The Book of Acts: January 2009

A Samaritan is...

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary -
Samaritans--the name given to the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677), the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the original inhabitants whom Sargon (B.C. 721) had removed into captivity (2 Kings 17:24; comp. Ezra 4:2, 9, 10). These strangers (comp. Luke 17:18) amalgamated with the Jews still remaining in the land, and gradually abandoned their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish religion. After the return from the Captivity, the Jews in Jerusalem refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding the temple, and hence sprang up an open enmity between them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, which was, however, destroyed by a Jewish king (B.C. 130). They then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord: the Jews had "no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9; comp. Luke 9:52, 53). Our Lord was in contempt called "a Samaritan" (John 8:48). Many of the Samaritans early embraced the gospel (John 4:5-42; Acts 8:25; 9:31; 15:3). Of these Samaritans there still remains a small population of about one hundred and sixty, who all reside in Shechem, where they carefully observe the religious customs of their fathers. They are the "smallest and oldest sect in the world."

"Word for the Day"- Repentance

RepentanceRe*pent"ance\ (r[-e]*p[e^]nt"ans), n. [F. repentance.]

The act of repenting, or the state of being penitent; sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do; especially, contrition for sin. --Chaucer.

Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. --2. Cor. vii. 20.

Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. --Hammond.

Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice from the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow, fear, and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts, of repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it to be easily separated. --Rambler.

Syn: Contrition; regret; penitence; contriteness; compunction.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
dictionary.com

"Word for the Day"- Sanhedrin / Sadducee

San·hed·rin

(sān-hěd'rĭn, -hē'drĭn, sän-) n.

The highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation, composed of from 70 to 72 members.
[Hebrew sanhedrîn, from Greek sunedrion, council, from sunedros, sitting in council : sun-, syn- + hedrā, seat; see sed- in Indo-European roots.]

Sad·du·cee

–noun Judaism.
a member of a Palestinian sect, consisting mainly of priests and aristocrats, that flourished from the 1st century b.c. to the 1st century a.d. and differed from the Pharisees chiefly in its literal interpretation of the Bible, rejection of oral laws and traditions, and denial of an afterlife and the coming of the Messiah.

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME sadducees (pl.), OE saddūcéas < LL saddūcaeī < Gk saddoukaǐoi < Heb ṣədhūqī adherent of Zadok]

http://www.dictionary.com

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Acts 13:1-52

Acts 13:1-52
Paul’s first missionary travels-

Acts 1-3
The church sends off Paul and Barnabas.

Acts 4-12
Paul and Barnabas travel to Cyprus and meet others.

Acts 13-41
Paul arrives at Antioch.
Sermon from V16 to V41.

Other sermons in Acts----
Peter Acts 2:17----
Acts 3:11----
Steven Acts 7:1------
Paul Acts 9:20

Read verses 41-48 carefully
V42- They were invited back next week.

V44- The whole city gathered

In your words what do these verses say about the church at that time?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What did the apostles do in the end?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Acts 12:1-25

Acts 12:1-25 “Herod, Angels and Guards”

Read Acts 12:1-5

V1- Herod Agrippa I; reigned from A.D. 37-44, remember this. He was known to get favor with the Jews by persecuting Christians.
V2- James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. James was in the inner circle, brother to John (see verse 17 different James).
V3- Herod saw that this pleased the Jews, so he arrests Peter.
So what did the people of the church do? __________________________________________________

Read Acts 12:6-10
Read Daniel 10:7-19

V7- The angel seems excited? __________________________________________________________
V9- Was the angel real, or a vision? ______________________________________________________

What is the purpose of angels? What other passages do angels appear?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read Acts 12:11-17
V11- What does the last part of this verse mean? ____________________________________________
V12-15- Why did Rhoda not open the door?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Jewish superstition says that each person had a guardian angel that assumes that persons form.

V17- “Tell James…” (brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of James).
V17- “And then he left for another place…..” What’s this all about….?____________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Read Acts 18-25
V18-19- SOP to kill guards that let the prisoners escape.
V20-21- Political negotiations for food and accommodations for celebration----
Why was Herod struck down and killed? ___________________________________________________
Who did it? __________________________________________________________________________
(see reference in Josephus)

V25—Ready Set for Chapter 13

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Acts 11:1-30

Acts 11:1-30

Read the first half verses 1-18- “Peter’s re-cap”
V1-3- It appears as though every Christian Jew knows what came down when Peter was away. And they started by questioning Peter, Peter didn’t appear angry, but explained what happened.
Does this seem to be a normal Peter response? _____________________________________________
What would you have done in either Peter, or the other’s shoes-?
____________________________________________________________________________________

V10-11- These verses appear to tie in the time frame a little better than chapter 10 had.

V17-18- These have been called one of the most shocking verses is Jewish history,
See Is 42:1, 6 and 49:6- Read most of these verses.

So was everything now fine and dandy between the Jews and these gentiles? Touch on Acts 15: ---5---
____________________________________________________________________________________

I think we should save most of Acts 15 for when we get there.

Read verses- 19-30—“The church of Antioch, more firsts for the book of Acts.”

Reference sources read---John Macarthur’s commentary, Halley’s Bible Handbook.

V19-21- Who were those who were scattered, and where did they come from?
___________________________________________________________________________________
V22- Last time they apostles, chap 8, why not here? _________________________________________
V25-26- There are two firsts in these verses, what are they? ___________________________________
V27- Prophets sent down? Who and why (I Cor 14:32) _______________________________________

A whole lot of attention is paid to this account in scripture????? Is it me or my imagination???

What is the real significance behind Paul being here? ______________________

Next week- funniest verse in the whole Bible.

Gamaliel--Acts 5:34

The author of Acts of the Apostles, introduces Gamaliel as a Pharisee and celebrated scholar of the Mosaic Law [15]. In this passage, Saint Peter and the other apostles are described as being prosecuted by the Sanhedrin for continuing to preach the Gospel, despite the Jewish authorities having previously prohibited it; the passage describes Gamaliel as presenting an argument against killing the apostles, reminding the Sanhedrin about previous revolts, which had been based on beliefs that individuals such as Theudas and Judas of Galilee were the prophesied messiah. According to acts, his authority with his contemporaries was so great that they accepted his advice, regardless of how unwelcome it was; Gamaliel's concluding argument to them had been that:
if [the Gospel] be of men, it will come to naught, but if it be of God, ye will not be able to overthrow it; lest perhaps ye be found even to fight against God[16].
The Book of Acts later goes on to describe Paul of Tarsus recounting that he was educated at the feet of Gamaliel about Jewish religious law[17], although no details are given about which teachings Paul adopted from Gamaliel - and hence how much Gamaliel influenced aspects of Christianity. However, there is no other record of Gamaliel ever having taught in public[1], although the Talmud does describe Gamaliel as teaching a student who displayed impudence in learning, which a few scholars identify as a possible reference to Paul[18]. Helmut Koester, Professor of Divinity and of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University, is doubtful that Paul studied under this famous rabbi, arguing that there is a marked contrast in the tolerance that Gamaliel is said to have expressed about Christianity, in contrast to the "murderous rage" against Christians that Paul is described as having prior to his conversion[19].

Luke Who

Who was Acts written by?-
These are a few of the explanations people have used to give Luke credit as the author to the Book of Acts;
Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts were written to Theophilus (Lk 1:3 & Acts 1:1).
In Acts 1:1 the writer also references his previous book "The former account I made...".
It was common for ancient writers to continue their works...volume II of Luke's writing is what occurred in Acts, while volume I was the gospel of Luke.
When was Acts written?-
Most commentaries indicate that Acts was written between 63-70 AD..... Who was Luke?-
Luke was a personal friend and travel companion to Paul (Yes, thee Paul).
Luke was a physician (Col 4:14) some say he was Paul's personal doctor which would make sense.
Luke was only mentioned three times in the Bible, Col 4:14, Phm 1:24, II Tim 4:11.
As far as we know, Luke was the only Gentile writer of an entire book in The Bible. It can be assumed that Nebuchadnezzar wrote Daniel 4 (Stan).
Luke's Writing Style-
If you're used to reading technical manuals (or Moby Dick) Luke and Acts will sound familiar. Luke writes in the style of a good technician and brings life to the page that few books of the Bible do. From the beginning of Acts with the ascension of Christ through the early disagreements of the church and ending with a "pirate like" ship wreck on the island of Malta where Paul talks with the natives the book of Acts is hard to put down.
As we go through this study I want to stay the course of expository learning, however there are many topical areas such as these (Luke Who?) that I want us to venture down to better understand the day and time of this writing.
Guided by The Way- rich

The Book of Acts

Just Some Angels in the Bible

A Samaritan is...

"Word for the Day"- Repentance

"Word for the Day"- Sanhedrin / Sadducee

Regularly Plagiarized References and Resources

Key Words and Characters-

The Upper Room

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"Word for the Day"- Ascension

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Monday- Jan. 26- Acts Chapter 13