Can you persuade me to be a Christian? 7/25/15

Day 204 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Acts.26

Acts 26

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. 

4 “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. 6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. 7 This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. 8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 

9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. 

12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

 “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 

19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” 

24 At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” 

25 “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

 28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”

 29 Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” 

30 The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. 31 After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”

 32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

One in the wounds of Jesus July 25th

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” EPHESIANS 2:13

As believers we all receive the benefits of the transactions that took place on the cross. On the cross there was a double transfer. Christ became sin so that we might become the righteous- ness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Sin was transferred to Christ, and righteousness was transferred to us. On the cross this glorious double transfer took place. Now we can shout, “He has the sin, and I have the righteousness!” When sin shows up in our flesh in the form of negative reactions, and the devil comes to accuse us, we can say, “Sorry, Satan. My Christ has the sin, and I have the righteous- ness.” This double transfer accomplished on the cross is now made real to us in our union with Christ in our spirit. All of us can enjoy this double transfer. No wonder Paul speaks of being near in the blood of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we are one in the wounds of Jesus! We are near to God, and we are near to one another. This is all because of the righteousness of God, which is a major factor between us. We are linked together in God’s righteousness. Not only in Romans but also in 1 Corinthians, Paul brings in righteousness as the factor for the saints to be linked together. In 1 Corinthians 1:29-31 he says, 29 “That no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — that is, righteousness and sanctification and redemption — 31 that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” In these verses, the common factor between us is Christ as our righteousness. This is the factor of our boasting and glorying. We are boasting in the Lord. This kind of common boasting links us together. It is of God that we are all in Christ Jesus. God’s wisdom was to put us all in Christ. Now, Christ is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Every Christian has this boast. Our boast is nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14). When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was dealing with a church problem of division. But the way he handled this problem was not by dealing with the issue of the church. He did not discuss how to organize the church, how to set up the church in an outward way, or even how to properly stand on the ground of the church. Paul did not touch those kinds of matters. Rather, he turned the saints to Christ: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13). It is “Christ the power of God” and Christ “the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). It is as if Paul was shouting, “Saints, come back to Christ!” His burden was to recon- nect the divided saints by a major factor in God’s New Testament economy — Christ our righteousness. 

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