Bible Study: October 27, 2021

So today, today we've got the review questions that we were going to go over. So this is always kind of a fun session because you get to you get to answer the questions and not just hear me talk and talk and talk and I get to hear you, which is always very nice, very nice for me. So before we start, is there anything that anyone wants to talk about or or any?

Well, as we go through the questions, if there's anything that's confusing, we'll be able to discuss it at that time. But if there's anything else that someone wants to discuss before we begin here. That would be a good time to talk about it. Okay, I'll tell you what I'm going to do then. I see that I do have these three big questions on a screen.

So I'm going to share those. If I can get that. I'm going to share those and put those on the screen so you can kind of read along as we go. And they're on a Word document. I mean, a few people have said, if you put it on PowerPoint, it would help. Putting it on PowerPoint would take a lot of time. I'm not sure what the benefit is. So bear with me that. Bear with me on that. It's just much easier to keep it in the Word document and we can go through it.

So let me go through that. You can kind of just wait for me to call on you. Just as you have the answer, and everyone can speak at the same time if you want. We don't have to stand on any kind of school classroom protocols here. Just yell out the answer. If there's any discussion on you, we'll take the time to discuss it.

Okay, number one. Who is generally recognized as the first martyr of the Christian Church? Stephen. Okay, everyone agrees with that? Anyone else? What chapter we read about Stephen in? Eight, one, two. Acts, chapter seven. Eight. Nope, seven. That's where he gives his... Seven. Oh yeah, seven. And everything where he ends up stoned at the end of the week. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Question two. What happened to the church after that stoning? Was it A, or were baptized and added to the church? B, persecution arose. C, the church went underground. Or D, it halted preaching the gospel for a while.

Persecution. Persecution. Persecution, yeah. We'll get into chapter eight. When we get into chapter eight, we see that. After the stoning of Stephen, persecution began. The church had been going along pretty well in peace at that time until this happened. And then God allowed, of course, the persecution to occur.

Number three, what caused the church in Jerusalem to scatter? Sounds persecution. Persecution. Okay, what caused the church in Jerusalem to scatter? Persecution. Persecution. Yeah, persecution. Tell us something about that. I saw. Persecution. Tell us something about that. Persecution. Persecution. Persecution. Persecution. Not a pleasant thing. Not a thing that any of us would pray for to come upon ourselves. But God allowed that to happen to the church. It happened to be the event and the things that went that helped the church spread into the Gentile areas. And that was of God's purpose. And so we see that even in what we would consider not so good times, God had a purpose to it as the gospel spread into Samaria and then into the Gentile areas.

It was all part of God's plan. So the church, the church, the church scatters. One of the first things we read as the church scattered and left out of Jerusalem as the people left. Remember the apostles stayed in Jerusalem, but the people, the people began to scatter throughout the various areas. Who was the deacon who preached boldly in Samaria and later became an evangelist? Philip. Philip. Philip. Remember what chapter we read about Philip in? He did some pretty God-worked, some miracles through him. In what chapter in Acts? That was in chapter 8.

Actually the way I structured these questions were going right from 8 through 15. So we're in the early part of what we've reviewed. Not necessarily that we necessarily remember that stuff, except that it was one of the first occasions, you know, when the people were scattered. Philip was in Samaria. The Samaritans and Jews were always at odds with each other. And Philip went there and preached the Gospel.

Many, many believed, many were baptized. And God, God worked many miracles through Philip there in Samaria. Remember we met Simon the Magician. He's called Simon the Sorcerer in the Scripture. Simon the Magician was in Samaria. He was baptized. Then he left the church to start his own following. What was his fatal flaw? The spiritual character that he succumbed to as Judas was scariest, succumbed to his fatal flaw, the love of money. I would say E. Okay. Yes. Everyone agree with E?

Yes. Call the book. Okay. We all have the above. I had all above. Me too. Me too. Okay. Someone who answered E, explain why you said accept one. And answer, which one would you say would you exclude from that list? I mean, when you read the account, I think you can see his pride because he asked the apostles to pray to God for him instead of himself humbling before God. And then it also says that he loved the acclamation of people and people looking up to him as a great person. But it doesn't say really that he loved magic.

No. For him, magic was basically a tool. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. He liked magic before he was baptized because it was the vehicle by which he could get the acclamation of the people, that his pride could be manifested, everyone looked to him as, you know, a God of sorts because of that.

But it wasn't magic because he was ready to leave all that behind. But he saw what he saw that the Holy Spirit could be given and thought, oh, I'd rather do this and I'd rather have the people look up to me as I can give the Holy Spirit to them. So everyone kind of agree with that? Anyone that says all of you, Bob, you want to talk about that a little bit?

Yeah, I think it's the character flaw. It's the character flaw that we're looking for in Simon and character flaws that we would look at in ourselves. You know, what is it that we need to overcome or ask God to get rid of that wouldn't lead us away from his truth? And it really was his pride and his love, you know, of love of having everyone look up to him that led him away from the truth.

He didn't go back to magic. He just owned another vehicle to satisfy those things in him. Everyone agree now? Yes. Okay. By number six, in the book of Acts, when we see God's people doing what pleases him, what two things often accompany the church? I don't know if I have that. I hope I have that worded that you understand it. Well, just someone say what one of those things are.

Maybe unity? Repentance? I'm only a spirit. Blessings and miracles? Yeah, miracles if you want, right? As we look through the book, as we look through the church's beginning, and as we saw Philip, he preached the gospel. But what did God allow him to do? He worked miracles. And so people could see God was with him as he was preaching the gospel. We see the same thing happen with Peter. We see the same thing happen with Paul as they go into the Gentile era. So the working of miracles was one of them great healings, you know, that God would do. And so it kind of showed this God is with these people as they preach the word.

What would be another thing that we see with the church? Growth? Growth. Yeah, that was the other one I had in my mind. You see that when God is pleased with what the body is doing, he's adding people to it. There is a, you know, he's looking for a place where he can add people because God wants to add people. But we have to have the environment in our local churches that when he puts those people there, they're going to see God, they're going to feel God, they're going to feel his presence.

You know, Jesus Christ said they're going to feel the agape love of each other. So when we're doing what pleases him, growth will, well, in the early New Testament, growth would occur, and it was accompanied by miracles. We don't necessarily see the miracles today, but in the early church, that's how he got his attention.

It's really the same way that, you know, Jesus Christ, God, you know, he was able to heal everyone, or he healed everyone that came to him, and that was able to draw attention to his message at that time. Okay, any other thoughts on that or any other things? Okay, to what city was Paul traveling when he was called? Damascus. Yeah, I think that's a pretty easy one. Why was he going there? Was he going there to preach the gospel?

No. He was going there to find those of the way to gather them up and bring them back to Jerusalem. He was looking to gather these people who believed in Jesus Christ and who were leaving the Jewish religion, joining, you know, the Christian religion. He didn't call it yet at that time. I guess they called it the way is what they called it at that point. Yeah, that was why he was going. And of course, we remember the story where God stopped him before he got there.

And I didn't put a lot of detailing about that calling. I think we all pretty much remember how God called Paul and how Paul completely turned his life around. He was a totally different person after his calling than he was before. Very dramatic change. The same dramatic change we see in us. Maybe not to the extent of Paul who was out looking to kill and persecute Christians, but you know, it reminds us of the change that we need to make.

Okay, which epistle of Paul and which epistle did he write about this experience in some detail? Galatians? Yep. Remember we turned to Galatians when we were going through that? Because, you know, as we go through the book of Acts and we see Paul, you know, in these chapters, we are introduced to the Galatian churches. He's talking about this in his epistle to the Galatians. Someone's got... Hold on, let me see what we've got here. Someone's got their microphone on.

I see. I mean, mute everyone for now and then you'll be able to join in here in a minute. I know I lost my train of thought, but anyway. Oh, yeah, that's right. We turned to the book of Galatians and in there Paul talked about, you know, what happened when he was in Damascus. He stayed there. How long did we learn that in the book of Galatians?

We're looking at his account of his calling. But how long was he there in Damascus before you returned to Jerusalem? Three years. Three years, exactly. That's there in Galatians chapter one. So here's Paul. He's just going to Damascus, you know, for a short time, he thinks. And then he's there for three years before he returns. When God calls and God has a message in mind, that's what we do.

So he was prepared to do that. And while he was there, while he was there, he learned a lot. Remember, it says that while he was there, he preached Jesus Christ. He learned the gospel. He learned the message and he was able to use the scriptures of the Old Testament to prove to people that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

So after three years, he went back to Jerusalem. How was he received by the apostles when he went there? Did they embrace him? Rejoicing over the fact that God had called him? Or were they afraid of him? They were afraid. They had probably heard what had happened with Paul, but until they saw it with their own eyes, they remembered exactly what he was about.

And now, he was about just the opposite of preaching Jesus Christ. They might have even wondered, is he doing this just to lure people into coming out of their shadows, if you will, to say, yes, they believe in Jesus Christ? Three years he preached there. When he came back to Jerusalem, you remember, he preached boldly to the apostles.

He didn't see any of them except, who was it? Peter, I think, and James. Was that the two that they saw? Or was it even Peter? Peter, yes, Peter and James. He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, who Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem. So they could see he really believed. Even then, he had to go back, and the Jews still were leery of him, and he had to leave Jerusalem because they wanted to kill him. And so he had to return to Tarsus after that.

When he was in Jerusalem, though, he was taken under the wings of what man that was there that seemed to come by his side? Barnabas. Barnabas, yeah. Remember what the apostles called Barnabas, or why they called him Barnabas? He was a very encouragement. The son of encouragement.

He was a necessary part of the development of the New Testament church. Remember we talked, too, about encouragement. Remember it's the Greek word paracletos. And what other, what about paracletos, that Greek word, is similar to us. Part of what Barnabas is called, but there's another paracletos where something comes along beside us and stands by us and helps us and guides us, comforts us, etc.

Comforter? What is it? Holy Spirit. Yeah, yeah. Paracletos is the same word, the Holy Spirit. We may not have a physical Barnabas that comes next to us, but really in our churches there should be some Barnabas. That's a gift that God gives people so that as the body grows and as we build a temple that we've talked about here in Orlando and Jackson over the last couple weeks, you know, we need that and God will give that gift to people that as new people come in and as people need encouragement, there will be those that we should always exercise and remember that gift that God gives us because that's the necessary part of the growth of the church and building the temple that He wants us to build as we come together and as we build the love that He wants us to have for one another.

But it's the paracletos. God's Holy Spirit, He calls that the paracletos as well. It comes beside us and guides us and directs us and encourages us and gives us the strength to go on. So when you look at the Greek words that are used here in Acts, it kind of ties a lot of things together for us on how God works with us.

Okay, after we have Paul, we take a little bit of break from Paul in Acts chapter 9 and we go back to Peter. And Peter is going to have his eyes open that God wants to, that God intends to open the gospel and open salvation to the Gentiles as well. But on the way to where he's going in chapter 10, he comes across two people and God works miracles through him. Anyone remember what the name of the man and what his affliction was? Anias, Jonathan, and Adam. Who was the man? Anias. Anias? Yeah, what was his affliction? He was bad reading. Yeah, he wasn't getting up. He was paralyzed for eight years. So, God, through Peter, healed him. And it says that as Peter went through that area, many believed. When they saw the faith of Peter, when they saw the miracle, many believed on the Lord. Remember it said that at the end of Acts 9 there? And then there was another person that, a miracle even beyond healing is quite a miracle from God as well. What's the other miracle that occurred there before we get to Acts 10? The resurrection. The resurrection, right. Who was that? Tabitha. Tabitha. Yep, Tabitha. Tabitha has another name, too. What's the other name we have for her? Dorcas. Dorcas. Yeah. She apparently was quite a woman. She, the widows there were crying and leaping over her death. She was a big, big, big help to everyone of the church there, everyone in the community there. And, you know, that should be an encouragement to all the women in our church. They are very important to our church community as well. It's not just about men. God has a purpose and God has gifts, and he has functions that he has every single person in the church be able to offer. And Tabitha, also known as Dorcas here, you know, she was quite a person, you know. She was serving in every way that she could, and she was one of those people, when we're serving in the way that God wants us to, that helps that congregation bind together as family.

You know, as we talk more and more about building the temple that God wants us to be building between now and the return of Jesus Christ, now some of these examples we could look at and realize, and remember, every single one of us, God has given a gift too. We just need to learn it, exercise it, and do it, and work with one another so that we become who he wants us to become individually, you know, as well as collectively.

So we have Peter. Where was he on his way to? When he encountered Aeneas and healed him, and Tabitha, and he resurrected, and through him God resurrected her. Where was he on his way to? You know that here is a... Okay. Okay, yeah, okay. Number 14. Let me go back to the questions here. Who is the Roman centurion to which God sent Peter? Cornelius. Cornelius. Was he a Jew? No, he was a Gentile. He was a Gentile, exactly. I don't have the questions on here, but what were the notable things that God did before he had Peter and go to meet with Cornelius? How did he let Peter know what it was that God was going to do as he met with Cornelius? Gave him a vision. An angel. Okay. No, the sheep that came down went in. Right. Remember, that's where the sheets. The sheets came down three times with the clean and unclean animals, and God said, rise Peter, kill and eat. Was there anything in those scriptures at all in chapter 10 that indicated that Paul then got the message that it was okay to eat unclean meats? No. Nothing, right? Nothing. It was crystal clear as we read through chapter 11. It had nothing to do with the eating of unclean meats. It was God showing there are clean and unclean meats, but there aren't clean and unclean people. There's no person that's called common. God will work with God and will work with everyone. Right? Right. Yeah. I think, Mr. Shavey, it's interesting. I don't know if I made a comment during Bible study. But right after that, I mean, the other piece of that proof that people just glance over is Peter got up and said, no, sir, I'm not going to do what we've always, you know, I'm not going to violate a belief that we've had since I was born, you know. And I think people that proves that God or Jesus kept cleaning and unclean meats and everyone before him. So I think that's a little piece of that verse that people just glance over very quickly. Yeah, people people want to believe, for some reason, that it's okay to eat those things. But absolutely, it's not. Peter was crystal clear, even as he didn't understand the, you know, didn't understand the message. He wasn't going to violate it. He was going to be like, well, wait a minute, you know, he knew God doesn't change. So what are you trying to teach me by these words that I'm hearing? And he was patient that he just didn't run off and do the things like Bert said. He waited for God to show him exactly what that the lowering of those sheets meant. So, okay. Okay, Peter makes this comment. Question 15. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. What does this statement refer to? Gentiles can now offer sacrifices at the temple? No. We talk about each other? No. Virtual washings at the temple in Jerusalem? No. Or Gentiles can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Yes. Everyone agree with that? Yes. Hello? Yeah. Yeah, we're of one accord. Okay, we're all of one accord. Excellent. That comes up later, too. Okay, question 16. Upon meeting the Sensuri and speaking with him, Peter baptized him, laid hands on him, thereby the baptized receiving the Holy Spirit. Is that true? Boom. Boom. Pops they received the Holy Spirit before their baptism? Right there, yes. Yeah. Remember that was the one where God did it?

Yeah, did it backwards in that case, right? He still received the Holy Spirit and he still had to be baptized. He had to have both, but God didn't do it that way. So he had them, but not the typical way where people were repented and baptized, having hands on them and the Holy Spirit. God first gave the Holy Spirit two people in his household. How did Peter know that the Holy Spirit had been given to them? Anyone remember that?

They were speaking in tongues. They were speaking in tongues, right? Yeah. Well, God, you know, sometimes, you know, back then God would show this speaking in tongues that people were evidence. Oh, wow, that happened to us on the day of Pentecost. We were speaking in tongues. They're speaking in tongues. God's given them the Holy Spirit.

But Peter knew and God showed in the last two verses there of Acts 10 that they still needed to be baptized. They still needed to be baptized. And so they had received the Holy Spirit by God, but they were baptized. So that's false because it wasn't the typical order. Yeah, I believe that God had to do it that way so that they had the message that they were OK, that the people were clean.

Yeah, I think you're exactly right. God had to let Peter know I've given them the Holy Spirit. Right? Now that's going to come in to play later too, because remember when we get to Acts 15, Peter recalls that incident of when God gave the Holy Spirit to the centurion.

And it's part of how they come to the conclusion in Acts 15 over the message of what they get to the Gentiles. So keep that in mind. OK, verse... where are we here? I guess... oh, can you guys see these questions? I don't know if I'm moving them along or not here. OK, we're at 17. That's better. OK, when Peter returned to Jerusalem and explained what happened, those gathered, and this is a direct quote, became silent. You know, when we understand something of God, when He opens our minds to understand it, there is just that moment of silence and that kind of aha moment.

We absorb what God has opened our minds to understand. And as Peter was relating to them the experiences he had, that was what happened to them. Oh, then God is... oh, I should say that. Those gathered became silent and they... glorified. glorified. Yeah, glorified God. They praised God. They didn't ask why or we don't really want to deal with these Gentiles. They glorified God, saying that God has also granted the Gentiles... repentance. Repentance.

Repentance. Yeah. Yeah. That's a key verse. As Peter, as God inspired these words to be written, and Luke reported, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. Peter, later on in his epistle, the second epistle, and second Peter 3, he says something. A lot of people would want that to say, oh, then God has granted the Gentiles eternal life. He didn't grant them eternal life at that time, did he?

He granted them repentance to life. Eternal life, the granting of eternal life, comes much later, you know, at the return of Jesus Christ. You know, whether we die first or we live until the return of Jesus Christ. Peter says the same thing in second Peter 3 verse 9. And a lot of people, you know, will remember that verse, saying, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

He doesn't say, no, God's will is that everyone will have eternal life. But it's always God's will is that they come to repentance. They will have to understand what they've done and they will turn to God, because without that, there is no eternal life. There's no hope of eternal life. So as you remember that verse, and you remember second Peter 3 verse 9, yeah, God's will is that people would have eternal life.

But the first step in it is repentance and turning to Him and staying there, you know, staying in a repentance attitude, doing His will, trusting Him, relying on Him, obeying Him the whole nine yards that we talked about, you know, turning Him in with all our hearts, mind and soul. It is His repentance that He will grant repentance. We'll pray for other people, right? We can pray that God will bring them to repentance. That's the first step for eternal life.

Okay. Again, any comments? Anything wrong? Absolutely. Just pipe in. Don't let me dominate here. Just go. Just anything anyone wants to say. Okay, number 18 here. Believers who had been scattered during the persecution traveled as far as what city to found the thriving church in which a great number believed and turned to the Lord, or the disciples were first called Christians? Antioch. Antioch.

Yeah, those of us. You know, there were three churches that were named there, but Antioch, Antioch became, you know, for the Book of Acts, became kind of like the headquarters church. Jerusalem was still the headquarters church. That's where the Jews were in the apostle state there, but Antioch in Syria became kind of like the headquarters church. You see, you know, Paul, as he goes on his missionary journeys, he starts from Antioch.

He makes the circle, he goes back to Antioch, they came down to Jerusalem for the Jerusalem conference, and then he went back to Antioch. That was kind of the headquarters church for the the Gentile areas. And of course, there were the two apostles that were sent there to to work with the Gentile churches, but Antioch in Syria. There's two Antiochs, remember, there's an Antioch in Syria and Antioch in the city. That's a little bit to the west and north of the Mediterranean Sea. But Antioch in Syria became the headquarters or home office, if you want to call it, for the place that Paul and the people came back to after they did their attorneys.

Okay, number 19. Who was sent by the church in Jerusalem to investigate what was happening in the city? So let me let me pray you that. Okay, so the church in Antioch began growing. I mean, people drafted persecution and moved to Antioch. We remember talking about, believe us, at the beginning of chapter 11 there, that Antioch became kind of like a melting pot.

There were Jews there that were believing in Jesus Christ. There were other people there were there. They had some prophets there from different areas. And Antioch, the church was growing. And as a church in Jerusalem, where the apostles were heard that they sent someone out to see what's going on, what's going on in the city. Remember who that was that the church in Jerusalem sent up there? Yes. So again, you know, I mean, you'd almost think it would have been Peter. Peter, you know, but they chose Barnabas to go up there. That's, of course, who God wanted to be there because Barnabas and Paul became, you know, the perfect combination of what the Gentile churches needed as it was growing.

Now, Paul was very straightforward. And when he spoke, Barnabas was the encourager. So they had, you know, they had kind of the spokesman as well as the one who could bind together with the encouragement of the love and that needed to happen for the church to grow. And God, you know, God designed that those two would work together as the church grew in that area. So Barnabas was sent up there.

Mr. Shavey. Yes, sir. It's interesting because it looked like Saul actually, Paul went back to Tarsus, I guess his hometown, because Barnabas went there to look for him and he brought him back to Antioch or brought him to Antioch. He says there on the verse 25 of chapter 11.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. When Barnabas was up there and he saw how much work needed to be done with the church up there, the first person he thought was, I'm going up to Tarsus to get Saul. And they became the duo. So he became the team that God used.

Okay. Number 20, James. James was the first apostle to be martyred. What was the reason King Herod killed him? Was it because James was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and they didn't want to hear it? No. Was it because it pleased the Jews to have him killed? Yes. Yes. Everyone agree with that? Yes. He pleased the Jews. Yeah, it says that specifically in chapter 12. That's kind of an eye-opening verse when someone can be put to death, not because they broke any law, not even because they were preaching the gospel necessary, although he was probably doing that. But it pleased the Jews.

Here we have this Christian church we don't like. We have this church that's growing. We don't like the message of Jesus Christ. And Herod knew that, hey, let's just kill James. No reason for it. No trial. No justification. Nothing legal about it. And he did it simply because it made the Jews happy.

And time and again in the Roman, as we look through the book of Acts and some of the things we see, we see the law. The Romans had law. It was totally disregarded to just do what the leader wanted to have done. And it's kind of a harbinger of some of the things, as I maybe too often mention, of what we begin seeing in our country today. Grewers just taking matters into their own hands and disregarding the law just to get done what they want done.

It happened to Jesus. Christ happened to Jesus. Christ happened to James. And so, you know, it's a notable thing here. None of the martyrs that we encounter in chapter in the book of Acts, or God's people, they're not killed because of disobedience to the authorities or anything like that. They're killed simply because their message and what they stand for isn't liked. So yeah, Paul or James was the first one that was done simply to please the Jews. So since Herod saw that it was pleasing to the Jews in verse chapter, question 21, what other apostle did you intend to kill and throw them into prison?

Peter. Peter. Okay, James. James is here. Let's get Peter, too. Let's do that and make the Jews really happy. So Peter found himself in prison. Again, he didn't do anything wrong.

And he found himself there. And as we looked at Peter's example there in chapter 12 of Acts, there was something notable about him. And that's what this question 22 is about. How did he react to his imprisonment and and expect the martyrs as far as he could tell he would have been executed the next day. The next day that was what the expectation was, as it tells us in verse 11 of Acts 12.

Was he agonizing over it? Was he just running out of his mind all day? He was sleeping. He's left. He's left, it tells us. How long did he recognize that? What does that tell us? What does that tell us about Peter? You know, it had to be a stressful situation. He had to know what the game plan was. But the Harris game plan was. He didn't fear dying. He wasn't afraid of death. He was in faith. He was doing the right thing. So he wasn't afraid. He had complete faith in God.

Whatever God's will is, he was okay. If he was going to die, that was God's will. If he was going to be delivered, that was God's will. We don't sense, you know, that Peter knew he was going to be delivered because later on that night he's delivered.

But he was perfectly at peace. Whatever God's will is, I'll just rest because I'm not worried. I'm not anxious. I'm not stressed. It's in God's hands and I completely trust in him or whatever happens. Whatever happens is his will and he was comfortable with that. A tremendous lesson for us to learn. Not even in times of persecution, right? Because Jesus Christ will talk about worry.

We worry about this and we worry about that. We can let our lives be consumed with worry, as he tells us in Matthew 6. We can let worry stop us. We can let worry separate us from God. He says, don't worry, just do my will. God knows what's going on.

Trust in him. Don't let worry be the reason for you to separate from God or ever have any doubt in what he can do. A very tremendous lesson here of Peter and the account of what he did. Question 23. What two men were sent to the Gentile areas after fasting and prayer and after hands were laid on them? Barnabas and Saul. Even though Barnabas was sent there, they were together and prayed.

They asked God, who do you want sent to the Gentiles? After they fasted and prayed, they laid hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them out to the Gentile church. They did take along with them as they went on that first missionary journey. A young disciple named John, his surname was Mark. But then he abruptly left. He abruptly left the missionary journey they were on. Do you remember what the reason that he left was? Left Barnabas and Saul? He doesn't say, right? The Bible is not so silent.

All it tells us is that he just left and went back to Jerusalem. We have no idea what it was. We don't even have to speculate. Any speculation is simply that. All we know is that he left. But the fact that he left is going to come into play later on again as well. Whether he actually gave Barnabas and Saul the reason? We don't know. Or did they just wake up one morning and he was gone? We don't know that either. He just abruptly left and went back to Jerusalem. And later on, what John Mark did does have an effect on the second missionary journey of Saul when we get to Acts 15.

Okay, number 25. When Paul went into a Gentile city, where did he customarily go on the Sabbath? In a god. That was where the word of God was being read. They would read the law and prophets. And then after they would read the law and prophets, I guess it was just a straight reading of the Bible.

Just as if we got up on a Sabbath day and decided we'll read Deuteronomy chapters 1-6. And then after that, they would ask for a discussion period on that. Paul would go to that. Paul would go to that. The disciples would go to that. And remember a few times, they would say, okay Paul, if you have anything to say, go ahead and say. And he did. And he would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But that was where they could learn and have read the law and the prophets. They didn't have, remember, Bibles like we had then. So even the Gentiles had to go to the synagogue to hear where the law and prophets were read.

Now, many commentaries will suggest, and a lot of the historical, if you watch some of the historical movies, it'll look like the scribes would have spoken, this is more in Jerusalem. I don't know if it would have happened to the Gentiles, cities or not. They would actually be in the streets and they would be reading the scrolls as well. So people would gather and listen to what the scribes would read because that was where they had to go to hear the Bible.

You and I open our Bible up in the morning or afternoon or evening, whenever it is that we open the Bible up and we can read. But if we lived back 2,000 years ago, we would be getting out of our houses and we would be going and listening to a scribe read the scriptures. That was just what they did. So they would go to the synagogues when they came into the Gentile cities because there were Jews living in these cities as well.

And that was the place that they began to preach the gospel. And the Gentiles seemed to know what was going on in there. Remember that Paul, we're going to see this more as we get into the next section of Acts that we talk about, we'd go into the public places and talk about Jesus Christ as well. So he would go to the synagogues, number 26 there.

And it says, in what city did Paul preach in the synagogue? And almost the whole city came to hear him the following Sabbath. It was like he preached Jesus Christ, the Jews were excited, they all wanted to hear about it, the Gentiles heard about it, and it says almost the whole city came back to hear about it the next Sabbath day. Antioch in Pisidia? Yes, Antioch in Pisidia. That's the other Antioch, right?

Antioch in Syria is on the east coast of the Mediterranean, Pisidia is up on the north part of the Mediterranean. Yeah, and that's quite a thing, isn't it? I mean, that the whole city, almost the whole city, and not the whole city, but can you imagine that if the gospel message that we preach today was received in the same way, and it would be the entire city of Orlando or Jacksonville or whatever city you were in, actually had their minds open to the truth and came and said they wanted to hear it.

They wanted to hear it. It had to be an exciting time. So as part of us are there, you know, it had to be exciting to see what God was doing. But it didn't last for long because the Jews in the city turned against Paul and the message he preached. What's the one word, the reason the Jews turned against Paul? Envy. You know, you can see these sins and these attitudes and these weaknesses that people have. You can see among the Jews, envy. Envy drove a lot of what they did.

There it is. You know, they had they received the word of God, but then they looked around and said, wait a minute. Yeah, look what Paul's doing. They're all going over to him. There was this envy that was there. Envy figured prominently in the death of what other Jews? Remember Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Why was he handed over to Pilate and the Romans for persecution? Yeah, envy. Pilate saw right through what they were doing. They didn't understand themselves, but he said, he knew. In Mark 1510, I think it is.

Let me look at my notes. Yeah, Mark 1510, he said Christ was turned over to him because of envy. So we kind of see how Satan works in some people, and there it was, envy. We see the Jews that often happening with them as the Christian church would begin, and people began understanding and moving from Judaism to Christianity.

The Jews created a lot of problems, and a lot of it was just because envy was part of what they were. We might have in us something like Simon Magus, we talked about him, the pride and the looking for a claim, always wanting to be looked up to by someone that was his kind of Achilles seal, or the nephronacular, the cancer that killed him. The Jews have this envy. We are the people of God. No, we're the people of God. It's not Christians. We are the people of God. We're the sons of Abraham. We can't get past that.

We have to watch what those attitudes might be in ourselves, not envy, but whatever it might be, that would make us resist the will of God and yield to him. Okay. Number 28. In response to their rejection of the Gospel message, Paul said, and it is quite a comment that he makes there in Acts 12, he says, It was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you, but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting time, we turn to the Gentiles.

You know, that's quite a message that Paul is saying. I don't know if the Jews ever really grasped the gravity of it. You know, if we judge ourselves unworthy of everlasting life by the attitudes we have or just resisting what God would have us do, you know, He will teach us all we need to do. It's our choice whether to follow or not. The Jews rejected it because of their own issues, and Paul gave that pretty significant statement to them. You know, they were judging themselves unworthy of everlasting life because until we completely yield to God and surrender to him and let him write his principles and way of life in our minds and hearts, you know, he's not going to grant.

He's not going to grant and give eternal life to those who show that they don't want to live the way that he wants to live. So, okay. Number 29. What three cities are... yeah, what three cities in what three cities... well, what three cities comprise the churches of Galatia, to which the book of the epistle of Galatians was written?

Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. What was the first one you said? Iconium? Yeah. Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. And those were the three. I think, are they there in chapter 13? Yeah.

Yeah. So, when we read the book of Galatians, we know, you know, we've become familiar with the people in these three cities. We see how God first brought Paul and Barnabas to those three cities where the churches started. So, when we read the book of Galatians, we can kind of identify with what happened to Paul and Barnabas in those three cities. It wasn't all good things.

It wasn't, you know, the people did receive him. Many were baptized, many believed. But there were some trying times for Paul, really trying times for Paul and Barnabas in those cities. And when we read the book of Galatians, you know, Paul's account and his letter to them, the people in Galatia, the Christians in Galatian knew what happened. And we can kind of understand to get a deeper understanding and empathy or understanding, I guess, of what Paul is writing to Galatians when we know what happened, you know, in those cities as those churches began. So, the Jews, the Jews in those three cities, Iconium, Lystra, and Derby, did they accept, readily accept the word of God along with the Gentiles? No. True or false? No. No? False. Everyone agree with that? No, I say true. Okay. Okay. When they readily accepted it, whoever said true, why would you, why do you think that? Well, I think they just accepted it, but they really didn't believe it. Okay. Okay. I can see that. Maybe initially, just like in the city before Antioch, right? They readily accepted it, but then they changed their mind. Okay. I can see that. If it goes back to a question 28, too, because if 28 is a quotation from Scripture, then we tend to contradict 30 being true. Okay. Okay. Because they initially, I mean, they might have initially thought, oh, that's true, but then they rejected it, right? So, I know when I put that question together, I was thinking, though, that, you know, they accepted it and they became part of the Christian Church, right? They were baptized, but they turned against it. But I can see where the way it's written that they initially, they might have initially, many of them, doesn't really indicate about those three churches, if I remember correctly, that the majority of Jews accepted it. But I can see where someone would say initially they accepted it, but understand that they did turn against. In fact, in that chapter, where it's talking about those cities, it'll talk about the Jews coming from other areas just to poison, just to poison the minds of even the Gentiles that were there against Paul.

They went, they took some pretty dramatic steps in order to turn people away from the truth. They just didn't want it to happen. And I remember specifically, people came, Jews came from Iconium over to Leister and Derby to turn people against Paul and Barnabas. So they didn't want, they didn't want the gospel there. So the Galatian church did have some Jews, but it did have primarily, well, I shouldn't even say that. It had, I guess, primarily Gentiles, by the way the Jews were, by the way, the Jews reacted. Any other discussion on that?

When you say that the Jews hardened their heart towards the message that maybe that when they heard it that they believed Paul's argument, they could see the Scriptures, they could understand and follow along, but then they hardened their heart against it because of their envy. I think that always was the thing with the Jews, right? They just couldn't, they couldn't let, I think you're right, Lynne. I think, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it. I think I understood that was Lynne's voice. I don't, I didn't see her name up there, but yeah, I think that's, I think that's what happened. They hardened their hearts against it after they initially heard it because it's just, no, we can't accept that we aren't God's people and that this other, you know, this new church is where God is working, so.

So is that true or false? I answered it false. The Jews did not readily accept the word of God, because they didn't continue in it. They might have initially been, they might have initially understood what Paul was saying, and part of this, they quickly turned against it and actually fought against it. Okay.

Okay.

Paul, Paul, you know, first question 31 there, you know, Paul will talk about in 2 Corinthians 11 about the number of times that he was meeting with Rods and all the all the persecution that he went through and he says one time, one time I was actually stoned. Anyone remember what city it was that Paul was stoned in? We read about it here.

Lystra. Iconium. Lystra. Iconia. Yeah. It was actually, it was actually Lystra, right? If we look at that. Yes. Lystra. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, 14. Yeah. Yeah. It says in verse, verse 19 of Acts 14, then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there. And having persecuted the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing him to be dead.

There were Jews from Iconium that came there to Lystra, but they stoned him. They stoned him in Lystra. Or Lystra, however you pronounce it.

Okay. Everyone agree with that? Yes. Some of these are just facts, not salvation issues necessarily. So, okay. Number 32.

Number 32. On that first missionary journey, Paul encountered much resistance and persecution from the Jews.

It might have been an eye-opener to Paul, you know? Just like it is an eye-opener to us sometimes. We learn the truth, and we go out to our friends, we go out to family members and tell them, look what the Bible says. This is the Sabbath day. This is what Jesus Christ taught. This is what he said we should do. And yet, you know, the church we've been in isn't a church.

It's a teaching us that. And people don't want to hear it. They don't like it. They might even say they don't want to talk to us anymore, right? So it might have been a surprise to Paul to see what the reaction that he received is. Paul encountered much resistance and persecution from the Jews as he returned to those cities. And the churches later, because you remember after he was stoned, he picked himself up when God gave him his life back. He went right back into Lystra, and then he went back to the cities that he was going to be in. As he returned to those cities and the churches later, drawing on his experience and teaching the disciples, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Yeah, words that were true then, words for us that are just as true for us today. We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. All those tribulations build our faith in God, and he knows that we are focused on him as we continue to march forward with those. Number 33, when Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch of Syria, what heresy about salvation was brought by some from Judea that caused much dissension and dispute? Yeah, and that simply was heresy. They were coming in saying, physical circumcision is necessary for salvation. That's heresy. That is not what the truth is. And so, what it caused there, you can understand if you put yourself in that time and place with Jews, that was always the identifying symbol for them. You know, that people would have to do that as well. And they knew from the Old Testament that if a stranger was going to become a Jew, they had to be circumcised.

So you can kind of see where they had to do that. It had to be a learning experience. That isn't what God intended, you know, as Gentiles or being called into it. Physical circumcision, how many people did we say? How many people? Was it a really good tool for the ancient Israelites to have physical circumcision? Did it really lend them to follow God and obey him with all their heart, mind, and soul?

No.

It was a physical sign, but it didn't really help anyone to stay close to God. Just like some of the other physical things that Israel did, that didn't let them become or lead them to become who God wanted to be.

Where besides the book of Romans does God say that his will is that we become circumcised apart?

The book of Romans says that in Romans 2.28 there's another book in the Bible that says that same thing twice. Remember where that is? That God's will is we become circumcised in the foreskin of our hearts and turn our hearts, minds, and souls to God? Is it James? James? I'm thinking of an Old Testament book.

Deuteronomy? Deuteronomy, yeah.

Twice in Deuteronomy, God says that. He knows what his will always was, even for ancient Israel. They never got it. But God used the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He says that back there in a couple places. I think Deuteronomy 11 is one of them. At least Deuteronomy 11 is one of them.

Deuteronomy 36.

About 30 verse 6? Very good.

Two places in Deuteronomy, that's what God's will always was. Ancient Israel never got to it.

In the New Testament times, God gives us his Holy Spirit so that we can become circumcised in heart and become who he wants us to become.

Okay, number 34. What was the primary reason the Jerusalem Conference of Acts 15 was called?

To discuss whether or not circumcision was necessary for the Gentiles to have salvation.

That was the primary reason. Some others will say there are other primary reasons that the law be done away with, for instance.

And while that was brought up by some of the primary reasons, is circumcision, physical circumcision necessary for the Gentiles?

We talked about some other things in that, and they never ever say that the law was done away with.

In fact, if you remember in Acts 15 verse 21, as they discuss it, they say, hey, Moses, remember Moses, the first five books of the Bible he's read?

He's read in all the synagogues. For many generations, go there. They didn't say don't pay attention to him, but go there and learn it, basically, is what they're telling the Gentiles.

That's where you learn the truth of God and the law of God.

But when the apostles, 35, so they had this big conference. Paul and Barnabas come down, they brought Titus with them, they brought some other people with them.

The Jews are all there. There's people from Jerusalem that are there, elders and other people. They all have their opinions on what needs to happen here because it's a big issue there.

The question 35 says, when the apostles from Jerusalem and the Gentile areas came together, they readily and quickly made their determination on this issue.

How?

How?

It is all. It talks about much dissension and much discipline. And that shows us it's okay. Sometimes we are going to have a difference of opinion, but we need to discuss it.

We don't need to run away. Sometimes people will have, they don't understand a verse or they don't do something. And then they just disappear from church and they don't call. They don't email.

It's like, you're not doing it. You may call. Let's talk about those things. God even says, Isaiah 1, let's reason together.

And here's a church. Here's this growing together. There's two different opinions on what should be done, but they came together and discussed it.

And they all had their opinions. There was dissension, there was dispute. And I think it was probably sharp dissension and dispute. That's okay. They were trying to come to the truth and all of them were there to grasp what the truth is.

And all of them had the Holy Spirit. And they came to the conclusion. Remember what it was? Who it was that stood up and then made some comments.

And you can see, oh, this is God's will. Remember what it was? Who it was that stood up and related? It's an event that we've already talked about today.

You know, to show that God's will is that He doesn't give the Holy Spirit to just those who are physically circumcised. But even without physical circumcision, He would grant the Holy Spirit.

Peter, are we calling back the gift of the Holy Spirit to Cornelius? Exactly. Exactly. So as He remembered that, the Holy Spirit brought to us, He says, oh, look, God gave the Holy Spirit to them. And then as they processed it, it's like, yes, of course. God isn't constrained to the physical circumcision.

And they were led into the truth. He goes to be bad. But the thing is that they came together and they talked. And the Holy Spirit was there and the Holy Spirit led them.

Let me skip question 37. Let's go to 38 since I'm kind of on that wavelength right now. It says, well, we can learn from the Jerusalem Council when all who participated had God's Holy Spirit.

But they came in with different views on the question at hand. When God's Holy Spirit is present, it results in unity.

Right. If there's continuing discord, some party isn't operating with the Holy Spirit. Where God's Spirit is and it's operating in both parties or all parties, unity will result. God's Spirit always results in unity.

The Spirit of Satan or resistance to God against God is going to lead to a divided house. It's going to lead to division and people separating. So we always remember that. We may come in when people might have a dispute. That's okay. I don't mind if someone comes to me and says, I don't get this verse or whatever. Sit down and talk about it. Let God lead us to what the conclusion is from his scriptures. That's where we go back to. This is the Word of God. It's not my idea or someone else's idea. It's God's idea that we're seeking and his way that we're seeking, not ours.

Okay. 37. The four things that the Jerusalem Council found on the Gentiles. Physical, what were the four things?

Things offered to idols, blood, strangled, and sexual immorality.

Those were hallmarks of the Gentile society. Even when we talked about it, when I was looking at those four things again, it says abstaining from things polluted by idols. Often, even the commentaries will talk about meats. Paul talks about meats in 2 Corinthians 8 as they dealt with that. But it's things polluted by idols.

The festivities that the pagans had, those were polluted by idols. They weren't just good, great times. People getting together, sharing a meal, whatever. They were polluted by idols. That's a message for us today, too, because we think that some things are okay. But if God says refrain abstain from things polluted by idols, we still have in our society things that go on in our workplaces, things that go on in our schools, things that go on that we might convince ourselves are okay. But they really are polluted by my idolatry and pagan things. We just need to be aware of that and think about that.

Anyone remember? I don't know if it specifically says it in the Bible. I looked that up, but something came up and I never finished it. How did God ordain? How did the Gentiles kill their meats? When they slaughtered cows, even cleaned meat, how did they do that? Is it a prevailing belief?

They must have slit the throat and drained the blood out. Okay, that was the way God would have it done, right? Slit the throat and the blood would drain out. That was how meat was prepared, that God says prepared. That way the blood completely drained out. But the Romans, it appeared, you know, they were more by strangulation. I don't even know today how most of the stockyards kill the meat and whatever.

But I remember reading years ago or hearing years ago that when meat is strangled, the animal is in stress, and so blood stays in its arteries or whatever and never completely drains out, even though they may drain it out. But when you slit its neck, there's absolutely no feeling. No feeling they have. No clue what goes on, and blood completely drains out. And so that's, you know, when it talks about strangulation here in chapter 15, that's what it's talking about. There is a way that God designed for animals to kill that did fulfill. So that's kind of what they were doing. That's kind of what that is talking about, because God says life is in the blood and that we shouldn't be eating it as some of the Gentiles did.

Okay. Who? Who accompanied? What were the two men? Okay, Jerusalem Conference. They meet. They come up with the determination on the question of circumcision. Hey Gentiles, you need to keep the law of God. God is saying yesterday, today, and forever, the same law for the stranger as well as the native born. Everyone keeps the same law of God. There's not two different sets of laws based on who we are and where we were when we joined the church. It's the same law for everyone that everyone keeps. And then they're taking the message back to the Gentile churches. So Paul and Barnabas go back to Antioch. Remember the names of the two prophets that went with them? Silas and Judas.

I remember it tells us that what they did there. Paul and Barnabas took it back. They were talking about what this letter meant and everything. But Silas and Judas, it says, they're in Acts 15 with many words. They explained what the corrupt conference meant and showed them from the Bible the wisdom and that. So they were there to preach and explain what the council had come up with as well. And finally, number 40 there. What was, as we end chapter 15 and the second missionary journey of Paul begins in chapter 16, what was the reason that part of us and Paul, after coming to unity in Jerusalem, what caused the dissension between them? A dispute over whether or not to take Mark with them. Which is kind of amazing. It shows us how things can enter in and disagreements can enter in. Yeah, when Barnabas wanted to take Paul, I think someone pointed out, when we were on that chapter, that Mark was actually related to Barnabas and Paul wanted to take Silas.

Apparently, the will of God was Paul and Silas going forward as we began in chapter 16 or as we went through chapter 16 and as we continue through. We don't read anything more about Barnabas. But we do see the gospel being spread throughout the Gentile areas with Paul. Paul, yeah. Okay, that concludes the discussion. You're going to go into the comments about idols and the string of nation versus blood. Because the humane way, I just looked it up real quick for the Slark that are approved is through the In today's packing facilities.

Is that what they do today, too? I don't know. Yeah, the animal is stunned and then they insert a knife into the thoracic cavity, which is neck. Okay, so they, you know, and then they say what that happens, the animal has absolutely no feeling, nothing. Yeah. So that's quite, quite humane is exactly the way that you expect God to do things. All right. Absolutely. Okay, so, okay, any questions, discussion? So we, you know, as we complete Chapter 15, we've gone through a notable, a notable thing with the Jerusalem Conference.

We see the, you know, we see what the doctrine is going forward. All's going to be preaching, right, and Silas and Timothy, as Timothy begins to, you know, a preacher of note as well, so. I guess we can, we can leave it there. But anything you wanted to discuss, anything that we talked about that people would like to expound more on, you can, you know, anyone can say anything they want, so. Yes, sir. The John Mark, was he the person who wrote the Gospel of Mark?

That's what we believe, yes. Interesting. Yeah. So I guess it ended on a good note, though, the whole dispute, because he wrote one of the Gospels. Barnabas, you know, Barnabas went back to Cyprus, Mark went with them, and, and yeah, there's, there's no reason to believe either one of them fell away.

They just, they just worked in their areas and did what they did there, both, you know, and Mark, Mark, yeah, he wrote. Yeah, they healed their, it's a grim because it says here that 15 years later, near the end of his life, Paul calls this same Mark a fellow worker for the kingdom of God in Colossians.

I guess they turn out to be friends anyway. Yep, probably Paul and Barnabas. Well, it was, it was God's will, right? Because with Paul and Silas, they, you know, they, they, they did the work, and God's will, you know, Barnabas go back to Cyprus and, and, and, and, and work there. And Mark did what he was going to do as well that maybe, you know, God, well, God works out everything. We just follow as well and let him, let him, let him just to lead.

Yes, he will. Bobby, did you, Bobby, did you have something I saw your light, light up so. Oh, no. I'm just gonna say hey to everybody. Okay. Well, let me say here we will we will know in Jacksonville, what are we doing this week Jacksonville just you know services that are 11 o'clock this this Sabbath in Orlando, it's going to be 230 the Sabbath, I'll be in both Jacksonville and Orlando the Sabbath and remember in Orlando we are going to have the memorial service from Bessie after services at a time that we will, we will, we will announce so 11 and 230 Jacksonville will give you a zoom link here that you can join Jacksonville services.

If you want, we will have the webcast from Orlando at 230. You do need that link, you know, if you go to Orlando.ucg.org you'll find the link if you want to join the live stream you can also go to YouTube.com you'll find the link at that website under the community tab or there's a little thing off to the right there that says join live stream so 230 or 210 or 220 you hit that little thing you can join live but for the meantime while we're working outside, we're getting closer to getting back to where we were before as we work through some of the issues that have come up not with any of our websites or whatever but just something that knew that showed up in our insurance policy this year that just needs to be dealt with.

That's what the issue is there. So, okay, anything, anything anyone else has anything else wants to talk about. Okay, well good we will. Good. Thank you for thank you for joining we will we will begin in act 17 next Wednesday. We'll see many of you this Sabbath. The rest of you have a very good week, the rest of the week a very good Saturday. We're going to see everyone next Wednesday. Okay.