ANGLICAN DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL FOR FEBRUARY 3, 2023 (TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN)
TOPIC : ”TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN”
TEXT: Acts 17:1-16(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.
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.
11. These 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.
12. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.
13. But 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.
14. Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.
15. So 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.
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.
MESSAGE
In our Bible reading today, we see Paul, Silas and Timothy in Thessalonica and Berea. In fact, the effect of the work was felt everywhere. Once Paul and his team entered a city, those that accepted him would start to rejoice while those that opposed him would begin to wail and scheme against him. In verse 6, the opposing Jews attacked Jason and cried out,
“..These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”Paul and his team left for Berea where they preached the gospel and later left for Athens. Do we have men like Paul that when they enter a city everywhere will quake because they brought the Good News?
Why has the Gospel not reached the whole world to usher in the Lord (Matt. 24:14) despite the years of preaching it? If we all like the brethren in Berea hunger for the word, preach it sincerely and live it, people will declare -“these people who turned the world upside down have come here too.”
Let us all wake up and preach the undiluted word to a hungry and dying world. Preach to someone today!
PRAYER: Dear Father, give us the burden to take the Gospel to the unreached of the world to quicken your return. Amen.
The Anglican Communion is the fourth-largest Christian denomination. Founded in 1867 in London, England, the communion currently has 85 million members within the Church of England and other national and regional churches in full communion.
