Reading your Bible for today August 18

August 18: Acts 17:1-9

KJV Key Verse: Acts 17:3
3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whomI preach unto you, is Christ.

Devotion:
When you start talking to people about Christ you are generally going to find some people listen, some disagree, and some may even turn violent! People who are going to act normally and listen (or not) will probably not put you off your stride and they will not interfere with what you believe. Those who do listen may encourage you or even discourage you; but they should not be able to change your mind about Christ! On the other hand, the people who are going to rebel and even go out of their way to stop you from speaking are going to be the ones who do challenge your faith the most.

Even as an adult teaching young children you will still get those who seem hell-bent on stopping you from teaching others about Christ. Fortunately, children are a bit easier to side track when they try to interrupt teachings; but peers will always tend to get the better of you if you do not have faith that Christ will carry you through.

If Christ is in your conversation, teaching or discussion, then you can know He will make sure His Word will get told in some way. You can know that whatever happens will be to His glory (so long as you are willing to allow Him in). You can know He will carry you through the discussion and even get others to listen.

Paul was able to tell a lot of people about Christ and how His life lived up to the prophesies which foretold of His coming and His resurrection. He was able, through use of the scriptures, to convince many of the truth... But there was a substantial group who would not accept the truth because it would mean them having to give up their “self made rules” and follow the truth. They would rather use the law of the land to put down the Law of Christ and were willing to use whatever means it would take... That also meant taking other believers and dragging them through the mill to try and turn people against Christian teaching. We need to be aware of people like that, but also to place our trust in Christ!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like it when people side-track your conversations?

How willing are you to allow Christ to win the conversation?