Bible Study: July 7, 2021

Okay, so we are going today to go over these questions. I think many of them are going to be very... I actually had hoped to put together a little survey thing so everyone could kind of the multiple choice, just put their answers in and we could see what all the answers are and probably everyone would have exactly the same answer, but we would find that out. But I just ran out of time and it turned out to be a little more technically challenging than I thought when I looked at it. So for the next review section, I'll engage one of my kids to help me with that. We'll get that done and I think it'll be fun for everyone to kind of see what everyone's answers are on some of the multiple choice questions. Anyway, that will lead us into some discussion as well. So as we begin, are there any questions, any discussion, anything you want to talk about before we start going over some of these review items?

Okay, let me then... Yes. I can't see anybody. Normally it comes right up on the bottom of my screen, but I'm not unable to see anyone.

Well, that's interesting. Can you see me? No. Oh, well, I see everyone. Is anyone else having that problem? Everyone can see everyone? Yeah, spoken. Brenda, you might want to... sometimes what happens is you just need to sign out and sign back in again and everything will work. Okay, we'll try that. When you sign on. Okay. All right, thank you. And put the...

Yeah. There we go. The quiz up and we'll just... and again, this doesn't have to be formal. Just, you know, as we go through them, people, you can just kind of yell out the answers. If we have any kind of discussion or any difference of opinion on anything, I will, you know, I'll pause and we'll do that. I'm going to have to check and see how I let... so hold on just a minute.

Okay, let me stop sharing for a minute. Okay, okay.

Okay, I heard a doorbell, but I could not let the person in. So anyway, we'll deal with that in a minute. Okay, number one. Who wrote the book of Acts? Anyone? See. Luke. Luke. Luke. Everyone agree with Luke? Yes. What other book did Luke write? The book of Acts. The book of Luke. Yeah, well he wrote the book of Acts. What other book did he write? Oh, the book of Luke. The book of Luke. Yes, he wrote the book of Luke. Anyone remember to whom Luke addressed those two books when he wrote them? Theopolis. Theopolis, right? And we had a discussion on who Theopolis was. No one really knows for sure who Theopolis is, but it appears that Luke was giving him some facts, and Luke's Theopolis was coming to understand who Jesus Christ was and wanted to see the actual eyewitness accounts of who... of who he was. So, okay, number three. The name of the mount from which Christ ascended to heaven. Mount of Olives. Yep, Mount of Olives. What's the significance of that? You know, it's like he ascended from Mount of Olives. What verse does that bring to mind, especially as you read Acts 1, verse 10 and 11? He'll be back, same place. He'll be back and on the Mount of Olives, right, when he returns. So, Angel said, just as you've seen him ascend into heaven, he will descend when he returns. Okay, how long did Christ stay with his disciples after the resurrection? Twenty days. Forty days. Anyone disagree with that? Okay, and number five there. What commission did Christ give his disciples before he ascended? Let me just read those and then tell Ezra. Choose a disciple to replace Eunice and be witnesses to me. Or did he say, be witnesses to me and wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father? Did he say, choose a disciple to replace Eunice and tarry in Jerusalem? Or did he say, tarry in Jerusalem only? Or be witnesses only? Be. Yeah, be witnesses to me and wait in Jerusalem. Those are the two things he had them do. He didn't give them a timeline of how long they should wait, right? They just had to wait. And they knew when the day came, they knew what they were waiting for when the Holy Spirit came. How many disciples, does it say, were there in Jerusalem, the type of Christ's ascension? Seven. Let's say, one. 120. 120, right? Actually, verse 15 tells us that... If I pause here, I'm looking at people who are joining here. Acts 1.15 tells us that there were 120. Remember, we talked about on the Day of Pentecost. Those 120 were assembled together. Good for them that they were all there on the Day of Pentecost. They would have missed something that they could never have experienced again, had they not been there on that Day of Pentecost. So good for them, they were all there.

In that 120, there were men and women, right? Acts 1.15 tells us there were men and women.

Christ's brothers were there. Some of his brothers, before that, they didn't believe.

Understand that, and after the resurrection, they came to believe who he was. Number seven, who was chosen to replace Judas as the 12th apostle? Matthias. Matthias, everyone agree with that? Yes. How did they know that Christ didn't tell them to replace Judas? How did they come to understand that that's what they should do? It was prophecy in the Psalms, the Old Testament. Yep. Remember how... Close to the 12th tribes? Right. Probably because of the 12 tribes? 12 tribes? No, they knew they needed to have 12 apostles, but God didn't say, you know, he said, you're going to be witnesses. Wait in Jerusalem, he didn't say. And while you were there, replace that 12th apostle.

Psalm 109 verse 8.

Right. Peter was looking at the Scriptures, and it's one of those instances where God leads us to understand what his will is by looking at the Scriptures. He didn't directly tell them. Jesus Christ didn't, but as Peter was looking at the Scriptures in Acts 1 and verse 16 down through 21, he talks about some Scriptures there and talks about Judas and that he was going to betray Christ and they're understanding those prophecies that were there. And Judas was going to be there, and Judas was going to be gone. One of the 12 was going to betray Christ. And then in Psalm 109 verse 8, remember, let's just turn back to Psalm 109 verse 8.

It's how God leads us to understanding, and it's only with the Holy Spirit because, I think, as we mentioned that night, you could read as they understood and knew the Psalms so much better than you and I do today, they would have looked at these verses, but then it was like, oh, that's what that means. Let's look at Psalm 109 verse 6. It says, set a wicked man over him and let an accuser stand at his right hand. Or, no, we're talking about Jesus Christ here in Judas. When he's judged, let him be found guilty and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office. And that's what, as Peter, as God brought, as the Holy Spirit, brought back to Peter's mind as he was looking at the scriptures and understanding them, God led them to understand this is a prophecy and now it's your time to replace, let another take his office. And so then they did assemble and cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias to be that 12th apostle. It's just very interesting as you look at how God, same thing he works with us today, is we understand the scriptures and he opens our minds to understand them so that we can do his will. Uh, Mr. Shady. Yes, yeah, why don't I? Uh, something new to me I've never heard of, or thought of before in Psalms 109.7. It says, let his prayer become sin. I really didn't know a person's prayer could become sin. I just thought, would you pray? No, it was a prayer. I know the people can be sinful people, but I didn't know a prayer. This is new to me. That's what I'm supposed to say. Yeah, that's an interesting way to do that. Just remember, Judas never repented. So, you know, God hears and answers our prayers when we're doing his will. Satan, or not Satan. Not Judas. Judas, you know, Judas certainly wasn't, and Judas never did repent. He felt sorry for what he did because he felt sorry about how he repented before God. Oh! Someone okay out there? Might want to, uh, yeah. Might want to mute if there's something going on in the background of your house there, so. Okay, um, what number were we on here? Number eight. Okay, what one phrase?

Oh yeah, okay, what was the only responsibility of that chosen 12th of Tassil?

To be a witness of Jesus' resurrection. Yeah, remember that's what they said. We need 12 witnesses, and later on then in Acts 2, it specifically mentions there were 12 witnesses. And Matthias, one of the things about him is he had been there from the beginning. He witnessed Christ's baptism, walked with him for those three and a half years. He was there the whole time and witnessed the resurrection, so that was his job. That there were plenty of witnesses to vouch for everything that the apostles were testifying of Jesus Christ.

Okay, number eight. What one phrase that defines the unity of the New Testament church appears in the book of Acts more than any other book in the Bible? We're in one accord in one place.

Yeah, one accord specifically. Yeah, if you look it up and you just type in one accord, you'll see it shows up in a couple other places, but nowhere as much as it does in the book of Acts. I think seven or eight times in the book of Acts referring to the church. There is one other time that one accord is when the Jewish leadership in all in one accord want to put Stephen to death and everything. There are one accord in that, but speaking of the church, you can see that that's one of the things that God wants in his church. He wants us to be unified and believe, unified by his Holy Spirit, all in one accord. It says that early on over and over and over when it's defining what it's describing the church. Number nine, on the day of Pentecost, what did the Holy Spirit look like when it descended on the disciples who were gathered together?

Tongues of fire. Yeah, okay, big tongues of fire, right? Didn't look like an angel, didn't look like a dove, didn't look like a dog. Also accompanied by what sound as well on that day?

Wind. Yep, rushing mighty wind. Very good. Okay, true or false? On that day of Pentecost, there were devout Jews assembled in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven.

True. True. True. What would be the significance of that? Why would it be, what came of that? The fact that there were so many people who spoke so many different languages.

They all heard the language in their own tongue. Yep, exactly, exactly. If it was just Jews who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic or whatever they spoke in that day, it wouldn't have had nearly the significance, but everyone heard in their own language. Okay, number 11. Who gave the first sermon in the New Testament church? Peter. Peter. Peter. And how did he prepare for that sermon? He didn't prepare. That's one thing as we look at that. You know, there's some notable sermons here in the book of Acts, and the people who gave them, you didn't spend weeks and days and hours and hours writing those sermons. The Holy Spirit gave them the words to say. And that should be an encouragement to us. We get to something that Christ said later on that aspect.

Okay.

Well, this is Sharon. To add to that, he had to have been extremely, as they all were at that time, well-versed in the Old Testament. He does an awful lot of quoting from the Old Testament, so you know, it's obvious he'd spent a lot of time studying it and memorizing it. Yep. Yep. And the Holy Spirit helps with that, too. Remember, it's one of the things it does itself. It brings to remembrance those things we've read and can tie it all together, you know, and as Peter did in a beautiful sermon here. So, okay, number 12. Besides preaching and proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, what other truths were preached and recorded in this first sermon? David is not ascended into heaven. Christ now sits at the right hand of God until a future event. Christ's death came by the lawless hands of the Jews, admonition to be saved from this generation along with many other words. Would that be all of the above? Perhaps none of the above or just one of the above? All of the above. All of the above. Yeah, when you look at Peter's sermon, he addresses all those, and it tells us that with many other words, he exhorted them. It wasn't just a 30-minute sermon or maybe who knows how long he spoke that day, but he went through a number of things and gave them a lot of truths that the Jews apparently had departed from. And as they heard those truths and as he proved those from the Scriptures, you can see why those who God were calling would be what exactly the next question says. What happened to them? When they heard that, those that God was calling, what was their reaction? Four words. Cut to their heart. Cut to their heart. Yeah, it means that what they heard, they were forever changed. I mean, it went right into their mind that they could never deny what had happened to them. It was just like when God called you and me, we knew it was the truth and life was never going to be the same again. It was something that cut to our hearts, and that's exactly what God wants is it cuts to our heart, and then we follow our heart and let him change our heart from that day forward. I think I asked the follow-up question there of number 13. Does that cut to the heart show up anywhere else in the first eight chapters? Yes, in chapter 7 verse 54. Yeah, not in the same way, though, for those who were called, right? For those that are called, that made a positive difference for the Jewish leadership there, the Sanhedrin, when they were cut to the heart, it pretty much solidified they had made the choice. They would reject Jesus Christ. There was nothing that was going to change their minds, and they, you know, I think when God uses that cut to the heart, it means, you know, it means something significant. For the Jews, nothing was going to change their mind. We'd pray that as we're cut to the heart and as disciples were cut to the heart, nothing would change their minds either, as long as we, you know, continue to walk with Christ and do His will. Number 14, what was Peter's response to the question from those who believed? And they said, remember, they said now, men and brethren, what will we do? They understood the words. Did he say, baptized? Did he say, repent? Repent and be baptized? None of you have asked?

Just A, B, C, D, or E? E, C.

Letter E. E, E. C. Okay. Someone who said C, give us a question.

Repent and be baptized.

How about someone who gave them, someone who, well, it should be, we should all know the Scripture. What, someone who said E, what, what Scripture would you say?

238. 238. 238. Okay, so 238. Let's look at 238 and see what it says there. They asked men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter said, Repent, let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So do we see three things there? Yeah. Okay, that's the process of conversion, right? We, we, we repent genuinely. We're baptized, hands are laid on us, and then we receive the Holy Spirit. And then, then we begin our life and conversion process.

Everyone agree with that? Yeah. Yes. Okay. Number 15. What four elements does God cite as the tenets or conduct or attributes of the early New Testament Church that formed the Jerusalem, of which He was pleased? Maybe give us a verse to look at instead, or just, or someone just yell out of one, one or two or whatever. So the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. Very good. Where do we find that? Where do we find that? All listed in one verse. Verse 42 chapter 2. Yeah, Acts 2 verse 42 tells us there what, what they did as they, as they joined. Remember we talked about, we know what the apostles' teaching is. They were teaching to observe all things that Christ commanded. They weren't diverting from that at all. They were teaching the Bible. Remember we talked about fellowship. So many times we will look at, we will look at fellowship and see it as a verb. But here in, in Acts 2 verse 42, it's a noun. They continued in the fellowship with each other. That's the community, we could say. They were there, and remember they, you know, they, they sold all things. They were together. They continued in the community. So they, they believed. They continued in the, the apostles' teaching. They continued in the fellowship, you know, and breaking of bread is kind of a verb of fellowship. They got to know each other. They became a body, just like we get to know our family members and become one family. And of course, with God the Father and Jesus Christ being the reason for our union, the reason for the fellowship, you know, we are there and they are the ones who we, we continually look to in prayer and include in everything we do. With those four elements, you know, God was very pleased with that church. You know, we can see as He, as He, you know, He blessed them. He kept adding to the church. Three thousand souls added one day. Later on, we read five thousand. When God is pleased with the, what the church is doing, He will add to it. Something for us to remember, because when He brings children into the, into His family, He wants to know that they're going to be nurtured. They're going to be accepted. They're going to be trained. They're going to be taught. They're going to be, did I use the word accepted? And made part of the family is that all of us, all of us have a part in that. All of us are there to welcome and make everyone feel part of the fellowship that we have, we have with God. Okay, number 16. Here's one of the blessings from God. The church had favor with all the people of Jerusalem, even those who didn't believe that Jesus Christ was of a size. Is that true or false?

Is it true? It is true, right? There in verse 47 of Acts 2, it says, the church praised God and they had favor with all the people. Of course, they would have favor with just the people in the community, but all the people. God allowed them to be in a time of peace that even the Sanhedrin wasn't, you know, on their backs. They weren't causing them problems. They weren't coming out and policing them. It was a time of peace and God gave them that opportunity to grow and bond together. They needed to have each other, just like He gives us the opportunities to grow, to become one, to learn the traits and the character and develop the character that we need for what is coming down the road. He did the same thing with this New Testament church. They had the time to grow, bond, strengthen, learn, understand, and live. You know, live what God wanted to live. So yes, they at that point... Remember there was a term we used, Pax Romana. Everyone remember what Pax Romana is? It's the Peace of Rome, right? At that time, Rome, that was an autocratic government. They did allow the Jews and other people out of their domain to worship the way they wanted. You know, they weren't saying you have to worship the Roman Caesar or their Roman gods. They allowed the Jews to live in peace. They maintained to watch over them. But God gave that during that time when Jesus Christ in the church was for me, He gave them peace just like He does today. We live in a time where we have had freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom to worship as we see fit. Time that God gives us to do that. It was going to end for this early New Testament church just like it'll end for us. It's our time. It's our time for building the growth and strength. Okay, number 17. A requirement of the Jerusalem church was that people sell their land and give the proceeds to the apostles.

Many of them did it, right? But it was all voluntarily. Nowhere were they commanded to do that. They wanted to be part of the community. They wanted to be there. They wanted to grow and understand and share everything with everyone. It was never a requirement.

18. What was the first miracle performed after the beginning of the church?

The healing of a lame man. Yep. Where was that lame man?

The beginning of chapter 3. He was at the temple. Yep. He was at the temple. So, here it is. Peter. It doesn't, you know, Peter didn't pray ahead of time that God would morph a healing through him that day. It's as if Peter was going to the temple. There was this man who's been there for years and years and years, begging alms. And God, through the Holy Spirit, just inspired him to stop and heal him. And Peter did. Peter did. He had an absolute faith that God was going to do that, and the man was healed. You know, what were some of the results of that healing? What did God use? Yes, he healed the man. And that's a tremendous, it's a miracle in itself that God gave him, you know, his mobility back and cured his lameness. But what other things happened as a result of that healing that God, when he chose that time and place to heal, occurred? Peter was able to rehearse about Christ and prophecy of Christ.

He was able to preach to the rulers. He gave him an opportunity to preach about Jesus Christ, because the people who saw that miracle were absolutely astounded, right? I mean, they knew a miracle had occurred. Peter didn't take credit for it. He said, what you see, this is Jesus Christ, and his name we healed. So it gave him an opportunity to witness Jesus Christ.

So that's a big one. What other thing might have happened as a result of that? They were able to witness to the Sanhedrin. Yeah. And they praised God. Yep, yep, praise God. You know, witnessing to the Sanhedrin. Go ahead.

Many believed because of that sermon. Yep, yep, they understood. You know, Sanhedrin, that was the Jewish leadership, right? All the Jewish leadership, when they heard about what Peter had done, and they had seen the response of the people, and the people were absolutely entranced, I guess, if I can use that word, by what had happened. And they were hearing about Jesus Christ, and they were hearing about his power, and they were hearing that he was still alive. He was sitting at the right hand of God, and all these truths were going out to them that the Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, didn't want to have happen at all. So what happened was, as a result of that healing, they had to address it. And remember, so all of a sudden, Peter and John had this audience with the Jewish leadership. They had asked if they had sent that invitation to the Jewish leadership and said, come, we want to talk to you and preach the gospel to you, Jewish leadership wouldn't have done it, right? They wouldn't have done it. But here they are there, and Peter preaches a strong message to them, too, about who Jesus Christ is, and it gave God, through that healing, gave them an opportunity to again witness to the Jewish leadership, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, is the Messiah. So through that miracle, God opened up some doors to allow his church to have those opportunities. Anything else, anything else of that? Well, that's enough, though, right? We can see how God works, you know, how he can create the opportunity. And for those of us today, when it's time for his gospel to be brought to the fore and for people to understand, he'll create those opportunities. We keep doing what the church is to do, keep preaching the gospel. Sometimes we look at it and say it doesn't seem to be having the effect we want and ask God what his direction is. But when it's time, when it's time, the gospel will go out and God will create that event or that opportunity for us to witness as he did the New Testament church there, that early New Testament church. Okay, any other discussion on that?

Okay, as we look at, here's this miracle, right? This is a tremendous thing. The man is healed of being lame. It's a tremendous opportunity to praise God. That's what the people are doing. They're hearing about Jesus Christ. But Satan is right there because Satan always wants to discredit the church. He always wants to stop the message. That's what the Jewish leadership wanted to do, you know? And so there are tactics that Satan uses that we discussed that occur, that he uses against the church and against God's people when they're preaching the church. So preaching is the truth. So much so as we can learn of Satan's devices that he uses against the church and the truth of God. What are some of those devices that we learned from the apostles' appearance before the Sanhedrin? You know, you can look at there. Does he use threats?

Does he use imprisonment? Yeah. Does he use intimidation and fear? All of the above. All of the above. All of the above. So when we see what happened to the New Testament church, when they were clearly preaching the word of God, the leadership didn't like what they had to hear. And so their mission was to stop it. Stop the message. It's heard me say maybe too many times, but I want us to all be aware. When we look at it, we hear things about censorship and and everything today, things that we didn't even care about or even think about two years ago.

You know, as we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, there will be people who don't want to hear this message either, and we know that from Revelation. I mean, the entire beast power will spend their time and focus in on how do we shut up and how do we cancel those two witnesses. We don't want to hear about prophecy. We don't want to hear about God. We don't want to hear the message, and that will be extremely the only reason those two witnesses aren't killed is because God keeps them alive until the time he does it. But between now and then, the word of God will become increasingly unpopular when there will be more and more people who who will use these same tactics against us that they used against the New Testament church. This is our time to be getting closer to God and asking Him to give us the strength to stand in the gap and stand for Him when that time comes.

Okay, number 21. So we have the apostles. I mean, in Burt, chapter 3, I remember we have the threats. We have the Jewish Sanhedrin taking hold of the apostles. They lock them up overnight to talk about them in the morning. They intimidate them by setting them right in the middle with all the leadership, all the scribes, all the elders, all the priests, the chief high priest, everyone together, just Peter and John sitting there in front of them. Peter, Peter and John, you know, loudly, loudly and clearly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. But how did the church react? This is probably something that they didn't expect, you know. How did the church respond to these threats from the leadership of Jerusalem? And was God pleased with their response?

They praise and pray to God and went on preaching the Word of God with boldness. Yep. Yep, let's, you know, I think it's a very encouraging, very encouraging thing, you know. They might have attempted to say, oh, you know what? Yeah, we just need to back off. We didn't expect that reaction. We don't need to create enemies here with the Sanhedrin. We want to live in peace, you know, when they saw that happen. They didn't recoil in fear. And Acts 4 verse 29 is where we see their response. And remember, one accord is one of the continual phrases that God uses, you know, with the church here. It says in verse 29 of Acts 4, you know, this is the congregation's response. Lord, look on their threats. Grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus. Continue doing this, God. Give us the opportunity to, you know, to proclaim loudly your word. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. And the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. They were all together on that. We're going to continue to preach the Word of God. We won't be silenced. We won't be afraid. We don't care what happens to us. They can do whatever they want to us. Our commission and our job is to preach the truth. And so they did that. And God was pleased, as He showed, you know, it was shaken. He showed His pleasure with the church and their response. They were committed to Him. So, okay. We discussed, you know, so what prophecy of Christ can we relate the treatment of the apostles and ask for? I mean, hands were laid on them. They were held overnight. They were put together. They were put in front of the Jewish leadership. They didn't anticipate that. Again, God gave them the words to say, you know, they didn't really know what was going to happen that day. There was something that Jesus Christ said that this New Testament church, as they recalled His words, it was directly they were experiencing something that Jesus Christ said. Anyone remember where that was? That directly correlates to what happened to them here? It's 11822. Okay. This stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Yep. That is true. They gladly proclaimed that. But as far as the treatment they received, what they had gone through, that how the Jewish leadership responded to them, and how they responded back to the Jewish leadership. Psalm 2, 1-3. What is it? Psalm 2, 1-3. Okay. Is that as white as the nation's rage and vain? Yes. And the people plot a vain thing, the kings of the earth set themselves. Yeah. Yeah, that's true because they were. They were certainly setting themselves against God.

Let's look at Luke. And the rulers take together. Yep. Yeah. Sorry. And the rulers take together.

Let's look at Luke 21.

Luke 21 and verse 12. It's Luke's account of the Olivet prophecy, if you will. And verses 10 and 11, you see very familiar verses that we read most of the time, Matthew's account of the Olivet prophecy. But there are talks about great famines or great earthquakes, famines, pestilences, fearful sites, great signs from heaven. But in verse 12 it says, But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake. That's what happened to them, right? They were just going about their things and hands were laid on them, as it tells us, in Acts 4. Later we're going to see the church was persecuted. They did deliver them up to the synagogues. They did put them in prison. You will be brought before kings and rulers for my namesake. Those apostles were brought before the Jewish leadership at that time. But notice what God says, don't let it, don't be afraid. It will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.

That's exactly what it was. They might have been stopped and thought, well, we never counted on this. We didn't count on being thrown in prison. We didn't count on being set down here with all the leadership breathing down on us with the hate in their eyes that they probably had toward those disciples. God says, but it's for you, an occasion for testimony. Verse 14-15, we'll come back to this a little bit later as well, Therefore, settle it in your hearts, and not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer. For I will give you a mouth in wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. That's exactly what the apostles encountered there.

They may have thought back to Christ's words and thought, oh, we're living this, so we know what to do. It's an occasion for testimony. Not going to worry about what to say. Jesus Christ, or not Jesus the Holy Spirit, will give me the words to say. I think that they thought back on those words, and the Holy Spirit gave them the reminder of what Christ said. And here we are in a situation, the very situation that Jesus Christ said we would be in. Let's have faith in Him and look at this as this is an occasion for testimony, and not an occasion to be afraid and to retreat at all.

Again, that should be very encouraging to us, saying what God said, because at some point, some future point, you know, if they may be you or me who get brought up before a mayor of a town or police chief or whatever it is that says, I don't know what you're doing and you're not doing this, you're not doing that. That is daunting. I was, I guess, a little surprised last night. I heard on the news about how, you know, the president, you know, said on this vaccination, you know, maybe we'll go out and we'll start going door to door to people and bring it out there.

And I thought, boy, that sounds very, that sounds very Gestapo-ish to me. And, you know, the vaccination just keeps getting pushed and pushed and pushed. And we shouldn't be, you know, shouldn't be ignorant of what's going on there and what's happening. When the president says, you know, if you haven't had it, the next thing is go back to the communities and start knocking on doors and seeing that. So anyway, anyway, a sign of the times, I guess, and a sign of the times that the people lived in there, but they're making the time for us to be testifying too of what we believe.

Okay, didn't mean to get off on that, but let me go on here. Number, go back to the questions here, number 23. What was the sin of Ammonias and Sapphira? Was it lying? Lying. Okay, not giving everything to the church that they had sold their possession for? Free meditation and conspiring together? Nope, nope. Actually, it was lying. It was lying. You know, they were not required to give everything to the church.

Remember, that was never a requirement to the church that you would have to sell your possessions and or your land and give it to the church. There were people that were doing that, and Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look like one of those people who were, I will just give everything, but they wanted to hold something back, and they had the right to do that.

But if you look at chapter 5 and verse 3, Peter pretty much lets Ananias know exactly what his sin was. 5-3 says, Ananias, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? Well, it wasn't the keeping back of the part, it was the fact that they were lying to God, lying to Peter, lying to the church, and they were doing that pretty much to promote themselves. We look at us. We're willing to give everything. Maybe they had more possessions than some of the other people who had done that or a greater amount, but the thing was lying.

Down in verse 9, verse 8, when his wife, Sapphira, comes, she didn't know that Ananias had been struck dead after he lied. Peter asked her in verse 8, did you sell the land for so much? And she said yes for so much. And Peter said, how is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look to those who have buried your husband or out the door and they will carry you out. And she breathed her last tea. So here, may I you know, lying, Ananias conspired together to lie.

You know, here's an example where a husband or wife you know can be a strength to each other. And one might suggest, you know, why don't we do that? But the other one, the other spouse, or if it's a friend who a friend saying things, needs to stand up and say, no, we can't do that. You know, if we don't want to hold back half of it, let's just say, here's what we're willing to give. And then just leave it at that. But don't lie, but they conspired together and they failed each other in the fact that they conspired in that.

So the answer is A.

I would, well, no, I think the answer is A. The base thing there was they lied, Peter said. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?

So the sin was lying.

But didn't they premeditated when they, when premeditation? They did. They did. Conspiring together be one as well? Yep. They premeditated to conspire together to lie. If they had been meditated and conspiring together to do good, it would be one thing. It was that they conspired. You know, I guess, I guess, you know, they should. No, they won't give up. Yeah, but yeah, but B is not, B is certainly not. No, no, B. All of them.

No, they weren't required to give everything to the church.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the two joined the church, they had to sell what they owned and give it all to the church. If that was the case, you know, Peter, we would have had that. You know, they lied, but it was never a requirement that they give it all. They voluntarily gave it.

Everyone agree with that? Yes.

Even their conspiracy was a form of lying, so the heart of the matter was the lying. Yeah. It was, yeah, the bottom line, they lied. And it was wrong that they conspired together. They failed each other by not standing, one of them standing up and saying, we can't do that. But the bottom line is they lied.

And remember, God said, he said a tremendous example there. His church wasn't going to be a church of deceit. You weren't going to do, look good to someone else or do things just to make yourself look good to everyone else. It was going to be, have to be from the heart. He gave that church a tremendous lesson and message that day that what you do, do from the heart and understand that you do it to God, do it toward God, and not just to be in the sight of man.

Okay. Make sense to everyone?

Yeah.

Okay. 24. Through the apostles, true or false? God worked miracles, healings, and even the casting out of demons.

True.

Yep. There's a brother of the verses that specifically says that. And again, just as Jesus Christ was attended, you know, he did miracles and that brought attention to his ministry. So God used those miracles, healings, and the casting out of demons to bring attention to the ministry of that New Testament church. Yes, they did wonderful things for the people, but part of the reason for all those things was to bring attention and to attend the church that it should have been a witness. This is of God. This is not something that a man could do, or any magic, magical art could do. It was something that God was doing. So God was with this church. Number 25. Besides healing all who were brought to them, as was done also by Christ, how else did these healings further God's plan and the commission he gave the church? Remember, it did have tremendous benefits for the people who were healed. The people heard, just like I heard of Jesus Christ, they heard of the apostles giving a healing and all these things happening. But what else did it do? A, did it give the church audience to preach that Christ was the Messiah? This kind of goes back to something we've talked about before. It gave them an audience with the Sanhedrin. Many believed and were baptized. All of the above or none of the above. It was just simply a matter of healing, providing healing to those who came. With anyone? Better D. D? D. Well, isn't it odd? Everyone agree with that? Yes. Okay, so we can see how God works, right? We can see how he's working in the New Testament church there. He's doing good, certainly, and showing his will is to heal, but he's also opening up the opportunities to testify of Jesus Christ. How did the Sanhedrin react to the work of the apostles in Acts 5? They were thrilled, thought this is wonderful. Is that what they thought?

No, they tried to ban the message. They increased on the apples. Yeah, yep. In Acts 5, you know what? Let's, yeah, Acts 5, if you got your Bibles open, let's look at verse 17, right? In verse 16, it tells us that, you know, sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, they were all healed. Verse 16, then the high priest, verse 17 of Acts 5, rose up, and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation. That's zeal. I mean, they were energetic, but it wasn't energetic to support. They were filled with indignation, and they laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. They were mad. They were incensed. It irritated them to no end that the apostles were out continuing to heal and continuing to preach that Jesus Christ is a Messiah. Made them so mad that this time they didn't even, didn't even care what the people thought, just throw them in jail for the night, stop this message however we can.

Okay. 27. Now using a common word here was the mission of the Sanhedrin to cancel the name and life of Jesus Christ. Most definitely. Yes or no? Yes. Yes. That's exactly what it was, you know. It says that was the Old Testament or not the Old Testament, the first century cancel culture was going on there, and we don't want Jesus Christ's name preached. We don't want to hear about him. We don't care about the miracles. We don't care about how good it is for people. We just want his name gone. But what happened? What happened? They threw him in prison. What, just briefly, what happened? What happened as a result of those apostles being put into prison that night?

It's their next life. They were supernaturally freed, right? When the next morning came, there was no evidence that any lock had been picked. There was no evidence that the door had been opened. The guards that were there had no idea that they weren't even still in prison, and no one knew. No one knew that they had been gone. God supernaturally freed them. Remember the commission he gave them when he did that? What did he say for them to do when he released them from prison? To go to the temple and keep preaching the name of Christ. Yeah, yeah. You told them, you know what? Go out in the morning and speak to the people. You know, you just throw them in prison for this? Now I'm afraid you'd go out in the morning, stand in front of the temple, verse 20, and teach the people all the words of this life. That's exactly what they did. That's exactly what they did.

We learned that the Sanhedrin, you know, that they went to get them, and they weren't there. They had no idea. It's like, whoa! Remember there's the verse down later. Verse 24 says, the priests that didn't give them pause. What did these things mean? What is going to be the outcome of this? This is something they couldn't explain at all. So number 27, or number 28, number 29, I guess, the Sanhedrin acknowledged that indeed the apostles were fulfilling God's commission to them to fill Jerusalem with the gospel of Jesus Christ, in order to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Did they ever acknowledge that? True or false? No. False. Okay. Okay. Actually, they said that they were doing exactly that. Yep. Yeah. If we look down at verse 28 of Acts 5. False. Yeah. Actually, that turns out to be true, right? The Sanhedrin did acknowledge that they were fulfilling God's commission. Look at Acts 5, verse 28. You know, they call them out. They, you know, they, the apostles are released. They're out preaching. They send for them. The apostles are brought before them. And they say in verse 28, didn't we strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. So what they tell us, what the Sanhedrin is like, you are filling this city with your doctrine. Everyone has heard of you. We're trying to stop it. And yet the word is spreading. You have filled Jerusalem. So indeed, in a way, the Sanhedrin, you know, gave the apostles and the New Testament church there a pat on the back. You've done exactly what God gave you to do. You know, you have filled Jerusalem. You haven't, we haven't been successful at all in stopping the word of God or the message of Jesus Christ. Well, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that the Sanhedrin acknowledged that they were fulfilling God's commission. You know, they, I didn't see where they acknowledged that they were fulfilling God's permission. You know, they said they were filling Jerusalem with all this stuff about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I don't, I don't see them acknowledging that it's God's commission. What is the commission? What is the commission that God gave the church?

Well, to preach the gospel of the coming kingdom of God and Jesus Christ being crucified for our sins. Okay. That Jesus Christ is the Messiah. That was what they had to, that was what they were preaching at that time, right? Because that, that was the first step that Jesus Christ needed to know they were Messiah. Right. In verse 28, you know, when the Sanhedrin calls them and says, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. It means it wasn't the doctrine of the Jews, right? It was the doctrine of the Christian church. You have filled them with your, with your doctrine. Isn't that the way of them saying you've done it? I mean, they didn't know that they were giving them a compliment. They were mad and trying to tell them, you know, what, what they were, it was acknowledging that, you know, this message of Jesus Christ, this message of Jesus Christ as Messiah is all over this city. You can't, okay, they're not, I mean, they didn't come out and say, hey, we acknowledge you've done a good job, right? But by saying that, would the apostles have taken that as, you know what, the work of God is getting done. And look how God opened up the opportunities through the healings and through the audiences, with the people and with the Sanhedrin, the city is filled with, as they said, your doctrine, not our doctrine or the doctrine that they had, but your doctrine. That makes sense at all? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, if there's any discussion on that, it's okay, we need to, you know. Okay. Number 30. When the Jerusalem Church, when the Jerusalem Church heard of the threats and imprisonment of the apostles, they decided it would be best to delay the bold preaching of Jesus until things cool down a bit. No, no. Why are they up to that?

I've got everything down there, you know, in verse 41 and 42, remember they beat the apostles, and then 41 and 42 says, but they continued verse 42 daily in the temple, and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They didn't let anything that the Sanhedrin or the powers that be do to detract them or to divert them from the mission that God had given them. Also, Acts 4.29, when it says, excuse me, we ought to obey God rather than men. That is a good verse. I'm glad you brought that up. Yes, we ought to obey God rather than men.

31. Who's the man, the wise one who said, keep away from these men, and let them alone. For this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing.

And the Jews, to their credit, they actually listened. They listened to him. They didn't really follow through on what he said. Even after he said that, they decided they were going to beat the apostles again and threaten them and severely threaten them.

And so when we come to chapter 6, we have the New Testament Church. The early church there, it's still in Jerusalem. It's still continuing in the apostles' teaching. It's still in the fellowship. It's still breaking bread and getting to know each other. They're sharing all things, and of course, they're praying to God. And then a group comes to Peter, I guess it is, or one of the apostles anyway, or the apostles, and they have a complaint that their widows are not being...

the distribution of the widows is not fair. What group was that? The Hellenists.

Hellenists. Who were the Hellenists?

The Greek. Yeah, the Greek-speaking Jews. And so, you know, so the apostles, you know, agree that they have a lot to do. Their job is not to be doing that daily distribution. So they, you know, in chapter 6, we see the selection of some deacons there, and Peter or whoever the apostle gives the congregation, says, you know what, go ahead and pick seven men that have these qualifications. You can see that on your screen. Here's the qualification of the game. Faith, Holy Spirit, Wisdom, Good Reputation, all of the above, or all except A? All except A. All except A. All except A. Full of the above.

Yep. If we were actually grading this, I would probably mark E and or F, correct? Although technically, okay, the apostles never mentioned faith when they mentioned the qualifications. They said, choose men who are full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, and have good reputation. They never mentioned faith. But of course, if someone is full of the Holy Spirit, by definition, they would have faith, right? So we would know that. You couldn't be full of the Holy Spirit if you didn't have faith in God. Later, it says, and when the congregation did choose it, it said they did choose people who were full of faith. But that isn't one of the things that the apostles... And we talked about how that's the same thing that later on, you know, as we ordained Deacons today, and in 2 Timothy, Paul, as he instructed Timothy, the qualifications for an elder and the qualifications for Deacon, those same type qualities are still implicit there in 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 3, where those qualifications are there, the Church follows those same guidelines. Okay, there were seven Deacons who were selected that day. We have the name of them in chapter 6. Three of them, we talked about three of them that we know for certain, two of them, what happened to them after they were ordained, and probably a third one. Anyone remember who the three that we talked about? We probably know something of what happened to them after they were ordained? Yeah, Stephen, Philip, and Nicholas. Nicholas, right, yeah. Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas. Nicholas, what might he have been? We can absolutely prove it, but what doctrine or whatever might he have been the the father of?

Nickelodeons. Nickelodeons, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And we talked about that with the doctrine that Nickelodeons is. And I remember we talked about, because the Bible here in chapter 6, it tells us, Stephen was full of faith, tells us that Nicholas was a proselyte. So he was a, he had worshiped pagan gods, was a proselyte, a convert to Judaism, and now he was over there in Christianity. So he had changed his belief two or three times, and it may be that he led the church as he began to compromise. You know, compromise, some of the truths of God led some people astray. And, you know, that doctrine of the Nickelodeons that Christ denounces two of the churches specifically, and the messages of the seven churches may have emanated from him and some of the things that he led the people, you know, to believe. So here in, in, you know, these three deacons, we have Stephen.

We have Stephen. We have Stephen, who we're going to talk about. We have Philip, who we're going to talk about. And Nicholas, Nicholas, we may know something about as well. And he may have been the the original one who began to lead the church away with his own own ideas. Okay, 35. What tactics?

We talked about the synagogue of the freed men, this group of the synagogue that that was populated or attended by Jews from these various various areas. What tactics did they use against Stephen when they could not refute the proof from the Bible that Jesus is the Messiah? Remember, we talked about that. And Stephen absolutely proved to them that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The thing is, the synagogue of the freed men didn't want to believe it. We simply choose to resist the truth. We don't want to believe it. And so what did they do? What are some of the tactics they use? Do they use lies? Yes. Activations, blasphemy? Yes. False witnesses? Yes. Incitement of others? Yes. Threats? Yes. All of the above? Yes. Again, we see the pattern when someone doesn't like what you have to say and they just set their mind against it. I don't want to believe that. What they do and the way Satan operates is lie about the person, accuse them of things, set up false witnesses, do whatever you can to discredit the messenger, and with the absolute goal, put him to death. End that message. And that's what happened to Stephen. So we come to chapter 7. My question there in 36 goes to the same thing that before. When did Stephen have time? I think I had a wrong word when I sent out to you and for 3rd and 36. When does Stephen have time to prepare the strong sermon he gave you in Acts 7? I think I said deliver, right? God gave him time to deliver it. But again, he didn't know what his... those words that Stephen gave that day, they came directly from God's Holy Spirit. God inspired him to say everything, and there was a message that was clear throughout it. Remember what the message was to the Jews as he went through the history of Israel?

That they rejected Jesus Christ and all the prophets. Yeah. Over and over and over, I sent to you prophets. Over and over and over, I sent to you people to turn back to me. And what did they do? What the history of Judah was? They killed every one of those prophets. And he was even saying, you know, and you did it to Jesus Christ as well. He was sent. He was sent as your Messiah, and you killed him. Over and over and over again. You know, they just rejected God, and it made them so mad. It made them so mad. In chapter 7, you know, when he came down to the conclusion of his sermon that they, you know, what kind of words did he say? Anyone remember that? Or what the verses are?

Well, in verse 51... The whole Bible.

Yeah, I mean, he recounts. He recounts the entire history of Israel, and he keeps hammering them, and they can begin to see where he's going, right? This is what you did. This is what your fathers did. This is what you've done. And in verse 51 of Acts 7, he goes, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. You always resist. You just won't listen. You just won't pay attention. You choose your own way over God's way every, every single time. And they knew it was true. Part of what, part of what made them so mad is it was true. It was proven to them, just like the synagogue of the freedmen. They knew, they knew it was proven. They couldn't go back and say, and prove, have any verses which showed Jesus Christ, but it made them so mad that it was true. Just wanted to kill Stephen. And when Stephen said that, you know, and pointed it out for him the truth, all they wanted to do was kill him. They killed him. And that's, that's exactly what they, what they did. Okay. Now the Sanhedrin, you know, we look at, we look at the Jews, and they had several opportunities. You know, no one, not one of those Jews of the Sanhedrin could ever look at Jesus Christ in the judgment and say, you never, you never let us know that it was Jesus Christ. I mean, ever, they had plenty of opportunities to know who Jesus Christ was. Just, just someone just named, named one or two things that we have looked at even in this book, of how many things that God let them know this Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that weren't explainable, you know, by human terms. The healing of the layman. Hailing of the layman, right? When they were released from, from prison miraculously. Yep. Whoever says that they even had to pause at that one that says they had that wonder of what's going to be the outcome of this, like, wow, we can't explain that at all. Remember what it said about Stephen's face when they sat him before them to begin talking? What would it say about Stephen's face? It looked like an angel. Like the face of an angel. Couldn't explain that, they just kind of ignored it. Couldn't explain that, they just kind of ignored it. You know, we don't want to, we don't want to deal with that. Of course, they had all the events of the, you know, crucifixion and all the things that happened in Jerusalem, even the tearing of the veil from top to bottom. They ignored them all. They set their mind, they set their mind against God. So they, you know, even the strong sermon that, that Stephen gave, you know, should have made them pause and think, you know, and if we ever have a reaction to the truth of God or something that's told us, we may want to pause or remember the Sanhedrin and ask God, boy, I hope, you know, I hope I'm in the right attitude. Don't let me get mad when something is pointed out about me that that isn't true. Help me to yield to you and correct what is wrong and not just have that automatic human reaction of, I want to destroy it, I want to discredit you, I want to fight against you, and I'm not going to accept it. It's a very, very wrong attitude that was displayed here, you know, obviously by the Sanhedrin, so. Okay. Who was standing by as Stephen was stoned? Oh, oh, oh, how, what words of Stephen might he might, might, or probably did he hear as Stephen was dying? Lord laid not this sin to their charge. And why, why do we think why, why, why we look at that and say Saul probably heard those words?

That was the last thing he said. Yeah, and it says that he said him in a loud voice, right? Verse 60 of chapter seven says, he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice. So people heard, heard him say that, and Saul who became Paul, I'm sure he thought back to that later on, later on in life. Okay, what happened to the church after the stoning of Stephen? They scammed him. They had persecution, they went underground, halted preaching the gospel for a while. They were persecuted. Yeah, persecuted, persecuted. So, I mean, here they were in favor for all that time, and then Stephen is, Stephen is killed, and now the church has persecution. Why did they, why did the church scatter? Were they afraid? Why, why did they scatter? Why did they leave Jerusalem when persecution came?

It was an instruction of Jesus Christ. Yeah, it was. Jesus Christ told them to do that. Back in Matthew 10, Matthew 10 and verse 23, his own words, he says, when they persecute you in this city, flee to another. Assuredly I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Persecution came. They remembered the words of Jesus Christ.

They left. What's wrong with that? They were following his will, his command. So when they left, was there any indication that they were afraid that the persecution had made them want to stop preaching the gospel or that they needed to go underground for a while or anything like that? No, whatever. They were preaching the Word. They were preaching the Word, yeah. And so here's an event with the New Testament church and what did God use it for? Care was the way that the people went and they went to the new areas they were in Judea and Samaria. Eventually it would be to the ends of the world and as they did, they preached the gospel. They didn't go underground. They preached about Jesus Christ and new people. God called new people and they were added to the bodies in that area. So God used that persecution to spread the gospel and begin taking it out to the world that they knew at that time. He had a purpose in mind and that persecution, while it wasn't pleasant for the people, it was designed that God, that's the way he was going to spread the gospel. And the people kept doing what God said to do. They just kept preaching the gospel. They weren't going to be afraid. They weren't going to be afraid and go underground or forget what he had told them to do. Okay, 44. Who is the deacon who preached boldly in Samaria? Philip. Yep, Philip. And the way we're introduced in chapter 8 to this man, Simon Magus, he's called just Simon. What was his ultimate claim to fame there in Samaria?

Entertainment and diplomatic arts and tricks that are standing in Samarians. Yeah, he was. He was. He could confound the people. Likely, his tricks were so amazing. Like some of the things we might look at the world today, that there are probably some demons in there to help him or to do things that just couldn't be explained by human terms. But he had the people allowed. And he was. He was. Philip. Philip is the deacon who went to Samaria, yes. Yeah, right. He preached boldly. Simon Magus was there. He was the magic arts guy. He was the one who they looked at as great. But when Philip was there preaching and God allowed him to heal as well, the people started following Philip. They believed in Jesus Christ and many were baptized. It tells us there in Samaria. And even Simon Magus was was was baptized. Remember that? But he had a fatal flaw. Yeah. Remember what the what his fatal flaw was? Simon. Simon wants to buy the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Oh, yeah. To give the Holy Spirit. Yeah. He loved that information and the people look up to him. Yeah, he was filled with pride. And when he saw the apostles, I think he would.

Go ahead. Yeah. When he saw the apostles, he was. Go ahead.

No, like he used to sell his secret of magic. He thought that the spirit could be sold in way.

And there was a secret. So that was his downfall.

Yeah, he he wanted he wanted to be the one he wanted to be seen as someone great. He was going to be the one there. And that was his downfall. He was filled with pride. He he needed to have the people looking up to him. That was kind of his thing. And when he saw the apostles come from Jerusalem and lay hands and whatever whatever God allowed that he could see the Holy Spirit being given, he thought, that's what I want to do. I remember we talked about how then he didn't repent the way Peter advised him to or cautions him to. He went off and, you know, apparently, when you look at some of the early church historians, he he proclaimed he was Peter. He proclaimed he could give the Holy Spirit. He could proclaim he could do all these things. And many people many people followed him. We talked about Simonie. There's one one church out there today that still believes you can sell religious indulgences. What church is that? Yeah, but Catholic Church. So all of them.

48. Philip baptized many people in Samaria and laid hands on them so they would receive God's Holy Spirit. True or false? True or false? False.

Yep. Anyone disagree with that?

No. Philip did baptize. Philip did baptize as a deacon, but he didn't have the authority to lay hands on people. That's why in Acts 8 and verse 14 to 17 there, you see the apostles coming down from Jerusalem, and they're the ones who laid hands on the people who had been baptized, and then they received the Holy Spirit. So following that same example today, when people repent and are baptized, it's a minister of the church who must... well, today we have the minister of the church baptized, if at all possible, but it needs to be a minister to lay hands on for the receipt of the Holy Spirit. Okay, who was the first African convert we talked about?

Was the treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia. Yeah, that eunuch, that Philip encountered on that deserted road, I guess south of Jerusalem.

What's scroll was that eunuch when... and remember, God orchestrated that Holy God. Remember, I think one of the things about Philip that tells us a lot about him, when God said, doesn't give him a reason, just go on this road, follow this road, and Philip just did it. He didn't ask why, can't they go a different way, I'd like to go back to Samaria. Philip just did it. In attitude, we have. When God says do it, we do it, right? At the end of Acts 8. So when Philip came upon him, what's the role for the Bible? Was this eunuch from Ethiopia reading? Isaiah. Isaiah, yeah. Okay, any discussion or questions on any of that, or anything people want to discuss further on that? Oops. I have a discussion. Okay.

It might be a monkey wrench thrown in, which is nature, by the way.

So, okay, so in Acts 8, when it says about Philip, that when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, said that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at a notice or whatever, and passing through whatever. So we have evidence of Philip being taken away, just all of a sudden, but then later he's found. Okay, so I know this opinion, and I know all the churches of God say something else, but misdebi is always on the outskirts of things. So Hebrew 11, when it talks about enoch, the faith of Enoch, and he was taken away so that he did not see death. Well, I don't think Moses saw death either. That doesn't mean he went to heaven. It just means that God took him, and he went to sleep, in my opinion, by faith. Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him. Before he was taken, he had this terror testimony that he plays God. So that's my opinion. God put him to sleep. He didn't put him in heaven, you know, because it doesn't mention Enoch anywhere. It doesn't say how long Enoch lived, or anything. So anyway, that was my monkey-rich. Okay, well I don't know that we disagree. We know he died, right? I mean, he didn't live. God didn't take him up to heaven, so he's not living in heaven, as some people want to believe. God just allowed him to die, just like Moses was. Moses just stopped breathing. You know, he wasn't alone for a long death, or anything like that. I don't know that we disagree with that. We agree that he's dead, right? And awaiting the resurrection.

Right, but it's always my, in talking to people, that they use that to say that he appeared some place else. He didn't die at that time. He was mentioned somewhere else in the Bible, but I've never seen where he was mentioned someplace else in the Bible. So anyway, anyway, that was just... I've heard that. I would be hard-pressed to say where the Bible would say that he appeared again. It does indicate that his time on earth was those 300 years that God gave him. So if anyone has a scripture that would indicate otherwise, you know, we could... if it's not today, we could talk about it at another time. But I don't believe I believe Enoch died at that time. But John 3.13 says that no man has ascended to heaven, but Jesus Christ. So right. Yeah, we're not saying we're not saying that he went to heaven. Don't misunderstand. That's just that he's dead. He's dead. Wherever God put him, that's where God, just like no one knows where Moses's grave is, no one knows where Enoch's grave was. But no, no man has ascended to heaven. That is crystal clear. Right. Right. So. And then the other thing about this, giving the Bible questions, not that it was a test, but it's just interesting because in high school or college, when the instructor says, okay, this is an open book test, everybody goes, wow, wonderful. But it's not easy. I mean, you have to hear, you have to read there. Sometimes you have to surmise. And so you get more knowledge that way, actually. Well, that's it. It's not designed as a test.

It's just review questions. And it was designed to make us think about what we talked about in the last several weeks, go back into the Bible. If you take notes on the Bible studies, some of the things that we talked about that attend and maybe, you know, like the, why did they leave when they were persecuted? Well, they didn't leave because they were afraid. They kept doing the work of God because Jesus Christ told them, you know, to do that. So it kind of just helps us to go back through and recount it. And that's what it was designed for. We covered an awfully lot of the first eight chapters of Acts. And now we're going to go into the Gentile, you know, the Gentile, the cities that are being called there, Paul's conversion, and things like that. So it seemed like a good stopping point to recall what was going on with the early New Testament church in Jerusalem. Mr. Shaby? Yes, sir. Number 46, did that wind up being A or D? Number 46.

Number 46 is what was saying in Simon's State Applause. Oh, you know what, I put down all except one. Yeah, that's right. We never did talk about that. All except one, right, is what I had. He definitely had pride. He had the love of acclamation and having people look up to him. The love of magic wasn't the thing. It was the other two, right? Pride and love of acclamation. Because he was willing to give up magic and trade it for having people look up to him that he could give the Holy Spirit and that he was the religious leader. Okay, thank you.

Okay, I had a... Yeah, and, Debbie, you mentioned about Philip being caught away. I know...

I've looked at that. It doesn't, you know, it does appear when you look at the Greek word that's translated, caught there, that God may have just transported Philip over to the city of Azovis, right? I mean, I think last week I said on the morning Bible, or this Bible study, that it might just be that the Holy Spirit led him to leave at that point. But when you look at caught away, it does appear that perhaps God just took him away, put him in his Otis. And of course, we did wrap up the story of Philip in Acts 21 and verse 8, where we find him in Caesarea. And he is a evangelist at that point. And he does have daughters, so God did allow him to settle down in Caesarea to have a family. He raised that family well. His daughters prophesied, that is, that they understood the Word of God as well, and we're able to teach it.

Okay, anything else? And of course, if there's anything, as you're looking at that later, if you ever want to talk about it, you can call, you can email, we can discuss it next week in the beginning. You know, just want everyone to have the understanding. God leads us to understand his Word here. So, Mr. Shavey. Yes. Just kind of a thought, I guess, speculation, because the Bible doesn't say anything about that. But sometimes you wonder if at some point in time, Simon the Magician and Nicholas worked together, you know, in basically apostasy in the church.

It does make you wonder, right? Because Gnosticism is associated with Simon, and it is associated with Nicholas, or the Nicolaitans as well. So maybe they did. Maybe they did meet somewhere down the road.

Okay, well, if there's nothing else, then I will say goodbye. Next week we will begin in chapter nine here. Let me remind you, and think of my times here, in Jacksonville we have life services at 1130 in Jacksonville this week. In Orlando it's 130. In Orlando at 130. For Jacksonville, we'll send you out a Zoom link to go into the Jacksonville services. And in Orlando, we will send you a private YouTube link to join Orlando services. So, okay, anything from anyone else?

Okay, well goodbye, everyone. Have a good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. Bye.