We have our ideas, and then there are God's plans. Proverbs 19:21 states:“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”
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Twice, it seems, Paul and Silas attempted to go into the pro...  Read More

After all the commotion about circumcision, I thought it was interesting that Paul decided to have Timothy circumcised. At first glance, it almost seems contradictory, but Paul recognized the differen...  Read More

Disagreements are inevitable. Paul was not inclined to bring John Mark along on his second missionary journey because John Mark had left them after the first leg of Paul's first missionary journey. Pe...  Read More

Thankfully, this theological crisis was averted. Not that there would not be more challenges to come, but at this juncture the Gospel was able to spread with relative peace from within the ranks. Ther...  Read More

How important it is to decisively nip things in the bud before they have time to spread. These men who were causing confusion received a stern reprimand, as the apostles and elders were unanimous in t...  Read More

It is neat to see James, the half-brother of Jesus, serving in a leadership role in Jerusalem. It is widely believed that he had become the leader of the Jerusalem church by this time, and his opinion...  Read More

Change never comes easy. As mentioned yesterday, some of the old-school believers were trying to bring the requirements of the Old Covenant—circumcision—into the New Covenant. It became such a signifi...  Read More

Antioch of Syria, not to be confused with Antioch of Pisidia, was where Paul and Barnabas began their first missionary journey and where believers were first called Christians. It was a much more rece...  Read More

I was thinking that it was pretty nervy for Paul and Barnabas to travel back through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch after the people there had tried to kill them. Yet there were many believers in those ...  Read More

How do you go from being revered one moment to being stoned the next? Such was the life of the Apostle Paul.The people of Lystra were so amazed at the miracle that happened to the crippled man that th...  Read More

I believe this is a test for anyone in ministry. There will always be the temptation to take credit for things when, in fact, without God, none of it would be possible. Nebuchadnezzar tried to take cr...  Read More

The Gospel message is perceived differently depending on the condition of one’s heart. Here we see that some welcomed it with joy, while others scorned it.The use of the word scorned is quite telling....  Read More