I Was Not Disobedient – Acts 26:15-21

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

I was talking to our Missionary Tim Parrow on Monday night. He told me attendance last Sunday night was very small, but the meeting was possibly very productive. Marta was the only one who attended besides the Parrows. After the service she stayed and talked for an...

They Sought the Death Penalty – Acts 26:19-21

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

I don’t know if Paul considered this meeting before Agrippa and Festus as a trial, a church service, or some- thing in between. But he might have pictured it as an hearing before an appeals court. And when he wasn’t vindicated here, he felt obligated to take it to the...

Ebenezer – Acts 26:19-23

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

In one of the darker days of the history of Israel, the Ark of the Covenant was lost to the Philistines. That loss was due to the sin and superstition of people who should have known better. But as a result, both the Philistines and the Israelites learned some...

Christian Insanity – Acts 26:19-25

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Although there are pressures constantly working against it – we live in a relatively polite society. Although, there are people who seem to delight in hurting other people’s feelings, most people don’t. And even when people think badly about other people, the only...

A Seasonal Message – Acts 26:12-23

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

As we are all very, very well aware, this is the day that the world celebrates Christmas. Millions of people who have no time for the Lord, and never think of Christ, celebrate Christmas in one fashion or another. And this is one of those days which brings out the...

The “Almost” Christian – Acts 26:24-29

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

On the day of his death, as Stephen was preaching to Saul of Tarsus and his cronies, he really provoked them by saying, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets...

Jurisprudence – Acts 26:28-32

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Let’s begin this morning with 2 almost opposing thoughts: “Everything is related & everything is relative.” One of the strange, interesting, and potentially difficult parts of our visit with our grandson, was that one of his mother’s sisters was there,...

Ostentatious Profanity – Matthew 23:16-22

Jan 18, 2015 | Matthew, Sunday Evening

This is a complicated paragraph. I don’t think that I understand it very well, partially because of my limited knowledge of those customs. The subject is further complicated by the mixed definitions of some of the related words. Take the word “swear” for...

Fools as well as Hypocrites – Matthew 23:13-15

Jan 18, 2015 | Matthew, Sunday Morning

I haven’t mentioned it recently, but you should know that “hypocrite” is a transliteration, not a translation. In the Greek Bible, Matthew 23 is filled with the word “hupokrites” (hoop-ok-ree-tace’). For whatever reason, our translators just...

I Would to God – Acts 26:24-32

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

What sort of attitude, or state of mind, would you have if you were well into your second year of prison? What if you knew that you weren’t guilty of any sort of crime? What if, not only were you innocent, but after several trials which proved your innocence, you were...

Personalities and Geography – Acts 27

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

It seems to me that the older I get the quicker that time flies by. Many young people think that time moves too slowly. And I’m sure that for the more elderly, especially those who can’t get out and about, they would agree with the kids. For people in hospitals and...

The Journey of Life – Acts 27:1-44

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

By the time we finish, you will have more instruction in the Book of Acts than the average seminary graduate. Three hundred and fifty messages are more than would be possible in two semesters of seminary. But before either you or I begin to boast, thinking that we...

Julius: Name, Rank and Serial Number – Acts 27

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

I think that 27 is one of the most exciting chapters in the Book of Acts and in all the Word of God. It’s not because of the doctrine or the way that it directly touches us who are here this afternoon. The name of “Jesus” is not mentioned here and neither...

The Warnings of the God-Fearing Man – Acts 27:9-11

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

Paul was a landlubber. He was no more a sailor because of his many trips back and forth across the Eastern Mediterranean than I am an aircraft pilot because I have flown to South Carolina a couple of times. But – just because he hadn’t been a cabin boy, cadet at...

Comfort in the Midst of the Storm – Acts 27:44

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

It may have been William Shakespear who popularized the phrase: “All’s well that end’s well.” Depending on how we use those words, I don’t necessarily have any problem with them. Unfortunately there could be several things wrong with the idea behind them....

The Angel of God – Acts 27:23

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

Before this morning, how many times in the past seven days did you think about angels? Do you mean to tell me that you don’t often think about those special servants of God, even though there could very well be more of them in this room than human beings? And don’t...

And He Gave Thanks – Acts 27:33-37

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

How long had it been since the little coastal vessel of Adramyttium sailed from Caesarea? We have no way of knowing for sure, but I would say that perhaps four to six weeks had passed. It had probably taken about two weeks to reach Myra where everyone boarded the...

Whose I am – Acts: 27:21-25

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

I hope that you all remember the children’s Bible story about the Prophet Jonah. The thing about the Prophet Jonah is that he is not just the leading character in a children’s story. Four, five and six-year-olds may love the story of Jonah, because of some of its...

In His Majesty’s Service – Acts 27:21-25

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

It must be repeated over and over again – Heaven and eternal life are NOT REWARDS for faithful service. A person may work his way to Hell, but not to Heaven. Paul was a servant of God not in order to become one of the Lord’s people, but because he already was. And he...

The Counsel to Kill – Acts 27:39-44

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

I didn’t count them, but I have more than a dozen books of wise and witty quotations. Some of those books are limited to statements from single authors like Spurgeon, Tozer or Vance Havner. Some are entirely religious, some are meant to be funny, and some come from...

Safe to Land – Acts 27:33-34

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

On the evening of October 22, 1918, the Canadian Pacific Steamship “Princess Sophia” sailed from Skagway, Alaska bound for Vancouver. She carried with her 268 passengers and a crew of 75. The White Pass and Yukon Railway company had 85 of its summer...

The Island Called Melita – Acts 28:1-10

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

It will be nearly impossible to call this a Bible study. Although it is Bible-related, we aren’t actually studying the verses of our text. Just for fun & for a little background behind this chapter, let’s spend a few minutes on the Island of Melita. Some of you...

The Maltese Sinner – Acts 28:1-10

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

Ours is not a very homogenous society. We live in the United States, but those 50 states are united only in certain ways and by regions. In many ways there are states as different from other states as many foreign countries. And then scattered throughout those states...

No Little Kindness – Acts 28:1-2

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

One of the saddest of all anomalies in this world is when non-Christians are more Christian than Christians. For example, what are the three greatest Christian virtues? Faith, hope and charity. Why is it that many who reject Christ and the principles of the Bible...

Viper Lessons – Acts 28:1-5

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

When I was just a little guy, still living in Omaha, Nebraska, my parents enrolled me in a summer, day-camp. I don’t remember if it was through the YMCA or if it was run by the city, but every morning for a week or two a group of us kids would gather at a certain...

The Theology of Venomous Beasts – Acts 28:1-10

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

How much do you know about Buddhism? Most Biblical Christians know next to nothing about Buddhism. For example, most think that it was started by a man named Buddha. Actually, “Buddha” is not a name, but a title, just as “Christ” is a title....

All Things Work Together for Good – Acts 28:1-10

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

There are millions of semi-Christians and pseudo-Christians who think of God as a kind-heart philanthropist. They picture the Lord as a Being full of love and good wishes for all His creatures, but Who is, unfortunately, incapable of really taking good care of them....

Mistaken for God – Acts 28:1-10

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

Fictional literature abounds with stories about people being mistaken for other people. Sometimes the hero, or villain, chooses to be mistaken for someone else, as in “A Tale of Two Cities.” But then, in what are usually funnier stories, there are...

The Gemini Project – Acts 28:11

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

In the late 1950’s the U.S.S.R. jumped into space, and the Americans knew that they would have to keep up. President Kenney made his promise; the NACA became NASA, and work began toward putting an American on the moon. First came the Mercury project, which...

All Roads Lead to Rome – Acts 28:11-16

Jan 18, 2015 | Acts

Our title this morning is an old proverb: “All roads lead to Rome.” It’s a proverb which means that there are certain things at the center of other things, and eventually everything meets at that center point – that loci. It may only be a proverb today,...