Thessalonians, Part 1

Once again, good afternoon, brethren. And as I mentioned today, we're going to be covering Bible study introducing to us first Thessalonians as a form of introduction about Paul's early life and his trips and journeys and experiences to lead up to the situation or the environment that existed in the area of Thessalonians so that then he wrote a letter. So it gives us a bit of a background, of historical background, of Paul's life and therefore introduces Thessalonians that way. So if we backtrack a bit, Jesus Christ, when he came to earth, in flesh and blood, he first called and chose 12 apostles and they were individually trained by Christ for three and a half years. And the focus was mainly at that time to go to Israel. Obviously, Christ and God as always had in mind will go to Israel and to the Gentiles, but first start from Israel and then spread out to the rest of the nations. Now, the question is, that I have, the first question to the Bible study is, who did God convert and to preach the gospel to the Gentiles? Who was the person that Christ, that God, specifically converted with that as a main mission? And when? And the answer to that is probably quite easy.

You probably have already thought of it in your mind, which is Paul. But when was he set apart to do this role? Maybe it's a thing that we haven't thought about it. When was he set apart to do this role? So maybe you want to think about it and after a scripture, which indicates that when he was set apart to do that role.

So maybe mentally you want to think about or you want to comment on it, which you welcome.

But the scripture I have is Galatians chapter one.

Galatians chapter one, verses 15 and 16.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace. So through the scripture, we have a fairly good indication that God actually chose Paul for this for this mission before he was actually born.

It doesn't exactly say that, but it gives an indication that it could well have been that. And it says, separated me from my mother's womb, he was set aside from my mother's womb and called me through his grace. So it does appear that he has actually called God selected him at that moment to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. So that's an interesting... Can we think of two other people that God selected from the womb, which is also specifically written so in the Bible?

Yes?

Right. David.

Okay, so David, because he said that in the Bible, that from his mother's womb, there's two other people that I was thinking of, Jeremiah and John the Baptist.

Those are very clear for sure as well, so very good. Now, the question I have is, how was he, that's Paul, how was he specially trained for this job?

Now it says, yeah, we were reading, yeah, really says, yeah, in verse 16 in Galatians says, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.

So that gives you a good hint of some of his training, but God trained Paul through a number of ways. First, he was a Benjamite.

Did we know he was a Benjamite? Who else was a Benjamite? Can we remember who else was a Benjamite? The first?

Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul was a Benjamite. Now, to back up that, let's look at Philippians.

Philippians chapter 3 verse 5. Philippians 3 verse 5.

Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law, a Pharisee. So he was a Benjamite, same as the first king of Israel, and he was very educated in the Hebrew knowledge, the law, the Pharisaical principles. He was really very grounded in that information. So that was important for him to do that job, because there was going to be a lot of persecution against the church from the Pharisees. So we needed somebody that could think like them to combat those pressures that they were going to have. So God, therefore, prepared him. But he was born in an area. Can you remember where he was born? Let's look in Acts 9 verse 11.

Acts 9 verse 11. Where was he raised up, basically? He says, And the Lord said to him, and this was Christ speaking to Ananias, and said, Arise, and go to the street called Straite, and inquire at the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. So he came, originated from Tarsus, which is an area in the very southern part of what is today Turkey, in the very southern part of Turkey bordering with Syria. So right there on that corner there. And Tarsus was an educational and commercial center. So it's like a big business area, and a very educational area. In other words, they had advanced universities for that time, you know, advanced education areas. And therefore, he was educated in an area which had a lot of the Greek philosophies, and the teaching of the Greeks. So he knew the Greek philosophies, and the way the Greeks thought, you know, was the Gentiles thought, because he was educated there. And he had then, later, as we'll see, education with Gamaliel, and at the feet of Gamaliel. So he was very educated in the Hebrew area. Another example here of where he was born is in Acts 22, 25-28. Acts 22nd chapter.

Acts 22nd chapter, 25-28.

It says, and as they bound him with phones, Paul said to St. Jude and who stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned? Well, he knew very well. He was a Roman citizen, as you will see, and he knew very well the Roman law. And he would just say, hey, you can't do that to me. He kind of put him a question that made the other one kind of think about it. And when St. Jude and heard that, he went and told the commander saying, take care of what you do, for this man is a Roman. Then the commander came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman? He said, yes, I am. Now, at that time, people could buy citizenship. In other words, you could become a naturalized Roman citizen. Like today, you can become a naturalized American citizen. It's a thing that one of these days I'm considering. I was born in Africa. I'm of Portuguese descent, but living here makes sense. So I can actually naturalize myself as an American citizen, living here a certain number of years. So he said, with a large sum, obtain the citizenship. In those days, it was not a process, but it was like a bribe. You know, it was a big sum of money that they had to pay to be. And Paul said, but that's not my case.

I was born a citizen. He was born in that. He was a natural citizen of that area. So it could have been, for instance, that one of his ancestors, maybe a father or grandfather or somebody, had done a great deed for the Romans. And because of that, they had granted that person the Roman citizenship. And therefore, Paul was born in the Roman province. And by birth, he was Roman. So he didn't have to pay for it. He didn't have to bribe anybody. He was Roman. So he had, because of that, he had the capability of the education he had, which was a Greek-type education, to speak Greek. He obviously spoke Hebrew. And because he was in another Roman environment, Romans were Latin. They spoke Latin. And a lot of the people in Palestine, in the Israelites area at that moment, the common spoken language was Aramaic. So he probably spoke four languages. So he was very well educated. He could speak different languages. And therefore, very well suited the way God trained him to actually for that role. So right from birth, God created situations. So now we can see why is it right from birth, because there was a man that would be born in that town, would be a Roman. Therefore, God selected him right from the womb. You can see all these pieces fitting together. It makes sense. And then obviously he had one of the best psychopsycho-educations. Look in Acts 22 verse 3. Acts 22 verse 3. It says, it says, I mean, neither Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in the city. You know, was he then emigrated? Let's call it that. He went to that city in Israel at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our Father's law, and was zealous towards God, as you all are today. So he was zealous towards God. He was always zealous towards God, but he zealed was misdirected, but he was zealous towards God. As a Pharisee, even Paul talks in Romans, I think it's Romans 10 and 11, how these people are zealous for God, but they're just misdirected. It's like today, a lot of the Jewish devout Jewish people are very zealous for God, but God just hasn't called them, hasn't opened their minds. And even today, there's many devout called Christians. They devout, they sincere. As the Muslim strong used to say, they sincere, but they sincerely wrong, because God hasn't called them yet. So when God calls them, those minds will just be, receive the calling with great joy, and because they are devout, they are dedicated people, they just don't have the understanding. And therefore, it's a lesson for us to treat everybody, even those that are not in the Church, in good respect, even though they may have the wrong knowledge, because God hasn't shown them the truth, but they try within what they know. And once God calls them, they'll respond the right way. I'm not saying everybody's doing, because if you don't know the truth, you don't know God's laws, you don't know the commandments, you're just sinning, and sometimes not even knowing that you're sinning. And a lot of ministers out there in the world don't teach people about consequences of sin and things like that. So people are suffering because of lack of knowledge. Like one of the Old Testament prophets, my people suffer because of lack of knowledge. And so how we treat other people, even though they're not in the Church, it is important to treat people with respect and with kindness, because they deserve that. And that's what godliness is all about, treat everybody in a godly way. Okay, I've got another question here.

We know that he was very devout, Paul, as a devout man, as a devout religious person, that he persecuted Christians. His devotion, as I said, was misdirected. And that misdirection, in that misdirection, he persecuted Christians. Can you think of some examples when he did that?

One that comes to one's mind is the example of Stephen. Remember when Stephen was stoned? Let's look at that example. Acts 7, Acts 7, verse 57 and 58.

And when they cried out with a loud voice, stopped the ears, and ran a team with one accord, and they cost him out of the city, and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. So they were stoning Stephen, and as we know, a little later, they actually, we see in the next verse that, okay, let's read it. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now, this is an interesting one. Stephen prayed. Who did he pray to? Did he pray to God the Father?

Or did he pray to Lord Jesus? That's an interesting one. So, and he said, receive my spirit. Very similar to when Christ was, before he was dying, he said, God, you know, and take my spirit. But he also said, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. And that's, he has an attitude that Stephen also had, because he can see that in verse 60. Then in Eltham and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. He understood that these people were just being deceived by Satan. They were devout. They were thinking they were doing God a service. But you can never do God a service by killing, for one. They should know that better. But they were thinking they were doing God a service because of the Jewish law. And they felt that he Stephen was blaspheming, saying things against God. And therefore he deserved to be stoned. So, and when he said this, he fell asleep. So he is an example that when, when Stephen was stoned, that Paul consented. Now, continue reading in the next chapter, verses 1, 2, and 3. Now, Saul was consenting to his death.

But not only that. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And the devout man carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentations over him. As for Saul, this is who became Paul, as for Paul, he made havoc of the church. He made havoc entering every house. Look at it. He knew where the Christians were. He knew where they lived. He actually entered into their homes unauthorized. He went to their homes without authority and got into their homes and dragging them, dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. He went to their homes. He knew where they lived. And they opened the door and he dragged the people to jail. Now imagine this man that has been doing that. And you know that he's there. He did that 10 years ago and he comes and speaks to Asia. And some of our relatives were taken to jail or killed. And he comes and speaks to us today. How would we accept him? Now you can see the dilemma that was confronting, obviously, the Christians which were in Jerusalem when Paul was converted. That's why he was not accepted in Jerusalem. And then that's how God sent him to the Gentiles. Because in Jerusalem, just he could teach them. Because you could force the people. There was too much soul, too much pain with that that mandate. It's kind of, you can see. On the other side, you can see the problem that Paul had afterwards with a guilty conscience. Sure, he's forgiven, but he knows he knew that because of that. He had to suffer. He had to suffer. He had to prove his commitment not just to God, but to the other Christians through suffering that he was committed to that way. I'm just giving you this background to actually help you to understand Paul's situation a little clearer. Look at another example in chapter 9 verse 1.

This was Paul now going to Damascus to do the same thing in other areas outside of Jerusalem. And God stopped him at that moment. That's when he was, became blind. It got stopped so that he would not do this in other areas. Because otherwise, it will find very difficult to do the work to the Gentiles if he was going on. So God stopped him right there. But he says, then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. But look at him. He was breathing threats of murder. Wow! It's just, you know, you can become so devout that you actually swing all the other way in the pendulum, that you actually threats of murder, having this deep hatred for the way. It's a lesson to all of us to see how some people can be so committed and dedicated to their cause, as they perceive it, that in that commitment, they actually swing in a way that is just totally ungodly. Threats and murder is clearly not God's way. So we can see how he got there. And then another example I have is in Acts 26, towards the end of the book, Acts 26, verse 9 to 11. 26, 9 to 11. And then he was describing his earlier life. This is Paul actually kind of giving his autobiography, in a sense. And he said, indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints are shut up in prison. He put a lot of people in jail, having received authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death, then when they, there were people actually killed. I cast my vote against them. In other words, when the way people saying, shall we kill them or not, he voted for them to be killed.

And I punished them in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. They were running away and they were chasing them. He was a man with obviously a lot of commitment to the cause.

And God saw if he changes that and makes him see the right cause. He had the right training, he had been called. God allowed that devotion to go the wrong way. And then God brought him back and said, this is the way. And when he saw it, he was very committed. But he was not trained by Christ at that, until that time. After that he was, because we saw earlier on that he said, I was not taught by flesh and blood. And he was then taught. And we'll go into that into another question in a moment. Paul actually tried to destroy God's church, putting it another way. And in fact, he says that in Galatians. Let's look at that in Galatians.

Galatians 1, verse 13 and 14.

Galatians 1, 13 and 14. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure. I mean, really, he went over and beyond. Let's call it whatever the call of duty would have been, if that's such a thing. But anyway, he persecuted beyond measure. And I tried to destroy it. I tried to destroy God's church. And advancing Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, I was really, I knew the stuff, as far as a Pharisee, as far as Judaism, I knew it like the back of my hand. That's what he's saying. I knew all the arguments. And that's why when he became, and God called him, and God changed his mind, he could debate those people with all the knowledge, because he had been studied as, he had studied as in a Roman area, in Tarsus, all the Greek stuff, and he learned all the pharacycho stuff. So he knew both of those areas that would be attacking the church, you know, the Gentiles with paganism, and the Pharisees with their Judaism inclinations against Christ. So he knew the arguments, and that's what the Gentile church would be confronted with. The Gentile church was going to be confronted with two, from two fronts. Think about it. Gentile church was going to be confronted from two fronts. Front number one is going to be, you know, it's going to be attacked from the left and from the right. You know, it's kind of, those Gentile Christians had attacked from both sides. From the left was the Jewish saying, hey, you have to go all the way. To be saved, you have to go all the way. In other words, all the sacrificial, circumcision, all that stuff. That was the pressure from the Jews, all that way. From the Gentiles, they had all the false doctrines of Gentiles, and the pressure of Gnosticism, and all those stuff coming in. So Paul had to combat both things. So often, when he went into a church area, he had both issues to address. That's why Phoristas in the Book of Galatians, we're not covering today the Book of Galatians, but I'm just saying at Phoristas, he covers both areas. So in the letter, sometimes he attacks that issue, and sometimes he attacks the other, and that's why people get confused, because he was defending Christianity against two fronts simultaneously. The Greek philosophy, paganism, Greek philosophy, Gnosticism coming in from one side, and from the other side, the Jewish pressure of sacrifices. You've got to be justified through sacrifices and that stuff. So he had those two fronts to combat all the time, and he was ideally trained from his youth, from the womb, by God, by circumstances that God put him in. He was ideally trained to combat that. So can you see how his early life did that?

Okay, so we see he had this training. He knew the Greek philosophy, he knew the phatocycle, he was really committed in that, so he really knew this like the back of his hand.

So then God calls him. Now God calls him about 35 AD, which is Christ died about 31 AD, so about three, four years after Christ died. So 35 AD. Let's look at that in Acts 9, Acts 9, verse 3 to 6.

Acts 9, verse 3 to 6.

So this is when he was journeying to Damascus. We were in this section a little earlier on.

And as he came near Damascus, suddenly a light shone around him from heaven, and then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Now he realized he was now confronting God himself.

So he confronted, he realizes God was confronting himself, because he says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And then he says, eternal, I mean the Jews, where they said, he said, Lord, probably it was in his language that he felt more comfortable to talk to God, probably in Hebrew, and he probably, we don't know, but I'm just assuming, yeah, we said Yahweh, you know, what, Y-H-W-H, we don't know exactly how to state that word, but it's possible to say God, eternal, eternal God, he says, who are you, God? In other words, you say I'm persecuting you, I'm not persecuting you, I'm at the fault, Jew, Hebrew, I'm at the fault, so I'm not persecuting you, who are you that you say I'm persecuting you? How is that possible? Because I am committed to God, I'm committed to you, God, and you say I'm persecuting you, I'm not persecuting you, I'm doing everything to support your law and your principles, I'm fully committed to you, so who are you to say I'm persecuting you? Can you see the question that he was asking? And then, then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting, and it hit him like a ton of bricks. Can you imagine? He was thinking Jesus was quote unquote a fake, not God. Now God is confronting him and he says you are persecuting me, but who are you? And he says I'm Jesus, and now he hits him like a ton of bricks between eyes that he actually has been persecuting God. And then Christ said, is it hard for you to kick against the goats? Is it hard for you to kick against the pricks, as another translation has, or is it hard for you to keep hammering your head against a rock? I mean, it's hard. It says you're trying to break something that can't be broken, because this is God's work. You can't fight it. So he then realized, he then realized he was doing a great evil. He then feared, he then feared and said, Lord, what do you want me to do? God, I'm wrong. And so he trembling and astonished, said, God, what do you want me to do? He then realized, I mean, when God opens your mind, it's just like this, and that's what it is. At that moment, he realized all his work was in the wrong direction. Yes, he was committed to God, but he was misdirected, and he realized when he was actually going wrong. And he said, what do you want me to do?

And then the Lord said to him, arise, go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

Now, go and think about it, and I'll tell you. Just, you will hear it. Just go. So he had to, as we know, he got blinded, and he had to sit and meditate and think about his life for about three days, and look at himself, do a very introspective analysis of himself, a very deep repentance that he had to, until the time came, and he was told what to do. And, and yeah, his mission or his commission is given. Now, my question is, what do you think was Paul's commission? And yeah, go to the Gentiles. Well, let's read his commission. Let's read his commission. It's in verses 15 and 16 of the same chapter. And the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine.

In other words, he's a chosen person that God is using as a vessel, as a tool of his, to do what? To bear my name before the Gentiles. Yes, but is that all? That's his mission number one. First job, first job he had to do is, it says, to bear my name before the Gentiles. And yes, we have record of that, that he did that. After that, what was his second job? To kings. And we know that then he went and preached to kings and he went to Rome. At the end of Acts, we know he went to Rome and then he was in Rome as a prisoner. And he spoke there. And what is his third commission? And the children of Israel.

That, we believe it happened after he was released from Rome temporarily at the end of Acts. And then he went to other nations of Israel, maybe even to Spain and to other areas in Europe where the Israelites were spread out to preach the Gospel. We don't have record of that in the Bible. We'll probably get that record in the world tomorrow when God clearly explains to us what and Paul, what he did. But he went to the Israelites as a third and then he came back and then he was killed. But there is a gap in after the book of Acts and after he went to kings that he went to Israel. That there are a few choices. You can do a bit of research yourself, but some of those things we don't know for sure. It's little bits of historical writings and some people say that he went to Spain. Some people say he went to other areas, whatever. But he did go to the lost tribes of Israel. So he did that as well. So he had a three-fold commission, which I think quite often we don't think. But, verse 16, but to do that he says, I will show him, this is God talking to Ananias and telling him, Ananias, what he's going to tell Paul, for I will show him, I'll show Paul, how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And you can see why he had to suffer. Because of what he did against the Christians. And therefore, suffering for him was like a card of credibility to give him credibility in front of others. Because otherwise, he would have no credibility because of what he did in the past.

All right, so what we've seen so far, you got specially trained him for this job. We've seen his conversion in his commission. Now he had to be trained on what? He had the Greek training of the Greek philosophies, etc. He had all the Judaism training. But what training did they not have? The truth. The truth, exactly.

Correct. So the truth, the teachings of Christ, first-hand teachings of Christ, which basically is the gospel, that he had to get the true understanding of the gospel, the truth, the true understanding of the gospel of the kingdom. Because it was not clear to the Jews exactly what true understanding of the gospel of the kingdom. So he had to get that training.

Who taught Paul that? Who gave Paul that training?

Was it Peter? Was it John?

Correct. Paul was taught three and a half years by Christ. Okay, very good. So let's look at that in Galatians 1, verse 11 through 18. Galatians 1. 1, verse 11 through 18.

Galatians 1, verse 11 through 18 says, But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel, it was the true gospel, very important, the truth about the good news of the kingdom of God, which is the good news that Christ brought us, which was preached by me, is not according to man. I didn't hear it from man. Neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. As Cliff was mentioning, Mr. Adams was saying a moment ago, Christ himself taught him. Christ taught him personally. And continuing in verse 13, For you, a word of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, advanced in Judaism, we read this before, but verse 15, But when we it pleased God, who had separated me from the mother's womb and called me through his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. In other words, when he was called and the truth came to him, he did not go to man or woman, to physical human beings, nor did I go to Jerusalem. To those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem. That's where we get that he went there for a period, which we think about three and a half years or whatever. Okay? But Christ taught him personally, because Christ taught the other apostles during Christ's own presence on earth. We believe that Christ taught him while he went to Arabia for a period, because either not, he was not taught by flesh and blood, but he was taught through the revelation of Jesus Christ himself. So Christ revealed it to him, as we read in verse 12.

Now, so the gospel needed to be preached to the Gentiles, and we know that it was Paul's mission to go and preach it to the Gentiles. The question I have now is, through whom did God open the door for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles? Was it through Paul?

Through whom did God open the door for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles? Because was it through Paul? It was through Peter. Peter. Very good. It was through Peter. Why? Because Paul had, quote-unquote, no credibility with the Christians at that time. So it needed to be through one of the apostles that had been with Christ, and therefore it was through Peter. And we can read that in Acts 10. And in fact, that was done after Paul's conversion, about seven years after Paul's conversion, about 42 A.D.

Acts 10, that's the story of Peter and Cornelius. We're not going to read Acts 10. We're going to read Acts 11. But Acts 10 is the section where you can read about that happening. And you might just want to glance through there briefly in your Bible, Acts 10. And you'll remember about the story of Cornelius. And you'll remember about the story of Peter's vision, where he saw these unclean animals. And he had this dream of the unclean animals.

And he said, no, Lord, I can't eat unclean things. And then we have Yah in Acts 11, verse 18, after Peter seeing the Cornelius family and seeing God's spirit being given to the Cornelius family. And this is an example where where the Holy Spirit went upon them before they were baptized. And he said, why? Because the Holy Spirit should come after your baptism.

But now the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius' house before we were baptized. Why? Because through they receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter then realized, ha, this is what the dream is all about. That's why God, in this instance, brought the Holy Spirit before baptism to actually bring Peter a lesson to support the vision that he had seen. And therefore, in Acts 11, verse 18, Peter is now describing this situation, this event to other people. And then we break in in the middle of his discourse, where he's explaining it.

He says, and when they heard these things, they became silent, as he was explaining, and they saw what God was doing to the Gentiles. And they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.

The Christians were taught by Peter about the experience that Peter had. In other words, he came back to the church and he gave announcements. And in the announcement sessions, he explained what had happened. And the people then said, God is showing repentance, the way to eternal life, not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well, through Peter, which was a leader that they respected. So God opened the door of the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles through Peter.

And that opened the door to Paul's mission. Paul had now been called, and yes, they knew that Paul was to go to the Gentiles. But it hadn't sunk him seven years later. You see, so Paul had already been trained.

He had already had this training in Arabia. You see, God does everything, kind of lines everything up in the right way. And we can't even see what he's doing. Yeah, we kind of, in the back of his mind, well, Paul is going to go to the Gentiles. Ha, ha, ha. Kind of. But it doesn't sink him. Then Peter has this dream seven years later.

He still doesn't get the message. Then the dream has to be followed with the situation in Cornelius's house. Then has to happen that they get to spirit before they are baptized. Bing! The penny drops. Suddenly, ooh! Light in your brain comes in. Tling, tling! I see it! It's like eating the jackpot or something like that, you know. You see it, and then Peter goes and tells the brethren through, you know, when he goes there, and like we do today, give announcements and tell them about the trip and what happened, and they are all joyous because they see, ha, ha, then God is also granted to the Gentiles repentance.

All along, even in Old Testament, it says, you know, you'll go to the Gentiles, but it's never really the penny dropped. So finally, they saw it. Now, with that, now we have the door, open for Paul's first missionary trip.

See, now, kind of the church, etc., the apostles know that Paul is the one to go on that trip, and so the door is now opened for the first missionary trip because he could not really preach in Jerusalem, and I'm not going to go into those details because you can see when he went to Jerusalem, there was just havoc. He couldn't do there because the people did not accept him, because, hey, you've been killing my brother, my uncle, my cousin that is in the church, we don't want you here. So, so he left back to Antioch, where he was basically based, away from Jerusalem. But then, with all this happening, and this thing for, with, in Cornelius, was in AD 42, then three years later, see, things take time. It's not like that, and the next day Paul went on the three years later, the Paul's first missionary trip started, which in fact was 10 years after he was converted. After he, on the way to Damascus, and he was blinded, and all that, it was 10 years took before he was actually used by God to do the job. He was trained, he was sickled, the apostles knew, the church knew that the work had to be done, but it took time. It took 10 years. And sometimes we getting patient, why isn't the church doing this, that, that, now, now? You know, we just have to be patient, and God does things in his own time.

And it's encouraging to go through these things for us to see how God works, and to remind ourselves how God works. So now, Paul was ready for the first trip. So we're going to go now to two pages ahead from where we are now in Acts 11, one or two pages, or at least two chapters ahead, to Acts 13. Acts 13 verse 1 to 5. Because now they're ready for the first missionary trip into where? Into the area where today is called Turkey, southern Turkey. Into the area which was at that time called Galatia. He went into the Galatian area. The first trip was to go to the Galatian area. Now, I want you to keep a finger there, and maybe at the back of your Bible, if you have, at the back of your Bible, you've got some maps. So if you have a map, or if maybe your spouse or somebody next to you has a map, look at it. But you can see that the first trip, they went from Antioch. They went on to Cyprus, which is an island, and then from Cyprus they went north into Turkey. And then they came around the mountains through the central area of Turkey. They went into Antioch of Sidia, where different Antioch. There's two Antiochs, so it's always confusing. So let me repeat again from the beginning. He first was sitting in Antioch, which is his own base, and then he went to Cyprus, and then he went, sailed north into the bottom part there of Turkey, into Perga, and those areas. And then he went to the other Antioch, which is an Antioch in the area of Galatians, the Galatians area. And then from there he went into Lystra, Iconium, Lystra, and Derby, and then he backtracked all the way back to the same harbor or port where he had landed, and from there took a boat back to Antioch. That was his first trip. His basically first trip was, first he went to Cyprus, and from Cyprus he went into the Galatian area, into the central, southern central area of Turkey today, into the Galatian, it's called the Galatian area.

Okay, understanding that bit of geography there and where the trip was, who were the three mentioned that started that first mission, missionary trip? Can you remember, can you quote three? Okay, one is Paul, and who are the other two? Can you remember that went with Paul? Barnabas, yes, and Mark, Mark, John Mark, Mark. All right, so let's read that in Acts 13, verse 1 to 5. Now in the church there was, there was in Antioch, we saw that there was certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas Simon, who was also called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Mayan, who had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch, and Saul, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted, and the Holy Spirit, you know, they were inspired through the Holy Spirit, separated to me Barnabas and Saul, to the work, for the work to which I have called. And then having fasted and prayed, laid hands on them, and they sent them away. And so they sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went out down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus, and when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues to the Jews, and they also had John as their assistance. And this is John Mark, also known as Mark. So that's the beginning of the Galatian trip.

Now, we can see at that time, it says, separated Barnabas and Saul, the lead person there, at that time, was Barnabas. So they were in Cyprus, and then you can read here in Cyprus that there was a false prophet, a so-called poor Jesus, okay, that was giving them trouble.

And then we can see there was an event there that caused Paul to become the leader. What was that event? What was that situation? Because God shows leaders, leaderships and things through circumstances, and so there was a circumstance here that was developing, and in that circumstance, we can see Saul had the guts to do something that others did not do. It was he had the leadership, you know, to a leader is one that walks in front. So he had the strength of character through his training to stand up because he was a man of a very devout, and whenever he was stuck to something, he just went all the way. He was proof of that when he was under the Jewish stuff, as we saw. So he stood up very powerfully, and he knew that, you know, he had training from Jesus himself. He had miracles happen to him, so he was very convinced of the way, and so he stood up with absolute confidence, no doubt, and look here, starting in, we can see there in verse 9, then Paul was also called, I mean, beg your pardon, Saul, was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intent at this man, at this false prophet, this, about Jesus, which was also called Elimas, and said, oh, full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil. I mean, it takes courage when you stand in front of somebody and say, you son of Satan, you son of, you, I mean, when you stand in front of another man, that is, it takes quite a carry, and therefore he showed a lot of courage, full of the Holy Spirit. And he said, you enemy of all righteousness, you will not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord. And so he stood up and he told him where to go, quote unquote, in our modern terminology, told him what was his, where he should be placed. And therefore, after this, when they sign out, look here in verse 13. Verse 13. Now when Paul and his party, you see, it's no more Barnabas and Paul. It's now Paul and his party. He now became, amongst that group of people, the leader. So that was still in Cyprus. And they came to Perga, we know was into that southern area of Turkey, and where they went. And then verse 14, they came to Antioch, in Psydia, and there, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So we're keeping the Sabbath. They were keeping Sabbath all along, because if you read these books, and you read the book of Acts at the same time, when I say you read these books, I mean you read Thessalonians, you read Galatians, and you read the book of Acts at the same time, you can see he was going and doing these things on the Sabbath, all the time on the Sabbath. So when people say, well, these books say, well, you don't have to keep the Sabbath, hogwash, you know, because he was doing it. We can read in the book of Acts, he was doing it on the Sabbath. So clearly, when people say those things, they're not really having the full understanding of the scriptures. All right, so from there he went into Galatia.

Now, as you can see, he first went to the synagogues. So he was still first going to the Jews. Now, what event led Paul to focus on the Gentiles? Because you see, now he was going on the first missionary trip into a Gentile area, but the thinking of the church in general was, we got into the Gentile area to talk to the dispersed Israelites, you know, the lost ten tribes of Israel, because they were dispersed in all that area, and they would go to the Ammon because they were some Jews, they would go to the synagogues, and from there they go to the dispersed Israelites that would come to the synagogues and meet the people there, you know. So what made him go to the Gentiles? Let's look at that event that made him go to Gentiles. The same chapter, chapter 13 of Acts, verse 38 and 39. And therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man he preached to you the forgiveness of sins. So he was there in the synagogue, he was telling them through this man, that's Jesus, he preached to you the forgiveness of sins. So he's telling them that we are forgiven through Christ's sacrifice. That's what he's saying. And by him, everyone who believes is Jesus, everyone who believes is Jesus, everyone who is justified. So the whole issue here is that we are made, we are justified. What does justified mean? What does it mean to be justified? If somebody asks you that, are you able to answer in very simple language what does it mean? Well, the simple way is to be just before God. To be justified is to be just in front of God. In other words, in front of God, you have no sin. For you to be just before God, that means in front of God you have no sin. Now, for you to be in front of God without sin, that means your sins are forgiven. So to be justified before God means to have your sins forgiven. Very simple way of explaining a quote-unquote religious term. Very simple way. So it says, and by Him everyone who believes is justified. Now, remember I may have mentioned this before, but every time you see the word in the Bible, believe, read behind it, does, acts, action.

And the example I always like to give is the following. I remember my children when they were small. I put them on top of a counter and say, jump to daddy. Jump, jump. If they jump, it means that they believed that I was going to catch them. If they didn't jump, it's because they didn't believe I was going to catch them. I'm going to fall if they're not on the floor. So the mere fact that they believed it led to action. So belief means do. That means you trust in what that person says, and therefore you do what that person says.

So belief means doing. So whenever you read in the Bible, all you need to do is believe, yes. But to believe, you need to prove it by actions, by doing it, by following and listening to what that person says to do. So it says, yeah, and by him everyone who believes, and therefore if we believe Christ, we're going to do what Christ tells us what to do, is justified. In other words, the sins are forgiven. They are right before God, from all things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Wow! Don't tell the Jewish people in that environment that, because that's like putting a red flag in front of a bull. Well, they say bulls are actually colorblind, so I don't know. So I don't know. They see the movement, you know. But anyway, it's just, it's the movement. That's why I went, I don't know if you've ever seen a bull fight.

I've seen being Portuguese. The Portuguese bull fights are different than the Spanish bull fights, by the way. The Portuguese don't kill the bull in the ring. The Spanish kill the bull in the ring. But anyway, that does not mean that it's a nice act, anyway. But anyway, what I'm saying is, if you feel uncomfortable about it, don't go and see it, because it is a gory thing. But anyway, that aside, what causes the bull to go to them is the movement. And a bull fight, they move the rag in front, and that movement causes them to go to where the movement is.

It's not the color of the rag. Color rag is dramatic, you know. And then the bull fighter moves to the side and got the rag on the side and shakes the rag. The bull is going to the side the movement causes them to go to that that cloth, that rag. But what I'm saying is, telling the Jews that they're not justified by the law of Moses, it's like that moving rag to them says, whoa what do you mean?

This is a changing doctrine. And can't accept this changing doctrine. This is new doctrine. Can't accept. And yeah, it was for them a new understanding. And therefore, there were these problems from the Jews because they believed that they were forgiven by the sacrifices, by the ritual ceremonial laws, which are the sacrifices. They were made just by the sacrifices. Therefore, they had to sacrifice, go to the temple and sacrifice. And yes, the law said that you had to go to temple and sacrifice.

Yeah, they could go to the Bible and say, there it is, sacrifice. You've got to do, you've done this sin, go there and offer this sacrifice. And you've done that sin, you've got to do this sacrifice. You've got to do this in the morning or do this at night. You've got to do this on the new moon. You've got to do the sacrifices on the holy days. You've got to do the sacrifice at the beginning of the month. This and that, the beginning of the week, at the beginning, when the sun rises, when the sun sets, whatever, you had all these sacrifices.

So, this was ingrained to them. But these were only a shadow of the reality. What is the reality? The reality is Christ's sacrifice. These were only a shadow, you know, was they only pointed to Christ. Christ is the real sacrifice. These are like sacrifices which are just educational to point to the real sacrifice, which is Christ. So, this law was a tutor, was an education system to educate them that they needed a sacrifice and the real sacrifice they needed was Christ. And what Paul is saying, it's not the sacrifices that you're doing by the law that are going to make you right, it's the real sacrifice that is actually going to make you right, which is Christ.

But for them, this was a new doctrine. Verse 42, And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sunday. Is that what the Bible says? No, the Gentiles, not the Jews, the Gentiles begged them to be taught this the next Sabbath. Now, now imagine that you are the creme de la creme, the elite.

By that, I mean a little bit cynical, but I don't mean that you are, but I'm just saying the Jews saw themselves as being the chosen ones, the chosen people, the chosen nation. They saw themselves better than others. Now you had these Gentiles saying, hey, come and tell us more. And this whole Gentiles, and you can see later on, there's a multitude.

There's multitudes. People say, hey, we want to hear more of this. How did the Jews feel? Jealous, envy. So verse 44, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city, I imagine, you go to Lexington, okay, maybe it's the smallest city, but you go to Lexington, and you go there, and almost the whole city, I mean, it's a crowd.

I mean, you had this little meeting with the synagogue and a few of the people, and the Jews that are better than everybody else, and they heard, and they had the whole week to talk, and he must come and listen to the sky, man, you go, go, go, and this whole, the whole, almost says, it says, almost the whole city, I mean, whatever, was a crowd, was a, wow, came together to hear the word of God.

When the Jews saw the multitudes, and when they saw this crowd, they were filled with envy, and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.

And then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you reject it, and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. And so this was in Antioch of Psegia, which is an area in Galatia.

So there were, and you will see later on, this is an area in Galatia. In Galatia, many Jews became converted, but even more Gentiles. And this was a revolution in the way that that's why this is the beginning of the church. God was endowing them with a lot of power and miracles. The power of the Holy Spirit, dunamis, which is power to do miracles. And this is to build, to start up the church. But again, these people brought a lot of paganism with them. But the church was starting, and this was it. So the church was growing numbers in bounds, but people were bringing in wrong ideas and from the Jewish side, and they were bringing in wrong ideas from the Gentile side into the church. But the church was growing, but the doors were open, and all these people coming in, but they brought in their own baggage with them. But they were coming into the church. So that's the situation we see, how the church was starting at that time. It is important for us to understand this, what was happening. And so this became a big issue, because the Jews were saying, this justification, just by Christ alone, is not enough. You still got to do the sacrifices. Maybe Christ is okay, but you've got to do the sacrifices. You can't let the sacrifices go. And amongst one of them, not part of the sacrifice, but amongst them, you get all these Gentiles coming in, and they haven't been circumcised. This is a big problem now, and this whole thing became a big issue. It became such a big issue that it led to a conference after this trip. When they came back, it became such a big issue that it led to the Jerusalem conference, which was on 49 AD. Two or three years after this trip. So you can see how the Jerusalem conference led, and the whole issue in the Jerusalem conference was this old issue about justification, that you did not need to do the offerings, that you do not need to be circumcised, to be justified, because you're justified freely by the sacrifice of Christ, because the others pointed to Christ. And for the Jews, this was new doctrine. They couldn't accept that. This is new doctrine, can't accept that. So that became a big issue. That became a big issue.

And look at it in Acts 15, where the Jerusalem conference comes up. The Jerusalem conference is in Acts 15.

And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren. In other words, these were Christians, came from Judea, came from Jerusalem. These are Christians. They were not just Jews, they were Christians, and taught the brethren. And these Christians said, unless you circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas, and therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no dissension, no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and Sarah and others should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. Because these were Christians coming from Jerusalem, saying, hey, you've got to be circumcised. You've got all these Gentiles. There's the ceremonial laws still in place. The temple is still there. We still do this. There's got to do it. And these people want to become Christians, but they have to be circumcised. And there was this big argument. And therefore Paul had to go to the Jerusalem Conference. And so the conference happened. Look in verse 5, and look at verse 5, Acts 15 verse 5. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, in other words, they were Christians. They believed in Christ. They believed. But they came from the Pharisees, so they still had these pharacycle ideas, rose up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and command them to keep the law of Moses, in other words, and command them to have the ritual law, to obey to that ritual ceremonial law. Not talking about that you thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not murder. Not talking about the Ten Commandments, but the ceremonial law. So this became a big issue. And look in verse 24. Look at verse 24.

This was at the end when they decided to write the letter. They agreed, okay, this is what we don't need that. And they wrote the letter, and this was part of the letter that says verse 24. Since we heard that some who went out from us, you see, they were Christians. They went out from us, from Jerusalem. Have troubled you with words, and seconding your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law. But which law? The ceremonial law, the ritual law, the law that was added because of transgressions. To whom we gave no such commandment. It was we did not tell those people to go there and do that. They were doing it of their own free will. So you can see there, there was this whole thing that developed. So as I conclude for today, I want to leave with one question. What lessons do we derive from this about God's church today? But God's church then, what two big lessons do we derive from it? Because you see now, Paul, they didn't just send Paul. When you read this, they sent Paul with other people, other apostles went with Paul. It says, it is now verse 22, and it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to accompany to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. So they sent other leaders, chosen leaders, to go with Paul. So why did they need other men to go with Paul? Why did they need to send a letter? And why didn't just Paul go back and say, well, this is what was discussed there, and this is it. Why? Because they did not know. Because they did not trust Paul. They had a trust issue. Look at how Paul treated us in the past. You know, they still remember those things that Paul did many long ago, and Paul is now going with these gentle approaches, though. So Paul had to go with other lead men and a letter to give him authority to do this and to say, hey, it's not just me. The church is backing him up through the Spirit. We had a conference, and this is it. So there was a confidence in the leadership.

Why? Because look how Paul treated us in the past. So there's always two issues affecting the church. One is doctrinal issues, and the other one is how people treat us. And you can see the same thing. Yeah, there's two issues, doctrinal issues, and how people treat us. And yes, they were still saying, look how Paul treated some of the people. So, and that's what was then what triggered from there onwards for Paul to have the second trip. Because the second missionary trip, then Paul goes back to some of those areas with this letter and with the information of this, and he goes to the gentiles with this letter, goes back to the Galatians, and from there he comes to Thessalonians, Thessalonika, and then he preaches there, and then he goes further down in Greece, and then he hears news about Thessalonika, and then he writes the letter. So I'm building up, still introducing Thessalonians through the Paul's trip. We'll continue next Bible study in the Mamstam, and we'll continue with that. But we're getting nearer to it, but I wanted to frame the environment, the situation, clearly in our minds of, let's call it, the demographic and political situation that those Christians were encountering themselves in, so that when we get to the epistles of Paul, we can frame it clearly within the background or the situation that was happening at that time. So that's what I wanted to do. So I hope you found that profitable, and until next time!