Study Desk

God has marked his calendar with the day he will judge the world. The man God raised from the dead on the third day is going to return with justice in his eyes."

He ran into a fellow named Aquila from Pontus along with his wife, Priscilla. This cowboy and his wife were from Italy and had lit out of there when Claudius Caesar had kicked all the Jews out of Rome.

Paul stayed with them in Athens and helped them make cowboy tents, because that was his trade.

When Silas and Timothy got there from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching about Jesus. He told everyone who would listen that Jesus was the Top Hand who would save them all.

Most folks would listen for a spell and then make fun of him or just argue. Paul would then shrug his shoulders and say, "Y'all go ahead and try to save yourselves. Your deaths will be long, hard, and your fault. I'm headed out to gather the unbranded mavericks. At least they'll listen."

But not everyone had shunned Paul's message. Crispus, the head honcho at the church, believed in Jesus along with his whole family and household staff. There were quite a few others who also became believers and were baptized with the brand of Jesus on their hearts.

Paul was laying in his bedroll one night, and the Lord said to him, "Don't weaken, cowboy. Don't let people bully you into silence.

They said Paul was "Splitting God's herd with his teachings and making a mockery of our code."

As they were leaving, the Jews grabbed a guy named Sosthenes (the new leader of the Jewish church and a believer in Jesus) and beat him mercilessly. Gallio rolled his eyes and said nothing.

Paul hung around Corinth for a little while longer and then said his goodbyes as he headed out for Cenchreae. While there, he shaved his head according to Jewish custom when a vow you have made has been completed. Then he grabbed his saddle and other tack, got on a boat with Aquila and Priscilla, and sailed for Syria.

The boat stopped at the port of Ephesus and Paul left his two companions there. While he was there, he once again went to the Jewish church to try to talk some sense into them.

While Apollos was working in Corinth, Paul left Antioch in Syria and made his way through the mountains. His westerly travel finally brought him to Ephesus on the coast of the Aegean Sea. There he found some cowboys riding for the Lord and

Paul put his hands on them and the Holy Spirit filled their lives. They instantly began to preach and speak in languages they didn't know before.

Despite his great arguments, some of the folks there spurned his message and spoke out publicly against Paul and the cowboy he rode for. So, Paul washed his hands of the Jewish church there and left, taking the believers with him. They moved their talks to a big room at Tyrannus.

The Holy Spirit then told Paul to head off for Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. "That's where I'm headed," Paul said, "and then I'm off to Rome."

He told his two most trusted cowboys, Timothy and Erastus, to head to Macedonia and he'd join them shortly.

The mayor continued, "If Demetrius and his workers have something against them, let it be settled in the courts like civilized men. Let them file their complaint and state their case.

When the dust had settled, Paul said his goodbyes and struck a long trot for Macedonia.

He stopped at ranches along the way and spread the word to anyone who would listen. He finally made his way all the way down to Greece.

But none of that worries me. My only thoughts are to finish the job. Jesus told me to tell everyone about the grace of God through his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the good news that I've told everyone I could.