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Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 39
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie
Thank you Debby and Skye for sharing your thoughts about the Book of Acts in our last “House on Fire” blog. For those of you new to the discussion we meet here in Lillie-Put a couple of times a week and discuss a short passge from the Book of Acts. If you would like to look in on some of our past discussions or even add your two cents they can be found at
If while you are at it you would like to learn more about what is on Debby and Skye’s heart you can find their blogs here:
http://debbestillandlisten.com/
http://ohthethingsweshallsee.com/
http://thesanctuaryofmyheart.com/
Leave me a cogent comment with this discussion and I will put a shout out up for you blog in our next discussion!
Acts 17:10-34
10 That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.
13 But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. 14 The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. 15 Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens; then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.
Paul Preaches in Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.17 He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.
18 He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”
19 Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. 20 “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” 21 (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.)
22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” 33 That ended Paul’s discussion with them, 34 but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
In today’s reading Paul visits two cities. In each city he uses a different tactic to preach the gospel. What do you think leads Paul to do this?
As people we get used to doing certain things in certain ways. This even extends to how we share Jesus with people. But when it comes to sharing the gospel there is no “one size fits all” method that will be effective in every setting.
Think of your current mission field. What are some ways you could change how you present the gospel to be more relevant to the people you are sharing with?
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Fifty And Thinking Of Dad
Cee’s Black & White Photo challenge this week is :Over Fifty.
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/02/12/cees-black-white-challenge-50-years-or-older/
As I read her post I found myself walking down the road to memory. I am nearly fifty myself now. My Dad died just days before his fiftieth birthday.
I find myself thinking of all the things he missed, all the memories he did not get to make. My youngest daughter, for instance, will be married this November. Dad never knew her. Yet his life touches hers still because part of what he was is in me.
Jesus said “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” While that’s true for Jesus and the Father God, I guess in some small way it’s also true for every father and son. As much as we may not like it there are some things in us that reflect where we came from, who we came from. Maybe we express it differently. Perhaps we are more healed than our predecessors so what’s in us of them comes out in healthy ways instead of broken ways, but it’s still part of our heritage…our DNA.
The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote “There is nothing new under the sun.” Maybe, just maybe, that’s because each new generation is just a reflection of the last. Maybe we shine better. Maybe we shine worse. Maybe we shine further than our forbears. However, we shine, and it is something that the world has seen before.
The piano man.
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Turbo Follow- Week 1
This week our church began a congregation-wide study written by, Daniel McNaughton and Bryan Koch, entitled Follow: Learning To Follow Jesus. Each Sunday our pastoral staff is preaching from one of the seven attributes covered in the book while the congregation reads the daily devotions and participates weekly in a life group focused around the topic at hand.
The group I am tasked with leading has been dubbed “Turbo Follow”. Rather than approaching the class as a traditional Bible study we have chosen to act as an accountability group. The class begins with a brief overview of the daily devotionals. Then participants break into smaller, accountability groups. Each group participant asks questions of their fellows concerning the teachings. At the end of each class individuals are asked to decide what God would have them do in light of what they have learned. Then we pray for each other.
This post is a weekly follow-up of our class. For those of you who are unable because of business or geography, to join us on Thursdays this blog is a perfect way to virtually join in on the fun.
This week we covered the overview of the book and each of the seven attributes in brief:
Day 1: Learn To Be With Jesus- God has taken initiative to have a relationship with you. He loves you and wants to be a part of your life.
Day 2: Learn To Listen- As followers of Jesus it is important for us to observe Jesus’ teaching, preaching and healing.
Day 3: Learn To Heal- Jesus still supernaturally heals bodies, minds and spirits. He longs to heal you and he longs to heal others through you.
Day 4: Learn To Influence- You are here for a reason and that reason involves others.
Day 5: Learn To Love- Love is the foundation of everything. God desires us to learn to love and forgive others even as we learn to love Him.
Day 6: Learn To Pray- Prayer is an important, normal and practical part of every successful Christian’s life.
Day 7: Learn To Manage- God wants to bless you and to teach you how to use that blessing rather than to be used by it.
Here are the questions we asked of each other:
1 A. Of the seven attributes (learn 2 B with Jesus/ Learn 2 listen to Jesus/ Learn 2 heal/ Learn 2 influence/Learn 2 love/ Learn 2 pray/ Learn 2 manage) which one spoke to you most this week?
1B. What about that attribute makes it important?
2. On a scale of one to ten one being the least and ten being the most how are you doing in that attribute?
3. What do you have to do to move this part of your life one number higher?
4. How can you specifically pray for yourself to succeed in doing that?
How are you doing with number 3 folks?
For this Thursday read pages 40-55 in Follow:
Being a Christian means learning to be with Jesus. The more you find yourself with Jesus the more you find your life changing. What are three things you do to spend time with Jesus?
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Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 38
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie
So far we have had 38 spiritual discussions from the Book of Acts. The book is designed to help us understand the way the Holy Spirit worked in the life of the church at its conception ( the church’s that is since the Holy Spirit being God is without beginning or end). The hope is that being coming to an understanding of how He moved then we can better understand what we should expect of His move now!
If you have missed any of the discussions you can find them at
Now on to today’s discussion…
Paul Preaches in Thessalonica
17 Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. 3 He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” 4 Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.
5 But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd.6 Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too. 7 And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus.”
8 The people of the city, as well as the city council, were thrown into turmoil by these reports. 9 So the officials forced Jason and the other believers to post bond, and then they released them.
Acts 17:1-9
It is one thing when the choices you make cause you trouble, but it is another thing when the choices of others cause you problems. Jason was only guilty of opening his home to the preacher and apostle Paul. Do you think he expected as much trouble as he got? Would you have expected it if you were him? What temptations do you think Jason faced after his arrest? What lessons can we learn from Jason’s experience?
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Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 37
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie
We are entering lesson thirty-seven in this on-line class concerning the Book Of Acts. If you have missed the last few discussion you can find them here
I would love to hear your on thoughts as we continue on.
I know I am going back into our last lesson a little bit but it does bear going back over a bit.
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
19 Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. 20 “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials. 21 “They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.”
22 A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.
25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
35 The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” 36 So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.”
37 But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!”
38 When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. 40 When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town. Acts 16:16-38
Today’s questions:
List all the miracles you see in this passage (big and little). Which of the miracles you see here is the most amazing to you? What about that miracle makes it so impressive?
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Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 36
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie
I have really been enjoying our discussions through the Book of Acts. God has been helping me to grab a better understanding of the context in which this book was written. As I study I find myself wondering about many things concerning the administration of the early church. The more I read the more I think just how intentional the movements of the Holy Spirit, and those of the men and women who followed Him, were. I see in the story of Acts men of tremendous vision, like Paul, who geared the church for exponential growth from the get-go. As inheritors of that legacy then how can we do any less?
Well enough soap-boxing. Here is today’s discussion:
11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She was baptized along with other members of her household, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”
18 This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.
Acts 16:11-18
Just a quick point of interest. Because Paul could not go into the mountains according to his plans he headed for the coast and ended up launching out for Macedonia (Greece) from Troas, which was the ancient city of Troy. On arrival in Macedonia he started his work in the city of Philippi. The church he planted there would later inspire the Book of Philippians.
Allow me to ask:
The demon possessed woman in our story here followed Paul around for several days before he dealt with her. Why do you think Paul chose to handle things this way?
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A Word A Week Challenge: Putting It All In Place
This week Sue has given us the word CONTEXT to work with.
If you want to see how other authors have dealt with context go visit Sue at
http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-context/
Context is defined as- the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
My daughter’s trip to Thailand for her senior internship was done in the context of her desire to spend a summer in Africa. The trip to Thailand was all but paid for though, so she took it never expecting to find God in the midst.
Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context.
Margaret J. Wheatley
She did find God though. In that place on the other side of the world from where she thought she would go, God gave her over to discoveries that filled her with passion and courage to try new things.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
Reinhold Niebuhr
On the surface she couldn’t make sense of what God was doing or how this series of events worked toward His plan. It may not have been Africa but she still got to ride elephants. She also got to do many of the other things she thought she would be doing in Africa.
In the end location or specific situation may not make much difference to God’s plan for our lives. These things may affect how the plan is carried out but they won’t change the plan. God is the larger context in which we live. Trust Him.
Have you ever been in a situation that seemed to go against what you thought God wanted to do in your life only to discover it was part of His plan all along? Tell me about it!
Then check out the video on this sight. Context is key!
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Caddo’s Seven Word Sunday 1-26-14
Breaking the fast. Beginning the next adventure!
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Pastor Wrinkles: House On Fire Pt. 35
The Word of God is a bridge that connects Earth with Heaven and Heaven with Earth.- Joseph Elon Lillie
Today we continue our discussion through the Book of Acts. If you have missed any of our previous discussions they can be found at http://wp.me/P39vIx-Gh
Here is today’s discussion topic:
Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 7 Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. 8 So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.
9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. Acts 16:6-10
Why do you think the Spirit of God resisted Paul when his intention was to preach the gospel?
Have you ever felt like God was resisting you? Describe that.
before we close I want to highlight two faithful students here at Lillie-Put. Robin and Debby have been commenting just about every class and so I want to give both of them a shout out and a hearty thank you. Do me a favor and pop on over to Robin’s blog and check it out. She can be found at
Debby is just about to take the leap into devotional blogging. I will keep you updated!
