Kind: Notes

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Overview

  • Acts 24 recounts Paul’s trial before Governor Felix in Caesarea Maritima.
  • Accusations against Paul: Jewish leaders accuse Paul of stirring up trouble, promoting a dangerous sect, and desecrating the temple.
    • The charges against Paul were:
      (1) He was, in the eyes of the Jews, a ‘real pest’ (verse 5).
      (2) He stirred up unrest among the Jews world-wide (verse 5).
      (3) He was the ringleader of a non-Jewish sect (verse 5).
      (4) He tried to desecrate the temple (verse 6).
  • Paul’s defense: Paul refutes the accusations, clarifies his activities, and emphasizes his faithfulness to Jewish law.
  • Felix’s response: Unwilling to make a decision, Felix imprisons Paul but allows him visitors.
  • Themes: Religious conflict, Roman justice, Paul’s unwavering faith.

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Overview

  • Paul is before the council giving testimony.  The high priest tells his people to smack Paul in the mouth for what he was saying. Paul calls him a hypocrite but later apologizes since Christians aren’t supposed to speak badly about their leaders.
  • The Pharisees and the Sadducees in the council argue with each other since some of them agreed with Paul and others didn’t. Paul admits he was a Pharisee and the Pharisees believed in resurrection of the dead but the Sadducees did not.
  • The Pharisees and the Sadducees in the council argue with each other since some of them agreed with Paul and others didn’t.
  • The Roman commander removed Paul to the barracks to keep him from being torn apart by the crowd.
  • Later that evening God tells Paul that his next assignment would be to testify about God in Rome. Paul wasn’t sure how he would get there since he was in jail. Despite this, Paul was fully invested in the Holy Spirit and trusted in God’s plans. Paul had no doubt that he would somehow get to Rome to finish his teachings.  If God promises something He will always be faithful to His promise. Always trust in God.
  • The next day the Roman commander sets up a small army to escort Paul all the way to his next destination safely. This fulfilled God’s promise to travel to his next city.
  • There are four principles to learn from Acts:
    • PRINCIPLE #1: We must be fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:21; 20:22–24; 21:10–14; 22:30—23:1)
    • PRINCIPLE #2: Once we’ve fully surrendered, we must learn how to handle friendly fire. (Acts 23:2–5; John 15:26—16:4)
      • Paul responded to Ananias’s attack on him with logic and information because he didn’t realize Ananias was the high priest. When he did, Paul responded humbly, acknowledging his response was not in accordance with God’s Law.
    • PRINCIPLE #3: You must know your divine purpose amongst great opposition. (Acts 23:6–10; John 18:37)
    • PRINCIPLE #4: We must fully trust in God’s promise and provision. (Acts 23:16, 23; Joshua 21:45; 1 Samuel 3:19)

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
Resources

Overview

  • At the end of Acts 21, Paul was back in Jerusalem. The Jews seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple complex, planning to beat him to death.
  • A Roman commander arrested Paul. Paul asked that he be allowed to address the crowd that had attacked him. Acts 22 records the text of Paul’s speech and the crowd’s’ reaction.
  • Instead of preaching the gospel, Paul expains why he traveled with a Gentile from Ephesus. Paul reminds them of his strict education by the Pharisee rabbi Gamaliel and how violently he had, at first, persecuted Christians. Paul then explains his conversion and talks about his return to Jerusalem and how the Jews sought to kill him, so God told him to leave Jerusalem and concentrate on reaching the Gentiles. The mention of Gentiles angered the crowd listening to him.
  • In the last part of the chapter, the Roman tribune realizes neither Paul’s speech nor the crowd’s anger will resolve anything. So the Roman commander decides to torture Paul until he speaks the full truth.
  • The soldiers tie Paul up but before the centurion can start whipping him Paul points out that he is a Roman citizen and cannot be flogged until he has faced a trial. The centurion rushes to the tribune who, in turn, rushes to Paul to validate the information. The Romans are horrified since it would have been a crime to flog Paul (it was also a crime that they shackled him in the temple courtyard).
  • Chapter 22 concludes with the tribune’s search for the truth as he schedules a meeting with the Sanhedrin (Jewish court), hoping they can shed light on the situation.

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Overview

  • Jews were plotting to kill Paul. Many people hated Paul because of what had happened before the Jewish Council.
  • Paul sent for the disciples in Ephesus and said goodbye before heading north to Macedonia. Paul went through the places he visited on his second missionary journey before moving into Greece, where he stayed three months. He planned to sail from Greece to Syria, but when he found out about a plot the Jews had planned against him, he went back through Macedonia. There was also opposition from Paul’s fellow countrymen and sidestepping this plot did not mean Paul would not face difficulties.
  • Co-laborers accompanied Paul from the towns of Macedonia and Asia. These co-laborers went ahead of Paul and Luke and waited for them in Troas. Paul and Luke left Philippi after the Passover and reached Troas in five days (instead of the two days it
    took to sail to Philippi the last time). They spent seven days in Troas before moving on.
  • On the first day of the week (Sunday), Paul and his companions assembled to break bread together and hear Paul speak. Paul continued to speak until midnight since he was leaving the next day. The Jews had kept the Sabbath (from dusk on Friday night to dusk on Saturday) as part of the Mosaic Law. The agreement made in the Jerusalem Council did not require Christians to observe the Saturday Sabbath since they were under the New Covenant. Paul never taught those he led to Christ to keep the Sabbath. There is no command in the New Testament about when the church should worship.
  • A young man was sitting in a window listening and fell asleep, possibly because of the fumes from the oil-burning lamps. Eutychus, the young man, fell out of the third-story window and was found dead on the ground. Paul went down and embraced Eutychus’s body and said the boy was still alive. Paul went back upstairs, ate, continued teaching until dawn, and then left. The boy was taken home alive. Paul was able to heal Eutychus because Jesus gave His disciples the command to heal the sick and raise the dead.
  • Some of Paul’s group sailed ahead to Assos to meet Paul, while Paul traveled by land. Paul then sailed with them from Assos to Mitylene, then to Chios, then to Samos, and the next day to Miletus. It feels as though the journey had begun to pick up speed. Paul even decided to bypass Ephesus and Asia because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost.
  • While in Miletus, Paul asked the elders in Ephesus to come to him. When they arrived, Paul reminded them of the time he had spent with them and the ministry of evangelism he had shared with them. Paul then told them about what he anticipated would happen in Jerusalem—that the Holy Spirit had told him chains and afflictions waited for him. Paul took this as confirmation of what he had been called to do in testifying to the gospel of Christ.
  • Like Paul, we need to realize that our job is to share the gospel, not to lead people to accept Jesus. Accepting Jesus is up to the individual after they have heard the message of the gospel.
  • Paul told the leaders he would never see them again but that he would remain obedient to God’s call on his life. Paul described his obedience to “the whole plan of God”.
  • Since Paul knew he was moving toward his own death, he warned the elders to be on guard for themselves. He warned the church to guard against false teachers within the church and against opposition from without.
  • Paul committed them to God and reminded them he had asked nothing for support from them. Paul then prayed for them, and they embraced Paul, all weeping at this final departure

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Overview

  • Paul and Silas traveled through two cities: Amphipolis and Apollonia. Paul was dependent on the Holy Spirit’s prompting to minister and didn’t sense the Spirit moving in Amphipolis and Apollonia so they didn’t stop to minister.
  • When they reached Thessalonica Paul and his partners found women praying to God by the river and shared the gospel with them.
  • Paul met with Jewish leaders for three weeks to discuss scripture.  Paul explained how Jesus (the Messiah) had to suffer and rise from the dead.
  • Paul and his colleagues were staying at Jason’s house. The Jews becames jealous and started looking for Paul, Silas, and Timothy. When they couldn’t find thm they dragged Jason out in front of the mob and yelled at him about what Paul and his friends were doing. The crowd accused Paul and his friends of undermining Caesar’s authority by claiming Jesus was the rightful king. Jason and others are imprisoned until the city officials took “a security bond” (bribe) from Jason and the others, enabling them to be released. This bribe/agreement ensured that Paul would never be allowed back in Thessalonica.
  • Paul and his colleagues moved on from Thessalonica to Berea.  The people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and listened eagerly to Paul’s message.  Many Jews in Thessalonica realized Paul and his colleagues had gone to Berea so they planned to go there and cause trouble for Paul.  The people in Berea that had become believers decide to help Paul and send him to the coast before the troublemakers from Thessalonica could arrive. They later send Silas and Timothy to join Paul on the coast.
  • Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens. While Paul was waiting for them he was bothered by all the idols he saw in the city. Paul went daily went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers om Berea. The philosophers were curious about Paul’s preaching and took him to the high council of Berea. Paul told the high council that he noticed an altar with an inscription “To an Unknown God”.  Paul explains that this “unknown” God is the same God he had been talking about. A few members of the high council were interested in Paul’s discussion and became believers in Christ.

Summary

  • In just three short weeks, Paul persuaded people in Thessalonica to follow Jesus. The new believers encountered persecution but they did not allow their persecution to convince them to abandon Jesus. Their perseverance and their modeling after Paul became an example to others in the region, leading even more people to Jesus.
  • Paul reasoned, explained, and showed that Jesus was the Messiah, enablng them to be persuaded to follow Jesus.

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Overview

In Acts 16 God uses Lydia so that her whole family can come to faith. Everything thst happens in Acts 16 is because of God’s timing:

  • Paul being prevented from entering Asia because it was more important to go to Macedonia
  • Paul meeting Timothy
  • Paul meeting Lydia who leads her entire household to become followers of Jesus Christ
  • Paul exorcising the slave-girl
  • Paul leading prayer among the prisoners
  • Paul baptizing the prison guard
  • Paul and Silas being set free by the magistrates

Summary

 

  • Paul journeyed to Derbe and Lystra, going north from Jerusalem, and met Timothy, a young man in his late teens or early twenties with a Greek father and Jewish mother. Paul described Timothy as a “true son in the faith”.
  • Timothy becomes Paul’s student and trusted colleague. Timothy eventually takes Silas’s place as Paul’s missionary partner. Paul circumcises Timothy and takes him to meet the Jerusalem Council. Timothy’s circumcision gave him “full access to the synagogues because the Jews thought he hadn’t abandoned his Jewish roots.
  • Paul, Silas, and Timothy continued to travel, sharing the Jerusalem Council’s decisions and strengthening churches in both faith and new converts.
  • Paul’s planned to preach in Asia but the Holy Spirit prevented him from going there and Bithynia (northwest Turkey).
  • Paul was given a vision to preach in Macedonia while he was in Troas (an ancient Greek city near the northern tip of Turkey’s western coast). Macedonia was a province of Greece and located on the mainland. Macedonia was the next step for “taking the Gospel from Asia into Europe.”
  • Paul, Silas, and Timothy then set out for Macedonia. Paul and his companions knew nothing about Macedonia or the city of Philippi but journeyed there anyway under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
  • While in Philippi Paul and his colleagues wanted to pray on the Sabbath. Unfortunately they were unable to find a place to worship because there were no synagogues in the city because there were fewer than ten Jewish men in the city.  Paul and his colleagues went down to the river and spoke with a group of women, including Lydia, a Gentile from Thyatira (an ancient city in Asia). Lydia and her household embraced the gospel and were then baptized.
  • Paul and his companions stayed at Lydia’s house following her baptism.
  • Lydia opened her home to Paul and his colleagues but also to the entire church in Philippi.
  • Paul and Silas meet a slave-girl who can predict the future.  Paul realizes she was possesed by a demon, giving her the power of divination. She was using these powers to earn her owners money through fortune-telling. Paul exorcises the demon, removing this power from her.
  • The slave-girl’s owners were furious and seized Paul and Silas to face the authorities. The slave-girl’s owners complained to the magistrates that Paul and Silas were promoting customs that were illegal for Romans and Jewish people to practice.  The magistrates order Paul and Silas to be stripped, beaten with rods (flogged), and thrown into prison.
  • Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying when an earthquake occurs, shaking the prison’s foundations and causing all of the prison doors to fly open and the prisoner’s chains to fall off. The guard is convinced the prisoners had all escaped and plans to commit suicide. Paul assures him that no one escaped even though they could have easily done so. The guard is so impressed that he accepts Jesus and is baptised. 
  • The next day the magistrates try to set Paul and Silas free but Paul insisted the magistrates come free them on their own instead of sending guards to do so.  The magistrates come and free Paul and Silas. 
  •   Paul and Silas return to Lydia’s house to pray with their brothers and sisters prior to leaving for another town.

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Summary

  • In Acts 15, the authority of sharing the gospel comes into question when Gentiles were converted to follow Jesus.
  • A group of men from Judea (known as Judaizers) were teaching that  circumcision was required to be saved. They also wanted Christianity to become a sect of Judaism (they wanted Gentile believers to become Jewish proselytes). Paul and Barnabas are called to meet with other Christian leaders in Jerusalem to discuss making circumcision a requirement for faith in Jesus. This would be like trying to re-stitch the veil in the temple after it had been torn in two. Jesus removed the barriers but the Judaizers wanted to put them back up.
  • A group of Christian leaders (the Jerusalem Council) are identified to decide if circumcision should be required and if Jewish laws should be applied to Christians. The issues are debated until Peter reminds everyone that God called him to deliver the gospel to the Gentiles. God gave Gentlie believers the Holy Spirit. Peter explains how God makes no distinction between Jews and Gentiles and questions why they were trying to put an extra yoke on the Gentile believers.
  • James (Jesus’ half brother) suggests that circumcision shouldn’t be required and proposes variables that they should abstain “from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.” The Jerusalem Council agrees with James’ proposals.
  • The decision unites the church, preventing it from being split by disagreements.
  • The decision creates a united approach to how the church could witness to the lost.
  • The sharing of the decision blesses the churches and the believers who receive it.
  • The decisions are shared in a letter to Antioch, and the believers there rejoice because of its encouragement.
  • Messengers take the decision back to the brothers in Jerusalem, while Paul and Barnabas, among others, remain in Antioch to continue preaching the message of Christ.
  • Paul and Barnabas plan to return to the places they had previously preached to check on how the new converts are doing. Barnabas wants John Mark to accompany them, but Paul objects because John Mark had left them one time before.  This causes such a disagreement between Barnabas and Paul that they part company. Barnabas takes John Mark to Cyprus while Paul takes Silas to  Syria and Cilicia.

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Notes for my weekly Bible Study group.
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Summary

  • Jesus said he did not come to eradicate the Law, but fulfill it.
    Acts is the product of that fulfillment
  • Paul’s First Missionary: Jerusalem
  • The church started in Jerusalem
    Then to Judea and Samaria
    Then to the ends of the Earth.
  • More than 40 cities are mentioned in the book of Acts
  • If you spend time with Jesus, you’ll spend time spreading the gospel. If you’re not spreading the gospel, you’re not spending enough time with Jesus.
  • Acts 13 & 14 covers 6 cities. Thousands of miles – on FOOT, and by boat
  • Barnabas and Saul were sent out
    At this point, Barnabas is listed first

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Notes for the weekly discussion with my Bible Study group.

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Summary

  • Acts 12 reflects Psalm 34:15–16. The Lord watches over those who do right and hears their cries. The Lord ignores those who do evil and will erase their memory from the earth.
  • King Herod attacks the church and kills James, the brother of John, making James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. The Jews are happy with this so Herod also has Peter arrested. The church prays for Peter while he is in prison.
  • Peter’s execution is scheduled for the next day. An angel of the Lord appears and tells to follow him. When Peter arises the chains fall off Peter’s wrists.  Peter and the angel walked out of the prison, past the guards, and then stood by as the iron gate opened by itself. When they got to the street, the angel left.
  • Peter realizes that God saved him and goes to Mary’s house.  The people praying there are shocked and thankful to see him.
  • The next day Herod discovers Peter escaped and has Peter’s guards executed.
  • Herod goes to Caesarea to give a speech about two cities that are causing him trouble (Tyre and Sidon).  The people attending the speech people cry out that Herod is a god, not a man. An angel then strikes Herod down with an infection because he kept the glory for himself instead of giving the glory to God (as mentioned in Isaiah 42:8).
  • God’s message and the good news about the gospel continues to spread. Peter’s life was saved to go on and continue in ministry.
  • At the end of Acts 12, the story of Acts transitions from the preaching and evangelism of the apostles to the missionary journeys of Paul.