Study Desk

And Agrippa said to Festus, "We could let him go free, but he has asked to see Caesar."

"Men, I can see that there will be a lot of trouble on this trip. The ship, everything in it, and even our lives may be lost!"

For many days we could not see the sun or the stars. The storm was very bad. We lost all hope of staying alive—we thought we would die.

That is why I wanted to see you and talk with you. I am bound with this chain because I believe in the hope of Israel."

‘Go to this people and tell them: You will listen and you will hear, but you will not understand. You will look and you will see, but you will not understand what you see.

Yes, the minds of these people are now closed. They have ears, but they don't listen. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. If their minds were not closed, they might see with their eyes; they might hear with their ears; they might understand with their minds. Then they might turn back to me and be healed.'

I want very much to see you and give you some spiritual gift to make your faith stronger.

Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I have planned many times to come to you, but something always happens to change my plans. I would like to see the same good result among you that I have had from my work among the other non-Jewish people.

There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.

But you are so stubborn! You refuse to change. So you are making your own punishment greater and greater. You will be punished on the day when God will show his anger. On that day everyone will see how right God is to judge people.

Someone might say, "When I lie, it really gives God glory, because my lie makes his truth easier to see. So why am I judged a sinner?"

In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive for God through Christ Jesus.

But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner.

We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don't hope for something they already have.

It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently endured those he was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed.

And before anyone can go and tell them, they must be sent. As the Scriptures say, "How wonderful it is to see someone coming to tell good news!"

As the Scriptures say, "God caused the people to fall asleep." "God closed their eyes so that they could not see, and he closed their ears so that they could not hear. This continues until now."

Let their eyes be closed so that they cannot see. And let them be troubled forever."

So you see that God is kind, but he can also be very strict. He punishes those who stop following him. But he is kind to you, if you continue trusting in his kindness. If you don't continue depending on him, you will be cut off from the tree.

God has given me a special gift, and that is why I have something to say to each one of you. Don't think that you are better than you really are. You must see yourself just as you are. Decide what you are by the faith God has given each of us.