A king and a governor

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
Today we remember the men and women who lost their lives 12 years ago. I bet we all remember where we were when we heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. It was truly a painful moment and we still grieve the lives lost. I pray that out of that suffering can grow new compassion for others.

Our reading today brings us Governor Festus talking with King Agrippa. Agrippa was the last king in Herod's dynasty. He ruled with Roman approval, but was Jewish. Like Paul, he bridges two worlds, Jewish and Roman, so he is very interested in what Paul has to say. We'll see how he and Paul get along tomorrow.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 25:13-22

13 After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus. ¹⁴Since they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, ‘There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix. ¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him and asked for a sentence against him. ¹⁶I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met the accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defence against the charge. ¹⁷So when they met here, I lost no time, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.

¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I was expecting. ¹⁹Instead they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. ²¹But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor.’ ²²Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I would like to hear the man myself.’ ‘Tomorrow’, he said, ‘you will hear him.’

God in creation

Good afternoon friends,
As we talk about evangelism in different cultures in Acts, we'll take a quick detour over the next couple of days to look at the gospel's call and power for all people in Paul's letter to the Romans. This is one of the most important letters in the Bible for clearly explaining the meaning of the gospel. In today's passage Paul explains that nature and the world itself testify to God enough that even without teaching, we should be able to recognize God. Instead of searching for the God of the universe, we tend to create our own gods and look to them to try to control our world. God is the only one who deserves our worship. We'll see where Paul goes with this argument tomorrow.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 1:16-25

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; ²¹for though they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools; ²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.