56. Wala ka sa Lolo ko. The Lord planted the seed of faith in the hearts of his children.
10 November 2020
Google, Greek Translation
Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus sermon in Athens, by Raphael, 1515. This sermon addressed early issues in Christology.
Ed Siasoco (aka SC Fiasco) from Kingstowne, VA, USA • Public domain
Acts 16
Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia
10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul and Silas in Prison
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.
23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
The seed of faith in the heart of Apostle Paul.
Let me share my reflection back in 24 August 2017.
“Obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).
The Apostle Paul had been transformed from being a violent persecutor to a disciple of the Lord Jesus. His obedience to the commission of the Lord Jesus had caused him to take a dose of his own medicine. The Jews had repeatedly beaten him and thrown him to prison.
Yet, he would remain unperturbed. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose (Acts 16:25-26).
He would proceed to reason with the Greeks who were known for their philosophers, and was not intimidated: “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring (Acts 17:23-28).’”
Thus, some became followers of Paul.
“Lord, as a parent, I am heartened that our children grew up with the fear of God. I cannot claim credit for it; I had my failures when they were growing up that could have influenced them otherwise. Yet, they turned out to be with obedience in heart. What a blessing indeed. Gracious Lord, I thank You for the seed of faith You planted in their hearts; I pray that they continue to grow in the knowledge of God (Collosians 1:10). This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.””
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
Macedonia (/ˌmæsɪˈdoʊniə/ (About this soundlisten); Ancient Greek: Μακεδονία, Makedonía), also called Macedon (/ˈmæsɪdɒn/), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, and bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south.
Raphael • Public domain
The ruins of the Philippeion at Olympia, Greece, which was built by Philip II of Macedon to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC.
Indeed the words of Apostle Paul ring true.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:28)
2 Corinthians 5
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Indeed, one day my children's children will say, wala ka sa Lolo ko, the Lord planted the seed of faith in the hearts of his children. Amen.
We are God's offspring, he planted the seed of faith in the heart of each one of us.
Such blessing is ours for the taking. Amen.
Maraming salamat.
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