Old Sandals

Acts 20:36-38
And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

How hard it must have been for them to hear those words, “you will see my face no more”.  But the way is forward. His truth is marching on.

Acts 19:1-2
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

For reasons we can’t fully understand, God has chosen to work in and through us. The truth isn’t written on a blazing banner in the sky. O God, fan the flame in my heart.

Acts 18:9-10
“Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;  for I am with you.”

As image-bearers, we have been given the capacity of speech. God Himself spoke the universe into existence, everything out of nothing.

Words are so very important. O Lord, purify my heart, that my speech may be pure.

Acts 17:30
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

We will all be judged according to our works—what we have done.  This does not set aside the necessity of faith, for what we truly believe is evidenced most clearly by what we do.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Matthew Arnold
Dover Beach

Acts 16:6-7
Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

This does not mean the light of the gospel wa. s never to shine in these countries; only that, in God’s providence, the task would be assigned to others.

Acts 15:11
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as [the Gentiles].

One Lord.  One faith.  One baptism. One way.

Acts 14:15-17
Turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof.

Acts 13:2-3
…and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate ye to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them.”  Then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.

Fasting was a regular thing, not a rare thing.

Acts 12:9
So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.

Not hard to understand.