Acts 25:13-27 Dear RTB’ers, Paul before Festus in Caesarea. Festus and Felix… Dramatic differences in these two leaders. In more than two years Felix did nothing with Paul, his prisoner, except to please the Jewish people by keeping him confined, all the while hoping for a bribe from him. Felix is called back to Rome …
Monthly Archives: June 2024
June 22 / Acts 24:22-25:12
Acts 24:22-25:12 Dear RTB’ers, Paul before Felix and Festus in Caesarea. …wishing to do the Jews a favor… (twice, Acts 24:27, 25:8). The Roman governor of Judea and Samaria needed the support of the leading Jews in order to maintain peace in the region. This is not the first time that we have seen this …
June 21 / Acts 24:1-21
Acts 24:1-21 Dear RTB’ers, Paul before Felix in Caesarea. And after five days… (v. 1a) would be two days for a messenger from Caesarea to Jerusalem, one day of planning by the Jewish authorities, and another two days of travel back to Caesarea. If you are reading an ESV translation, you will notice a numerical …
June 20 / Acts 23:11-35
Acts 23:11-35 Dear RTB’ers, Paul departure from Jerusalem. Again, as we saw in Corinth and Ephesus, the political authorities rescue Paul. Clearly the Lord was watching over him as He had promised, The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about Me in …
June 19 / Acts 22:30-23:10
Acts 22:30-23:10 Dear RTB’ers, Paul in Jerusalem, continuing. We have a hint today concerning yesterday’s confusion. Recall my comment yesterday: “Up to this word they listened to him. (v. 22a) It’s confusing to me also why the Jews listened to Paul ‘Up to this word…’, and then turned against him.” What “word” bothered them? Today …
June 18 / Acts 22:17-29
Acts 22:17-29 Dear RTB’ers, Paul in Jerusalem, continuing his speech to the Jewish crowd. Up to this word they listened to him. (v. 22a) It’s confusing to me also why the Jews listened to Paul “Up to this word…”, and then turned against him. I had the same question back in 2020 when we were …
June 17 / Acts 21:37-22:16
Acts 21:37-22:16 Dear RTB’ers, Paul in Jerusalem, speaking to the riotous crowd: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. …
June 16 / Acts 21:17-36
Acts 21:17-36 Dear RTB’ers, Paul in Jerusalem. If you are reading Acts for the first time, I daresay that you have read beyond verse 36, to see how this incident ends. That’s how good a storyteller Luke, our historian is! On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders …
June 15 / Acts 21:1-16
Acts 21:1-16 Dear RTB’ers, Paul finally arrives in Jerusalem, after stops in Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. (v. 8) You may remember Philip from Acts 8, his …
June 14 / Acts 20:17-38
Acts 20:17-38 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s farewell to the Ephesians. The timing of this particular farewell meeting is strange. Paul had been with the Ephesians for more than two years (Acts 19:10). Then he had gone north to revisit churches in Macedonia, south for the same ministry in Achaia, then back north and a final sea …