Bible Study: July 28, 2021

We started here. Last week in the Afternoon Bible Study, we got through, I think, verse 35 of Acts 10.

In the evening, we weren't able to get as far. I think we only got up to verse 26. So what I'm going to do this afternoon, in case we had some people who are on this afternoon who were with us in the evening last week, I'm going to begin in verse 28. And verse 28 here in Acts 10. Because it's a notable verse to take stock of and to notice. There is an awfully lot that goes on in Acts 10 and 11. As again, God instructs His people in the way that what's going to be the New Testament Church and the way of doing things in the New Testament Church. Where God doesn't change things, but He re-educates His people on what it is that His intent always was. In verse 20, well, just to refresh your mind, and we'll be going through it in chapter 11. As Peter recounts the discourse he has here and the interlude he has with Cornelius about the sheep coming down three times with clean and unclean animals being called to see Cornelius. We'll go over that in chapter 11. So I won't recount all that right now. You do recall that from last week. But as he comes and visits, as he comes to Cornelius's house, and as he visits them, he makes a comment in verse 26 and read through it. Acts 10, 26. Cornelius, of course, is happy to see him. Cornelius has been waiting for him to come for four days. The angel that God sent to him or the messenger said, send the job up. Send the job up for Peter. He'll come to you. He'll tell you what you need to do. Cornelius is happy to see him. Cornelius files down before him. In verse 26 of Acts 10, Peter lifts him up, saying, stand up. I'm a man, too. Remember, we talked about we bow before God, but we don't bow before men. And Peter is aware of that. And as Peter talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Cornelius was excited about having Peter come. They wanted to hear the word of God. They wanted to hear the truth that God was going to bring them. And he had invited many of his relatives and friends there to hear that. And they're eager to hear that. Peter may have been surprised. And I think by the fact that it's mentioned there in verse 27, when he goes in, he sees all these people that are assembled, you know, together to talk to him. He's not going to talk to just Cornelius. In verse 28, says, Peter said to them, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Well, verse 28 is notable because the Jews did see that as part of their way of life. If you weren't Jewish, you weren't worth talking to, you shouldn't be seen in the company of a Gentile or a Samaritan or anything like that. And some people, in fact, I got a question on the email from someone in the Bible study that where in the gist of it was, it doesn't ever say that in the law that it was unlawful for the Jews to sit down with anyone from another nation. And indeed, it doesn't say that. It was something that the Jews had come up with on their own and say interpreted the law. Let me put up again a... I keep forgetting I needed to do Sheriff's Share screen. It's something I shared with the afternoon group last week, but just to make sure everyone, you know, we discussed this.

You know, in Acts 20-10-28, Barnes notes pretty well describes what has gone on here and how Peter can say it's an unlawful thing, right? Because in Peter's mind, it was unlawful for him to be there. But it isn't... that wasn't something that God said. Here in Barnes notes, it says, this was not explicitly... I've got something here in the middle of my screen. This was not explicitly enjoined in the law... in Moses' law, but it seemed to be implied in his institutions.

At any rate, the common under... okay, let me get this out of my way so I can read the whole thing. This was not explicitly enjoined by Moses, but it seemed to be implied in his institutions and was at any rate the common understanding of the Jews.

The design was to keep them a separate people. And you remember where God said... we've read those scriptures in the Bible many times, where God says, you know, don't look at the way the nations around you do things. Don't worship me the way they worship their gods. Don't, you know, follow their customs.

Follow what I say in the Bible. Live by what I say. Don't add to it, and don't take away from it. The design of what God said was to keep them a separate people. To do this, Moses forbade alliances by contract or marriage. And it wasn't Moses. God is the one who said, don't give your sons to their daughters.

Don't give your daughters to their sons. Moses forbade alliances by contract or marriage with the surrounding nations, which were idolatrous. And Leviticus 18, 24 to 30 is a good verse, as he points out there, Barnes, to do that. But notice how he says this. This command the Jews perverted and explained it as referring to contact of all kinds, even to the exercise of friendly offices and commercial transactions.

So they took the law and they added into it. They just kept going further and further away from what God had intended and said, you know, it's unlawful to even talk to these people. And that is never what God had intended. In fact, the Deuteronomy 10, 17, or the 1710, he makes the comment that there is no partiality with God. And the Jews forgot that as part of what they were doing, and they made it unlawful.

And here's Peter, who's again taking the tradition of the Jews, but, you know, is going to come to realize as God corrects him here in chapter 10, that is never what the Bible said.

That is one of the traditions of the Jews that need to be done away with because God does not look at anyone as common or unclean or people that we should say, we are better than you and have nothing to do with them. So verse 28 is notable. Now, many people, as many churches, I should say, not the Church of God, but many churches, as they look at the Acts 10, and as they look at the, as God instructing Peter and the Jews on how to go forward in the New Testament Church, they will take chapter 10, and again, they will read into something, read something into it that isn't true as well.

They will look at the sheep falling down for three times with all the animals on it, and God selling Peter, you know, rise Peter, kill and eat, as the God is taking those animals and saying, everything is clean, no more clean and unclean meats. The Bible never says that. He's using it as an example, and Peter says, Peter answers that in verse 28. It's again, it's answered in chapter 11 as Peter goes back to the Jews, and they all understand exactly what that vision that Peter had was about.

It was never about meats. It was always about people. There are no unclean people in God's eyes. Jesus Christ died for them all, and the New Testament Church was going to have to learn that, and that was going to be a big change in the way they operated and the way they saw life. So let's continue in verse 28 here, because as Peter, you know, Peter, as he sees the group of people assembled there that he's going to speak to, that God has brought him from Joppa up to Caesarea here to meet Cornelius, it dawns on him, you know, and then he makes the comment, you know how unlawful, not from the Bible, but from the Jews' perceptions.

Remember, they did the same thing to the Sabbath. They took the Sabbath, and they made it a burden by all the things they added to the Sabbath covenant, and Jesus Christ was showing the Sabbath was made as a gift and a delight for man, not something that would be so onerous as the Jews made it be. They did the same thing to Deuteronomy 1710 or 1017. You can look it up there, or on those laws in Leviticus 18, I should say.

You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with, or to go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

It was God's Spirit and Peter that made him realize that at that time. I'm here to talk to you. God sees you as people that he is calling, and you are going to be part of our family, whoever God calls, right? Therefore, verse 29, I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I asked then, for what reason have you sent for me? And Cornelius answers. Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house. And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He's lodging in the house of Simon a tanner by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you. And again, God is showing how he will operate. You know, it's like God could have told Cornelius everything he needed to do, or the angel, or messenger, or wherever it was. He could have told him, but he says, I'm going to send a man to you, and that message is going to come. What you need to do comes from him. The way God is going to work in the New Testament Church. Paul talks about it in Ephesians 4 when he gives how this is how it works in the body. He talks about it in 1 Corinthians 12. We'll go to there a little bit later in the Bible study in conjunction with something with Sui and Acts 11. But this is how it works. This is how it's going to work in Christ Church. Peter will come to you, and he will speak to you. Then the inference being, do what he tells you to do.

So, Cornelius says, I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God. Now, that is something very insightful for Cornelius to say. We all came together to hear what you have to say, Peter. We trust that what you are going to say is from God. We've all assembled together before you.

You know, much later when the book of Hebrews was written, God says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. We go back to that over and over in the New Testament again. Here's this group of Gentiles, if you will. They've come together. God brought them together, and Cornelius followed what God wanted. Here they are. Here they are all present before God to hear the things commanded you by God. Peter opened his mouth and said, in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. That was on his mind. He had just had something happen to him that made him realize, wow, the way we've been living our lives as Jews, I always assumed it was right, but it wasn't. It wasn't, but it was deep-seated, deep-seated in him, and he begins his talking to them. You know, there it is, Deuteronomy 10 and 17, and in my margin. In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation, whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.

Again, I think last week we discussed some of the marks of a true Christian.

Fears God. Remember the verse that they walked in the fear of God, the New Testament church. They worked righteousness. That's obeying God's law. Acts 5, 32, we read that back a few weeks ago. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey him. In every nation, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by him. Those are the two conditions. Believing in Christ, but believing in him includes those things. Fearing God and working righteousness, obeying what God said. Verse 36, then, the word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all, that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. So he knows that Cornelius, they already know. They've heard the message of Jesus Christ. That's why Peter is there. They believe. They understand. They want it. They want to go to the next step. They're in the same attitude, good attitude, that the people of Acts 2, verse 38 were when they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? We know who Jesus Christ is. What do we do? And Cornelius and the group there gathered there that day are in that same attitude. We believe. Now what do we do?

Now, it's interesting when we look, you know, there at what it says in verse 37, that Peter says, that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea. I remember earlier in the book of Acts when we had the Sanhedrin make the comments as they're trying to stop the gospel message from going out, and they tell Peter, you filled Jerusalem. You filled Jerusalem with your message. You know, Peter's like, this message has gone out into all of Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. And it's interesting that he would mention Galilee. Let's go back to Luke 4 and verse 14, because we see some of the things that the Pharisees in that comment used in trying to disavow Jesus Christ as even a prophet. In Luke 4 and verse 14, we have Luke's account of the great temptation. And of course, Jesus Christ uses the words of the Bible to offset those temptations. We can learn when temptations come our way, how to resist them, you know, use the words of the Bible, ask for God's strength, trust in Him, actually resist the temptation. But in Luke 14, after it's complete, it says the devil departed from Him, you know, it tells us, resist the devil and he will free from you. Jesus Christ did that. Verse 14, then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out throughout the entire, throughout the surrounding region. So we have Him returning to Galilee as He begins, as He begins His ministry. Now, if we look in John 7, John 7 and verse 52, as Peter mentions, that word began in Galilee, and that's where it came out of. It's interesting what the Pharisees looked at. In John 7 52, in response to something that Nicodemus, and you remember Nicodemus from John 3 when he's having the conversation with Jesus Christ about being born again, in John 7 52, Nicodemus asked them a question, is there, you know, is there condemning basically Jesus Christ? And he asked in verse 51, does our law judge a man before it hears Him and knows what He is doing? And they answered and said to Him, Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. So they used the fact that Jesus Christ began His ministry in Galilee as a proof that He wasn't that, that He wasn't the prophet even. Search the Scriptures. Has anything come out of Galilee? The type of thing that they also said from Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth, what good thing has come out of Nazareth? So it's interesting to see how, you know, God works and how people can use little, they don't listen to the words, they don't see the work of God, but they can hang on to one little detail. And it can leave them completely, completely astray. And there's a lesson, there's a lesson from us for us in that, you know, look, look at what the Word is when Jesus Christ as our great shepherd, we talked about last Sabbath, says, you know, this is my sheep, know my voice. Listen to His voice. Don't listen to little details that someone might use to lead you away from Christ. Listen to His voice and follow where He is leading. The Pharisees, you know, they were determined they weren't going to follow God at all, but, you know, they use that as Galilee. Can't possibly, can't possibly either be a prophet, much less the Messiah. He doesn't come out of Galilee.

Okay. Let's, let's go back to Acts 10 here.

Acts 10. As Peter is speaking to them, and I'll remind you of Peter, you know, Peter didn't know what he was going to do when he came here. God gave him these words, and God recorded these words, you know, for us here to learn from as he, as Peter found himself in an unexpected situation that he was in and had it dawn on him as God opened his mind, there is no common or unclean man. If God calls them, they are clean just like the Jews are clean. He goes on in verse 38 then, and it says in, um, walking about the, the message of Jesus Christ, verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Now, you know, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Spirit and with power. You know, God, Jesus Christ, we know had God's Spirit from birth.

And yet Jesus Christ, you know, we know he never sinned. We know he was perfect in all ways. He is the Messiah. He was the only one whose life could even possibly pay the penalty for, you know, our lives that, that, that had been sinful. He did, he was baptized, as you, as you know, and John did that, or yeah, John the Baptist did baptize him, and that dove did come down and the Holy Spirit, you know, alighted on Jesus Christ as God signified and showed his Holy Spirit was being put on him.

Jesus Christ followed the example, or did the example, and set the example, and it was even necessary for Jesus Christ to be baptized and to have that Holy Spirit alight on him as what was going to happen because he set the, he's, he's the forerunner, and he set the example for us. We must be baptized. We must receive the Holy Spirit if there is going to be salvation. Jesus Christ did that. Notice how God says he anointed Jesus Christ.

You know, when we, when we baptize, of course we lay hands and we immerse people in water, and when, when that, when that part of the baptism ceremony is done, then we lay hands on men, women, to, to ask God to put their Holy Spirit. Don't be this, do the same thing when we anoint people who are sick.

But here, you know, we have this anointing, and it's all, as God anointed Jesus Christ, he was appointing him, if you will, he was anointing him to become the minister, to begin the ministry that he was going to become, or that he was going to do, to become the, the, the, the Savior that we were going to become. You know, the same way when we're baptized, when we've committed ourselves to God, when we repentant, and hands are laid on us, and God puts his Holy Spirit in us, he anoints us to be his disciples. He anoints us to do his will.

It's a very, it's a very special calling. I, I hope we all, I know we all know that, but the times we just have to remember just how important that is in our lives, and the commitment that we made to God, and that God anointed us to go forth, to learn, to yield, to become who he wants us to come to, to give our lives to him as a living sacrifice, so that he can write on us, his laws, his principles, and exactly what he wants us to do as he prepares us for the, for what we are going to do in life, and what we're going to do for eternity.

The, one thing interesting here, I noticed this in one, one commentary, and I thought it was an interesting point, and says that God anointed Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, and with power. And Jesus Christ did go forth with power. We know that, you know, we know that he was, God gave him the power to heal, as we, as we see here, you know, healing all who are oppressed by the devil, even to cast out demons, cast out demons. You know, God gave him the power to do good.

Here he was, we have Christ's ministry almost in a little, a little sentence there. He did about, he went about doing good. He went about healing all who are oppressed, healing physical diseases, healing, healing the mental illnesses and the demons as well, for God was with him. But it says that God gave him the Holy Spirit anointed him with Holy Spirit and with power. And we know that the Holy Spirit gives us power, gives us the power to overcome. We just have to use it. But it's not the only time in the book of Acts that it mentions the Holy Spirit with something else.

Let's go forward just one chapter to 11. We mentioned this last week, but in chapter 11 and verse 24, it talks about Barnabas. And Barnabas, of course, we know is, is, is, is key in the development of the New Testament church. In verse 11 or verse 24 of chapter 11, speaking of Barnabas, it says, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

And a great many people were added to the Lord. Jesus Christ, you know, God gave him the Spirit and power. Barnabas, he was full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Well, you'd think they would go hand in hand in hand as that if we have the Holy Spirit, we would be filled with faith. A couple chapters forward in Acts 13. In Acts 13 and verse 52, talks about the disciples, you know, as they, as the New Testament church began, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy, but the disciples, they, as they were being called, as they became bodies, they, you know, they were filled with joy. It's as if God, you know, accents one part of that as part of our calling and helps us to be together.

One more back in Acts 6 and verse 3. Acts 6 is the chapter where deacons were going to be appointed, or what we now call deacons. In Acts 6 and verse 3, as the apostles are telling the brethren, go out and, you know, tell us these seven men, says, therefore, brethren, seek out among you seven men a good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.

So, you know, God gives us the Holy Spirit, and He gives us also what we need in the time for whatever He has us doing at that time. If I can put it that way, there's a circumstance, and at that point, He gives us what we need to get the job done to fulfill what He has us to do. If it's joy among the congregation, if it's power to go out and preach the message in the way and the power to stand up against the forces of the world, to have the faith and to have absolute faith in God and to look to Him and only to Him in what we do, or whatever it is, we're full of the Holy Spirit, and God gives us.

God gives us what we need to get the job done. Anyway, that, you know, I thought that was interesting in Acts 10, the way God inspired it to be written there. Okay, and remember that if anyone's got any questions, comments, observations along the way, you can join it at any time. Just hit your speak button, and you're welcome to comment. Okay, let's go back then to Acts 10. And we were in verse 39.

Peter goes on, you know, he's telling him about Jesus of Nazareth. They know Him. He says, And we are witnesses of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Remember, that was one of the things that God told they were, said that they were going to be doing. They would be witnesses of Jesus Christ. And, you know, remember, Peter brought people with Him as well. When He came to Cornelius, He wasn't there by Himself. We're going to find in the next chapter there were six He brought with Him. And so when He's talking about we all, we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom, speaking of Jesus Christ, they killed by hanging on a tree.

Again, you know, this is what happened. Christ came. He did nothing but good. He did nothing but heal people. He was a blessing to everyone who was there, and yet they killed Him. And He talks about the resurrection in verse 40. Him God raised up on the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. Well, Paul, Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15. You can mark it down there. You remember the verses in the first three or four verses there that Jesus Christ showed Himself to 500 people. He said some of whom are dead by that time when He wrote that in the 50s AD, but 500 people. It's interesting that God said, and then maybe that's a discussion we can have sometime, too, why wouldn't God show Him to all the people? But He showed Him to a few, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. Mr. Shady. Yes, ma'am. Why not? Okay, when I was, excuse me, when I was Baptist, they used the word cross, and I noticed in the King James Version, it says tree.

I'm pretty sure it means the same thing, but a cross we know we had. The tree is straight, the vertical, and horizontal. So are they wrong for saying cross instead of just saying tree? You know, it's one of those points. Whether it was a cross, whether it was a stake, whether it was a tree, we know that He was crucified. I know there's discussion on that. I mean, that's a literal translation from the Greek that's there in tree. You know, what has happened with the cross too much is that people have idolized it. It was just what Jesus Christ was hung on. It's He who we worship, right? And people have idolized the cross. And so, you know, whatever it was, the real issue is Jesus Christ. He sacrifices Himself. And unfortunately, well, no true demand. They've taken that symbol and made it an object of worship. So we tend in the church to, you know, usually I will say cross or stake or whatever it was, because we don't know. We don't know for sure.

Okay. Yeah, Gardo, did you have something? Yeah, the one interesting point about what you just mentioned on 1 Corinthians 15, or about the 500, it says that He was seen by them at once, so, which is kind of interesting. So you wonder what could have been the occasion where that many people would have been together, that they would have seen the resurrected Christ.

Yeah, you know what? That's a good observation. I've read that, yeah, at once. Probably before He's a sentient. Exactly. They were all together for some reason, and at one point, you know. Okay, good point. But yes, there is a reason He wasn't seen by the entire group.

And I guess that was, so people will believe the word as opposed, I don't know, we're gonna, I think that's one we can think on and ask God, you know, but He had some reason, some reason that He wasn't seen by everyone after He was resurrected.

Okay, let's go on 42. Verse 42, then, and He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.

Okay, so again, it's Peter, the apostles, God's church does and preaches what God commands, testify that it is Christ who was ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead.

Now, let's go back to John 5, because Jesus Christ Himself mentions this, and we can tie this in in John 5, and verse 19, I believe it is, yeah, John 5, 19.

We'll read Christ's own words down through verse 29, and Peter, you know, Peter, the apostles, the disciples there, where they were told this, this is what Peter is referring to, that Jesus Christ is the judge of all living. Verse John 5, verse 19, Christ's own words, He said, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. Now, that's instructive to us. We need to learn what God does, understand how God operates, that we can please Him and do the things that He does just like Jesus Christ followed Him implicitly. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

For the Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly I say to you, He who hears my word and believes in Him, that's God the Father, who sent me, has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. Now, he's talking about, you know, that the second death won't harm them. They will have eternal life if they believe in Jesus Christ. Believe in God the Father and, of course, do those things, you know, works of righteousness, faith, walk in the fear of the Lord, pray. Verse 25, most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so God the Father has granted the Son to have life in Himself and has given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man. Don't marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

So when Peter is saying to the people assembled there in Cornelius's house, Jesus Christ is the judge of all. He'll go on, he'll say, there is no there is salvation and no other name except Jesus Christ. At the end of Matthew, Jesus Christ says the Father has given me all authority in heaven and earth. And so there are things that, you know, that He's saying here that are foundational to the New Testament Church and the understanding of any that come in that are new, exactly what it is we believe, and exactly how God the Father works, how Jesus Christ works, how they work together, what we need to do, and how we need to understand them and study them so that we are pleasing them in the way that Jesus Christ did. When He was on earth, He did the will of His Father. He Himself said, I can, my own self, I can do nothing. The words I speak are the words He says that the Father has given me. And so if He would say that, how much more do we need to become become that way? Okay, let's go back to Acts 10 then. Acts 10. Okay, we were in verse 43. Going on speaking of Jesus Christ, again, Peter is speaking of Jesus Christ that that's, you know, Cornelius and his group know, to Him, all the prophets witness that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Now, you know, he's referring to many Old Testament prophecies. One notable one is Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 34. And, you know, that's where God inspired Jeremiah, you know, to write that after He'll have a new covenant with man, not as the covenant, the old covenant, but a new covenant that He will have. And He will write His laws and their minds and hearts.

And in verse 34, I believe it is, that all their sins will be forgiven. So the New Testament prophets or the Old Testament prophets do speak of that, and that's what Peter is talking about here. And he's saying, this is Jesus Christ. This is the Messiah who came only in His name. You know, we read that back in Acts 4 verse 12. We're going to see it again in Acts 13 when we get to there, that it keeps being only through the name of Jesus Christ. Salvation and forgiveness of His sins only come through Jesus Christ. Okay, verse 44. As Peter is talking and the people are listening to him, and he sees the audience, and they're, you know, you can tell that they're just kind of wrapped with the tension of what he is saying. Verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. Now again, you know, we're going to see in verse 45 something happened. He could see there's this is this is something different that has occurred here among as as I'm speaking these words, they're getting it. God is opening their minds to understand everything I'm saying. And in verse 45, we start seeing this little this little phrase here, those are the circumcision, right? Those are the circumcision. Remember, we're going to see in chapter 11, six people were there with Peter. He brought them along as witnesses to him. Those are the circumcision, okay, the Jews who were with him, and those are the circumcision who believed were astonished. It wasn't just Peter, although the witnesses that were there too, it's like they what happened in that room as Peter was speaking was noticeable.

It was the Holy Spirit, and God made it manifest. He had just given the Holy Spirit to these people that are assembled there. As many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. And verse 46, it tells us what they did, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Exactly what happened to the apostles that were there for that day of Pentecost when God gave the Holy Spirit, the same thing happened to the people that were there. So they knew without a doubt God is the one who has given this group of people his Holy Spirit.

Now again, we've talked about things and how the healings that Jesus Christ did, the healings that the apostles did, the healings that Philip did when he was in Samaria. God used those healings just to heal the people, but also to draw attention to the Word. So the gospel of Jesus Christ could be preached, so people were understanding. And every single time they were sealing, and even as Jesus Christ himself did the healings, he gave glory to God, and it was associated with his message.

The healings were there to bring attention to the Word of God as God was introducing that. And here we have the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in tongues. It doesn't happen today. Today it's different, but that was what God used then that Peter and the people that were there with him thought, oh, God has given them the Holy Spirit. You know, God worked with it at that time, so there was no doubt, right? For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, and then Peter answered.

Verse 47, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, and then they asked them to stay a few days. So in reverse order here, if you will, the baptism ceremony, remember, is a two-part thing. Baptism is a complete immersion in water. It's our signifying and making that public statement and statement to God. We bury our old selves. We want nothing. We don't want any of our past life. It's gone. It's dead. It's buried. I commit myself and yield myself completely to you. When we come up out of the waters of baptism, God has forgiven our sins.

But the Holy Spirit has to be given as well. Baptism alone isn't enough. We lay hands on God gives the Holy Spirit. Here God did it in reverse order. Here He gave the Holy Spirit before they were baptized, interestingly. But Peter, you know, could have said, and of course it was God who inspired him, could have thought, well, they don't need to be baptized. They don't need to be baptized. But Peter said, look, God has given them the Holy Spirit. They haven't been baptized. They still need to go through that physical act of being immersed in water and being given and having their sins washed away because that has to happen. It has to happen. Both have to happen. In this case, God reversed the order, if you will, that it had happened, but it still has to happen. Everyone has to be baptized in order to have sins forgiven and has to receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. Let's go back to John 3 here for a moment. Jesus Christ talks about that in a chapter that so many of the churches focus in on John 3 verse 16, which is a notable verse. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. They don't understand what the scope of that word believe is in the Greek language. Let's back up to verse 5 in John 3 and go back. When you read Christ's words, you need to read the entire context of where something is coming from so that you see what he's saying. It's kind of like they do and some reporters do in the world today. You can give a whole interview and they'll pick out one sentence that you have and try to make a case out of it. You got to listen to the whole thing. John 3 verse 5, again, this is Nicodemus. Nicodemus, who comes before Jesus Christ, meets with him at night, has some questions. Jesus answered him and said, after Christ makes the comment, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus doesn't understand, so he asks the question and Jesus answers in verse 5. Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. Born of the water and born of the Spirit.

Now, I know, you know, recently in both congregations there was a sermon given on the study paper, you know, that came out of the May council meetings on born again. And when we are born again and we are clear that we are not born as Spirit beings again until the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. But as we are baptized and as we go through that process, baptism and God puts this Holy Spirit in us, we are begotten of God. And there is a new life that began at that point.

And God says that in order for that new life to begin, in order for that life to begin, that goes from just like a physical baby from gestation period to being born physically to living through childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, old age, and becoming mature. So it is with the Spirit life too. In order to be born, to be begotten, that that life can begin takes being born of the water and being born of the Spirit. Baptism and the Holy Spirit begins that process. It happened for all the apostles. It happened for Jesus Christ himself. He set that example. He was baptized. God sent the dove physically that the Holy Spirit would be on him even though the Holy Spirit was already on him so that we could see the importance of that. And here in Acts 10, we see that these people that God put the Holy Spirit into, the apostles or Peter and the people with him could see that, they had to be baptized too. It takes both. Without one or the other, the life, the Spirit life, the spiritual life doesn't become, it doesn't begin. So we see this repeated throughout the book of Acts. We see it in Christ's own words before, you know, he was crucified and died. And again, as the apostles would think back on the words that Jesus Christ said, as God inspired him to write the various gospels and they thought back on these words God was giving him, here's what he said. Here's what he said back at that time. Here's the truth. And Peter here writes the scripture for us as well.

So that's chapter 10, a notable chapter, if you will, misunderstood by many that don't have God's Holy Spirit. And that aren't in the true church. But for us, we understand, I hope, you know, that this is the New Testament church is comprised of Jews and anyone else in the world that God calls because Jesus Christ died for all of mankind.

So I'll pause there for just a second, and we'll then we'll go into chapter 11. A lot of chapter 11 will be Peter repeating, you know, to the people back in Judea of what had happened there at Cornelius's house.

Okay, I see no lights going on, so let's just go ahead and in chapter 11 then. It says, now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea, okay, that's back in Jerusalem, apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God. Remember, as they're back there in Judea, they're still thinking, you know, they even make the comment, right? Well, let me go ahead and read verse 2. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, notice again that phrase, those of the circumcision contended with him.

Well, that's the Jews, but we know as we head toward chapter 15 in Acts, that notable Acts conference where circumcision is going to become an issue among the Jews as the Gentiles are called in.

It's interesting that God begins calling them those of the circumcision because there's going to be an issue that has to be resolved. It's going to be somewhat divisive here up until the time the apostles all come together and make their determination.

When Peter came to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, you went into some uncircumcised men and ate with them. Well, they're just following, you know, what Peter dawned on him in Acts 10, you know, I thought it was unlawful for a Jew to go in to uncircumcised, so non-Jewish person, and they're repeating the same thing.

They, too, have departed from the law of God what exactly the Old Testament said, and they've become part of what they're not working on believing, but it's unlawful to even talk to these people, which God never intended in his instructions to his people in the Old Testament or new. You went into uncircumcised men and ate with them, and then Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, it's interesting to me that God will go through the detail again of everything in many places in the Bible, right? Even in Exodus, you go back and God will give Moses the detailed instructions on the tabernacle and all the tools in detail, painstaking detail, and then a few chapters later, as they begin doing that, doing the work, he gives all those details again, but here he gives us the very next chapter.

He has Peter, and he records in the Bible for us everything, and Peter tells it exactly the way that it happened. Let's just read through it to refresh our minds, and it's part of the Bible, and there'll be things, little pieces that we pick up here, you know, that explained it. Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, I was in the city of Jaffa, praying, and in the trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me.

When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts creeping things and birds of the air, and I heard a voice saying to me, rise Peter, kill and eat. But I said not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God has cleansed you must not call common. Remember, common is ceremonial, unclean, that if you touch it, you are, you are, you should be going into the temple, the tabernacle, or whatever, if you're ceremonial, unclean.

So, you know, that was the way that the people approached other people. What God has cleansed you must not call common. Now, this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, at that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

Then the Spirit told me to go with them, and it repeats even that, doubting nothing. Last week, I think we highlighted when God's, you know, God the Spirit, the messenger came to Peter and said, don't go with him doubting nothing. Peter would have always, I'm sure, thought about doubting is what he did when he was called, and he was walking on water. And when he began to doubt, he fell apart. He kept his focus entirely on God. No matter how long, that's one thing we need, never doubt God.

No matter how long he takes, no longer how long we wait, God will finish what he started. God will provide the answer. We have to learn to wait and not doubt. And so he repeats this here. The Spirit told me to go with him, doubting nothing. And you know, our minds could work, I guess, as I think about Peter and where he's going. I'm going to Caesarea. I'm going to meet someone I don't know. And you could kind of start imagining things, right?

Just as the Jews did back when Saul was brought to them last week when we were talking about that. And they didn't want, well, even the apostles did, they didn't want to meet with them. How do we know Saul was not here? What is he up to? Is he looking here just to scout us out and arrest us and whatever? They doubted, and they had to learn. But Peter, you go there, you meet with this man, you meet with this Gentile, and you do it because I said to it, doubting nothing. And then he tells us, Moreover, these six brethren, I took six men with me, six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.

And he, Cornelius, told us how he had seen an angel standing in the house who said to him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.

Again, you know, God was showing, follow the principle here, you know, of how he works in his New Testament church. We're going to see that a little bit later here as we get to the end of chapter 11 as well. And as I, Peter, says, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Okay, so they had been baptized, and later they had hands laid on them. The Holy Spirit was given to them, takes both, takes both to begin the spiritual life. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? So he does a very good job of recounting what has gone on there. Now remember, this was a thing where the Jews had in their mind, it is simply wrong to talk to anyone who isn't a Jew. You don't sit down with them, you don't go into their house. You know, even though they saw the example of Jesus Christ, he was willing to talk to Samaritans, he was waddling to talk to centaurians, he healed the servants of centaurians, daughters of centaurians. His example was that he was willing to talk to anyone. The Jews still had this. It was so deep-seated in them that it was going to take a while for it to be rooted out of them. Like we might have deep-seated ideas, deep-seated opinions, deep-seated sins, and they don't disappear overnight. You know, later on in the book of Acts, we'll see that Paul has to chide. Do you remember this? Paul has to chide Peter, who is ignoring, if you will, the Gentiles, and sitting down with the Jews again, and he reminds him of what's going on. Some of the things take a long time to overcome, but we have to keep working on it. Now, yes. I'm just throwing this out here. Could the vision that Peter saw could have had a two-fold meaning? And the reason I say that is because as the world got larger and wider, people developed their own culture, and they started eating different meats. For example, I do believe in the Asian countries, they eat dogs and cats. That's not, that's what I hear.

Okay, in India, cows are sacrificial. I don't think they eat them over there, but we eat them over here.

So, my question is, could it have been that vision Peter saw, he cleansed the animals, and he cleansed the Gentiles because they were both Jewish? No, no, absolutely not. When you say if that was the case, somewhere in these accounts, it would say the meats as well. It is only the vision was there to show there is a distinction between the animals, but not the same distinction of clean and unclean among men. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't just Israel who lived by the law of clean and unclean meats. Remember that. From the beginning of time, God gave the law of clean and unclean meats. Even Noah, you know, well before no one had heard of Moses, the flood hadn't come yet, but even Noah knew clean and unclean meats. God had instructed mankind on what to eat and what not to. And so what was clean and what was unclean. He reminded, he just reminded Israel of that law. He didn't start that law at that time or say at this time, you know, to do that. And then that law of health would stand for every man all over the world who was called. If God had intended that, that would have been mentioned in here that, you know, Peter would have made a comment. But even the people who are assembled there that stay, as we see in 11, they know exactly what that vision is. Mr. Shavey. Yes. So again, also to add into that is that if you stay true to the context of the account, there is no way you can conclude that has to do with unclean meats or anything like that.

Then the other thing is that I heard more than once Mr. Armstrong say that the best form of emphasis is repetition. So I guess this is one of the reasons that, you know, we see things in the Bible repeated twice and three times. It's when God really wants to emphasize to the reader certain aspects. Yep. Very good. Very good. Yes. And again, twice Peter talks about it. Twice. Neither time does Peter say anything about the meat. He gets the message. It gets the message it's about men. So yeah, now it's interesting there because here he's talking to this group of Jews, right? And he's explaining to them what happened. And they approach it with, I can't believe you went in and sat down or went into the house of these Gentiles. Peter goes through the account and what he might have expected from them in a carnal group and maybe among us as God leads us into some new understanding, because this isn't a small new understanding. This was deep-seated among the Jews. This is something that just a few held. All of them wanted nothing to do or thought they should do nothing, should have nothing to do with the Gentiles. And here as God opens their minds, you see them respond appropriately, right? I mean, in verse 18, it's notable that it says, when they heard these things, they can't be silent.

You know, the natural carnal mind, when it hears something it doesn't want to hear, or something that's different that challenges their belief, what's going to happen? There's a lot of times there's going to be chatter, there's going to be, I don't believe that, I don't want to accept that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. These people sat and they were silent. And sometimes we have to, you know, we have to just absorb things. Again, what is the voice? Where is the voice of God? What is it that He is teaching us? You know, we think that we know everything that the Bible has to say, everything about prophecy, everything that we should be doing, you know, we're fooling ourselves. God will continue to open up our understanding. How do we handle that? You know, so there's some people who think that the truth, the revelation of the truth died with Mr. Armstrong.

Not true. Not true. God will continue to open our minds. How do we respond? We say, well, Mr. Armstrong didn't understand that, so therefore that can't be right. Or is it God and Jesus, as we look at the Bible and as we look and are followed by His Spirit, if we are following the voice that Jesus Christ said, follow, know my voice, you know, these people, they listened and they were silent.

And what did they do? They glorified God. This is a major change. Not from what God said, but they got it. What they had done was add to the law. They had read something into the Bible that wasn't there. They had read something in the Torah that wasn't there. Just like Winoma, you know, some people in the world today read something in the Acts 10 that simply isn't there. There is nothing in Acts 10 that would lead us to believe that God cleansed those meats. That's adding to what the message here and what the lesson is is there are no unclean men, no partiality. And this group of people, you can tell they're converted as they hear Peter talk because they glorified God and they come to the conclusion, boy, we never expected this. This is something we saw on the horizon. Then God has also granted to the Gentiles that God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. And they accept it and they have to adjust their mind to it. God is going to make these people who we have never expected or never respected part of our body. And that's a notable thing and how we need to be as God leads us and directs us as He may show us and open our minds. And remember what it does, we will be in agreement. We're led by God's Holy Spirit. He will open our minds to truth just like He did there in verse 18. Okay, verse 19. We're going to get through verse 30 here and then I'm going to stop here in 10 minutes. Now those who were scattered, remember back in 8, after Stephen was persecuted, persecution came to the church. Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch preaching the word to know one of the Jews only. So we saw that back then. God dispersed the people. They preached the words, but notice that they preached the word to know one but the Jews only. They went into those synagogues and they preached to the Jews only. Here God had shown Peter, one of the apostles, who passes it on and they go, okay, yes, God has opened salvation to the Gentiles as well. But some of them were then from verse 20, Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists.

And the Hellenists, you know, could be Greek-speaking Jews. The Greek word there is talking about Greek-speaking Jews. Some of the commentaries will indicate or say that it's just Greeks, right? Just Greeks and Gentiles. It's the same word used back in Acts 6 and other places.

But they spoke to the Hellenists preaching the Lord Jesus. Now let me just, again, so we get an idea of the geography, let me put a map up here, you know, for you again.

I think I can take it back to the share screen.

Okay, so here again, you know, we have Cyrus. We see the areas that he's talking about here. We have down at the bottom, we have Jerusalem. We have Samaria. We have Phoenicia that he talks about in this verse. Tyre and Sidon, no, Jesus Christ talks about Tyre and Sidon, north of Jerusalem. We have Damascus where Paul, you know, was converted on the road to Damascus. Way up here we have Antioch where the Christians are first called, or the Christians are first called Christians in Antioch and referenced here. Here's Cyprus. Over here in Libya is where Cyrene is.

And up here in Tarsus is where Paul. Remember Paul, after he was where the Hellenists were looking to kill Paul, he was sent off to Caesarean, then to Tarsus. That's where he is. So he's getting an idea of how the gospel is being spread to these outlying areas as it emanated from Jerusalem. You know, they remember they didn't have cars, they were walking these distances, and whatever, but the gospel is spreading out in all the directions just as Jesus Christ, you know, said it would. So we see these areas here in verse 20 mentioned, and in verse 21 it says, The hand of the Lord was with them. As these men went out, and as they preached Jesus Christ into these various areas, God was with them. It was his design. That was how the gospel was going to spread to other areas, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Now, you know, I think there's lessons from us at the end of the day. This wasn't something that the Jerusalem church said, let's go convert to Antioch. Let's send out all these flyers to Antioch. It was a local effort, and I think what we see in the New Testament church here in the early days is there are local people that are preaching the gospel. And today, we leave that to a headquarters church that has been a headquarters office, I guess, that's been doing that. But perhaps, just perhaps, God wants us to see that there's some responsibility that you and I have in some of our local areas as well, as coordinated and has worked with the church overall, some of which just between you and me, we are discussing, you know, on how these things can maybe come about. So, a great number believed and turned to the Lord. And verse 22, notice Jerusalem, they hear about it after it's happened. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem. And what do they send out? Barnabas. Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. Barnabas, remember the son of encouragement? We talked about encouragement, how God gave him that gift and that all of us need to be encouragers of each other. That's why part of why God put us together as a bottom. When he came, when Barnabas came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad.

And he did what Barnabas does, right? He encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, with purpose of heart, that they should continue with the Lord. Set, you know, turn to God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Purpose in your heart, you're going to follow him. That means putting away the old ways and doing what God said. If you're going to turn to him, he got to adopt the new ways and put all the old and all these baggage that we bring with us out of our lives and learn to do what God said. For Barnabas, verse 24, was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. And Barnabas could see what God was doing. A great many. When it says a great many were being had, he needed help. There was a lot of work that needed to be done there. So where did where did God lead Barnabas to go? He thought about Saul. Saul's up there in Tarsus. He's been run out of Jerusalem. He's uh you know he's just sitting up there. God has been working with him, and Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And so he went up there to find him, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. We're going to come back next week, I think, and talk about that a little bit more. But let's go on to verse 27 here. And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Okay, Jerusalem sent Barnabas out there. Something's going on out there. God is working out there in Antioch. Let's send some people out there to help them. Barnabas is sent out there. Barnabas goes and gets Saul. He brings him back. But then prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. In verse 28, one of them, one of them named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Now this is noticeable. There are two things in that verse. You know, they sent out prophets. Jerusalem sent out prophets. Now keep our fingers there in Acts 12. Let's go over 1 Corinthians 12.

Excuse me. 1 Corinthians 12 in verse, this is the chapter where Paul is discussing spiritual gifts and whatever. And down to verse 27, he says, talking, you know, you and I are part of the body of Christ today too, right? Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.

And God has appointed these in the church. First apostles, that would be the 12 apostles that we talked about. Second prophets, third teachers. After that, miracles. Then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?

Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But God does, he goes on to say. God gives us all the gift of agape, right? For the spirit, he talks about in 13. But notice the order that Paul puts here on the offices, I guess, if you will, in the church. First the apostles, of course, but then second prophets. And this man, Agabus, was sent out as a prophet. Now again, I'm gonna share with you a screen here.

If I can find it. Max 11, 19, 20. Oh, there we go.

Okay, let me just, this is from Strong's, okay? It gives a number of definitions, I guess you will, of prophets, which includes prophecy. And we can see as Agabus came there, Agabus, we'll see later on, or we will, you know, we'll see later on in chapter 21, as Agabus shows up again, and he has another prophecy that he makes, as God gives him that. I'll hear from Strong's. Here's what they say, the prophets in the New Testament are. They're moved by the Holy Spirit to speak with power, to instruct, comfort, encourage, rebuke, convict, and stimulate. They built a man what the prophet had received by inspiration from God. So often when we read prophecy, when we read prophecy, part of God's truth is we know what's going to happen in the future. We're not people who are going to say, XX is going to happen in XX year or anything like that. We don't set dates, so God only knows what those things are going to happen. But there are people who have, who can interpret the Scripture, who can do all these things. And it's interesting that as the apostles determine who to send out to Antioch, they send out prophets. We're going to be able to work with the people and make disciples, if you will. They will be there to instruct. They will be there to comfort. You know, after that, Paul, this teacher's teachers are good, but there is this group of people, and this agabus then is sent out. This agabus is sent out in verse 28 to occur there. And he mentions this famine that's going to come throughout all the world. Now Josephus will actually reference this famine. And again, I should have just stayed where I was. Let me pull this up. This is where the commentaries can help as well with some of the history back in those times. There was a famine that actually did arise in Judea after this man, Agabus, stood up and showed there was going to be one. Because he even mentions it's going to happen in the days of Claudius Caesar. Well, Claudius Caesar wasn't the one who was the emperor or whatever they called him at that time. We see in chapter 12, there was still Herod on the throne. Herod would die. Claudius Caesar would take over the reign. And here's what one of the commentaries that cites this history says. This is described by Josephus. A famine says he did oppress them at the time at the time of Claudius and many people died for the lack of what was necessary to procure food with all. Queen Hellenas and some of her sent her to Alexandria, funded by a great quantity of... The famine is described as having continued under the two procurators of Judea Tiberius Alexander and Cassius Thedus. Thedus was sent to Judea on the death of Herod, excuse me Herod Agrippa, about the fourth year of the reign of Claudius and the famine therefore continued probably during the fifth, sixth, and seventh years of the reign of Claudius. That would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 to 48 AD. And then he references the things of this famine or of the want consistent to the famine. We've... The consequence on the famine is repeated over and over in the New Testament. So he gives us kind of the timeline of what we're here right now. So somewhere when this famine occurs, you know, we're in the 45 to 48 year round time. 14-15 years after that day of Pentecost. Now we'll talk about that more about next week because I want to finish this here and then we'll come back into 27 and we'll begin 12 next week.

But notice there's this famine and here's Judea, right? Judea has a lot to learn about God opening up salvation to all people. Here in Antioch are recognizing the need for help in Judea. Says the other disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. Now that would have been a noticeable thing 15 years ago or maybe even two or three years ago with the Jews have ever expected that they would get any kind of relief package or any care or concern from anyone in the world, especially those who are sitting there in Antioch who they consider Gentiles. But you can see God's Spirit at work. You can see the agape begin to develop. For the Jews that had to be a notable thing that here these people are actually sending us aid. The disciples, and also calls them disciples, these people in Antioch, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. This they did, and they sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So we will see Saul maybe mentioned this in Galatians 1, but let me stop there for today and let me open it up to any questions, and then I'll throw out a discussion question for you. But any questions, comments on that? Well, again, we'll talk a little bit more in those last few verses next week, and then we'll move into chapter 12.

You know, again, all these things. I hope that you might during the week even go back and read some of the stuff that we've talked about and let it kind of percolate, as I always say, in our minds. And if you have questions or observations, it's perfectly fine and encouraged to come back next week and discuss some of those things. That would be fine. God works with us, and we do need to meditate on His scriptures and just kind of think about them. And that's how we learn. What does God want us to learn from that that we should be doing today? He's interested that we know the history, but the history that's pleasing to God needs to become part of our lives. Mr. Shady.

Chapter 12, verse 28, where it says God set some in the church, verses apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, and then gifts of healing. Now back there during that time, I understand that could be wrong, there were no hospitals, and apparently there was a lot of doctors like they are today.

So the ones in the church would do the healing, is that correct?

If God would give some people the gift of healings, that's all I know, or can speak on that.

You know, yeah, that's it. Notice how far down the list it is, though, as God inspired this. Yeah, and it says government. But it says in the King James Version, government. So apparently there were no governments right there during that time. Where are you reading governments? Is that administration? Well, I'm in a popular translation. I'm in the the Giddians. That's what it is.

How many Giddians? Well, there were governments, right? I mean, there were governments that we, you know, there were kings that ruled over these areas. So yes, they all had governments. It's talking about, you know, if you're looking at the word that's in the New King James administration, that would just be how you do things, right? I mean, things have to be or things have to be to deal with. So let's not tell you about governments. It's talking about within the church, how we handle things and... Oh, okay. Sir, Shavi? Sir? It's interesting that in this listing that when I was talking about, it separates the gift of healing from miracles. And healing, I guess, you think is a kind of, I guess it's a kind of miracle. But then you have other types of miracles that the person could do. Yeah. Interesting. And yeah, I agree with you. And where are some of the, you know, what are some of the miracles that God had them perform? But again, He uses those, right, to draw attention to His Word, and to draw attention to Himself. So...

Now, maybe, you know, maybe as we get closer to the end of time, that God will give some of those gifts, you know, as He draws attention to, you know, His Word again, whatever His will is. I had no idea who will just wait and see what His plan is. Then on the fact of Jesus being baptized, even when He did not need it too, I guess He did it as an example for us and for everybody. And the interesting thing about that is that He also gave people an example way back at creation when He was the Word that basically created the world and all the creation in Genesis 1 and 2.

And then He rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired, but to set an example to all people. And you see religions in the world that basically acknowledged the need for baptism because Jesus did it, but they don't see that God rested. And there were no Jews back then, or there was no Moses or Abraham or anything like that. It was God Himself who rested. So that's an argument that is, you know, if a person is intellectually honest, it's difficult to counter if you really want to be sincere about this. Exactly. And Jesus Christ Himself, even though they'll say, well, He was only doing it because it was the Jews' law, He was still doing that and said, He is Lord of the Sabbath. So if He wanted to change it, He could have. He never did. He never did. So.

Hi, this is Sharon. Hi, Sharon. I was just thinking about the comment about doctors, because Paul over in Colossians 4 calls Luke a physician.

Yeah. Yeah, doctors can be helpful, right? I mean, there are some things that we can need that they understood the body and they could do some things. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with doctors. It's trust in doctors and everything they say, I think, where we could get ourselves into trouble. That's true, because I had an experience. I had a heart, they had a repair back in 19.

And the assistant doctor gave me some elopists, because they didn't want me to have blood clots after I came home. And so they gave me a free ball. And I brought it home. And I had heard something on TV about elopists, so I decided to read the label. And it says, do not take this medicine if you have an artificial heart valve. So I didn't take it. The only thing I took was I continued to take my 81 milligram aspirin. And when I went back to her about four weeks later, I believe, and she asked me how was I doing? I said fine. I said, but I didn't take that medicine. She said, why? I said, because I read on the label not taking it. She said, well, why do you call another one?

I said, well, no, take it. And I was fine. Maybe I was wrong. But anyway, they don't want to call my cousin, who wasn't very, since she said they should have prescribed me with another law of form because my condition wasn't as serious as others who need to take the elopists. So like I said, I was ashamed of some doctors. Sometimes, right? Most of the time, but there are some doctors out there that's kind of what they're talking about. Yeah, you know, and as a statistic and a fact that doesn't get reported much is the third leading cause of death in America is medical error, right? So that says a lot. If people remember that, that you don't don't want to put your faith always in doctors. They're very good. Tests are very good to see where we need to maybe look at ourselves and how we improve our diet, exercise, and the things that we do. And to see what's wrong, they may get some diets, but we don't have to do everything they say. We don't have to do that. We have to do everything God says. We don't have to do everything the doctors say. That's a reason why it's called the practice of medicine. Practice, exactly.

This is on another subject, Mr. Shaby, but Susan sent me the link for the Rediscover Your Christian Roots. It's actually a nice overlay for an early testament church. It gives us a little bit more depth and understanding. Some of the history is a little bit later, but it actually fits in nicely with going through the book of Acts and plus, you know, but it's been interesting. Yeah, very good. What Dolly is referring to, if you weren't on last week, is Gary Petty gave a series of six, right? Dolly's six, I think. Correct. I forgot the title of it. I listened to the first two.

Rediscover Your Christian Roots. Rediscover Your Christian Roots, yes. So if you go online to ucg.org, put in Gary Petty, rediscover, it'll pull all those six up for you. So, yeah. Very good. That's a good point, too, as we're going through the church history to see, you know, to see how that happens. Okay. Okay. Hmm. How are you? I've got this question that came up last week that we... Let me throw it out there. I'll tell you what. Let me throw this question out there. We got a couple minutes if you want to discuss it, but maybe next week at the beginning of the beginning of the Bible study, we can talk about it. Someone had mentioned, someone had asked a question or made the supposition. They weren't stating one thing or another, but thought it might be interesting to discuss. We know that Jesus Christ spent three and a half years with the disciples, and that during that time, he prepared them educated, etc., etc., etc. The Bible tells us that his ministry was cut off in the middle of the week. And so three and a half years is half of the week, and there's three and a half years later. What, you know, what do people think? What do people, you know, on a discussion, know where are those other three and a half years? Could maybe some of those years been when God was working with Paul, those three years where he was in Damascus, could that have been it? Or what the thoughts are on that? I will tell you, it's an interesting discussion topic. We don't absolutely know the answer today, but it's an interesting one of those things to discuss and see what we're thinking and where the possibilities are. And I think we probably all have opinions on that. But if someone wants to talk about that for a minute or two, we could do that now. Or maybe at the beginning of next week, we can we can open up and spend 10 or 15 minutes on that at that time. I, you know, and that way, we'll actually get it in rather than me going on here. We run out of time. So, want to think about that? Yep, yep. Okay.

Anyone want to discuss that now or want to hold that off till next week?

Okay, I'll tell you what, tell you what, think about that. Think about that for a week. Let's open it up at that time. I know where Edgardo is coming from, but we'll talk about that. It's interesting. We have three and a half years of ministry, and the Bible is very clear about another three and a half year period in the lives ahead of us. But we'll talk about that if there's any discussion at all, just so we can plan to put it together and know, you know, kind of see where God is leading. So, okay. Okay, let me end there. If there's nothing else, any other comments or questions? Yes, Mr. Shavey, I just want to ask you again, could you repeat the question because I didn't quite get it? It would be, Jesus Christ's ministry lasted three and a half years on earth, and then the Bible tells us that his ministry was cut off in the middle of a week. And so we know there's another three and a half years to complete that week. What might be, where might those other three and a half years be? Could even some of what God did with Paul, I actually just have a thing here on James' again I was looking at, so I'm looking. But could part of what Jesus Christ did in teaching Paul be part of that time? Okay, thank you.

Just to give you an update on James, his wife says they she did take him to the ER.

They wouldn't let her come in. They were told there's nothing they could do, but he hadn't seen a doctor yet, so she just left him there. So anyway, keep James, keep James in your prayers. It's a comforting place to be in God's hands. Okay, let me end there. Thank you all for being here. I'll see some of you this Sabbath. God willing, I hope we'll see all of you back here next Wednesday. Have a good afternoon. Okay, thanks everyone.