How dare you lead them to Jesus!

How dare you lead them to Jesus! (Acts 11:1-18)

    When Peter got back to Jerusalem he was met with open arms and great rejoicing. NOT! The first thing that hit him was the Brethren wanting to know why he went to those filthy Gentiles. After Peter explained it to them they concluded that God must have also granted the Gentiles repentance to life. DUH! That is exactly what God told Abraham he was going to do in Genesis 12:1-3 and all through the Old Testament.
    Now before we get to far along, let's note that it is not always wrong to questions someone's method's, motives, etc. In other words, just because people got saved does not mean that everything is right about it. But if something is to be called into question it must be based on God's word. We can't say, "Well, I just think...", "We have never done it that way", "You wouldn't catch me over there". All though what someone does may not fall into our personal preferences, if it is to be called into question it can only be done by saying, "God's word says...". If it is not a violation of God's word then just admit that it is not your preference or even conviction about what you would do, but if the other person is following God's leadership and not violating scripture then praise God for what he has led them to do.
    Another things for us to evaluate about ourselves in this section is if we are prejudice against certain people and therefore we refuse to give them the gospel. If so, we need to repent.

The Church at Antioch (11:19-30)

    We are going to see that the church at Antioch was a powerful church and here we read about its beginning. The people at Antioch were the first ones to be called Christians. Christian means to be like Jesus. That means it is possible to be a saved person and not be a Christian. Note that this is a label other people gave them. The did not call themselves Christians, but because others could see Jesus in their actions, hear Jesus in their words, and sense Jesus in their demeanor, they called them Christians.

Another Marytar, James the Apostle is killed (Acts 12:1-2)

Another Jail Break (Acts 12:3-4, 6-11, 18-19)

A Doubting prayer Meeting (Acts 12:5, 12-17)

    They had so little confidence in their prayers that when God answered them they started coming up with reasons it could not be true. Before we get to hard on them, we have stopped having prayer meetings altogether. What does that say about our confidence in the power of our prayers?

Herod dies for failing to give God glory (Acts 12:20-23)

    We better remember the right person to fear. Matthew 10:28, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The Return to Antioch, with John Mark (12:24-25)

    Keep your eye on John Mark.

Would God send someone to hell that has never heard the gospel?

Cornelius is given instruction by God (Acts 10:1-8)

    This section of scripture gives us a very interesting insight into how God deals with someone to get them to himself. Often people say. "well what about those people in the deep jungles that have never heard and won't have a chance to hear? Will they go to hell?" The answer is yes, if they have not accepted Jesus as their savior they will. So how is that fair, we might ask. They never had the chance to hear the gospel. Surely God would not hold someone who has not heard to the same standard as those of us who freely received the gospel. But actually it is a mistake to say that they have never heard.

1. God puts in all of us an innate knowledge that there is something bigger than us. We naturally know that their is someone or something that created all things and controls all things. We might fight against this knowledge, but it is there.

    Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

    If you are using the King James you will notice it says, He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

    That seems like a big difference, but it isn't if we study out the word translated eternity or world. The Hebrew word is `owlam. It appears in the scriptures 439 times. The following is a break down of how the word is translated in the King James.

ever 272, everlasting 63, old 22, perpetual 22, evermore 15, never 13, time 6, ancient 5, world 4, always 3, alway 2, long 2, more

    If you study the other times it appears as world you will see it caries they idea of eternity. For example Isaiah 45:17 says, But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. KJV In the NKJV it says, But Israel shall be saved by the Lord With an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced Forever and ever.

    So to translate this word in Ecclesiastes 3:11 as eternity is a good translation. God has placed eternity in our hearts. There is a part of every man that know there is a God.

2. God has also put in our heart that we should obey that something that is bigger than us. We know naturally that there are rules that should be followed even if we have never heard the law or God's Word.

    Romans 2:12-16, ¹² For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³ (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; ¹⁴ for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶ in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

3. Also God has clearly revealed himself to us through creation.

    Romans 1:18-20 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

    God revealing himself to man through creation has left ever man without an excuse. Here is how it works. God reveals himself in a general way to all men by putting a hunger for spiritual things in his heart, a knowledge of right and wrong, and a clear revelation of himself through creation (Why do you think that evolutionist have fought so hard to preach their doctrine). When man responds to this general revelation, then God will move toward him by giving him specific revelation from his word. God sends a person to give specific revelation from his word to the person that is willing to respond to the general revelation in their heart and creation. This is what he did for the Ethiopian Eunuch and it is what he is doing for Cornelius in our Journey for today. Notice this from Psalm 19.

General revelation (Psalms 19:1-6)

    The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, ⁵ Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. ⁶ Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Specific Revelation (Psalms 19:7-14)

    ⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; ⁸ The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; ⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. ¹² Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults. ¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

    So yes, all men are accountable. Even if a preacher has never stood in front of them and told them how to be saved. Even if a missionary never pushed through the bush and showed them Jesus from the Bible. They are accountable. If they would respond to the general revelation God has provided then he would provide specific revelation. If it was as simple as, if you don't hear the gospel you are not responsible, then the most loving thing we could do would be to immediately stop all mission and evangelistic activity. But of course we are commanded by God to be telling the world shamelessly.
It took a little convincing, but God sent Peter for Cornelius and he and many others were saved (Acts 10:9-48)

He got saved? No Way!

Persecution; it's good (Acts 8:1-4)

    It is not natural for us to think of persecution as a good thing, but the Lord has told us different. We are to rejoice when we are persecuted (Matthew 5:10-12), this is the attitude the apostles had (Acts 5:41), it means we are doing something right (2 Timothy 3:12). Here the persecution caused them to scatter thus obeying the Lord's command in Acts1:8. Some even wonder if they would have obeyed without the pressure of the persecution.

The revival in Samaria (Acts 8:5-25)

    As a result of the persecution Phillip went to Samaria and a revival broke out that involved multitudes being saved, even Simon the sorcerer (witch doctor, shaman, local spiritist) was saved.
Have you noticed how dependent they were on the Holy Spirit? It has been mentioned in every chapter. I want a great revival to come to our country. Perhaps if God's people were more reliant on the Holy Spirit and more obedient to the Great Commission, we would see it come to pass.

The Conversion of the Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)

    After his work in Samaria Phillip was called away to a desert place to witness to a single man. God cares about the masses and the individual. He was the treasurer of Ethiopia. Lofty position, I would say. Through God's power Phillip leads him to the Lord. He ask an interesting question in verse 36. Is there any reason I can't get baptized? Phillip said that the only thing that would hold him back is if he was not saved (37). This is a classic passage to use when helping someone understand they need to be saved before they are baptized. Were you saved before you got baptized?

The Conversion of Saul (Acts 9:1-31)

    Saul's conversion is extremely dramatic. I found it interesting that Jesus said he was persecuting him (4-5). Saul was beating and imprisoning God's people, but Jesus said that he was the one being persecuted. Keep that in mind when persecution comes your way, it is really Jesus they are striking out against.
    Ananias had his doubts about the situation with Saul, but the Lord said he was a chosen vessel (15). Keep in mind when you are dealing with what might seem like hopeless cases, you never know who might be God's chosen vessel.
    The book of Acts makes it apparent that there are some things that people should do right away after being saved. One is to get baptized. Another is to share your faith (20).

Peter's Ministry (Acts 9:32-43)

    There are three influential men that are converted in these two chapters.

1. Simon, a bewitching man, by his trickery and perhaps demonic power is gloriously saved,
2. The Eunuch, a man of position and politics, is brought to Jesus.
3. Perhaps the most powerful conversion of all in terms of how God used this man was Saul, a religious man. He got over his religion and found Jesus.

    Perhaps all three of these would have seemed like hopeless cases, but there is no such thing. Our duty is to faithfully witness, God will sort out who can and cannot be saved.
    By the way, just because there were no blinding lights or flashy miracles at you conversion does not make it less important than these. They are all precious and amazing and God would like to use you in an even more powerful way than he did Saul (Paul).

Attention all History Buffs

A detailed History Lesson (Acts 7)

    In this chapter as Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin, he gives a detailed history of the nation of Israel. He starts at Abraham and goes all the way through the prophets. What purpose did Stephen's history lesson serve.

1. To prove to the listeners that he knew the Bible. Remember everything he is saying is accounted for in the Bible and he had been accused of perverting the scriptures (law). He is proving he knows them well.

2. To show his accusers their sin. They had brought him to trial (through false witnesses) for perverting the law, when in fact it was they who were perverting it. Obviously he was not trying to buddy up to them (51)

3. To introduce them to Jesus. He mentioned him as the one Moses spoke of (37), and said he was the one the prophets spoke about (52).

The more knowledgeable we are about the Bible the stronger of a witness we are going to be (This is what The Journey is all about). The listeners may not always want to hear what we have to say, but that does not change the fact that they need to be told about their sin (The greatest problem humanity faces) and that Jesus is the answer. Even though it may not seem your witness is effective (getting stoned to death at the end of presenting the gospel seems like an epic fail), you never know who might be in that unreceptive crowd who is really being effected. Keep your eye on the guy in verse 58.

Rejoicing about what?

Increasing Power and Influence (Acts 5:1-16)

    Ananias and Sapphira had decided that they would sell land and give it to the church fund like many others had done. I am not sure if they got a lot more for it than they thought they would or if they planned it from the beginning, but they decided to keep some of the money, but say they gave it all. They wanted the glory of being sacrificial and generous givers without it hitting their bank account so heavy. There was no sin in just keeping the land, or even selling it and only giving part of the money (4). The real problem was when they decided to lie about how much it sold for. It cost both of them their lives.
    However this and other events continued to add to the power and influence of the church. Great fear or reverence came upon the church members because of this event (11). Nothing like a couple of the church members dying for doing the wrong thing to get everybody else's attention. The same thing is happening today although not in quit so dramatic fashion. More than anything most church members are withering away spiritually and their church right along with them. God help us not to contribute to this problem. Even those who were not willing to convert esteemed them highly (13). But many new converts were being made (14). Their influence was also starting to spread geographically in that people of other cities were coming to them (16).

More Jail Time (Acts 5:17-42)

    The more the power of the church spread the more nervous the religious leaders got. The apostles are arrested again, but they are released by angels that told them to go right back to preaching. They obey and are brought back in the next day, but carefully and without force, because the work God is doing through them is becoming so powerful that the leaders are afraid the people might stone them if they mistreat the apostles.
    When questioned about why they continue to preach Jesus, in fact they said that had filled Jerusalem with their doctrine or teaching (Oh to God that we could be accused of the same thing), Peter said that it was still a matter of deciding to obey God or man (29) and repeats the message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus to provide repentance and forgiveness.
    When I read Gamaliel's advice, I get the idea that he suspected this was a movement of God and not man (34-39). But the council did not fully follow his advice as when they brought the apostles back in they threatened them and beat them. Verse 41 is a WOW verse for me. If we ever had to take a beating for the Lord, would we rejoice that we were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, or would we gripe, complain, and quit? They rejoiced and went right back to preaching and teaching.

First internal church problem (Acts 6:1-15)

    The church had, of course, been facing many problems from the outside, but this was one of the first real problems from the inside. They did have the situation with Ananias and Sapphira, but the Lord took care of that pretty quick. This problem was that the church had a ministry to widows and some seemed to be getting left out.
    Now problems will come, but when they do church people have a choice. We can be overcome by the problem or we can overcome the problem. It really is as simple as us choosing which it will be, because there is no way that God wants us to be overcome by the problem (none, nada, zilch). So when we are determined to love one another and God more than we love getting our way or being right, then we will seek God and he will give an answer, just like he did in this situation.
    Some say that these men that were chosen were the first deacons, although they are not called that in this passage. However, they certainly did the work of a deacon. Clearly from the scriptures deacons are servants and not bosses (although they will be very influential if they serve well). Interesting in this passage that the people chose qualified men, but the pastors told them what to do. That gets a little mixed up sometimes in churches.
    So solving the problem with a God given solution, allowed the ministry to the widows to continue to succeed, the apostles to give constant attention to pray and ministry of the Word, and resulted in the spread of Gods word, the multiplication of numbers of disciples, and even Jewish priest being converted in large numbers.

Praise God, when we do right great things happen.

What to pray for after being arrested for preaching Jesus

Walking, Leaping, and Praising God (Acts 3:1-26)

    What an exciting miracle God did through Peter and John. As many great things as there are to say about the miracle, the thing that catches my eye is how Peter used it as a platform to preach the gospel. The book of acts records several sermons. This is the second one and both have been by Peter so far. In both he has preached the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (the gospel) and the need for repentance. In both he has used the scriptures to make his points. Sounds like a good pattern of preaching to follow to me. Peters first sermon saw 3000 saved and added to the church. This second sermon saw 5000 men saved (Acts 4:4). A guy could get spoiled with results like that.

Arrested for being a witness (Acts 4:1-22)

    I guess in our day and time it is hard to imagine being arrested for sharing your faith, although I think it is become more and more believable all the time. When I read what the apostles and early Christians suffered for there faith it makes me ashamed of the way I pull back so many times. They boldly shared even when arrested that Jesus was the resurrected savior and that there is no other name under heaven whereby men may be saved.
    When the rulers saw their boldness they knew they had been with Jesus. I wander how widely known we would be for our boldness. We must be careful because there can be a fine line between boldness and arrogance. When threatened that they must stop speaking in the name of Jesus, they simply stated that they must obey God rather than man. Do we see our decision to share our faith or hold our tongue as the difference between obeying God or yielding to man?

What to pray for after being arrested for preaching Jesus (Acts 4:23-37)

    You might think that they would have prayed for protection, the death of their enemies, wisdom about where to run and hide, but instead they prayed for boldness. God help us not to be arrogant, but to be bold. God show us the way that we can TELL THE WORLD SHAMELESSLY!

Brother Scott

Get your head out of the clouds

Get your head out of the clouds (Acts 1:1-11)

    The disciples had the great privilege of seeing Jesus Ascend. Can you image being there for that event? And as they stood in owe struck wonder, the angel said “what are you looking at”, He is coming back the same way he just left. The implication is, stop staring at the sky and get busy. Jesus had already told them that they were to be witnesses through the power of the Holy Spirit.

    If we are not careful we can get our heads in the clouds as well. We can get caught up in all the church does instead of what it is about. We can tangle ourselves in end time predictions. We can let the cares of this life distract our attention, but the bottom line is “be a witness”. We must get our heads out of the clouds and serve Jesus till he comes.

Time for a business meeting (Acts 1:12-26)

    If we all were completely honest, we would probably have to admit that we do not enjoy the business end of church. Many have horror stories about meetings gone wrong, sometimes people say, “well, I just don’t get into the politics of church (politics of church, that sounds ugly doesn’t it). Unfortunately there are decisions that have to be made. I really believe that if supreme love for God and mutual love for one another is the norm (and it should be), there is nothing to be concerned about. God can show us his will and together we can work through any decision.

What are tongues for (Acts 2:1-39)

    Tongues are a controversial subject. Yet here it is very clear that they were speaking other languages that could be understood by people that were there that day. It was not some unknown language. The Bible has more to say about tongues in 1 Corinthians 12-14. But in short God gave the gift of tongues and some other miracle gifts as a tool until the word of God was completed. I am amazed at what many are doing today and calling tongues.

    I served as a missionary in Kenya Africa for two years and in my time there I studied and learned Swahili. I found it interesting that the missionaries there that say they believe in the use of tongues in our time also went to language school. If tongues are still in use today, why did they not step off the plane speaking Swahili?

What does it mean to become a member of the church? (Acts 2:40-47)

    Verse 47 says that the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Does that mean that everybody who is saved is automatically part of the church? No everybody that is saved is part of the family of God. God was adding these people that were getting saved to the church in Jerusalem. So what does one do to become and be (really be) a member of the church.

1.       Gladly receive the word of salvation (41)

2.       Be baptized (41)

3.       Be added to the membership of the church (41)

4.       Continue steadfastly in the things of the church (42)