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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Before we dropped in on Paul's letter to the Galatians, we were hanging out with Paul and Silas in prison in Philippi and watching them get released. After which point the local authorities apologized for imprisoning them without a trial. Since they're Roman citizens. Today they head for Thessalonica where they're staying with a guy named Jason. Thessalonica is a big port city in Greece today with a population of about a million people, except now it's called Thessaloniki. It's about 100 miles from Philippi, which is about a four day trip. By the way, Paul writes two letters to the church in Thessalonica and we'll read those letters tomorrow. The guys are in Thessalonica for a long time and at one point, Paul spends a string of three days going to the local Jewish synagogue to reason with them about the Scriptures. He shows them how Jesus is the Messiah the prophets wrote about. Here's one thing I find interesting about this. Paul isn't just sharing his own personal testimony, even though he has a more compelling one than anyone I've ever met. Instead, he's sharing Scripture's testimony of Christ. It's true that personal stories are moving for many people. But Paul knows that subjective experiences can also be easily dismissed by anyone who has a different experience. So he takes a more objective and logic based approach. He's sharing facts, not feelings. He lets scripture speak for itself. Per usual, the audience is split. Some believe and some don't. The ones who believe include Jews as well as a lot of Greeks and a lot of female leaders. The Jews who don't believe him form a mob and start a riot. And they go to Jason's house to try to find the guys. When they can't find them, they drag Jason and a few others out of the house and take them to the authorities. Like most of the accusers, they're saying that the early church is rebelling against the establishment. This time, Caesar in particular. They say these men have turned the world upside down. Yes, and amen. The effects of the gospel are dramatic. That's the upside down kingdom of God. Jason posts bail for everyone and the authorities let them go home. This money probably has a bit of a promise attached to it as well. In the way that bail money serves as a promise that you'll return for your court date. Jason's money probably serves as a promise that Paul and Silas will leave town. They leave in the middle of the night and head to Berea. First stop the synagogue. And you know how Paul loves a good Scripture testimony. So he shares it and they love it. But they don't just take his word as fact. They crack open their scrolls every day and check his words against Scripture. They walk in wisdom and humility. They're open to receive, but not just anything. They'll only receive the truth. And because of that, a lot of them believe, including Greeks and prominent male and female leaders. When word gets back to Thessalonica, they march over to Berea to try to shut it down. So Paul packs up to leave, but Silas and Timothy stay behind. When Paul gets to Athens, he sends word that he needs Silas and Timothy there stat. We don't know why he needed them so urgently, but they don't make it to him for a while. He's in Athens, maybe with Luke, we don't know for sure. And it's full of idolatry. People there worshiped so many different things, in part because they were open to many different ideas and philosophies. They are inundated with religious options, and the people love hearing new ideas. In fact, a lot of the prominent people Paul encounters are kind of professional seekers. They're always following the current trends, which change frequently. It seems like they love to seek, but they don't like to find. They prefer to just keep seeking. This is new territory for Paul. He's mostly been used to talking to Jews or Gentiles who already have some kind of grasp on the Hebrew scriptures. But the Athenians are not on that page at all. Still, they're intrigued by Paul's message, not because they're moved by their own sinfulness and God's great mercy, but because it's a new idea they hadn't heard yet. Paul is educated and knows how to lean into that when it's helpful. So he talks to them in the intellectual language they understand, much like Jesus did when he used agricultural analogies. In his parables to farmers and fishermen. Paul quotes philosophers and poets they're acquainted with. He points out that they know something is missing amidst all their religious paraphernalia. They still have an altar dedicated to an unknown God. He says, I know the God you're missing. I know the one your soul cries out for and hasn't found amidst all these other altars and opinions. But you didn't make him like you made these idols and their altars. In fact, he made you. And when he did, he was intentional about every detail, including the time and location. Of your birth. It all serves to point you back to him, and he calls you to repent and turn to Him. So repent, because someday he will judge the earth through the one he raised from the dead. Some of them mock the idea of the resurrection, but others believe, including Dionysius and Damaris. Today my God shot was in Paul's quote from a Greek poet in verse 28. It says in him we live and move and have our being. Paul clips a quote from culture and and pastes it into his conversation about God because it speaks to the truth of who God is. Ultimately, all truth is God's truth. Anything that is true points back to him, the author of truth, the Way, the truth and the life, which is kind of what this verse says. In him we live. He's the life and move. He's the way and have our being. He's the very truth at the core of who we are, and he's where the joy is. Tomorrow we'll be reading 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. We'll link to a short video overview of both books in the Show Notes, so check those out if you have a chance. We know you love the TBR book, but some of you want the full daily Transcript, not the polished abridged version of the book. And we get it. You want to read along, take notes or highlight things. So we have two options for you. Option A, you can join our Recaptains family. If you join at the Transcript tier or higher, we'll send you the transcripts for each week as we move through the study. If you're interested in option A, check for a link in today's Show Notes or click the recaptains link@thebiblerecap.com we have single episode transcripts available in the store of our website for just a dollar each. So if all you want is one transcript, that's a great place to go. For option B, go to the store link@thebiblerecap.com or click the link in the Show Notes.