodies of water meet – like the tip of South America or Africa. What’s unique about these two rivers is one is salt and the other fresh water. One is clear and the other filled with brown sediment it has carried along its course – which makes their meeting a place of invisible but…

We’ve looked at new believers in Ephesus and the difference between the baptism of John and being baptized in the name of Jesus. The results of that baptism in the name of Jesus must have spread around the city of Ephesus – not just the Christian community but the Jewish community as well. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would…

There is a pattern in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas that is similar to that of Jesus. They enter a town without a great deal of fanfare. This is not a crusade with an advance team that has been building support and awareness for months before they arrive. There are no posters or media blitz. No organizing committee. No stadiums reserved or churches organized to get out the crowds. Until Jesus enters Jerusalem to the praise of the crowds along the way there is very little notice of his coming and going. It is the same with Paul and Barnabas. They arrive on foot and unaccompanied. They check in…

Many of the books in the Bible have what we call hinge points or places where things change in a significant way and history takes a turn. In Genesis that was  the calling of Abraham to leave his home. In Exodus it would be the calling of Moses. In Luke it is that moment when Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem. In the ministry of Paul it is this chapter for a number of reasons. It is the first missionary journey. It is the first miracle of Saul. It is where Saul becomes Paul. It is our only account of a full sermon of Paul’s Most importantly, it is the…

Without a doubt, this is the most important conversion in the New Testament. We don’t really think about the disciples converting, do we? There are other dramatic conversions like Cornelius and his family, the Philippian jailer and his family as well as Lydia, a magician and others. However, this conversion is so central to the history of the church that it is told 4 times – 3 in Acts and once in Galatians. In a sense, it has become the model that is first in our minds when we talk about conversion. It is a radical reversal of a life. But, it is only one story and should not be…

1. “And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Try to imagine 5,000 people meeting one day and the next there are only 12. Everyone else has left. Moved out and leaving everything behind. That is the picture here. It is like what…