# Series (Page 96)
The Unnamed—The demon possessed slave-girl
Did you ever consider that the Philippian Jailer owes the circumstances of his conversion (in part) to an unnamed slave-girl? This young lady, tragically under the influence of a demon, followed Paul and Silas around as they preached the gospel in Philippi. Why they tolerated this state of affairs we don’t know.What we do know is that the demon, at least on this occasion, spoke the truth: “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to…
Herod Agrippa—It’s hard to be humble!
Herod Agrippa was true to type. This grandson of the murderous Herod the Great arrested Christians and killed the apostle James (Acts 12). Seeing that his cruel act had pleased the Jewish leaders, he had the apostle Peter arrested also. Peter too was going to die at his political hand. However, God sent an angel to rescue Peter, and consequently Peter’s 16-man squad of guards were executed by Herod for negligence (Acts 12:19). I would guess that Herod knew, even…
Elymas— The Blind Magician.
As far as magicians in the Bible go, Elymas isn’t the first name that comes to mind. Simon the sorcerer was the first to plunge himself into infamy. Peter severely rebuked him for offering money for the ability to pass on the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18). Elymas also received condemnation. Paul and Barnabas had come to the Island of Cyprus at the beginning of the First Missionary Journey (Acts 13:4-12). On their arrival in the town of…
Jael—A woman with lethal resolve.
Why Barak, a mighty commander of Israel’s army, wouldn’t go to war without Deborah, one can only speculate. But his insistence that Deborah come along resulted in a prophecy that guaranteed that the glory of the battle would go to a woman, not to him. Jabin, the king of the Canaanites, was subsequently defeated by Barak, but the glory, which could rightly be claimed by Deborah, went to another woman, also. Her name was Jael, the wife of Heber the…
Shamgar
But for Deborah, Shamgar would have literally been a one-verse-wonder. And a mighty wonder he is. In his first appearance in the Book of Judges he is squeezed in between Ehud and Deborah herself. Judges 3:31 tells us: “After him came Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel.” Later, after Deborah, Barak and Jael had dealt to Sisera and the Canaanite army, Deborah dedicated a line of her…
Jabez—A man heard of God.
Over the years, my good wife has only banned two of my travel sermons. One on, “Moses,” and the other on “The Prayer of Jabez.” I guess that she had heard them once too often. But I didn’t feel bad about Jabez. I had borrowed the best parts from a preacher named Bruce Wilkinson. And I knew his version was about to become super popular. I was right, his ‘Prayer of Jabez’ sermon recording and gift books achieved massive sales.…
One Hundred—Good luck with the List
Sit down one day and write a list, in no particular order, of the 100 people who have had the greatest impact on your life. Assuming you have done it, despite the mental and emotional challenges it entails, try to list them from ‘Most influential’ to ‘Least influential.’ Personally, when including both negative and positive influences, I’m unhappy to see who I have allowed to creep up my list—despite my best efforts to minimize their impact. But realistically, from a…
Ninety-nine—Send me an expert, please!
Who can forget the Y2K Bug? Yes, as the last millennium was drawing to a close, we were all warned that our computers were going to die a cruel and sudden death at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999. The original programmers, as one of the stories went, had all gone on to their rewards, and taken with them the computer coding necessary to prevent our computers from imploding. Who isn’t tempted to look back and smile…
Ninety-eight— Late-comers need not knock.
Walmart is bringing the hammer down on late truckers. They have told their suppliers to deliver on-time and in-full (OTIF) 98% of the time or else be fined. Suppliers have become used to a 70% (OTIF) standard. Lateness is a scourge of our time. We expect others to be on time for us but being 15 minutes late is something we expect others to allow without fuss. Jesus’ parable of the 10 bridesmaids in Matthew 25 is a cautionary tale…
Ninety-seven—Mercy begets mercy!
There is a silly song by Irving Berlin that tells the story of a small business owner on his deathbed. The first verse has the doctor speaking of the imminent doom of the old man. So, since time is so short, the son is called and instructed by his father to fulfil his dying wish; so he can die with a smile on his face. He tells his son that he must go out and collect all the outstanding debts…