ripple effect: vacaville

Read Acts 16:16-40.

1. OK…so Paul and Silas encounter this slave girl who is basically like a circus monkey, predicting the future and making money. Interestingly, she was right in what she was saying about Paul and Silas. I guess Paul got sick of the circus act, though, because he commanded a demon to come out of her! (Maybe the demon was running distraction, trying to make it harder for people to accept the message.)
2. Isn’t it funny that the save owners were basically trying to “sue” Paul and Silas for making it so their fortune-teller couldn’t tell fortunes anymore?
3. It doesn’t appear that they took that angle with the magistrates, though. They did like the religious leaders did with Jesus– telling them that they were advocating customs that good Romans wouldn’t allow. Oh…so they are insurrectionists, now? I guess they didn’t have a such thing as “motive” in these courts, back in the day.
4. Wow…so everyone was against them, and they were “severely flogged,” stripped, and beaten. No one can say that Paul (or Silas) didn’t suffer for his faith.
5. We’ve seen what happens when Christians are thrown in jail in the Book of Acts…
6. I love the fact that Paul and Silas sang in prison. The other inmates heard them too. And God sends an earthquake. Sweet.
7. Isn’t it crazy that Paul values the life of the prison guard? He doesn’t want him to commit suicide. He throws the lights on, and falls to his knees, realizing that these guys hold the key to salvation, believing in Jesus.
8. Talk about radical. The jailer cleaned their wounds and took him home so that his whole family could be baptized! Wow. And, then, by morning, I guess they were placed back in their cells. Isn’t it crazy that they didn’t leave when the earthquake hit? I would have interpreted that as God’s way of saying, “Get out!” They still took the time to notice and care for the jailer.
9. Their decision paid off in more ways than one. They were set free the very next morning. Shoot, they even wished them well…
10. Paul says that he won’t be punked. They had no kind of due process, so he wasn’t going to let them just leave quietly. He wanted the magistrates to admit that they were wrong. This ought to be interesting…
11. Apparently, they didn’t realize that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens (with RIGHTS). Then they sucked up to them and asked them to leave.
12. They went to Lydia’s house one more time and encouraged everyone, and then they peaced out.

Read Acts 16:1-15.

1. OK, so Timothy lived in Lystra. He has the best of both worlds, a mom who knew the Jewish traditions but a dad who was a Gentile. These “hybrid” Christians were probably going to increase over the next few years. But, Timothy represented a whole new generation of believers. And the people spoke well of him. So he was cool.
2. Interesting that Timothy subjected himself to being circumcised to please the Jews who lived in the area. Hmm… I guess he did it to honor his heritage on his mother’s side.
3. They told all the churches about the church leaders’ decisions regarding the law, so people were getting an understanding of the real parameters of what it looked like to be a Christian.

4. I wonder why the Holy Spirit didn’t want them to preach in Asia. Regardless, Paul got a vision to go to Macedonia, which I think is in Asia (not sure). So…I guess he just had to wait on the green light from God.

5. Philippi (like the Letter to the Philippians). Hey, did anyone else notice that it turned first-person in this section? All of a sudden, it says, “WE put out to sea…WE stayed there several days.” Interesting. We know that Luke wrote the Book of Acts, so he must have been in on this too.
6. OK, so down on the riverbank was a gathering of women. One of the women was Lydia (who must have had some money to be selling purple cloth), and it says that she was a worshiper of God. Cool. Notice that God initiated her heart being open to receive Paul’s message. “Conversion” is first and foremost a God thing. She and everyone in her household were baptized.
7. Hmm… OK…I’m feeling frisky. I’m going to go ahead and address an issue that always seems to come up with Lydia. For one, if you google “Lydia” and “example of woman leadership” you get all kinds of interesting responses. For one, “Lydia” is the largest Christian women’s magazine in Europe. Two, the Presbyterian Church has the “Lydia Fund” that helps women become pastors. Interesting. The only reason I say that is because, when I look at that passage, I don’t really see any signs that Lydia was actually a leader in the church. To me, it looks like she was definitely a believer; and she definitely had a positive impact on her family (through the grace of God). To me, the only things she “provides” is a willingness to follow God’s promptings, income through her cloth-selling, and hospitality for the disciples. Am I wrong here? If Lydia is being held up as a “prime example” for the role of women as leaders in the church, I would think that it is definitely a stretch. She is definitely a believer. She definitely selflessly cares for those around her. But I don’t see her as a leader. Anyway, I couldn’t neglect mentioning what I saw. What do you see in this passage?

Read Acts 15:22-41.

1. OK…so they are sending some guys to go along with Paul and Barnabas down to Antioch. Yeah, if my name was Judas back them, I think I would have gone by Barsabbas too. OK, so he and Silas went down with this letter basically explaining that those guys who were freaking them out about circumcision weren’t speaking for the church leadership. Good. And Barsabbas and Silas would back that up.
2. Again, I’m wondering why they still kept these particular rules: 1) don’t eat food sacrificed to idols, 2) don’t eat blook (darned vampires!), 3) don’t eat meat from strangled animals (veal?), and 4) abstain from sexual immorality. I wonder why these four were considered most important to uphold…
3. I’d be happy I didn’t have to cut myself down there too.
4. The two new guys encouraged everyone and were sent back, but Paul and Barnabas held it down.

5. Paul wanted to make sure that the preaching that they had down in the other towns had stuck. No problems there. It’s important to follow up with people. They can excited when they first hear the message; but, then, life has a way of smothering that fire.
6. OK…so the argument arose because Barnabas wanted to bring Mark along. Apparently, Mark had skipped out on them when they were preaching in Pamphylia; and that rubbed Paul the wrong way. They were so at odds that Barnabas sailed back home (taking Mark with him). Hmm… This is a tough one. I mean, you’d think that, as a representative of the church, Mark would have realized that he had responsibilities. But, then again, Barbabas seems to think that people are allowed to make mistakes and bounce back from them. I can see both sides here.
7. Paul took Silas with him to go and preach in those places, making sure that his work was continuing. (It’s kind of funny because one of the best big men in NBA history’s name is Paul Silas.)

Read Acts 15:1-21.

1. Before we throw too many rocks at the guys from Judea, I can see why they would assume that everyone needed to be circumcised. It was something that God passed down to Abraham and became a part of the law of Moses. So… But how does that work with what Jesus taught about what it takes to be “saved”?
2. Paul and Barnabas didn’t back down from these guys. What I like is that they didn’t act like they had it all figured out. They respected the church leaders enough (the apostles and the elders) to go to them and talk it out. I mean, Gentiles were getting converted left and right (without being circumcised).
3. I like that Pharisees were converted. It means that some of them actually believed! But, this placing the law of Moses on such a high pedestal kind of worries me. Then again, why wouldn’t that law be still good? Someone’s going to have to sort this out.
4. Peter alludes to his vision of the blanket with all the animals. God has made the Gentiles “clean,” remember. He also saw with his own eyes when God gave them the Holy Spirit (without being circumcised). It appears as if God is more concerned with faith than cutting. Peter gives his response. It is ridiculous to have grown men slice the foreskin of their penises to show that they have a faith that is already obviously being demonstrated in their lives. That doesn’t mean that Peter has the whole “God ‘changing’ the rules” thing figured out. It just means that he believes what God said and what he saw. Good enough for me…
5. Paul and Barnabas gave further evidence to support the idea that God was in this conversion of all these Gentiles. Again, good enough for me…
6. And then James chimes in with some Scripture, busting out the Book of Amos on them, showing that God intended to have Gentiles bear His name from a long time ago! So, and I’m not sure I’m tracking on James’ logic here; James recommends telling them to (I guess) not worry about the circumcision (OWWW!) but to not let them eat food dedicated to idols, be sexually immoral, or eat meat from strangled animals or blood. His reasoning is that the law of Moses isn’t new, and they should know God’s “expectations” for the people? Why do you think these things were so important to James?

Read Acts 14:1-28.

1. Isn’t it interesting that there were Gentiles (non-Jews) in the synagogue when Paul and Barnabas were preaching?
2. Uh oh…those who refused to believe were causing trouble, but Paul and Barnabas just kept on truckin’. Too bad half the people wanted to kill them! That ended Paul and Barnabas’ speaking engagements in Iconium.

3. How did Paul see that crippled guy’s faith? Regardless, Paul healed him, and they thought that Paul was Hermes (the messenger God) because he talked so much. They thought that Barnabas was Zeus (the strong, silent type). Imagine people thinking that you are a god! It went so far that they wanted to make sacrifices to them! This was official.
4. Remember, tearing your clothes is a sign of anguish and mourning. It broke their hearts to be thought of in this way. They tried to point them to the real God (not Zeus or Hermes).
5. Isn’t it interesting that Paul cedes the fact that God appears to have let all the nations “go their own way” in the past. But, now there is are facts for even these nations to cling to (rain, crops, food, joy, etc.). Unfortunately, these guys really thought that they were Greek gods.
6. Those Jews from Antioch and Iconium followed Paul and Barnabas and made sure that the people in Lystra knew that Paul and Barnabas were “frauds.” They actually stoned Paul and left him for dead outside the city. Imagine how bloodied and beat-up Paul must have been! These are awfully fickle people if they think that they are gods one minute and worthy to be stoned the next…
7. Somehow Paul got up and left with Barnabas…

8. I can’t even imagine preaching the good news after being beat down like that. Paul just wiped the blood off and preached some more. Man. He probably looked worse than Rocky did after that fight with Ivan Drago.
9. What’s more…they actually went BACK to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. Man…that took guts. They went back because the disciples there needed encouraging. It’s a hostile environment. What kind of message do you give there? Well, a lot of people aren’t cool with the idea that “we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God;” but that is THE message to these young believers. They needed to hear that.
10. Apparently, they also needed leaders (or elders). After that, they moved on to new places…
11. I would say they completed their mission. They established pockets of believers (with leadership and guts) in a bunch of cities. I bet that was a cool reunion.

Read Acts 13:1-12.

1. OK, so we get a roll call of the leaders of the church at Antioch. A motley crew: Barnabas (we know he’s the encourager from the island of Cyprus), Simeon (who apparently has a country in Africa named after him), Lucius, Manaen (who apparently was raised as royalty beside Herod), and Saul (our boy, of blinded by the light fame). What a crew!
2. God gave them clarity. God wanted Barnabas and Saul to off and do something special. No worries there. They sent them off.

3. Cyprus was where Barnabas was from. They had John with them, too, as they preached to the Jews in the synagogues. OK…
4. Bar-Jesus sounded like an interesting guy, a sorcerer and a false prophet. He also seemed to be connected to the political leader, Sergius Paulus (who seemed to be interested in hearing the truth). But this sorcerer (who was also known as “Elymas”) ran static. Jerk…
5. This is the first time we hear that Saul changed his name to “Paul.” Saul means “king.” Paul means “nothing” (as in, “nothing without God). Talk about a turnaround.
6. Wow…Paul didn’t pull any punches with this dude. He told him like it was. And, apparently, he struck him blind! That made a believer out of the proconsul. Sheesh!

Read Acts 12:1-25.

1. I just want to praise God today. Even though I didn’t get done in a year, 300 entries is no small feat. I know that I have grown in the past year, and I am thankful to God for all the illumination and revelations that He has given me.
2. Wow…just when things were going so well, Herod (a different one) arrested Christians. Wow…just like that, James, the disciple was stabbed to death. What’s most interesting is that it seemed to “please the Jews” to have James (a former fisherman, turned apostle) killed. Why do you think they like it so much?
3. Uh oh…now Peter? This could be bad… Sixteen guys were guarding this one guy. I guess they didn’t want any “funny business” like the last time he was arrested. Good thing the church was praying.
4. Peter was chained to two soldiers. That’s how serious of a threat they considered him to be. Imagine the angel just waking him up, in that predicament. And the cuffs came off…
5. I bet it was awfully trippy to fall asleep with two soldiers chained to you and all of a sudden be free, following an angel out of the prison. I can see why he thought it was a dream.
6. And no one woke up?!?
7. Oh, and the iron gate opens by itself! Wow…and angel left when the coast was clear.
8. Peter pinched himself, realized he wasn’t dreaming, and thanked God for it.
9. OK, so is this another Mary? It appears so. And she has a son named Mark. That’s the one considered to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Imagine Peter just knocking on the door to a prayer meeting that was about him being in prison! Rhoda almost flipped her wig, and the disciples thought she had. Surprise. It was HIM.
10. Peter was smart. They would have been looking for him there, so it was good that he went somewhere else to lie low.
11. “No small commotion.” He he he…yeah, I think that some of those guys has some job performance issues. After a careful evaluation, they got more than a pink slip– Herod had them killed!

12. This all seems kind of random about Herod going to Caesarea. I just would like to say that you don’t hear of too many people named Blastus. Almost sounds like a Master of the Universe character.
13. How about that! Herod was called a god, and he died on the spot because he didn’t give glory to God! Whoah. I wonder if he was eaten by worms instantly, or if they ate him like they eat normal buried people… That was for James, Herod!
14. I love that little caveat…”But the word of God continued to increase and spread.”
15. OK, so Barnabas came back from their “mission” (hmm…is this why we call preaching in foreign places “mission” trips) with Mark. Sweet. The team is growing!

Acts 11:19-29.

1. Wow…so when Stephen was stoned, a lot of people scattered; but, if you think about it, that could have been a good thing. The gospel message was spreading to other places!
2. They were only preaching to the Jews at this point. But something tells me that this who Cornelius thing is going to change everything…
3. Ah…some people were preaching to Greeks. Awesome. Or, should I say, “Oppa!”
4. Barnabas went to help the converted Greeks. He was stoked, and he encouraged the Greek converts to stick with God. Hey, if the Bible says that Barnabas was a good man, he must have been a good man!
5. I bet Barnabas and Saul were a killer team. Barnabas seemed to be so encouraging, and Saul seemed to be so fearless and passionate. Hey, check that out, Saul and Barnabas coined the phrase, “Christian.”
6. Hmm…I don’t remember ever reading this passage about Agabus. He predicted that there would be a famine all over the Roman empire (which apparently did happen).
7. It’s cool that the disciples all tried to help out in their own way. That’s the most important thing…

Read Acts 11:1-18.

1. I bet the Gentiles receiving God’s word was going to raise some eyebrows. Until this point, I think most people though that this was going to be purely a Jewish thing…
2. The circumcised believers criticized Peter for cavorting with the uncircumcised. Geez…sounds like modern-day church in a lot of ways… Why do you think people want to keep Jesus for themselves?
3. OK, so Peter relays the dream sequence. Peter’s logic is interesting. We see that he truly believed that God “baptized” the Gentiles first, with the Holy Spirit. So, it only stands to reason that Peter should be able to baptize them with water. God had already made them clean!
4. Apparently, they were all cool with that explanation. They were excited! I wonder what you would be surprised by if you said, “God has granted even the ____________ repentance unto life.” God’s grace extends to all people if they choose to follow Him. Where would that be surprising for you?

Read Acts 10:24-28.

1. OK, so Peter sets off with his entourage to Cornelius’ home after having a dream about eating all kinds of meat… Keep in mind that both men were in prayer before all these weird events…
2. Cornelius got all his people together for Peter’s arrival. Cornelius bows down to Peter, but Peter doesn’t accept that. Kind of makes you wonder why some priests do allow that sort of behavior…
3. Peter is interpreting his dream about unclean animals to be about the Gentiles. Back in the day, the only “clean” people would be the Jews; so that would make the non-Jews unclean. Peter says knows that God has made these “unclean” clean. (He didn’t have any objections to Cornelius’ people…but he sure seemed to object to God!)
4. Both of these guys were simply obeying God’s orders. And it was a good thing that they did because now all of Cornelius’ people can hear the message…
5. Can I get an amen about God not showing favoritism? I mean, if just a Gentile who’s half-Roman and half-Germanian; so I would have been in Cornelius’ boat too!
6. God accepts those who fear Him and do what is right. There you go…
7. Peter reminds them all of what Jesus did. Apparently, most of this gospel would have been common knowledge unless you lived under a rock; but Peter was putting all the pieces together, especially the part about His resurrection and Jesus’ power of life and death (through the forgiveness of sins).
8. The Holy Spirit come upon all the listeners, enabling them to “get it.” Isn’t amazing that even understanding the message of God is a gift from God?
9. I bet that would have been a trip for the Jews. I don’t think they realized how far this grace of God was going to go!
10. Peter baptized all of them in the name of Jesus. I bet that was wild. I wonder if it was awkward for the Jews. I mean, they never really associated with Gentiles in the past. And I bet they never thought that they were going to be baptizing people who weren’t circumcised. I guess you shouldn’t place your expectations on what God can do…