Paul was a wise servant of the Lord. He offset the opinions of those who slandered him by demonstrating he was not encouraging the Jew to forsake Moses. He took a vow and kept it as an act of charity in order to help the Jew to be able to hear the Gospel. What the Law of Moses could not do, Christ has done!

Salvation is a gift of God! It does not matter how intelligent an individual is, nor how sincere, nor how quickly he is to acknowledge various facts about Jesus...If he is not born from above he will never see the Kingdom of God. Man has no ability to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah apart from a sovereign act of God!

Is there hope for the worst of sinners? What have you done that makes you think you are irredeemable? Jesus sought out Zaccheus and took up with him as he was a son of Abraham! Our sins are indeed great, but His grace is greater sinner! Look unto Jesus Christ and be saved!

Why don't men recognize that Jesus is the Christ? Because men are incapable of doing so. Man is superficial and is content with superficial things. We want signs, we are enamored with show, and entertainment, but these things will never save man. We must believe that Jesus is the Christ if we are to be saved, not merely engaged in religiosity.

The Lord means what He says. He promised Paul saying, "...I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you...". Though the enemies of the cross tried to stop Paul from preaching, the Lord was faithful. The pit that his enemies dug to harm the Apostle, became the pit into which they fell!

The Old Testament laws and types were never enough to change the heart of man! They expose, they point, they instruct, but they cannot change our hearts. Israel was a mess, Jesus judged the abuse taking place in the Temple courts. The Messiah has come to replace the old with the new. Jesus is the true Temple!

The first of Jesus' miracles demonstrated something more than His being able to physically turn water into wine...an amazing feat for sure! But that He has come for His bride (the Church) to turn our shame into rejoicing! He has come to do more than deal with our sin, but to give us abundant Life!

Wickedness abounds in this world. If the Christian is not careful he will become angry and bitter at the injustices done and done against him! We fight this by remembering the truth that the wicked will be judged and will be no more, but the righteous will be delivered, because Christ will deliver them!

Are you still wrestling with whether you believe Jesus is the Christ, the only way of salvation? Nathanael too was skeptical that anything good could come out of Nazareth. An honest man, Nathanael came to believe the truth of Jesus Christ. Christ is the Messiah the One who fulfills the promise of God!

We are not only called to put forth effort in ministry, but are given the example to approach advancing the Gospel wisely. We find the Apostle seeing the great importance of being completely devoted to the Word, of not wasting out time on those who reject the Word, and not being intimidated into silence regarding the Word, but depending on the Lord.