Looking for Paul

[JLG]

- Acts one

- Macedonia
- Greece
- Philippi
- Troas

- Paul must leave the next day so he prolongs his speech until midnight.

- A young man sinks into a deep sleep while paul keeps talking and he falls down from the third story and is picked up dead. Paul goes down and throws himself on him and embraces him. And the boy is alive.

- Assos
- Mitylene
- Chios
- Samos
- Miletus

Wow ! I would summarize by a word : ACTION! Paul was in a hurry ! He didn’t have time to lose ! Going everywhere ! Speaking till midnight ! A small resurrection in the same time ! Really impressive ! He was moved by God’s fire! And so different from the other apostles! But for a different work!

 

[farouk]

- Acts one

- Macedonia
- Greece
- Philippi
- Troas

- Paul must leave the next day so he prolongs his speech until midnight.

- A young man sinks into a deep sleep while paul keeps talking and he falls down from the third story and is picked up dead. Paul goes down and throws himself on him and embraces him. And the boy is alive.

- Assos
- Mitylene
- Chios
- Samos
- Miletus

Wow ! I would summarize by a word : ACTION! Paul was in a hurry ! He didn’t have time to lose ! Going everywhere ! Speaking till midnight ! A small resurrection in the same time ! Really impressive ! He was moved by God’s fire! And so different from the other apostles! But for a different work!

Hi @JLG Good to see you on the forums.

Acts has somewhat the character of Mark's Gospel - where 'straightway' and initial 'And' are common; and give a real sense of events being carried along by the purposes of God.

 

[JLG]

Acts 2

- All together at the same place

- A noise from heaven filling the whole house

- Tongues as if of fire visible to them and distributed

- One tongue on each one of them

- all are filled with holy spirit and they start to speak in different languages

- Jews from every nation were staying in Jerusalem because there was the Festival of Pentecost and they could hear them speaking in his own language about the magnificent things of God. And Peter with the Eleven explained to the people that they were not drunk. And they spoke about Jesus and all he did and about his resurrection. And they told the Jews to repent and get baptized so they could receive the free gift of the holy spirit. And 3,000 people were added that day. And all had everything in common and they were selling their possessions and properties and distributing the proceeds to all.

So they received holy spirit and they could speak in languages for other people to be taught about Jesus and God’s Kingdom. And they didn’t need translators and they could understand what was said! It was no comedy!

 

[JLG]

Acts 3

- Peter and John cure a lame man at the entrance of the temple and they tell the people about Jesus resurrected and the necessity to believe in him to be saved.

Acts 4

Of course, the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees are annoyed because the apostles teach the people about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. So they seize them and take them into custody. But 5,000 people had listened to them and they become Christians. When Peter and John speak in front of the rulers of people and elders, they say they cure the crippled man in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the one they executed but he was raised up from the dead by God. And Jesus is the only way to salvation. And the rulers could not deny that the crippled man was cured. So they threaten Peter and John not to teach on the basis of the name of Jesus. But Peter and John refuse not to do it. So they ask God to strengthen them to keep speaking his word with boldness. And they are filled with holy spirit. And all the Christians keep having everything in common. So people sell what they have and share everything.

And Joseph, a Levite sells a piece of land and brings the money at the feet of the apostles.

 

[quietthinker]

Hi @JLG Good to see you on the forums.

I notice you don't say that to me farouk. Am I too confronting?

 

[JLG]

- The Gospels deal with Jesus' work!

- The book of Acts deals with the apostles' work!

- For me, it's like comparing the first part of the Bible and the second one!

- A different time, different people!

- Different things or elements to learn!

- And all elements are important!

 

[JLG]

-Adam and Eve forgot God!

- We keep paying the price!

- Manking forgot God and the flood came and everybody except Noah and his family survived!

- The Israelites and the Jews forgot God and they paid the price!

- History is repeating again and again!

- Today there is nothing different!

- The Bible speaks about our days as the days of Noah!

- Man never learns anything!

- Nothing to be sad about!

- People have free will!

- If they don't care, God and Jesus won't care!

- That's a balance!

 

[JLG]

Acts 5

- Ananias and his wife Sapphira sell some property.

- But they secretly held back some of the price.

- So they lie and as a consequence they both die.

- The sick are brought to the apostles and they cure them.

- But the high priest and the Sadducees are jealous and they put them into prison.

- During the night, God’s angel frees them and tells them to go to the temple and teach.

- They are brought in front of the Sanhedrin.

- Gamaliel, a Pharisee tells the Sanhedrin to be careful about the apostles because if they do God’s work they may be fighting against God himself.

- So they flog the apostles and order them to stop speaking on the basis of Jesus’ name and let them go.

- And the apostles keep going to the temple and from house to house teaching.

 

[quietthinker]

-Adam and Eve forgot God!

- We keep paying the price!

- Manking forgot God and the flood came and everybody except Noah and his family survived!

- The Israelites and the Jews forgot God and they paid the price!

- History is repeating again and again!

- Today there is nothing different!

- The Bible speaks about our days as the days of Noah!

- Man never learns anything!

- Nothing to be sad about!

- People have free will!

- If they don't care, God and Jesus won't care!

- That's a balance!

'God so loved the World he gave his only begotten Son.....' I think that includes you and me and all the Babylonians that ever lived....and are living. In the light of this, how can it be said that God or Jesus won't care? We need to be careful we don't create God in our image because we don't care.

 

[JLG]

- God gives time!

- But at the right time, he acts!

- When he had enough with mankind, he destroyed it through the flood except Noah and his family!

- Only few survived, the majority died!

- God gave the Israelites and the Jews time but at his time, destruction came!

- Of course, he cares but there are limits!

- Think about Daniel's prayer to God about the reconstruction of Jerusalem!

- What was God's answer!

- Reconstruction followed by destruction!

- End of the story!

- But he always protected his faithful servants!

- It doesn't mean they could get into trouble!

 

[JLG]

- It doesn't mean they couldn't get into trouble!

 

[JLG]

Acts 6

A problem appears between the disciples, between the Greek-speaking Jews and the Hebrew-speaking Jews because the widows of the Hebrew-speaking Jews are privileged in the daily distribution. So the apostles propose to select seven reputable men to be responsible for the distribution. And more and more disciples are added. And Stephen performs many miracles and some men become jealous of him so they persuade people against Stephen accusing him of blasphemy. And they take him to the Sanhedrin. And his face is like an angel’s face.

 

[JLG]

Acts 7

Stephen tells about the history of Abraham and the promise God made him to give the land to his descendants. But before that they would be foreigners and slaves for 400 years. Then he speaks about the covenant of circumcision God made with Abraham and about Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and the famine in Egypt and Jacob and his family went to Egypt and Moses who freed the Israelites from Egypt and about the golden calf and the 40 years in the wilderness and about David and Solomon who built God’s temple and about the sins of the Israelites. So the Jews become angry and they kill him by stoning him.

And the end of the chapter says that Stephen fell asleep in death or he was put to repose.

Strong's Greek: 2837. κοιμάω (koimaó from NG2749) -- sleep, fall asleep, die

koimaó from NG2749: sleep, fall asleep, die

Original Word: κοιμάομαι
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: koimaó from NG2749
Phonetic Spelling: (koy-mah'-o)
Definition: sleep, fall asleep, die
Usage: I fall asleep, am asleep, sometimes of the sleep of death.

 

[JLG]

Acts 8

Saul approves Stephen’s murder and a great persecution arises against the Christians in Jerusalem who are scattered in Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And Saul organizes the persecution putting men and women to prison. And Philip goes to the city of Samaria to preach the Christ to them. And he cures many people. In the city there is a man called Simon who practices magical arts and many think he gets his power from God. And he becomes a believer and gets baptized and follows Philip. The apostles send Peter and John to Samaria so the new Christians can get holy spirit by laying their hands on them. And Simon wants to get the same power so he offers money. Peter tells him to repent and be forgiven. So Simon asks Peter for making supplication for him. Then God’s angel sends Philip to the road that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza where he meets an Ethiopian eunuch who has authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He came to Jerusalem to worship. He reads aloud the prophet Isaiah but he doesn’t understand what he reads. So Philip explains to him about Jesus. And Philip baptizes him.

 

[quietthinker]

I wonder if solo conversation is like solo se.x?

 

[JLG]

- When you publish on the internet, people are free to answer or not!

- Usually when you publish about the Bible, it means you look for information!

- You usually check everything!

- When you publish on the internet, it's funny to see how people can say exactly the contrary!

- Some speak about solo conversation, others thank you for what you write!

- That's freedom!

 

[JLG]

Acts 9

So Saul keeps fighting the Way that is the Christians. As he goes to Damascus, he sees a light and a voice asks him why he persecutes him and tells him he is Jesus. So Jesus tells him to go to the city and he will be told what to do. Then Saul realizes he is blind. And Jesus tells a disciple called Ananias in a vision to look for a man named Saul from Tarsus and lay his hands on him so he can see again. But Ananias doesn’t understand because he knows that Saul persecutes the Christians. But Jesus says that Saul has been chosen to represent him in different parts of the world. So Ananias does according to what Jesus told him to do. And Saul can see again and he is baptized. And then he goes to the synagogues and preach about Jesus. And people are astonished because they know he used to persecute the Christians and now he is one of them. So the Jews want to kill him because he works against them. So some disciples help Saul to leave Damascus by night. When he arrives in Jerusalem he tries to join the disciples but they are afraid of him and they don’t believe he has become a disciple. So Barnabas leads him to the apostles and he explains to them what happened to him as he was going to Damascus. So he preaches about Jesus in Jerusalem and the Jews want to get rid of him so the disciples send him to Caesarea. The situation improves for the Christians in Judea and Galilee and Samaria and they keep multiplying. At the same time, Peter travels to Lydda and he finds a paralyzed man who had been so for 8 years. And he cures him. So many become Christians. In Joppa a woman and a Christian called Dorcas dies. As Joppa is close to Lydda, the disciples ask Peter to come and resurrect her because she abounded in good deeds. And Peter resurrects her and many people become believers.

 

[JLG]

Acts 10

Cornelius is a Roman army officer who fears God and he has a vision. God tells him to send soldiers to get Simon Peter in Joppa. At the same time, Peter gets a vision and he sees all sorts of animals and he is told to eat them but Peter says he can’t because they are unclean. Then cornelius’ men arrive and want to speak to him. And the spirit in the vision tells Peter about the three men who are asking for him and he tells him to follow them because he has sent them. So they go back to Caesarea. So the time has come for the apostles and the disciples to preach to the non Jews. So Peter starts speaking about how God sent Jesus among the Jews and all the things he did. And the holy spirit starts spreading upon all the people present in the room. And they start speaking in foreign languages and magnifying God. And he baptizes all the people who are present.

So the time has come for the apostles and the disciples to look for faithful servants among the non Jews. A great time for them indeed! In fact, like everywhere in the Bible, like in the creation, God follows a precise timing or program which is always difficult for human beings to understand. This is the same story for the end of this human society and it will be a great surprise when it happens like all the big events in the Bible even when people are told because they have eyes and ears but they can’t see and they can’t hear; Well, in fact they don’t want! It’s always the same with humankind, people have a brain but they don’t want to use it!

 

[JLG]

Acts 11

When Peter comes back to Jerusalem, the supporters of circumcision criticize him. So he explains to them all the details and they stop objecting. Then some Christians keep speaking to the Jews and others start talking to the Greek-speaking people and many more people become Christians. And Barnabas is sent by the congregation in Jerusalem as far as Antioch and more people become Christians. He goes for Paul in Tarsus and he brings him to Antioch. Then for a whole year they assemble in the congregation and there the disciples are called Christians for the first time.

- Here we see how difficult it is to accept changes!

- And time is necessary to adapt!

- Everybody is different and needs time according to that difference!

- Human differences are also difficult to accept or to understand!

- A lot to think about!

 

[JLG]

Acts 12

Herod the king begins mistreating some members of the congregation. He puts James the brother of John to death by the sword. As it pleases the Jews, he also arrests Peter. So the congregation is intensely praying to God for him. Herod is going to bring him out but God sends one of his angel to free him. Peter thinks he is seeing a vision. Then he goes to the house of Mary the mother of John who is called Mark. And the people in the house can’t believe it. So Peter tells them what has just happened. Later Herod speaks in front of an audience and they say “a god’s voice, and not a man’s!” Instantly God’s angel strikes him because he did not give the glory to God, and he is eaten up with worms and dies.

- Well, apparently he is finally punished for his bad deeds!

- He has an appropriate end according to his deeds!

- Barnabas and Saul, after fully carrying out the relief work in Jerusalem, return and take along with them John also called Mark.

- They are quite a good team working together for God!