In Acts 18–20, Paul concluded his second missionary journey in Corinth where he met Priscilla and Aquila and stayed 1.5 years. Due to the ongoing opposition of the Jews, Paul pivoted and turned to preaching to Gentiles exclusively. "Some time" later, he set out on his third and final journey spending 2 years in Ephesus. There he did "extraordinary miracles" and confronted idol worship. Even though the townspeople rioted against "the Way," the number of believers increased. Paul then continued throughout Macedonia and Greece to encourage the believers there. This section ends with his farewell address to the Ephesian elders and a tearful goodbye.
Believe
Acts 16–17: The Second Missionary Journey
After the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15, Paul sets out again, taking Timothy with him on his second missionary journey (Acts 16–17). "As they traveled from town to town [in Macedonia and Greece], they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey" (16:4). They witnessed the daily growth of the church as they strengthened them in the faith (16:5).
Advent 2024 Third Sunday: Truth
The trappings of the holidays try to convince us that all is well when in reality it is not. But Advent reminds us that these are but falsehoods. Truth, instead, is embodied in the baby born to Mary of Nazareth in the town of Bethlehem in Judea.
Remember God Is With Us
The nation of Judah faced an impending invasion from two neighboring nations. This threat left them shaking like the trees in the forest in a windstorm. So King Ahaz made an alliance with an even larger nation—Assyria—rather than run to the Holy One, God Almighty. Then God gave Ahaz and Judah a promise, a sign, a reminder that he had not abandoned them and they should rely on him alone.
At-Risk
John-Mark D. Burkholder "I can feel that," I told my obstetrician as he pricked the left side of my abdomen on December 11, 1992. I was on an operating table in an outdated birthing clinic in Bandung, Indonesia, prepped for a C-section. As with my first pregnancy, I had pre-eclampsia but this baby was also breech. The … Continue reading At-Risk
