From: June 28, 2024
“Put not your trust in princes” (Psalms 146:3 ESV).
In this election year, most of the news and even daily conversations are around politics and who should be president. This is especially so after last night’s presidential debate. Yet this psalm reminds us that those who put their trust in political leaders and parties will always be disappointed because they are led by mere men. For only the one who can change the human heart can truly change the human condition. This psalm, along with today’s Old Testament reading from 2 Kings, both proclaim and illustrate this fact. Until King Jesus comes to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in every human heart, there will be no peace.
Let us not put our trust in princes or presidents, but let us put our trust in God alone. For only the Lord is worthy of our total trust. Let us pray to God for our country and for our national leaders that they will also put their trust in God.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we long for the Day of Christ’s return. Yet, until then, we proclaim His gospel and proclaim Him as Lord over all. We are as foreigners in a foreign land, awaiting for Your Kingdom to come. Strengthen us as Your royal ambassadors until our time has ended and you call us home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: June 28, 2023
“So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he held daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia—both Jews and Greeks—heard the word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:9-10 NLT).
Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire during the time of Paul. It was a seaport city with a population of over 250,000. It became the center of Paul’s missionary efforts in Asia Minor. Some gospel work had already been done in Ephesus, but now Paul lay a foundation for one of the greatest churches of the first and second centuries. The people of Ephesus and the surrounding province were so open to the gospel that Paul was able to rent the lecture hall of Tyrannus, where he preached and taught daily for over two years.
Our church rented school buildings for our meetings for 19 years before we purchased a property of our own. I’m not sure how long the church at Ephesus rented the school of Tyrannus, for Paul felt the call to head back out on his third missionary journey after two years. Perhaps they were still renting when Jesus had John send them a letter some years later, encouraging them not to forsake their first love (Rev. 2:1-7).
It was rare to have a regular place to hold church services in Paul’s day. The church usually met in people’s homes or in public spaces in the first century. Yet in the great city of Ephesus, the need for a large and more permanent meeting place was needed and the Lord provided. It’s important to remember that the church is not a place, but a people. However, the people need a place to gather and in Ephesus they found such a place.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You that we are able to have a place where we can gather for worship. Thank You for this freedom. Help us to remember not to take it for granted. Strengthen us to be Your lighthouse in our city. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: June 28, 2022
PROCLAIMING CHRIST FROM THE SCRIPTURES
Apollos, a Jewish believer in Jesus from Alexandria, Egypt, was an eloquent preacher of the gospel. But the power of his preaching wasn’t in his eloquence, but in his accurate use of the Scriptures to explain how they reveal Jesus as the Messiah.
We don’t know very much about Apollos. He had arrived in Ephesus and started preaching about Jesus when Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla, heard him. They took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately to him. Imagine that. This powerful and persuasive young man was humble and teachable enough to listen and learn from this tent-making couple. Not only that, but when they heard that he had been thinking about visiting Corinth, they encouraged him to go, writing to the believers there to welcome him.
So, Aquila and Priscilla, who had been discipled by the apostle Paul, discipled and encouraged Apollos. They helped him go to their former home in Corinth. There he was a great encouragement to the believers that Paul had actually first led to the Lord. Perhaps the Lord saw the need to send them a strong Bible preacher to follow after the church-planting Paul to help them continue to grow.
Certainly that’s how Paul saw it in his letter to the Corinthians: “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6).
We may not know the Scriptures very well when we first believe, but reading and hearing the Bible taught is necessary for our Christian growth. Are you a member of a church that proclaims Christ from the Scriptures?
PRAYER: Dear Father, we thank You for Jesus and for Your Word. Help us to grow in the knowledge of our Savior and Lord through the reading and study of Your Scriptures. Fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit that we might boldly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ. In His name we pray, amen.
From: June 28, 2016
The God of creation is also the God of revelation. Not only did He leave His fingerprints on the earth and the heavens for us to see, He spoke His promises and had them recorded for us to read. Do you doubt whether the sun will rise and set again tomorrow? Will the earth stop its annual journey through the seasons? Do you worry that the stars will cease to shine at night? God’s promises were spoken with the same voice that declared, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The same God who made everything, made the promises found in His Word.
From: June 28, 2014
The God of creation is also the God of revelation. Not only did He leave His fingerprints on the earth and the heavens for us to see, He spoke His promises and had them recorded for us to read. Do you doubt whether the sun will rise and set again tomorrow? Will the earth stop its annual journey through the seasons? Do you worry that the stars will cease to shine at night? God’s promises were spoken with the same voice that declared, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The same God who made everything, made the promises found in His Word.
From: June 28, 2012
I wonder what the modern equivalent of “daily discussions at the lecture hall” would be? How can we get the Word out like Paul?