Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Acts chapter 13 v13-20:
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Acts chapter 13 v13-20:
V13: Paul and his companions now sail from Cyprus to “Perga in Pamphylia”, a province of Asia Minor. Luke simply records that here ” John ( Mark ) left them and returned to Jerusalem”. No reason is given, but the later dispute between Paul and Barnabas over Mark shows that Paul felt he had ” deserted” the work of mission, and could not be trusted again.( Ch 15 v37-39.)
V14: Paul and Barnabas travel on to “Antioch in Pisidia”, one of 5 Antiochs in the Roman world. They go, as usual, to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
V15: As was the custom, they are invited, as visitors, to bring ” a word of encouragement “, an opportunity Paul is quick to respond to. We too should be alert for any God-given opportunity to speak of Jesus.
V16-17: He addresses both the Jews and the Gentile ” God-fearers “, and speaks of God’s dealings with Israel in the OT, of His sovereign choice of the Patriarchs, the growth of the nation in Egypt, and how God then delivered them from Egypt. Little detail is given, since he can rely on their knowledge of these things.
V18-19: Briefly, he refers to the peoples’ stubbornness in the Wilderness – how God “put up with them ”for 40 years, then brought them into the Promised Land, His chosen inheritance for them.
V20: He has summed up 450 years, and speaks equally briefly of the time of the Judges, and then Samuel. In all this, he is preparing for how God’s purposes and promises point to, and are fulfilled in, Jesus.