- Covered In His Dust
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- Acts Chapter 17
"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."
May you be covered in His dust.
If this is your first time getting Covered in His Dust, WELCOME!
👉🏽 Read Chapter 17 HERE before reading my notes. If you don’t, my notes won’t make sense.
You can access previous notes on Acts and Luke HERE.
As the evening falls,
saints,
let’s turn our hearts to Him ☀️
At the end of Acts 16, Paul and Silas walk out of prison as free men. The jailer who guarded them is now washing their wounds and feeding them in his home. What started with a brutal beating ends with a household rejoicing in Jesus.
And instead of sneaking out quietly, Paul makes sure the authorities know—they were Roman citizens, beaten without trial. Philippi would never be the same. The gospel had taken root.
In Acts 17, Paul and Silas keep moving, this time to Thessalonica.
With 16 chapters behind and only 11 ahead, we’re now in the final phase of Paul’s ministry as recorded in Acts.
At this point, the focus shifts almost entirely to Paul—his missionary work, his trials, and ultimately, his journey to Rome. The opposition against him intensifies, and his message spreads further into the Gentile world.
From here on out, things escalate.
More persecution, beatings, and imprisonments.
More travel, including Corinth, Ephesus, and Jerusalem. Eventually, Rome.
More urgency. Paul knows time is running out. His letters show it. You can feel his concern for the churches he planted.
Let’s get into it.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
Thessalonica is about 100 miles (160 km) from Philippi.
Paul and Silas probably walked, which would have taken 3 to 5 days. They followed the Via Egnatia, a major Roman road that connected key cities in Macedonia, which made for easier travel than rougher terrain.
Parts of the original Roman stone road are still visible in Greece, especially near Philippi and Kavala. Some sections have been covered or built over, but you can still walk on the same path Paul traveled nearly 2,000 years ago.
Paul kept pushing deeper into Gentile territory, bringing the gospel to one of the most influential cities in the region.
And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Three weeks and a church was planted.
When it says Paul reasoned in the synagogue for 'three Sabbath days,' that doesn’t mean three days in a row. Since the Sabbath happened once a week, this likely means he was there for at least three weeks—maybe longer.
And we know he stayed long enough to work as a tentmaker (1 Thessalonians 2:9). If he had time to find work, earn money, and support himself, he was probably in Thessalonica for several weeks, maybe even months, before the opposition forced him out.
"For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God."
We know from Acts 18:3 that Paul was a tentmaker, and in cities where he didn’t receive financial support, he worked to avoid being a financial burden to new believers.
So when Paul says, “we worked night and day,” he’s probably talking about making and repairing tents during the day and preaching in the evenings and on Sabbaths.
he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
Paul’s reasoning in the synagogue wasn’t just debate. He opened the scrolls and walked them through it all.
The Messiah had to suffer.
He had to rise.
It was all there.
Since he was speaking to Jews, he used their own Scriptures to prove it.
Imagine the scene…
Paul stood before them, unrolling the scrolls, his voice steady, his words sure. He led them through the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms—step by step, through the Scriptures.
"He was pierced for our transgressions... cut off from the land of the living... yet He will prolong His days."
"You will not let Your Holy One see corruption."
"They have pierced my hands and my feet... they divide my garments among them."
Then he looked up.
"The Messiah of our Scriptures...
the Messiah we've been waiting for...
is Jesus."
Silence.
Some leaned in.
Others stiffened.
Paul let the weight of the words settle.
And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
This wasn’t just a handful of converts.
Some of the Jews believed. A great many of the devout Greeks believed. And not a few (meaning a lot) of the leading women believed.
This wasn’t a quiet conversion; it was a movement. The gospel was spreading fast, and it was reaching undeniable momentum.
But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
“Wicked men of the rabble”—what does that mean?
Other Bible versions put it this way:
NIV – "they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace."
NASB – "some wicked men from the marketplace."
NLT – "some troublemakers from the marketplace."
Personally, I like the KJV—"certain lewd fellows of the baser sort." That just hits differently.
Instead of just arguing with Paul, the Jewish leaders, out of jealousy, went looking for the roughest men they could find to start a riot.
Who’s Jason?
I couldn’t find anything definitive about Jason, but we can piece a few things together.
He was a believer in Thessalonica and housed Paul and Silas. That alone made him a target. When the mob couldn’t find Paul, they went after Jason instead.
His name was Greek, but he could have been Jewish. He was known in the city and was probably a leader in the early church.
Paul later greets a Jason in Romans 16:21. Some think it’s the same man, but we can’t be sure. If it was the same Jason, that means he didn’t stay in Thessalonica for long but continued serving alongside Paul.
and when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
The city was in an uproar. The message of Jesus had spread, and the opposition wasn’t just annoyed—they were threatened.
When they called Paul and the others “men who had turned the world upside down,” they meant it as an accusation. They weren’t wrong.
The gospel was radical. It challenged power, exposed sin, and called people to bow to Jesus, not Rome.
A King greater than Caesar.
A truth greater than philosophy.
A hope greater than wealth or status.
Imagine if the world thought the same of today’s Christians.
Not because we’re loud and not because we’re political. But because we’re so full of truth, and love, and courage—that the world couldn’t ignore us.
and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
Saying there was another King was a serious accusation—an act of defiance against Caesar and the Roman government.
Yet that’s exactly what Paul preached. Jesus as King.
Not just a teacher.
Not just a prophet.
A King who rightfully rules over our lives ♥️
But the Jewish leaders and Roman officials misunderstood. They thought Paul and Silas were stirring up a political rebellion.
The truth? Rome didn’t care who you worshiped. Jesus, Zeus, or any other god—it didn’t matter. What they cared about was power. Roman control. And anyone who threatened that—even by preaching a different kind of King—was a problem.
And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Paul was run out of town... again.
How many times is this now?
Damascus – His first escape (Acts 9:23-25) The Jews plotted to kill him. He slipped out in a basket.
Jerusalem – Sent away for his own safety (Acts 9:28-30) Preached boldly. Hellenistic Jews wanted him dead. The believers sent him to Caesarea, then to Tarsus.
Antioch of Pisidia – Expelled (Acts 13:50-51) Many Gentiles believed. The Jewish leaders couldn’t handle it. They ran him out of town.
Iconium – Fled to avoid stoning (Acts 14:5-6) A mob was forming. He left before the rocks started flying.
Lystra – Stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19-20) Dragged outside the city, beaten, bloody. They thought he was dead. He got up and walked back in.
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.
And now Thessalonica – Forced to flee at night. Another mob. Jason was dragged before the authorities. Paul and Silas slipped out in the dark.
And it wasn’t over.
Paul
Kept
Preaching
(Imagine Paul applying for a pastoral job with that kind of resume.)
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Paul lived by this. In almost every city he entered, he went to the Jews first, preaching in the synagogues. When they rejected him, he turned to the Gentiles.
We see this pattern over and over in Acts—including in Thessalonica, where he reasoned with the Jews for three Sabbaths before many Greeks believed.
It wasn’t favoritism. It was God’s plan. The Messiah came through Israel, fulfilling the promises made to them. But salvation wasn’t just for the Jews—it was for everyone.
At some point, I expected Paul to slow down. To go into hiding. To rest. Maybe even back off the message a little.
Not Paul.
Beaten, chased out, thrown in prison—he kept going. Nothing stopped him. Nothing even slowed him down.
That kind of faith convicts me. It stirs something deep.
I want to run harder. Dig deeper. Keep going.
I couldn’t love the next verse more. It describes the Jews in Berea.
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
There’s a saying: "Have the heart of a Berean."
The Bereans didn’t just accept Paul’s words at face value. They received the message with eagerness, but they also searched the Scriptures daily to see if it was true.
That’s the kind of faith I want. Eager, but not blind. Passionate, but rooted in truth. Believe, but verify.
Always go back to God’s Word.
Copies of the Scriptures weren’t easy to come by. They were handwritten on scrolls—expensive, rare, and carefully preserved. Most people didn’t own personal copies.
So how did the Bereans examine the Scriptures daily?
I imagine a group of men and women gathered in the synagogue, unrolling the scrolls on a wooden table. Fingers tracing the words. Reading aloud. Debating. Cross-checking Paul’s words with Moses, David, Isaiah.
This wasn’t casual reading. It was serious, intentional, and hungry. They wanted to know the truth—not just hear it, but see it for themselves.
Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
The same Jews who ran Paul out of Thessalonica couldn’t let it go. They traveled 50 miles, a 2-3 day journey, to Berea just to shut him down. They weren’t content with rejecting the message themselves—they wanted to make sure no one else believed it either.
Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
The Christians in Barea feared for Paul’s life and sent him to Athens. Timothy and Silas stayed back. And that little detail is my favorite takeaway from Chapter 17 so far.
Paul was always the frontman, the bold preacher, the one taking the heat. But here? He had to leave. And Timothy and Silas stayed behind.
That means the young church in Berea wasn’t left alone. Paul had to go, but the gospel didn’t. Timothy and Silas stayed to strengthen the believers, to keep teaching, to make sure the foundation was solid.
Because Paul cared deeply about discipleship.
He wasn’t just making converts—he was making disciples who could stand strong when he was gone.
He left Luke in Philippi to strengthen the believers there. Now, in Berea, he leaves Timothy and Silas to do the same. Paul wasn’t just about preaching and moving on. He made sure the churches weren’t left alone.
When we were newly minted missionaries, a well-meaning supporter asked, “How many souls did you win for Christ last year?”
I’m sure I didn’t have a good answer at the time, but today, I would say, “Jesus called me to plant seeds. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to save.”
It took me years to understand that. To stop carrying a weight that was never mine to bear.
Paul got it. He planted. He watered. But he knew only God gives the growth.
I had to learn to stay in my lane. To be faithful in planting and trust the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
I feel like a late-night commercial, but I mean it with all my heart—you don’t want to miss the rest of Chapter 17. It’s SO GOOD.
Until next week, I love you.
George
Uncovering Scripture
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George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.
He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 26 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.
In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.