All About Jesus
Opening Prayer
Pray that God will speak clearly to you now, as we hit the road with Paul today.
Read Acts 17:1-15
[1] When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. [2] As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, [3] explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. [4] Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. [5] But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. [6] But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, [7] and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” [8] When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. [9] Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. [10] As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. [12] As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. [13] But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. [14] The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. [15] Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How did the Bereans react to Paul's message?We pick up the story in about 50 AD–almost 20 years after Jesus died, was raised to life and returned to heaven. Now, the good news of Jesus has just reached Europe (cf. Acts 16:12). Time and again Paul encountered difficulties in taking the good news not only to Jewish people but also to Gentiles, or non-Jews (5,13). Some Jews simply couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the chosen one God had sent to save his people (and, in fact, all people). Talk of a kingdom and a king that wasn’t the Roman Empire and the emperor was outrageous (7)! Jesus wasn’t all he claimed, they thought. A man had just lost his wife, and I was at the funeral. I was trying to show compassion, and in the service we had just heard about the hope of heaven. Knowing I’m a Christian, the man turned on me afterwards and said bitterly, “Ha! Jesus didn’t save her, did he?” I didn’t know what to say. To him Jesus didn’t seem to be all he claimed either.
Apply
What are you prepared to tell someone about who Jesus is and why you believe that is true?
Closing prayer
Pray that the person you are, the way you live, and the things you say, will be all about Jesus.
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