Just Facts

Acts 21 Just the Facts

A TV show with Jack Webb as the detective coined a phrase: “just the facts.”  Too bad they didn’t have Jack Webb back in the days of Paul when the Jews in Jerusalem started a mob. They gave the commanding officer reasons Paul should be killed but not one of them had the truth. How often do we make decisions without the facts? This chapter reminds us that before we charge a person with guilt we should get the facts. 

A second lesson is how Paul responded to the people before he came to Jerusalem. Many tried in vain to dissuade him from going. Yet, Paul reminded them that he was ready to not only go, but to die in Jerusalem if that was God’s purpose for his life. 

Like Paul, in 2018, John Chau felt God calling him to evangelize a certain island and witness to them about Jesus. Many discouraged him from going because the islanders were known to be cannibals. Just as Paul was accosted and imprisoned illegally, so too this young man was accosted but he was killed for his faith. Like in the case of Paul, he had the facts but the mob didn’t want to listen. 

What lays ahead for each of us is an unknown, but we must be like Paul and John Chau and many others. If we die, we die. If we live, we can share Christ with the “cannibals,”  unbelievers we meet. Be ready in season and out of season to proclaim the Christ.