CommunionFire
  • Blog
  • JESUS
  • Embers
  • Sparks
  • fire
  • You
  • story
  • Bold
  • LastGenNow
Jesus Prepares His Table Just For You

The Book of Acts Reveals
The Ongoing Ministry of Jesus

The CommunionFire Commentary On The Book Of ACTS Chapter Seventeen

9/24/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Messiah is Yehoshua! Some just laughed at this... Some believed!
​Paul employs two keys to open doors as His Missionary journeys continue.

KEY ONE
He reaches out to the Jews of the community first and then shares the Gospel with the Gentiles. 

KEY TWO 
He preaches and opens the Scriptures


Some believe and some do not. Some become so incensed that they seek to destroy Paul and Silas. Their fanaticism is no less than it was when Saul/Paul was persecuting the first Christians. The Lord uses the persecution to move Paul, Silas and Timothy to the city of Berea. The Church Thessalonica has ongoing problems from fanatical Jews who are outraged by the Gospel of Jesus.

Berea was much more accepting and many Jews and Gentiles believed. But the Jews in Thessalonica heard that there was an awakening going on in Berea, so they assempled and mobbed together against the Apostle Paul. paul slips out of town in the middle of the night and his associates stayed behind. Paul sends for them from Athens and is almost overcome by their idolatry...

Athens brings Paul to street level ministry... the Holy Spirit reveals the power of Jesus through the wisdom of Paul's polemics. we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near.
Picture
SEVENTEEN  The Message 
Jesus is visible to those who believe in the preaching and scriptures
KEY VERSE: 2-4 preach, open scriptures, turn to believe Messiah and some rebel
KEY VERSE: 10-12 Synogog, preaching teaching and conversion of many
​KEY VERSE: 30-31 some convinced including a judge and gentle woman

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Color Code 
The Ongoing Ministry of Jesus in around and through the Church

Yellow/gold = Seeing Jesus continued ministry
Teal/blue = Seeing the action of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus
Burgundy/red = Seeing the ongoing and evolving mission/witness of the Church to the Testimony of Jesus
Picture
biblos.com
Jesus shows up
through the ministry of Paul on the road to Thessalonica, Berea and Athens - it was much the same way Jesus first showed up
on the First Day of His Resurrection on the Emmaus Road
 with Cleopas and his wife, Mary Cleopas
​(Luke 24:13-39, John 19:25)

Thessalonica Community of Jews 1st and also Greeks


1-3 They took the road south through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where there was a community of Jews. Paul went to their meeting place, as he usually did when he came to a town, and
for three Sabbaths running he preached to them from the Scriptures. He opened up the texts so they understood what they’d been reading all their lives: that the Messiah absolutely had to be put to death and raised from the dead—there were no other options—and that “this Jesus I’m introducing you to is that Messiah.”


4-5 Some of them were won over and joined ranks with Paul and Silas, among them a great many God-fearing Greeks and a considerable number of women from the aristocracy. But the hard-line Jews became furious over the conversions. Mad with jealousy, they rounded up a bunch of brawlers off the streets and soon had an ugly mob terrorizing the city as they hunted down Paul and Silas.

5-7 They broke into Jason’s House (To Heal; about to cure - relative of St. Paul; Romans 16:21), thinking that Paul and Silas were there. When they couldn’t find them, they collared Jason and his friends instead and dragged them before the city fathers, yelling hysterically, “These people are out to destroy the world, and now they’ve shown up on our doorstep, attacking everything we hold dear! And Jason is hiding them, these traitors and turncoats who say Jesus is king and Caesar is nothing!”

8-9 The city fathers and the crowd of people were totally alarmed by what they heard. They made Jason and his friends post heavy bail and let them go while they investigated the charges.

Berea Preaching & Scriptures bring faith - Jews 1st and then the Greeks

10-12 That night, under cover of darkness, their friends got Paul and Silas out of town as fast as they could. They sent them to Berea, where they again met with the Jewish community. They were treated a lot better there than in Thessalonica. The Jews received Paul’s message with enthusiasm and met with him daily, examining the Scriptures to see if they supported what he said. A lot of them became believers, including many Greeks who were prominent in the community, women and men of influence.

13-15 But it wasn’t long before reports got back to the Thessalonian hard-line Jews that Paul was at it again, preaching the Word of God, this time in Berea. They lost no time responding, and created a mob scene there, too. With the help of his friends, Paul gave them the slip—caught a boat and put out to sea. Silas and Timothy stayed behind. The men who helped Paul escape got him as far as Athens and left him there. Paul sent word back with them to Silas and Timothy: “Come as quickly as you can!”

Athens: Jews 1st then "Street" Greeks

16 The longer Paul waited in Athens for Silas and Timothy, the angrier he got—all those idols! The city was a junkyard of idols.

17-18 He discussed it with the Jews and other like-minded people at their meeting place. And every day he went out on the streets and talked with anyone who happened along. He got to know some of the Epicurean and Stoic intellectuals pretty well through these conversations. Some of them dismissed him with sarcasm: “What an airhead!” But others, listening to him go on about Jesus and the resurrection, were intrigued: “That’s a new slant on the gods. Tell us more.”

19-21 These people got together and asked him to make a public presentation over at the Areopagus, where things were a little quieter. They said, “This is a new one on us. We’ve never heard anything quite like it. Where did you come up with this anyway? Explain it so we can understand.” Downtown Athens was a great place for gossip. There were always people hanging around, natives and tourists alike, waiting for the latest tidbit on most anything.

22-23 So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. “It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, to the god nobody knows. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.

24-29 “The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so

we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near.

​
We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?


30-31 “God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”


32-34 At the phrase “raising him from the dead,” the listeners split: Some laughed at him and walked off making jokes; others said, “Let’s do this again. We want to hear more.” But that was it for the day, and Paul left. There were still others, it turned out, who were convinced then and there, and stuck with Paul—among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris.


The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
"Morning Has Broken"
Eleanor Farjeon, 1931
The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 145
Morning has broken
Like the first morning;
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the Word! 
On the Road (like Emmaus in Luke 24)
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven milesa from Jerusalem.14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Picture
This is a 1st Century altar from Greece "To The unknown God"
 In Chapter 17 of Acts we begin to see the power of the Gospel to include the early fabric of Christian Apology and Polemics. The defence of the faith and construct of dealing with the intellectual opposition of those bound to understanding good and evil apart from the revelation of Jesus (In whom we live and move and find our being). This would continue to evolve especiallyin the fist 400 years of the Church. 

In this Chapter we see The Unknown God has been made known but only to those who believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

Intellectual curiosity is relative. If you believe it is because of a personal revelation of the power of God's love for you.

​If you 'believe not' it doesn't necessarily mean that the seeds planted in the hearing of the Gospel will go fruitless.

The warmth and goodness of God's love, the conviction of sin, righteousness and judgement by the Holy Spirit and the process of time can even turn the hardest heart into putty and the most enslaved mind to knowlege of good and evil into a radar of the Holy Spirit.

​
God's love can bridge even the widest chasm over the most troubled waters.    
Jeremiah 31:12-14
12 "They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD-- Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their life will be like a watered garden, And they will never languish again. 13"Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow. 14"I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness," declares the LORD


Isaiah 51:10-12
10 Was it not You who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; Who made the depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over? 11 So the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. 12 "I, even I, am He who comforts you.


Psalm 30:10-12

10"Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper." 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, 12 That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever

          #BeBoldBelieve
0 Comments

The CommunionFire Commentary On The Book Of ACTS Chapter Sixteen

9/16/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Saint Lydia is baptized by Saint Paul and St. Silas
SIXTEEN  The Voice

​The Ongoing Ministry of Jesus in around and through the Church

Yellow/gold = Seeing Jesus continued ministry
Teal/blue = Seeing the action of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus

Burgundy/red = Seeing the ongoing and evolving mission/witness of the Church to the Testimony of Jesus


​Jesus reveals the Way, opens hearts,
sets the witch free and brings household salvation to the jailer and his family


KEY VERSE
4, 14, 18b, 31 We see Jesus
KEY VERSE 5-9, 13, 26, 35-36 Action and influence of the Holy Spirit
KEY VERSE 9b, 10,  12b, 15, 19, 25, 28b, 32-34, 38-40 Mission/Witness/Testimony
ACTS 16

​1-3 When Paul reached Derbe and Lystra, he invited a disciple named Timothy to join him and Silas. Timothy had a good reputation among the believers in Lystra and Iconium, but there was a problem: although Timothy’s mother was a believing Jew, his father was Greek, which meant Timothy was uncircumcised. Because the Jewish people of those cities knew he was the son of a Greek man, Paul felt it would be best for Timothy to be circumcised before proceeding.

4 Leaving there, now accompanied by Timothy, they delivered to the churches in each town the decisions and instructions given by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. 5 The churches were strengthened in the faith by their visit and kept growing in numbers on a daily basis.
6 They sensed the Holy Spirit telling them not to preach their message in Asia at this time, so they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia. 7 They came near Mysia and planned to go into Bithynia, but again they felt restrained from doing so by the Spirit of Jesus. 8 So they bypassed Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was pleading with him.

Macedonian Man: Come over to Macedonia! Come help us!

Luke now shifts his narration from impersonal observation to a first-person account of events because he has joined Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

10 This vision convinced us all that God was calling us to bring the good news to that region.

11 We set sail from the port city of Troas, first stopping in Samothrace, then the next day in Neapolis, 12 finally arriving in Philippi, a Roman colony and one of Macedonia’s leading cities. We stayed in Philippi for several days. 13 On the Sabbath day, we went outside the city walls to the nearby river, assuming that some Jewish people might be gathering for prayer. We found a group of women there, so we sat down and spoke to them. 14 One of them, Lydia, was a business woman originally from Thyatira. She made a living buying and selling fine purple fabric. She was a true worshiper of God and listened to Paul with special interest. The Lord opened her heart to take in the message with enthusiasm.15 She and her whole household were ceremonially washed through baptism. [a]

Lydia: If you believe I’m truly faithful to the Lord, please, you must come and stay at my home. We couldn’t turn down her invitation.

16 One day, as we were going to the place set aside for prayer, we encountered a slave girl. She made a lot of money for her owners as a fortune-teller, assisted by some sort of occult spirit. 17 She began following us.

Slave Girl (shouting): These men are slaves like me, but slaves of the Most High God! They will proclaim to you the way of liberation!

18 The next day as we passed by, she did the same thing—and again on the following days. One day Paul was really annoyed, so he turned and spoke to the spirit that was enslaving her.

Paul: I order you in the name of Jesus, God’s Anointed: Come out of her!
It came right out. 
19 But when her owners realized she would be worthless now as a fortune-teller, they grabbed Paul and Silas, dragged them into the open market area, and presented them to the authorities.

Slave Owners: 20 These men are troublemakers, disturbing the peace of our great city. They are from some Jewish sect, 21 and they promote foreign customs that violate our Roman standards of conduct. 22 The crowd joined in with insults and insinuations, prompting the city officials to strip them naked in the public square so they could be beaten with rods.



Continued from column one

​23 They were flogged mercilessly and then were thrown into a prison cell. The jailer was ordered to keep them under the strictest supervision. 
24 The jailer complied, first restraining them in ankle chains, then locking them in the most secure cell in the center of the jail.
​

25 Picture this: It’s midnight. In the darkness of their cell, Paul and Silas--after surviving the severe beating—aren’t moaning and groaning; they’re praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners in adjoining cells are wide awake, listening to them pray and sing. 26 Suddenly the ground begins to shake, and the prison foundations begin to crack. You can hear the sound of jangling chains and the squeak of cell doors opening. Every prisoner realizes that his chains have come unfastened.

27 The jailer wakes up and runs into the jail. His heart sinks as he sees the doors have all swung open. He is sure his prisoners have escaped, and he knows this will mean death for him, so he pulls out his sword to commit suicide. 28 At that moment, Paul sees what is happening and shouts out at the top of his lungs,

Paul: Wait, man! Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here! None of us has escaped.


29 The jailer sends his assistants to get some torches and rushes into the cell of Paul and Silas. He falls on his knees before them, trembling.30 Then he brings them outside.

Jailer: Gentlemen, please tell me, what must I do to be liberated?


Paul and Silas: 31 Just believe—believe in the ultimate King, Jesus, and not only will you be rescued, but your whole household will as well.

32-34 The jailer brings them to his home, and they have a long conversation with the man and his family. Paul and Silas explain the message of Jesus to them all. The man washes their wounds and feeds them, then they baptize[b] the man and his family. The night ends with Paul and Silas in the jailer’s home, sharing a meal together, the whole family rejoicing that they have come to faith in God.

35 At dawn the city officials send the police to the jailer’s home with a command: “Let those men go free.”

Jailer: 36 The city officials have ordered me to release you, so you may go now in peace.

Paul (loud enough that the police can hear): 37 Just a minute. This is unjust. We’ve been stripped naked, beaten in public, and thrown into jail, all without a trial of any kind. Now they want to release us secretly as if nothing happened? No way: we’re Roman citizens--we shouldn’t be treated like this! If the city officials want to release us, then they can come and tell us to our faces.

38 The police report back to the city officials; and when they come to the part about Paul and Silas being Roman citizens, the officials turn pale with fear. 39 They rush to the jail in person and apologize. They personally escort Paul and Silas from their cell and politely ask them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas oblige—after stopping at Lydia’s home to gather with the brothers and sisters there and give them parting words of encouragement.


​
​Footnotes:
  1. 16:15 Literally, immersed, in a rite of initiation and purification
  2. 16:32-34 Literally, immerse, in a rite of initiation and purification

The Voice (VOICE)The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Picture
from Biblia
​In Acts 14:20, 21, it is narrated that Paul and Barnabas, after being driven out of Lystra, departed to Derbe, where they "preached the gospel. and made many disciples." But they did not further.

Paul's mission included only the centers of Greco-Roman civilization; it was no part of his plan to pass over the frontier of the province into non-Roman territory. This aspect of his purpose is illustrated by the reference to Derbe on his second journey (Acts 16:1).

Paul started from Antioch and "went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches" (Acts 15:41). "Then he came to Derbe and Lystra" (Acts 16:1 the King James Version).

The unwarned reader might forget that in going from Cilicia to Derbe, Paul must have, passed through a considerable part of Antiochus' territory, and visited the important cities of Heracleia-Cybistra and Laranda. ​

But his work ends with the Roman Cilicia and begins again with the Roman Galatia; to him, the intervening country is a blank. 

Concentration of effort, and utilization only of the most fully prepared material were the characteristics of Paul's missionary journeys in Asia Minor. That Paul was successful in Derbe may be gathered (as Ramsay points out) from the fact that he does not mention Derbe among the places where he had suffered persecution (2 Timothy 3:11). 

​Gaius of Derbe (among others) accompanied Paul to Jerusalem, in charge of the donations of the churches to the poor in that city (Acts 20:4).
0 Comments

    From Bob Bonnell

    CommunionFire commentary on the Book of the
    ​Acts of Jesus

    Archives

    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Blog
  • JESUS
  • Embers
  • Sparks
  • fire
  • You
  • story
  • Bold
  • LastGenNow