16:6 - I am at home and not at work where my research materials are, so I have an unanswered question here. Why did the Holy spirit forbid Paul from going into Asia? My first guess would be that Asia was not ready for the message and that Paul would have certainly been killed, and God still had a lot for him to do. What do you think?
16:13 - Freakishly enough, I just listened to Rob Bell talk about this passage yesterday. "House of prayer" is a term used to describe a synagogue...so basically Paul has showed up in Macedonia and he instantly starts looking for the religious people. What he finds is a group of Gentiles that have been so impressed by the one true God of Israel that they are true worshippers. Wouldn't it be beautiful to be known like Lydia - known as a worshipper of God...that you live such a sold out life, that the first thing that comes to peoples' minds is that you are a God worshipper. That is what I want - I love that.
16:17 - Another interesting question - why does Paul get so annoyed that this girl is following them around and saying "this man is a servant of the most high God and he will show you the way to salvation?" That sounds good, right? Well, she is a demon possessed girl who is used as a fortune teller for the pagans in the area...probably not the kind of publicity that Paul is looking for. He wants o distance himself from worldly influence and allow the word of God to speak for itself. Something I think all church leaders should keep in mind (Myself included).
16:28 - Do you remember in chapter 12 what happened to Peter when he was in prison? An angel came and freed him and he fled immediately. Paul is miraculously freed and he chose to stay in the jail when he could have just walked out. Why the difference? I think Paul had a heart for Gentiles and a calling to Gentile ministry. He was a Roman, and he knew that if he left, the guard would be killed for failing his job. This is why we need so many different types of sold-out Christ followers in this world, because everyone has different knowledge and perspective and they can reach people others couldn't. There are people I can connect with that you can't and vise versa. Trust in God and live boldly the faith you claim.
Peace be with you.
3 comments:
Maybe the reason that Paul was not allowed to go into Asia is that there was alredy someone there spreading the word of Christ. The beginning of 1 Peter talks about God's elect in Asia and Bythnia.
Very possible. Or maybe, the people that Paul converted near Asia went into Asia themselves, because Paul wasn't the man for the job. Maybe others were better suited to reach the Asian people, just as you are better suited to reach Nascar loving Aggies than I am.
What? Do you have I Peter memorized or something?
maybe it wasn't any of that. Maybe the reason they weren't allowed in was because they needed to move on to Macedonia. There was some pretty big stuff that went down: healing of demon possessed, witnessing to a people under the microscope of the government, and saving a jailer and his family who otherwise might have never heard the gospel.
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