ACTS 22

Ben-hadad king of Aram assembled his entire army and marched up to besiege Samaria.

25So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver,b and a quarter cab of dove’s dungc sold for five shekels of silver.d 26As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!” 27He answered, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”28Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?”  And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’ 29So we boiled my son and ate him, and the next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him.’ But she had hidden her son.” II Kings 6:24-29 NIV

Now there were four men with leprosy ^d at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.” 5At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. 8The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. 9Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. II Kings 7:3-9 NIV

TELL YOUR STORY!

I will tell everyone about your righteousness. All day long I will proclaim your saving power, though I am not skilled with words.a16I will praise your mighty deeds, O Sovereign LORD. I will tell everyone that you alone are just. 17O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. 18Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Psalm 71:15-18 NLT

Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story—Pslam 107:2 NIV

Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. Psalm 107:2 NLT

Acts 22:1-23 

I. GOD CHOSE ABRAHAM.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3 NIV

GOD CALLED ISAAC

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring ^a all nations on earth will be blessed, ^b5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”  Genesis 26:4-5

GOD CALLED JACOB

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it ^c stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Genesis 28:12 NIV

II. GOD CHOSE ISRAEL

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6you ^a will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’  Exodus 19:1-6 NIV

Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day. 12Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell, 13and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied, 14then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deuteronomy 8:11-14 NIV

15“But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation. 16They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable deeds. Deuteronomy 32:15-16

The LORD sent prophets to bring them back to him. The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen. II Chronicles 2419 NLT

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Jonah 3:1-5 NIV

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. Jonah 3:10 NLT

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead… Jonah 4:1-3 NIV

“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.11My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 1:10-11 NLT

III. GOD CHOSE JESUS

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6 NIV

May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. 2May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. Psalm 67:1-2 NLT

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17 NIV

For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:40 NIV

Matthew 5:44-48 NIV I say to you, Love your enemies (the Gentiles, the Nations) and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers,ⁱ what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:44-48 NIV

Luke 10:30-37 NLT Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii ^e (two days’ wages) and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”