Bible Points

This morning’s Bible reading took me to Acts chapters 18 and 19. This book is full of ACTion; the action of the Holy Spirit who filled men and women to herald the Gospel (Good News) message about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the action of calling people to turn from their sins (repentance) to follow in obedience Jesus Christ as their Master and King.

Acts is an exciting book and a historical chronology of the birth, growth, and ministry of the early church, under the direction of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts serves as a historical transition between the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and the Epistles (Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and so on).

One thing that was impressed upon me this morning as I read from Acts are the words from chapter 18, verse 5: “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” This is my prayerful desire…to “completely devote myself to the Scriptures, so that I will be equipped to testify that Jesus is the Messiah”.

If you are a Christian, this is your calling as well. The Great Commission given by Jesus to His disciples before He ascended back to heaven was and is, “Go make disciples, teaching them to observe my commands…” (Matthew 28:19-20). If someone asks you, “Why should I repent of my sins to follow Jesus?” Would you be able to open the Bible and explain from Scripture the answer to this question? If you cannot, you are either an ignorant, disobedient Christian, or in the wrong church, or both. You are disobedient because you have not studied the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15), or you are in the wrong church because you are not being taught to defend the faith (Ephesians 4:12; 1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3).

Are you completely devoting yourself to the Scriptures, so that you will be equipped to testify that Jesus is the Messiah?