Daily Fountain Devotional 20 July 2020 for Anglican Communion
TOPIC: Wanted: ‘Trouble Makers’!
TEXT: Acts 17:1-9(NKJV)
1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3. explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and [saying,] “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
4. And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
5. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
7. “Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king — Jesus.”
8. And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
9. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
STUDY: Paul and Silas left the City of Philippi to Thessalonica. On getting there, Paul found the Synagogue and began to teach there on the necessity for the Messiah to suffer and be resurrected. This was particularly important for the Jews to understand in order to believe the gospel. He carefully laid out a foundation of biblical truth upon which the message of the gospel could be built. He wanted them to know that what they were called to believe is not made up fables or myths. While a few were persuaded, others refused and chose to accuse Paul and Silas of turning the world upside down. They sought to arrest them for being trouble makers.
Truly, wherever the gospel is preached, the world of sinners is turned upside down. The gospel troubles dishonest people, workers of iniquity, idolaters, fraudsters, etc. as it seeks to bring a change in their lives. The church needs such “trouble makers”, world changers who will turn lives, families, communities, etc., upside down using the gospel. We need changers so that where there is darkness, there will be light; where there is hatred, love; where there is bondage, liberation; and where there is death, life. Will you be a world changer today?
PRAYER: Lord, make me a world changer today. Amen
DAILY QUOTE: “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”— Mother Teresa
Daily Fountain Devotional 20 July 2020 – The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England. It gives its current membership as “over 18 million”, out of a total Nigerian population of over 200 million.