"Forgive us our debts/sins as we forgive others" is not a prayer to be spoken lightly, but a prayer to be lived. Even the most devout believer has a daily need to reconnect with God through repentance and forgiveness.

"Give us ... our daily bread" is not a "mundane" prayer request. Jesus is calling us to look to God, to trust Him with our entire lives, and to call on Him to meet all our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

We explore an action the Apostle Paul took. Was Paul compromising what had been decided at the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) when he circumcised Timothy?

Chapter 15 was about the question of Gentiles needing to be circumcised to be a genuine follower of Jesus. The Council at Jerusalem's unanimous decision was no - that salvation is though faith in Christ Jesus alone. But now in Acts 16 the questions is if Paul is going against what had been decided in Jerusalem when he circumcised Timothy.

Acts 16:1 - Paul came to the city Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived. Timothy's mother was Jewish and a believer but his father was a Greek/ With a Greek father, Timothy had not been circumcised when he was 8 days old as were Jewish boys, so he is uncircumcised.

Vs 2-3 Paul wanted to take Timothy along on his upcoming journey, so he circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who lived in the areas they would be going to. People knew that Timothy's father was a Greek. But they also knew his mother was a Jew. Was Paul going against what the council in Jerusalem said? No. In Acts 15 we are told how we are saved only through faith in Christ, but the Gentiles were told to be gracious and reflective of Jewish sensibilities, especially around the idea of not wanting the Gospel to come under disrepute.

Their upcoming journey was to many towns with Jewish people and in their eyes Timothy would have been seen as a hypocrite who had abandoned his jewish heritage and faith.

What Paul is saying is that no Gentile needs to be circumcised but Jewish people were called to be circumcised and Timothy is making it clear that he is a faithful Jew. His circumcision shows his heart is for his fellow Jewish people, as well as Gentiles.

Timothy and Paul will spend many years together. Paul and Timothy have a beautiful friendship. Paul will consider Timothy his spiritual son.

And then we read in Acts 16:4-5 that as Timothy and Paul traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in the Council of Jerusalem. And the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. More and more Jewish and Gentile people became followers of Jesus.

Timothy and Paul recognized the importance of reaching all with the gospel of Christ.

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Our natural self tells us to pray, "MY will be done." But Jesus says we are to invite God to conquer us, to take charge of our lives and change our hearts so that we willingly pray, "YOUR will be done."

"Thy kingdom come" is both a missionary and a visionary prayer. We know that in these last days God is at work in human history to establish His kingdom over all the earth, and that the day will come when the Lord Jesus returns to make all things new.

Acts 16: 2,500 years ago, the Holy Spirit gave a prophetic word to several Hebrew prophets. It is a word that began to be fulfilled in a dramatic way at the time of the book of Acts, and continues to be dramatically fulfilled in our day in ways that seemed impossible generations ago. "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea." We will see in this chapter a dramatic example of how that prophetic word was fulfilled at the time of the early apostles. We will also see how that speaks to us today as that word is being fulfilled in ways they couldn't even conceived of 2,000 years ago.

Is the Book of Acts History or Theology? It is both!

Is it descriptive or prescriptive? It is both!

THEN and NOW:

Walk by the Spirit - Vs 8-9 - Paul receives a vision of a man in Macedonia. Paul and his companions conclude that God had called them to preach the Gospel there - so they followed the prompting of the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:16, 25)

Point to Jesus Christ - Vs 14 -15 - They go to Philippi in Macedonia via the Egnatian Way (Road). They go to the river to find a place of prayer and they meet several women there, meeting Lydia. They share the Gospel message with the women. Lydia responded to Paul's teaching, inviting them to her home. God is moving! (See Philippians 2:9-11)

Spiritual Warfare - Vs 16 - 18 - Paul and Silas are followed by a female slave with the Python spirit for several days. Paul gets annoyed and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" And at that moment the spirit left her. The word of Jesus has power!! (See Ephesians 6:12)

Rejoice in the Lord - Vs 19 - 25 - The slave's owners realized that their opportunity for making money on the slave was lost, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the authorities saying that they were Jews causing an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for Romans. Paul and Silas are stripped and beaten with rods and thrown in prison with feet fastened in stocks. But Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. They were rejoicing even in their difficulties. (See Philippians 4:4-6)

Assurance of Salvation - Vs 26 - 34 - Suddenly there was a violent earthquake and prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer saw the prison doors open and was about to kill himself assuming the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouts, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer runs to Paul and Silas, trembling, he asked what he needed to do to be saved. They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to jailer and to all the others in his house and the entire family was baptized. The jailer was filled with joy.because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole household. (See Philippians 1:6)

Vs 35-39 The authorities realize they beat Paul and Silas who were Roman citizens and no roman citizen is to be beaten and flogged so they release them.

Encourage One Another - Vs 40 - After being released from the prison, Paul and Silas go to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them and then they left. (See Philippians 1:27f)

No matter what the future may hold, we know Who holds the future!

This week's READING ASSIGNMENT:

Acts chapter 16-17.

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The "readiness that comes from the gospel of peace" gives us a solid platform on which to stand firm in resisting the devil's attacks.

Pastor's shares about an archeological discovery of "Caligae,' the shoes worn by Roman soldiers in the day that the text of Ephesians was written by Paul. Some amazing analogies bring light to today's verse, 'and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."

Ephesians 6:15

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God's name is already holy. May it also be holy among us, reverenced, honored, and lived out in daily life as we live in the goodness of God in Christ!