Passage Read: Acts 18-19
Meditation Verses: 19:8-10
Thought
I wish Luke had gone into greater detail here. What exactly did Paul teach? Was it just the Gospel over and over again in different ways and with different proofs, or was it the whole Christian life, taught from the pages of the Old Testament? Who attended these daily reasonings? The same core group of interested Jews and Gentile proselytes, who began inviting friends and strangers to come and learn? Or did all kinds of people hear about Paul's lessons and come to listen as they passed through? Did the lessons build on each other to develop the disciples, so that those most hungry were compelled to come almost every day? Or were the lessons suitable for a new crowd of students every day? I really wish I knew, because I would love to follow in his pattern.
Application
Jesus taught daily, wherever He was, and there was overlap and repetition, but there was always new stuff for the Twelve and other followers to learn. Surely Paul followed a similar pattern, whether he meant to copy Jesus' style or not, or copy the methods of the philosophers of his day. But key to both was daily teaching, not weekly or a couple time a week like we do today. That was a cost to the disciple that sorted them by their willingness to pay it, separating those who could be developed as leaders from those who would be faithful followers and promoters...and those who weren't much of a believer at all. I would love to do something similar, but would anyone come?