Today Our Daily Bread (from Rock Church's Daily Readings)Rom 16:19-20, Acts 17:6 & Acts Ch 17

Romans 16:19-20 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Acts 17:6 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.
Ya know how certain people are known for their disobedience? Or their hyperactivity, or other negative characteristics? Especially people’s children? Well folks, we are God’s children, How are we representing Him? As He is or as we are? That’s all about how much of His image is becoming us, how much of His image we are allowing to impact, be imprinted on and in and exercised continually in and through us. Do you know the most effective way of learning is to teach? To do or apply what you are taught? This is why in doing, not just hearing the word we are blessed in what we do! We not only are blessed, but we bless God, because His image is allowed to be manifested in and through us and He is glorified in our human flesh! We again, turn our world upside down. (The reason it needs to be turned upside down is, it has been turned wrongside up, the right side needs to be "turned up" in our own lies first, then we can help others to get that same motion going!)
Acts 17:1-34
Preaching Christ at Thessalonica
Paul at Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining 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." 4And 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.
Assault on Jason's House
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, F72 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. 6But 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. 7Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king--Jesus." 8And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Ministering at Berea
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. 13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 15So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.
The Philosophers at Athens
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18Then F73 certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? 20For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean." 21For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Addressing the Areopagus
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26And He has made from one blood F74 every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, "For we are also His offspring.' 29Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. 30Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." 32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, "We will hear you again on this matter." 33So Paul departed from among them. 34However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes
F72: 17:5 NU-Text omits who were not persuaded; M-Text omits becoming envious.
F73: 17:18 NU-Text and M-Text add also.
F74: 17:26 NU-Text omits blood.
~Lena’s Journalin’~
Notice the biggest resistance the new believers are having, at this time, comes from the immovable, unchanging, pride-filled, religious world. When I say religion, I’m not speaking of God life in practice. I’m talking about a kingdom of man, a social entity that may have begun on Godly principles and mandates, but in it’s continuance men did not follow Christ’s rule, God’s plans, they stayed where they were comfy cozy and any disruption brought an upheaval of emotion. Don’t rock MY boat, the key word there is "my". It’s God’s boat and He can rock it whenever He so pleases, if it is really His boat!Have you ever made an announcement to yourself, like this one? "There is another King?" Something about man, something inside of man (actually placed there by God, but subject to alteration or perversion) says, "RULE". The thing is we are to rule with God and for God and with and for His work and His will. That would mean serving Him and checking in about things as rulers in council do. The thing is, satan wanted to overrule God and so that temptation is out there, to be your own ruler, your own person, do your own will, insist on independence, etc. All of these can be dangerous if we do not rule with God, and serve Him. So what do we do when we are making all kinds of decisions apart from God and His word? Tell yourself, "There IS another King!" Ever tell others, "There is another King"? That doesn’t always go over too well in a prideful situation, but in a place where misery and persecution is it would be a good announcement to make.
Can I tell you something today? God has been seeking you out. He’s been knocking at the door of your heart and life for years now. He’s been waiting for you to at least acknowledge that He’s there, but of course He wants you to open that door and allow Him to come in and not only for a brief visit, as in times past, but to live there in you, to be totally 100% involved in your life. He’s ready for you to seek Him. He’s been seeking you for a long time (even before you were born, He knew you and called you forth by name. God’s grace has been on your life to preserve you for Himself in this time, but it will not always strive with every man, because time runs out and even life ends and none of us knows when it will end, remember we may act like it, but we are not the King and the one who knows how long life is.It is time for all living men everywhere to repent. Repent does not mean, say a prayer of rescue, Oh God rescue me from this present danger that’s upon me, help me out of this trouble Lord or even, Lord save me from my behaviors. No, it means I acknowledge by my new way of living that there is another King. I allow Him to rule me. My life changes because of it. I was not centered on the thoughts of His kingdom or of what he wanted from me and now I am. I used to live for me, now I lie for Him. I used to do whatever I desired, whatever made me feel good and whole, I saved myself from trouble as well as I could (and at times, I did very well- thank you. Being "saved" does NOT mean saying a prayer with someone in hopes that when I die I won’t go to hell (we call that fire insurance). Being saved means , being born again, being changed, made new by the blood of Jesus continually. Not a one time deal, a lifetime (eternal lifetime) deal. He gave His life for me. I give my life for Him, daily, not skipping one day. That is repentance. It is time to seek the Lord. If not for anyone else, do this for your kids. You are doing a lot of things for your kids, but how many are everlasting things, that they’ll take with them if and when they die? Will your lifestyle save their souls? Will you have left them with eternal blessings or passed on to them the sins of your fathers and of your own life? You may have despised that when your parents and grandparents did that to you, the only way to not do the same is to repent and be eternally continuously changed.
One more nugget for today. It is so important to our continual spiritual life to flourish and even grow, that we learn the word, study the word and most of all live the word! The passage here says, they searched the scripture daily to see if these things were so. Do you just take another’s word for it? Or do you seek God for yourself? Are you still being fed (that’s fine and even great when you’re only a youngster, but there is a time to grow and feed yourself.) 1 Cor 6:2 NOW IS the TIME! Today is the Day!