Telling
I didn’t die. I lived!
And now I’m telling the world what God did. ~ Psalm 118:17 (MSG)
When Paul and Silas had been severely beaten, the authorities threw them into prison... Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ~ Acts 16:23a, 25 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
Our witness comes through even during the dangerous times.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for rescuing us from bad people. Sometimes I get annoyed that you allow the bad people to continue on. I need to be reassured that your message goes out even during the difficult times --
perhaps with even more force than during the calm times. The fact is that in the end the resurrection wins.
That's the message worth telling. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
