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Most people who know me know I like to fish. It doesn’t matter if it is fishing in a farmer’s tank or on the lake, in a stream in Colorado or in the ocean. I enjoy fishing. I like catching, too, but that doesn’t always happen when you are fishing. I can honestly say I have as much fun catching a blue gill or a brook trout as I do hooking a big striper or a redfish. While you don’t always catch something when you are fishing, you know you won’t catch anything if you don’t go fishing.

This month I’ve been down in Port Isabel, Texas, right next to South Padre Island. I have spent some time fishing in the surf, something I’ve done many times before. The fishing has been good, but the catching not as good. I did catch the largest Whiting I’ve ever caught, but it was the only fish I caught that day. Yet I keep fishing.

When I am fishing, I spend a lot of time talking to God. And it is more than just asking Him to allow me to catch some fish. I speak my gratitude to Him for the innumerable blessings I have been given. I thank Him for having led me to faith. I pray for those who are dealing with illness or hardships. I ask Him to help me be the person He wants me to be.

One of the things Jesus wants me to be is a fisher of men. I get a reminder of that down here because the name of the congregation I am serving this month is “Fishers of Men Lutheran Church.”

Matthew 4:18–22 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

A third of the hand-picked disciples of Jesus were fishermen. Jesus called them to be fishers of men. He wants all who follow Him to be fishers of men, too. Followers of Jesus are those who have heard who He is: the Son of God. They know what Jesus has done: He came to earth, took on human flesh, and lived a perfect life without ever sinning. He offered that perfect life to pay for the sins of everyone else, allowing Himself to be the once and for all sacrifice to satisfy the judgment against us. And He defeated death by rising from the grave so that His followers could have eternal life with Him.

Jesus wants those who have been brought to faith to help others become His followers, too. That happens when you talk about your faith with others. I’ve been doing that down here while I am fishing. As I encounter others on the beach, I insert my faith into the conversations. I look for opportunities to let my light shine for Him while I am talking to others. Not all fishing results in catching, but you can be pretty sure there will be no catching if you aren’t fishing.

We all need to keep fishing so God can use us as fishers of men.

Acts 18:12–17 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “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 had them ejected from the court. Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.

Today’s passage mentions Paul being taken before Gallio for trial in Corinth. We saw the excavated “bema” or judgment seat where such trials would have taken place. There was also a small rock post at the base of that “bema” where people would be bound and beaten if found guilty. However, Gallio determined it was a dispute outside of his oversight, so he told them to settle it themselves. Paul was released.

While this took place in Corinth, I want to share something about another site that we visited the next day: Delphi.  The ancient Greeks considered Delphi to be the “naval” or center of the earth. There were many shrines and temples there erected to Apollo, and people would come from all over Greece to pay tributes and hear the Oracle of Delphi predict the future. The way our tour guide described the predictions of the Oracle, they were about as vague and open ended as what you read in the daily horoscopes today.

The reason I bring up Delphi is because of an letter found there from the Roman Emperor Claudius to the proconsul of Achaia, which has been dated at 52 A.D.  It mentions Lucius Junius Gallio as the proconsul of Achaia at that time, the same one mentioned in the reading above. This is evidence from outside the Bible itself of the historical accuracy of Scripture.

Even though there is no evidence from the Bible that Paul ever visited Delphi, there was plenty of evidence that the message he preached got to that place. When Paul told people about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, those who believed took that message with them and shared it with others. We know the message reached Delphi because they unearthed a church with crosses engraved where pagan shrines had once stood.

The Word of God is powerful. Its truth will be known. People will hear it and believe. If we share the message of Jesus as Savior, others will hear it and share it in more places than we can go.

Acts 18:1–11 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, 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 tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in 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 Christ. But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized. 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 for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

We were able to visit Corinth last month. This is the city where Paul first met Pricilla and Aquila, fellow tentmakers. Our tour guide mentioned there was a structure in the ruins of ancient Corinth that we visited where they found tools that were common to tentmakers. Perhaps the three had set up shop while there in Corinth.

You may have heard that it was a port town. There were actually two ports. Corinth is situated on the isthmus that separates the Aegean Sea from the Adriatic Sea, and the Peloponnese peninsula from the rest of the mainland of Greece. Today, there is a canal, only four miles long, that enables ships to go from one sea to the other without having to sail all the way around the peninsula. That trip could be a treacherous journey, one that was avoided if possible. In Paul’s day, there was no canal, but they would often transport the cargo across the narrow strip of land from one ship to another. They even built a track that would enable them to transport ships across the isthmus. They found ways to overcome an obstacle.

Paul faced a lot of obstacles in his work as a missionary. It was no different in Corinth. Many of the Jews rejected his preaching and became abusive. They opposed him and tried to be an obstacle to his further ministry there. But there were also those who believed his message and were baptized, including the synagogue ruler and his household. Paul’s task was to introduce people to the Savior so that the Holy Spirit could work through him. Tell people that Jesus loves them, that He lived for them, that He died to pay for their sins and earn their forgiveness. Tell them that He also conquered death for them so that they could live at peace with God forever, starting now. Preach and teach God’s truth and let the Holy Spirit work in the hearts of those who hear.

The Lord offered a special word of encouragement 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.”

The pictures below are from a bridge that spans the Corinthian canal. In the distance you can see the Aegean Sea in one and the Adriatic Sea in the other.

Acts 17:18–34  Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, 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 want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. “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 hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of 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 man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 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 all men by raising him from the dead.” When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

The Areopagus is a prominent rock on the northwest side of the Acropolis in Athens. The word means “Hill of Ares,” the Greek messenger and god of war. The Romans called this god Mars, so it has come to be know as Mars Hill as well. It was once a place for trials, but it was also a place where philosophers and thinkers would meet together to discuss the latest ideas. That is why Paul was invited to speak there. News of his “new teaching” had reached their ears and they wanted to hear about it directly from Paul. Paul was always searching for an opening, and these guys invited him to speak to them about his beliefs.

How often do you have people ask you to tell them about your faith?  Are you prepared to do so?  Peter wrote:

1 Peter 3:15  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Paul was ready. Did he respond by telling them they had to become Jews first? Did he start with Genesis and go through to Malachi to make sure they understood the history of God dealing with man? Of course not. He met them where they were. He was looking for common ground. And he found it.

Paul spoke of them in flattering terms, describing them as being very religious, trying to cover all their bases, to the point of having an altar to an unknown God. And Paul said He knew who that God was.

Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

He goes on to tell them that this God is the true God, the creator of all things. He does not want to be unknown, but wants everyone to know who He is. He wants to be involved in our lives, for us to have a relationship with Him. He came down here to restore the broken relationship that exists because of our disobedience. He spoke of “the man he appointed,” Jesus, who paid for the sins of the world by His death, having been raised again.

Mentioning the resurrection turned some of the listeners away. Others were intrigued and wanted to hear more. And some believed.

Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

God used Paul as his instrument to lead people to faith. He will use your witness as well.

The first picture below is me sharing these devotional thoughts with our group at the bottom of the Areopagus. The second picture is a plaque on the side of the hill with Paul’s sermon from Acts 17 in Greek.