In this episode, I walk through Paul’s Second Missionary Journey and explore how God advances the gospel through closed doors, unexpected people, and Spirit-led redirection. From Timothy joining the mission, to a vision that carries the gospel into Europe, to quiet conversions by a riverbank and worship in a prison at midnight, this journey shows us that God’s plans are often bigger, and stranger, than anything we would design ourselves. Along the way, we encounter Lydia, the Philippian jailer, skeptical philosophers in Athens, and faithful believers who shape the future of the church in ways that rarely make headlines.

This episode is an invitation to trust God when clarity is lacking and obedience feels costly. As I trace the gospel’s movement through Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth, I reflect on how God still works today, using ordinary people, uncomfortable interruptions, and unseen faithfulness to accomplish His purposes. If you’ve ever wondered whether closed doors mean failure or if God can really use your small, faithful steps, this episode will encourage you to walk by faith and trust the Spirit’s leading.

References to Bible Verses:

Acts 16:1–5; Acts 16:6–10; Acts 16:11–15; Acts 16:16–40; Acts 17:1–9; Acts 17:10–15; Acts 17:16–34; Acts 18:1–17; Acts 18:18–28; 1 Corinthians 9:19–23; 2 Timothy 1:5; Psalm 37:23; Matthew 28:19–20; Ezekiel 36:26; John 6:44; Romans 8:18; Philippians 1:12–14; Isaiah 53:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 45:5; John 4:24; 1 Corinthians 2:1–5; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:7

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Jason: Thank you for listening, and welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Jason McConnell. There are moments in scripture where everything shifts, not with the trumpet blast, not with a miracle in the street, but with a quiet no from God. The second mission journey is one of those moments. Now, up to this point in Acts, the gospel has been moving steadily outward, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gentile territory.

The mission feels almost predictable. It's been hard, but directional, forward motion, momentum, strategy plans, and then suddenly doors close. Paul doesn't set out on this journey to change the world map. He sets out to revisit churches, to strengthen believers, to follow up on work already done. This isn't a bold new expansion plan.

It's a pastoral care plan, but God has something bigger in mind as Paul travels with Silas and soon Timothy, they try to go where it makes sense, where logic points, where opportunity seems obvious. And again and again, the spirit says no. Not here, not now, not this way. It's uncomfortable, it's confusing, and it's very deeply human because haven't we all been there doing good things, faithful things, reasonable things, and we still find ourselves blocked, stalled, or redirected in ways we don't understand.

The journey becomes a pivotal point in acts geographically as the gospel crosses into Europe for the first time culturally as it collides with Roman power, Greek philosophy and pagan worship spiritually as God makes it clear that his mission will not be driven by human strategy alone, but by divine guidance.

Even when that guidance feels disruptive. What follows is not a straight line. It's a winding road marked by unexpected conversions, public beatings, prison songs at midnight, philosophical debates in Athens, and quiet faithfulness in the chaos of Corinth. God moves through a wealthy businesswoman at a river bank, through a jailer ready to take his own life through skeptics who sneer in seekers, who lean in through faithful tent makers and ordinary disciples who shape the future of the church.

The second mission journey reminds us that God's guidance doesn't always come as a green light. Sometimes it comes as restraint, sometimes as interruption, sometimes as closed doors that force us to listen more closely. And if we're willing to follow, even when the path shifts, we may discover that the spirit is leading us somewhere far greater than we ever planned.

So let's step into the journey. Let's listen for the spirit and let's see how God advances his gospels. Not just across the ancient world, but into the hearts that never expected to be changed.

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Jason: So I wanna let you know this episode might be a little bit longer than normal, but, but that's okay. I'm just gonna keep rolling with it.

We'll get there when we get there. There's a lot to take in. As we step into the second mission journey, the very first thing Luke shows us isn't a miracle. It's a sermon. It, it, it isn't even a city. It's a person and not just any person. A young believer named Timothy whose story reminds us that sometimes the most important thing God does next is who he brings alongside you.

Acts chapter 16 opens quietly, but I don't let that fool you. Something foundational is happening here. Luke tells us in Acts 16, verses one and two, Paul came to Derby and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The believer at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.

Okay? So right away we're given Timothy's spiritual resume and it's complicated. His mother is Jewish and a believer, his grandmother, we later learn also has sincere faith and that's good news. But his father, he's Greek pagan background, no circumcision. That detail matters a lot. Timothy lives right at the intersection of two worlds, ethnically mixed, culturally mixed, religiously complicated.

And yet Luke says the believers spoke well of him. He had a reputation for faithfulness, humility, and maturity beyond his years. And that alone should encourage us because Timothy isn't chosen, because he's perfect, he's chosen, because he's faithful, teachable, and already walking with Jesus. And Paul sees something in him.

So much so that Acts 16, three tells us something uncomfortable. Paul wanted to take him along the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area. I'm gonna pause right there because if you're paying attention to acts, you might be thinking, wait a second, Paul. Didn't we just settle this?

Didn't Acts 15, make it crystal clear that circumcision is not required for salvation and yes, absolutely. So what's going on here?

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Jason: This is where we need to understand culture, mission, and wisdom. Circumcision was not required for salvation. It, it, it, it never saved anyone. But in Jewish communities it was, it was a credibility issue.

Timothy would be traveling, teaching and proclaiming Christ along Paul, often, beginning in synagogues and uncircumcised, Jewish heritage teacher would've immediately shut doors. So this wasn't about theology, it was about mission. Paul is in compromising the gospel. He's protecting it as theologian Frederick.

Uh, five E Bruce points out this act was pastoral wisdom, not theological compromise. Or to put it another way, Paul is saying, I'll lay down my rights if it means more people get to hear about Jesus. And Paul himself explains this mindset in one Corinthians nine verses 19 through 23. Though I am free and belong to no.

And I have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the Jews, I become like a Jew. To win the Jews to those under the law, I become one. Under the law, though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law to those not having the law, I became like one. Not having the law, though I am not free from God's law, but I am under Christ's law so as to win those who are not having the law to the weak.

I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save someone. I do this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. And yes, Timothy paid a very personal price for that philosophy. I'm not gonna lie there, but this also reminds us discipleship is not abstract.

Sometimes it costs comfort, sometimes it costs convenience. Sometimes it costs a little bit of dignity and sometimes. It costs a few things. You really wish Luke didn't feel the need to put in the Bible, but Timothy agrees to do this. Why? Because the mission matters more than personal preference, and what happens next is actually kind of neat.

Luke tells us in next 16 verses four and five, as they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Notice the outcome here. Unity leads to strength.

Clarity leads to growth. Humility leads to momentum. Timothy's willingness to submit, Paul's willingness to adapt, the church's willingness to trust the spirit's leading and the result is the gospel moves forward. This matters for us today because we live in a time where Christians often fight hardest over non-essential freedoms.

Preferences, styles, traditions, while the watching world wonders if unity is even possible. Timothy reminds us that sometimes the most powerful witness isn't what we insist on. It's what we're willing to lay down. And maybe the question in this passage leaves us with a simple but uncomfortable idea or a question, what rights am I clinging to that might hinder the mission God has placed me in?

Because when discipled leaders choose humility over entitlement, God strengthens his church and the gospel keeps moving forward. And that's exactly what we're about to see as this journey continues. And just a side note here, I'm certainly not suggesting any of the men listening to this go out and get circumcised.

I don't think that's gonna come up anytime soon. So we are reminded that God often works through people.

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Jason: This next part reminds us that God also works through interruptions. Sometimes following Jesus doesn't look like an open door and a clear sign. Sometimes it looks like well-laid plans and then God quietly shutting them down one by one.

And that's exactly where we find Paul and Silas and Timothy. Next Acts 16 takes a bit of a turn. That must have felt deeply frustrating for our missionaries. Uh, Luke tells us in Acts 16, verses six and seven, Paul and his companions traveled through the region of Frisia and Glacia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.

When they came to the border of Macia, they tried to enter be bethia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. Now, let's be honest, this seems strange. They're trying to preach the gospel, do the good things, be the obedient servants, and yet the Holy Spirit keeps saying no, not once, but twice. Luke doesn't explain how the spirit stopped them.

Uh, there's no angel, no lightning bolt, no prophetic warning label, just, just a closed door, which means this is probably kind of confusing for them. And I imagine you've been there. Have you ever been praying? You're planning, you're trying to do the right thing, and every logical option just doesn't work.

No explanation, no roadmap, just not this way. Paul and his team are essentially wandering west, bumping into spiritual, do not enter signs until they end up in Troas, a port city staring out at the sea. And that's when God finally speaks clearly in verse uh uh, acts 16 verses eight and nine. It tells us. So they passed by Macia and went down to Troas.

During the night, Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. I mean, it's not really subtle or vague. It's pretty straightforward.

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Jason: I mean, here's what makes this moment so important. Macedonia is Roman Europe. This is the first time the gospel is invited across the sea, into the western world, into Greek philosophy, Roman power, pagan temple's, cultural pluralism.

This is a massive shift as Nicholas Thomas Wright points out. This is a turning point where the gospel begins confronting the Western ways of thinking, ideas about power, wisdom, God, truth, meaning, in other words, everything changes here. But notice how God gets them there. Not through strategy, not through preference, not through comfort, through some sort of interruption.

Only after the doors closed does the call become clear, and when it does look at their response. In Acts 16, verse 10, after Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave from Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. No debate, no committee meeting, no five-year plan, immediate obedience.

Luke even switches the language here to, we got ready. So this is likely a moment. Luke himself joins the mission. The vision doesn't tell, uh, doesn't just redirect Paul. It reshapes the whole team. That matters for us because many of us want guidance without interruption. We want clarity without inconvenience.

We want God's will without God rearranging our plans. Right? But scripture shows us something different. Psalm 37 23 says, the Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him. Sometimes those firm steps include being stopped first. And Jesus' words in Matthew 28 19 reminds us that the mission is global, but the path is still spirit led.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Right? God gets to decide where we get to decide the yes we get to, we get to say yes, and maybe that's the word some of us need today. I mean, if you're confused, if doors keep closing, if your plans keep getting disrupted, it may not be resistance, it may be redirection.

The spirit who stops Paul is the same spirit who sends him and the same spirit who guides the church then. It's still guiding God's people now, including you and me. Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is just pause, listen and be ready to move because the call might come from a direction we never expected.

And when it does, the question won't be, does this make sense? It will be Will we go? And next. Next we're about to see what happens when they do. So we begin this next journey in Acts 16, verses 11 and 12 from Troas, they put out to sea and sailed straight for ra, and the next day we went on to Nepal. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and leading city of that district of Macedonia, and we stayed there for several days.

Okay, so when Paul finally obeys the Macedonia call, you might expect fireworks, a packed to city square, a bold sermon, a dramatic confrontation with pagan priests. After all, this is the gospel's first step into Europe. But what Luke gives us instead is a river bank.

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Jason: A prayer meeting and a businesswoman listening quietly.

And that contrast is the point. After crossing into Macedonia pollen, his companions arrive at Philippi, a Roman colony known for its military pride, Roman citizenship, and loyalty to Caesar. This is not a church friendly town. There's no synagogues mentioned here, likely because there aren't enough Jewish men to form one, which means if anyone is worshiping the God of Israel, they're doing it quietly out on the margins.

But Luke tells us in Acts 16, 13 on the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. Check it out, no stage, no pulpit, no crowd. Just a handful of women praying by the water. And already this tells us something important.

Lydia is a businesswoman. Purple Die was expensive, luxury level, expensive. She's likely wealthy, independent, and very influential. She's also God-fearing, meaning she reveres the God of Israel but isn't fully Jewish. She's spiritually curious, but not committed. And here's the most important part of this verse.

The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. Don't miss that. I mean, sure, Paul is the one speaking, but it's God who opens her heart. This is salvation in its simplest, clearest form. No pressure, no manipulation, no argument. God does the heavy, the heavy heart work, and this lines up perfectly with, with what God promised.

Long before in Ezekiel 36 to verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put in a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And what Jesus later refers in John six verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day.

Lydia doesn't reason her way into faith. She doesn't earn her way into faith. She's drawn and once her heart is open, her response is immediate. Acts 16, verse 15 tells us when she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house.

And she persuaded us her faith. It doesn't stay private. It doesn't stay theoretical. It transforms her entire household. And just like that, the first record recorded church in Europe begins not in a temple, not in a synagogue, not some big public square, but in a living room, which is beautiful and humbling because God launches a movement that will eventually shape Western history through a quiet prayer and a willing heart.

This matters for us. This matters for us today because so many people listening right now might see themselves in Lydia. You're curious. They're respectful of faith. You're listening, but you're not sure you're ready. And this passage reminds us, salvation isn't about how far you figure things out. It's about whether you are willing to listen when God begins to open your heart.

As for the church, it's a reminder that we don't always know where God is starting something new. Sometimes it's not loud, sometimes it's not flashy, sometimes. It's just a conversation by the water with someone the world might have overlooked. But when God opens a heart, everything changes. And very soon in Philippi we're going to see just how costly and how powerful that change can be.

So this is where things get interesting. Up to this point, in Philippi, things look pretty good, right? A woman comes to faith, a household is baptized, the gospel has officially entered Europe. If this were a modern ministry report, Paul and Silas might be feeling pretty encouraged. Momentum is building. God is clearly at work.

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Jason: And then, and then everything falls apart because whenever the gospel advances, the enemy's not far behind. Luke tells us in Acts 16, 16, and 17, that trouble starts with a slave girl. Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met. By a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.

She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us shouting, these men are servants of the most high God who are telling you the way to be saved. I wanna, I want you to imagine this scenario for a moment. Paul is trying to preach, Silas is trying to teach, and there's a loud, disruptive voice trailing them like a haunted megaphone.

Now, this girl is demon possessed, and the actual word used to describe the gift of fortune telling or divination is python. According to commentaries, the reason this isn't translated as is, is because we wouldn't understand it, but Python was a type of snake, a python. It's used here because the Python was associated with the God Apollo, who is known as the God of divination.

And there was a shrine to the Pytheon Apollo not far from Philippi, but. That being said. Finally, Paul has had enough Acts 16 verse 18. She kept up this for many days. Finally, Paul came, became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.

And at that moment, the spirit left her. So this, this is a curious situation. A demon possessed woman was preaching in place of Paul saying what appeared to be truth. And one might think this is free advertisement from the enemy, right? Based on my research, Paul didn't appreciate the free advertisement from the enemy.

His objection was, was, was the source of the message. Truthfully, he didn't need a demon to approve of his work. Jesus did the same. He silenced demons even when they spoke the truth about him. Go back and read Matthew eight verses 28 through 34 in Mark three verses 11 and 12. But just like that, the woman was delivered from her possessor.

But here's the problem. Someone just lost a revenue stream. Spiritual freedom for the girl means financial loss for her owners. And when money gets touched, outrage follows pretty fast. Acts 16 verse 19 tells us they seize Paul and Silas and drag them before the authorities accusing them not of disrupting the peace but of threatening Roman identity.

It reads, when her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. Now, this is obviously false and exaggerated, but it works. There is no trial, no defense, just mob justice. Paul and Silas are stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison and, and not the nice part.

Check out Acts 16 verses 20 through 24. They brought them before the magistrates and said, these men are Jews and are throwing our city into uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us, Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul SEZs and the magistrate ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods after they had been severely flogged.

They were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stalks. So one thing to note here is that Luke was a gentile. Timothy was only half Jewish, but Paul and Silas looked Jewish and objecting to them was, as Jews was more impactful considering how small the Jewish community was in Philippi.

So the charges are pretty vague too. They're basically just accusing them of being rabbel rousers. But that was enough because the people in the magistrates were biased against Jews, which would've made them not Roman citizens. Now understand in the Roman Empire, there were two sets of laws, one for the citizens of Rome, one for those who were not citizens.

Roman citizens had some pretty heavily guarded civil rights, whereas outsiders were subject to the whims of the mob and the magistrates. So this was not good for them. I should also point out that Jewish legal traditions had a maximum number of blows allowed when somebody was beaten, but Romans had no such limit.

Also, Roman prisons were brutal places. They were dark, damp fil, the painful stocks were, weren't just restraints. They were designed to maximize discomfort. And let's be honest, this would've been a prime moment for complaining. God, we obeyed you. God, you sent us here. God, this is not what, what we signed up for.

But that's not what they did. Listen to Acts 16, verse 25, about midnight. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. So there they were at midnight, bleeding and trained up, and, and they were singing, not whispering a prayer, not mumbling, just singing hymns and praying, which tells, which tells us Worship isn't about circumstance, it's about conviction.

And, and that's pretty amazing, really. Uh, and I want you to notice who's listening the other prisoners. So God is already turning, suffering into a platform, but then something pretty amazing happens. And Acts 16 verses 26 through 30.

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Jason: Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundation of the prison was, were shaken.

At once, the prisoner doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, don't harm yourself. We are all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul's and Paul and Silas.

And then he brought them out and asked, sir, what must I do to be saved? So not to unpack here in the ancient world, earthquakes were seen as divine acts, and in this case it, it really was. It wasn't a subtle hint, but God making a very distinct point because the doors flew open, the chains fell off, and yeah, this was God.

All right. The jailer wakes up, sees the doors open, assumes everyone has escaped and prepares to take his own life because Roman law would've demanded it anyways, and the way they would've killed him would've been much worse. Paul shouts and stops him in in an act of compassion. It would've been easier for Paul and Silas to let that happen and escape with the, with another one of God's miracles.

But the lives of this man, the life of this man was more important. The result of this is the jailer falling down before them and asking to be saved. I imagine a guard in the Roman empire saw a lot of ugliness, and over time hearts hardened. They were conditioned to look down on Jews, even more so on Jewish prisoners.

This was likely the same guard who beat them only hours earlier or was at least a part of it. Yet grace offered by Paul and Silas and maybe, maybe this divine intervention of God turned his heart of stone into a heart of flesh and he pleaded to be saved. And the answer was simple and direct. It's a classic statement and the essence of the gospel.

Check out Acts 16 verses 31 through 34. They replied, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you'll be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all the others in his house. At that hour of the ninth, the jailer took them and washed their wounds and immediately he and all his household were baptized.

The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them. He was filled with joy because he had become a believer in God and his whole household, he and his whole household. This is salvation by grace alone, received by faith. It was everything they argued in Acts 15. It almost seems too easy, doesn't it?

But interestingly enough, Paul never specifically called the guard to repent. And, and this may be because he was already repenting, he was on his knees begging. But there's, there's no counseling, there's no lecture or theology. There's no need to review Christian terminology or do any special rituals. He just pointed to Jesus.

There's a story about, uh, Bishop John Taylor Smith, an old general of the British Army. He used to test candidates for chaplaincy by asking them how they would explain, uh, to a man injured in battle who had three minutes to live, how they're gonna explain the gas gospel to them. He wanted to see how they would explain how to be saved and come to peace with God.

If they couldn't do it in three minutes. They weren't fit to be chaplain. And I think Paul would've aced this test, to be honest. But this scripture goes on to explain that the same guard who punished them now cared for Paul in Silas by washing their wounds and feeding them another clue that the guard had repented, but the guard and his family were baptized that night, and the jailer, who was once willing to kill himself was abounding in joy.

It's also kind of wild for me to consider Paul and Silas instead of immediately escaping, they hung around to convert a household and break bread with him. That shows tremendous trust in God as well as the mission to share the gospels.

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Jason: But that's, but, but what's really wild is that they don't actually leave at all.

Check out this plot twist Act 16 verses 35 and 36. When it was daylight, the magistrate sent their officers to the jailer with the order released. The men, the jailer told Paul, the magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released now you can leave, go in peace. So they stayed and now the magistrates are trying to quietly release Paul.

But Paul is having none of this Acts 16 verses 37 and 38. But Paul said to the officer, they beat us publicly without trial, even though we are Roman citizens and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No, let them come themselves and escort us out. The officer reported this to the magistrates and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.

So I wanna backtrack for a minute. The entire miracle of the earthquake had nothing to do with freeing Paul and Silas from prison. It had everything to do with the salvation of an unnamed prisoner guard and his household. That's pretty astounding to me. But Paul and Silas revealed that they are Roman citizens and, and have recognized civil rights that were violated by the, the Philippian magistrates.

This struck fear into the magistrates. The whole ordeal was a grave offense to the treatment of a Roman citizen. Why didn't they reveal their citizenship before all of this went down? Nobody knows It's possible the mob didn't give them a chance, or maybe they didn't hear them. Commentary suggested maybe the Holy Spirit directed them to withhold that information until the time was right.

But proving the citizenship was, was a different story, and it suggested that they carried a copy of their, their profession, basically a birth certificate. Somehow they didn't, did manage to convince them because claiming false Roman citizenship was punishable by death. So they had some proof. Regardless of the specifics, the magistrates did try to do damage control in Acts 16 verses 39 and 40.

They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out from the prison, they went to Lydia's house where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them, them. Then they left. So by confronting injustice, Paul ensures that the believers in Philippi won't be harassed after he leaves.

I think that's important. And then verse verse 40 tells us that they returned to Lydia's house and the church is encouraged and strengthened and grounded. And here's the takeaway. God didn't waste the prison or the pain or the injustice. As Paul later writes in Philippians one, verses 12 through 14 from this very city, what happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

And Romans eight, verse 18 reminds us our presence sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory. Will be revealed in us. If you're listening today, obedience has cost you something, I'm sure. Reputation, comfort, peace, certainty if it has, this is for you because sometimes God's greatest work doesn't happen in spite of suffering.

It happens through suffering, and the people out there listening to your faith in the dark, maybe closer to salvation than you think. Okay, so after the prison doors go flying open and Roman officials scrambling, say face, you might think Paul would have slowed down a bit, right? Maybe take a break. Maybe look for a quieter town.

Nope.

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Jason: Paul leaves Philippi and head straight into another major city because apparently when you're called by God, easy mode is not included. Luke tells us in Acts 17 verse one, when Paul and his companions passed through Amphi and Apol Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue.

This is a strategic city. Thessalonica sits on a major Roman highway. It's politically important, economically powerful, and very loyal to Caesar. If you wanna avoid controversy, this is not the place you wanna stop as a Christian, but Paul does what he always does. Acts 17, verse two says, as was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue.

And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scripture. That's kind of interesting wording, reasoned with him. I mean, Paul is not shouting, he's not trying to manipulate them. He's he. He isn't staging a spectacle. He's opening the scripture and explaining it to them.

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Jason: And Acts 17 verse three tells us what he focused on explaining and providing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.

This Jesus, I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah. He said, and this is where Isaiah 53 verse five might come into play. Which reads, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was cr crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us to peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. So Paul is saying basically the Messiah you've been waiting for.

He came, he suffered, he rose, and his name is Jesus. And predictably the response is a bit mixed. Acts 17, verse four says, some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

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Jason: That's exciting and a little dangerous because when the gospel starts changing lives, it also starts threatening systems, which is where Acts 17 verses five through the first part of seven, takes us.

But the other Jews were jealous, so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials shouting, these men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house.

Can we take a moment to appreciate Luke's wording for a moment? Bad characters from the marketplace. In other words, they hired protestors, the mob storms, Jason's house, accusing Paul and Silas of turning the world upside down, which let's be honest, is accidentally a great compliment. But the real accusation comes in Acts 17 and verse seven, the rest part, the rest of verse seven.

They're all defying Caesar's decree saying that there is another king one called Jesus. This is where things get serious. In a Roman city, loyal to Caesar, claiming allegiance to another king isn't just a religious decrement. It's treason. The gospel disturbs the false peace. The power depends on Jesus isn't just savior, he's Lord, and that means no earthly ruler gets the final word, and Paul later reflects on this moment when he writes to the Thessalonians in to the Thessalonian church.

In First Thessalonians two, verse two, I'm having a tongue twister today. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, but with the help of our God, we dared to tell you the gospel in the face of strong opposition. That word dared matters. Paul knew the risk, he felt the tension, and he preached.

Anyways, this passage reminds us that the gospel doesn't always bring comfort. Sometimes it brings confrontation. Not because Christians are trying to cause chaos or trouble, but because the truth exposes counterfeit peace, and if you've ever felt uneasy when faith bumps into politics, culture, or power, you're not alone.

The early church lived in that tension constantly, and Thessalonica shows us that when Jesus is proclaimed as king, everything else has to respond, including empires, which is why Paul doesn't stay long. Here we see their departure in Acts 17, verses eight and nine. When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil.

Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. The gospel has been planted and sometimes it's enough to shake the city and it's time to go. Now understand, after Thessalonica, Paul doesn't leave town because the mission failed. He leaves because it worked. The gospel stirred hearts, rattled power structures, and once again, caused enough trouble to make someone say, Paul.

It's time to go, man, like now.

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Jason: So under the cover of Night, Paul and Silas head to a quieter place, a town called Bar Baria. And what happens next is one of the more refreshing moments in the Book of Acts, if you ask me, Luke tells us in Acts 17, verses 10 and 11, as soon as it was night, the believer sent Paul and Silas away to Baria.

On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Barian Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scripture every day to see if what Paul said was true. So the phrase more noble character is Luke's polite spirit-led way of saying, these guys actually check their Bibles.

They didn't just nod along they, they didn't just say, well, Paul sounds convincing, or they didn't just forward the sermon clip to a friend and call it a spiritual growth. They opened scripture daily, eagerly and thoughtfully. Here's the, here's what's important here. They weren't skeptical in a hostile way.

They were curious in a faithful way. They wanted to know if what Paul was saying actually lined up with God's word, and that's healthy faith. Acts 17, verse 12 tells us, as a result, many of them believed, as did a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. I want you to notice the pattern here.

The word is examined, faith grows, lives change. This is what Psalms 1 19 1 0 5 means when it says, your word is a lamb for my feet, a light for my path. The Varis, um, didn't replace faith with studies. Studies strengthen their faith, and honestly, this passage is incredibly relevant right now. We live in a time where there are more sermons, podcast clips, posts, and opinions about Jesus than ever before.

And yes, I know the irony in what I just said. While that can be a blessing. It also requires discernment. I expect you to go double check what I say, take it back to the Bible and review it for yourself. And if you think I'm wrong, I want you to tell me, send me an email. But Barry reminds us that spiritual maturity doesn't mean turning off your brain.

It means letting scripture shape how you think. Check what you hear. Measure it against God's word. Let truth not charisma, carry the authority. But of course, not everyone is thrilled about this. Surprise, surprise, right? Acts 17, verses 13 through 15. But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Baria, some of them went there too, agitated the crowds and stirred up things.

The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Baria. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. So troublemakers come from Thessalonica. Eventually they show up and stir up things again.

Once more. Paul is sent away for his safety, but the word remains planted and that's the beauty of Bar Paul moves on. Scripture stays and faith takes root. This short moment in Acts leaves us with a simple but powerful question. Am I eager to hear God's word and willing to examine it daily? Because healthy faith doesn't fear scripture.

It lives in it. And if the church today leaned, learned anything from barrier, it might be this. The gospel flourishes best where God's word is opened, often handled carefully and trusted deeply.

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Jason: So if Philippi was raw motion and Thessalonica was political tension, Athens is something entirely different.

Athens isn't hostile right away. It, it isn't violent, it isn't chaotic. Athens is, it's impressed with itself and, and that's what makes it one of the hardest mission fields Paul has faced so far. So Luke tells us an ex 17, verse 16, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was. Greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

That word distressed is kind of important because Paul isn't, he's not angry or feeling superior. He's grieved. Athens is a beautiful, intelligent, and cultured spitty city and and very spiritually crowded. There's statues everywhere. Temples everywhere. Gods for every emotion, every need, every fear. Ancient writers used to joke that it was easier to find a God in Athens and a man, and yet for all of its wisdom, Athens is still lost.

So Paul does what he always does. He reasons Acts 17, verses 17 through 21 tells us so he reasoned in the synagogues synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happen to be there. A group of epicureans and stoic philosophers began to debate with him.

Some of them asked, what is this Babbler trying to say? Others remarked, he seems to be advocating foreign gods. They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting in the Ogus where they said to him, may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting.

You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean. All of the Athenians and the foreigners who live there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. So Paul engages both Jews in the synagogue and philosophers in the marketplace, and before long the Epicureans and the stoics take notice.

Now the these are thinkers, the the skeptics, the prove it crowd, right? So who are these epicureans and stoics? In short, Epicureans. Stoics were two influential Greek Phil philosophical groups in Athens that focused on how to live well and find happiness despite life's hardships. Now, epicureans believe the world was governed by natural law and and made up of atoms, and, and they taught happiness came from simple, virtuous living and the avoidance of pain, and, and they viewed god's as distant and largely irrelevant to daily life.

Stoic by contrast, believe a divine presence permeated all of nature and humanity, and taught that the true fulfillment came through virtue, self-control and submission to the rational order of the universe with evil arising when passion ruled the soul. So their conclusions differed, uh, the pleasure for epicureans and virtue for stoics.

They were both deeply committed to moral improvement, which is probably why they took interest in Paul's message. Now they called Paul a babbler, which basically in ancient Greek it means this guy sounds like he picked up random ideas and threw them together, but they're curious enough to invite him to the aeropagus.

A group of elders who, among thing other things oversaw religious matters. And here's where Paul does something. I think it's masterful. He doesn't start with Moses. He, he doesn't quote the prophets. He doesn't assume biblical literacy. Instead, he builds a bridge. Acts 17, verses 22 through 23. It says, Paul stood up in the meeting of the AOP and said people of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

For as I walk around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I found an altar. I even found an altar with the inscription to an unknown God. So you were ignorant of the very thing you worship. And this is what I'm going to proclaim to you. I think that's brilliant. Paul doesn't, he doesn't mock the ignorance.

He acknowledges they're searching. He says, you know, there's something more, you just don't know his name yet.

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Jason: And then he proclaims it in Acts 17 verses 24 through 30. 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 far, not far from any one of us, for in Him, we live and move and have our being. As some of you, your own poets have said, we are his offspring. Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. An image made by human design and skill.

In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. It's a lot to take. In Paul's basically introducing God like an, uh, a God unlikely, unlike anything they've ever mentioned. He's not distant, he's not needy, he's not localized. He, he's a creator. And this com comforts both the epicureans who believe Gods were distant and uninvolved and stoics who believed everything was divine.

And Paul says, God is distinct and deeply involved. And, and then the mic drop moment comes in Acts 17, verse 31, for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice. By the man. He has appointed, he has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. And that's where things get awkward, because resurrection is where a philosophy hits a wall, which we see in Acts 17, verse 32 and 33, when they heard about the resurrection of the dead.

Some of them sneered and others said, we want to hear you again on this subject. At that Paul left the council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed among them were a Dion Isis, a member of the Aus, a woman named, uh, Demarius and a number of others. So some sneered others went to hear more, and a few, just a few believed.

By the way, if I'm getting these names wrong, I, I, I apologize. I'm terrible at reading these, this part of the Bible because of these names, but that's, anyways, that's Athens. Not a massive revival, not a city right. Repentance, but, but just a faithful proclamation. And this scene kind of matters because we live in our own Athens, a marketplace of ideas where everyone is spiritual, curious, skeptical and allergic to exclusive truth claims.

Paul shows us something kind of crucial here. You can be culturally aware without being doctrinally vague. You can build bridges without watering down truth. As Isaiah 45, verse five reminds us, I am the Lord and there is no other. And John 4 24 reminds us who God truly is. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the spirit and in truth, Paul doesn't dilute the gospel to make it palatable.

He makes it clear, and that's the lesson. Success in Athens isn't measured by numbers, it's measured by faithfulness. So yeah, some mocks, some hesitate, some believe, and Paul leaves knowing that Christ was proclaimed plainly, courageously, and lovingly in one of the most P heuristic cities on earth. This reminds us that our job is not to make the gospel acceptable.

Our job is to make it known, and then we have to trust God with the response. So after Athens, you might expect Paul to feel pretty good about himself. He just said toe to toe with philosophers. He preached in the intellectual capital of the ancient world. He held his own in the marketplace of ideas.

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Jason: But scripture hints that Paul doesn't leave Athens energized, he leaves exhausted, and that's where Corinth comes in.

We'll kick this off in Acts 18 verses one through five. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pon, uh, Pontius, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. Because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them and because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them every Sabbath.

He reasoned with the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. So after leaving Athens for Corinth, it seems simple enough, right? But, but this was a completely different world.

Athens prized ideas. Corinth was about success. This city was wealthy, morally chaotic, and famously corrupt. If Athens was the philosophical department, Corinth was the port city with money, power, temptation, and zero interest in moral restraint. After Paul arrives there all by himself, no Silas or Timothy yet, no cheering crowds, just Paul tired, bruised, and still obedient.

So what does God do? He gives Paul people, Aquila and Priscilla Jewish believers who like Paul are tent makers. Paul stays with them and works alongside them. And that detail, I think matters. I think that's important because Paul isn't preaching full-time yet. He's sewing canvas, sharing meals, living life and community, and God sustained his servants, not first with sermon, but with companionship.

Every Sabbath, Paul reasons with the synagogue proclaiming Jesus as a messiah. When stylists and Timothy finally arrive, then Paul devotes himself fully to preaching and predictably resistance shows up in Acts 16, uh, sorry, 18 verses six through eight. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out the clothes and protests and said to them, your blood beyond your own heads, I'm innocent of it.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justice, a worshiper of God Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord. And many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. I mean, at this point it would be understandable if Paul thought, here we go again.

Paul clearly saw his first responsibility was to preach the gospel to the Jews. But when that message was rejected, he moved onto the Gentiles. And this pattern reminds me of Matthew seven, verse six. Do not give dogs what a sacred or do not throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do, they may trample under them, them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

As for Paul shaking his garments, this, this was in the same spirit of shaking the dust off sandals just a more dramatic way to express his rejection of their rejection. Yet, despite this, many of the Corinthians heard, the message believed and were baptized in Acts 18 verses nine through 11, the Lord speaks to Paul in a vision.

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent for I am with you and no one is going to attack and harm you because I have many people in this city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching them the word of God. I want you to let that sink in.

God doesn't, doesn't say Corinth is easy. He doesn't say Corinth is righteous. God says, I already have people here. And, and that's all you need to know. Before the church is visible, God is already working. So Paul stays in Corinth for a year and a half long enough to grow roots, long enough for the church to form long enough for transformation to begin.

And later Paul reflects on this season, uh, when he writes First Corinthians two verse one through five. And so it was with me, brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message. And my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a de demonstration of the spirit's power. So that is your, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. This kind of tells us something important.

Corinth didn't need clever arguments. They didn't need watered down truth. They needed a clear gospel and a faithful messenger sustained by God. And here's the encouragement for us. If you're serving God and feeling a little tired, if obedience has led you into difficult places, if you're wondering how much longer you can keep going, Corinth reminds us that God does not sustain his people by removing hardships.

He sustains them through presence, people, and reassurance. Sometimes the most spiritual thing God gives you isn't a breakthrough. It's a friend, a reminder, a quiet word that says, keep going. I'm with you, and so are my people. And in a world overflowing with ideas, arguments, and opinions, Corinth teaches us this.

The gospel doesn't need to be deluded to survive. It needs to be clearly proclaimed, a faithfully lived gospel, and God will take care of the rest. But of course. As you know when gospel advances yet again, resistance shows up. Acts 18 verses 12 through 17. While Gallo was a pro consul of Aya, the Jews of Corinth made an united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.

This man they charge is persuading the people to worship God in ways the contrary to the law. Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallo said to them, if you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, settle the matter yourselves.

I will not be a judge of such things. So he drove them off. Then the crowd there turned on sus things, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the pro console, and Gallo showed no concern whatsoever. So there's kind of a lot going on here. If Gallo had taken on the charges from the Jews. This would've set a precedence for provincial governors everywhere to do much the same.

This would've severely restricted Paul's ministry, but Gallo's refusal to take up the charge, basically recognized Christianity as a religion legally recognized and tolerated by the Roman Empire. They called this Religio Laia. Before Paul could even open his mouth to defend himself, Gallo did it for him and, and I don't think Galio was really supporting Paul, but rather setting the precedent that the government has no role, no legitimate role in religious matters, because Gallo looked the other way when the angry Gentiles be substance, the leader of the synagogue.

So they didn't care about he, he really didn't care about any of this. He's just like, it's not a misdemeanor. It's not something that I have to judge, go away.

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Jason: But as a second missionary journey begins to wind down. Luke ends his chapter with a conversation. The gospel doesn't only move forward through bold preaching, it moves forward through faithful people, investing in other faithful people.

So let's read Acts 18 verses 18 through 22. Paul stayed in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied pied Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off as sin crea because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila.

He himself went into the synagogue, in reason with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised I will come back if it is God's will. Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at cesa, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

So again, we're introduced to Priscilla Quila, the tent makers who have been walking alongside Paul. Now, these aren't apo, these two aren't apo, they're not apostles. They don't have platforms. They don't write epi epistles, but they are grounded, faithful, and attentive. And this vow mentioned here is probably, he's probably referring to the vow of a, of a Nazarite from numbers chapter six.

Now, this vow is unique, a unique expression of consecration to God, promising to abstain from all products, from the grapevine, not to cut one's hair and and to never come near a dead body. This vow was usually taken for a period of time, and when completed, the hair was cut off and offered to the Lord at a special ceremony at the temple in Jerusalem.

Now, if this is the case, it shows us that Paul, Paul's opposition to the Jewish teachers didn't make him anti-Jewish. He never forgot that he was, he was a Jew and, and that Christ was Jewish. Uh, and I wanna explain this. This is to show that being Christian doesn't mean we need to be against the Jewish people.

They are where Christ came from. They are part of our Christian heritage. But then Paul moves on to Ephesus, which is where he wanted to preach back in Acts 16 verse six. And now the Holy Spirit gives him the liberty to preach in the city, and it seems that that went well. They wanted him to stay. He had to decline.

He left aqui and appr there seemingly at Paul's request. They stayed and he continued on to CESA and then up to Jerusalem, probably to fulfill his Nazarite vow at the temple. Then he went back to his home church in Syria, Antioch. But then along comes Apollos, who was passionate, gifted, and eloquent. Yet his teachings were a little incomplete.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. So imagine a Priscilla and Aquila, they could have left him to learn on his own. They could have sneered at his lack of knowledge, but instead they invite him to their home so they could teach him properly.

No public correction, no humiliation, no power play, just hospitality and truth offered in love. And the result of this is, is pretty amazing. Acts 18, verse 27 and 28, when Apollos wanted to go to Aya, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him when he arrived.

He was a great help to those who by Grace had believed for, he vigorously refuted the Jewish opponents in public debate, proving that from the scripture that Jesus was the Messiah. So this Apollos becomes a powerful teacher of the gospel, strengthening the church and boldly defending the faith. This is discipleship at its absolute best, quiet, intentional, multiplying.

And it's exactly what Paul describes later in two Timothy two verse two, and the one in the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrusted to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. So Paul teaches Priscilla and Aquila. They disciple Apollos. Apollo strengthens the church.

That's how the gospel keeps moving, and there's encouragement for us. Not everyone is called to stand on a stage, but everyone is called to invest in someone. Sometimes the most lasting impact you'll ever have won't be seen immediately. It'll be seen in who you help grow, who you encourage, and who you quietly point more fully towards Christ.

The second mission journey ends not with thunder. Just faithfulness. And that's often how God changes the world.

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Jason: So as we come to the end of the second mission journey, I think it's worth stepping back and asking a simple question, what just happened? Because if you tried to map this journey out ahead of time, it would've made very little sense.

Doors closed, it should have been opened. Plans failed to seem reasonable. People responded who were never originally on the itinerary. Paul didn't send out to change Europe. He simply sent out to be faithful. And, and, and that's kind of the takeaway throughout this journey. God guides not just through dramatic visions, but through restraint, through redirection, through uncomfortable spaces between, I thought, I thought this was a plan.

And Lord, what are you doing? Now? Sometimes the spirit leads by saying no before he ever says, go. We saw obedience matter more than clarity. Paul didn't always understand where he was going, but he trusted who was leading. And because of that, the gospel move forward into places no one ever expected.

Through people. No one would've ever chosen in ways no one could have ever scripted. A business woman by a river bank, a jailer at midnight, a skeptical philosopher, a quiet couple corrected, uh, gifted preacher in their living room. No megaphones, no marking campaigns, no perfectly timed strategies, just faithful people saying yes to God one step at a time.

And that's, that's some encouragement for us today. You don't need a perfect plan. You don't need complete clarity. You don't need to see the whole road. You just need to trust the next step, because Paul reminds us in second Corinthians five verse seven, we live by faith, not by sight. And when we do, when we trust God through closed doors and open hearts, the gospel keeps advancing often in ways we won't fully understand until later, maybe if ever.

So wherever God has you right now, keep walking, keep listening, keep trusting because that same spirit who guided Paul still guides God's people today and he's not finished yet. Until next time, keep loving your neighbors. Dive into God's word daily and may the Lord bless you and keep you and feel you with his peace.

Take care of God bless, and I'll see you in the next episode.