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 …
Author Archives: Fred
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 …
June 13 / Acts 20:1-16
Acts 20:1-16 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s third missionary journey continued, today with a lot of travel. First, a bit of geography reminder – Macedonia is part of Greece today, but back then, with reference to Paul’s travels it referred to Philippi and Thessalonica. Achaia is a synonym for Greece, which (again, with reference to Paul’s travels) …
June 12 / Acts 19:21-41
Acts 19:21-41 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s third missionary journey, at Ephesus. Here we see more people challenging Paul, but this time it’s not the Jews, instead it’s the local Ephesians, led by a silversmith named Demetrius. Surprisingly, even the Jews are considered “enemies” to the locals who worship Artemis/Diana. Paul wants to venture into this riotous …
June 11 / Acts 19:1-20
Acts 19:1-20 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s third missionary journey. We had the beginning yesterday in just one verse (Acts 18:23), but only that he had begun traveling. The Apollos-Priscilla-Aquila-Paul-Holy Spirit connection is a bit confusing in chapter 18’s ending and chapter 19’s beginning. When he came to Ephesus Apollos knew only about the baptism of John …
June 10 / Acts 18:18-28
Acts 18:18-28 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s second missionary journey continued and ended, from Corinth to Ephesus to Caesarea to Jerusalem (likely) to Antioch and on to his third missionary journey – to Galatia and Phrygia. Paul takes Priscilla and Aquila with him to Ephesus and leaves them there, which turned out to be a good move, …
June 9 / Acts 18:1-17
Acts 18:1-17 Dear RTB’ers, Paul’s second missionary journey continued, in Corinth. Two leaders/rulers of the synagogue are mentioned, Crispus in verse 8 and Sosthenes in verse 17. More on each of them below. Paul rejects the Jews and says that he’s going to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Then we see Crispus, the leader of the …