14 I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. 15 Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, 16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. 17 So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.
20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
“Those who have never been told about him will see,
and those who have never heard of him will understand.”
Terrie's Comments:
verse 19 stands out to me today... They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God's Spirit. Paul relied fully on the Holy Spirit to give him power to perform miraculous signs and wonders and the Holy Spirit moved on Paul's behalf.
I find it interesting that Paul also was following a plan that he found in scripture. In my own life this has happened many times. It would take a while to write the accounts out here so I won't bore you with them for now :-)
Have the scriptures ever jumped off the page at you to give you direction or instruction?
I find it interesting that Paul also was following a plan that he found in scripture. In my own life this has happened many times. It would take a while to write the accounts out here so I won't bore you with them for now :-)
Have the scriptures ever jumped off the page at you to give you direction or instruction?
Tori's Comments:
"Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me"
Giving literally ALL the glory to God...
After a hike on a shale-riddled path above a deep ravine, where my footing often slipped and I would bark out a quick "help!" prayer, I got to a nice spot to sit and read Scriptures (along with my Bible school friends at CLBI). I flipped to Psalms and read one I'd never seen before: "when I thought, 'my foot slips' your steadfast love, Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul." (Psalm 94:18-19).
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I was amazed at how God had directed me there, and that verse has become a touchstone for my life when I'm feeling anxious. That moment of first reading it started off my year of Bible school (which would prove to be intense) with the directive to trust in God, who knows every detail of me and my circumstances.