Acts 24-26
December 21, 2014

As I read the account of Paul giving his testimony to several different government leaders, I am reminded of the shepherds who simply told everyone that they met about "what they had seen and heard"
So often we try to encourage others to share the Gospel, and in our attempts we make it more complicated than it really is.   If you have been truly repentant, then you will demonstrate it by your good works.  This is what Paul is speaking of in 26:20 when he says we should "prove our repentance by our deeds".   It is this activity that gets Paul into trouble.  He shares what he has experienced, and he attempts to do good to the fellow believers.   That is  enough to get him on the wrong side of the local power brokers.
I am willing to bet that nothing more is needed today.   If we genuinely submit our lives to Jesus Christ, and then invest ourselves fully in doing good in His name, we will find our path directed into areas that we might otherwise not go.   Prison for instance.    Paul wanted to go to Rome and minister there.  I doubt that he wanted to travel their as a prisoner.
However, in Paul's mind he is already a prisoner of Jesus Christ, so what difference does it make to him how he travels there?   He may have been praising God for the government funded trip to Rome....that sounds like him.

The lesson today is rather brief, but it hits home for me, I hope it does for you as well.    Here's what I gather from today:

Share what God has done for me without fear of persecution or reprisal.   Don't be ignorant in the way that you share, but using humility and wisdom present your belief before anyone who will listen.   Continue to do good by any and all means possible, because you don't know how these good deeds may be used by God to further your witness, or spread knowledge of His glory.    Nothing I have possession of is any more valuable than the message that I carry.   Jesus Christ is Lord over all, and is willing to forgive and adopt as His children all who believe in Him, truly repenting of their sins.


PR