Abundant Life
Apollos
Apologetics
Authority
Baptism
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Barnabas
Blessings
Captain
Death of Christ
Christology
Chronology of Acts 1-12
Circumcision

David
Deacons
Dispensations
Divine Discipline
Divine Good
Divine Guidance

Election

Eli

Encouragement

Eternal Salvation

Evil

Faith

Forgiveness

God Consciousness

God-Fearer

Grace Giving

Happiness

Helping Believers

Hezekiah

Holy Spirit Ministries

Human History

Inheritance

Interest without Interference

Joab

Jonathan

Josiah

Kinsman Redeemer

Knowledge of Gospel

Legalism

Mental Attitude Sins

Millennium

Ministry

Missions

Moab

Nazirite Vow

Pastor and Teacher

Permanent Spiritual Gifts

Persecution

Peter: Not First Pope

Prayer

Priests in Jewish System

Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs

Redeeming the Time

Religion

Repentance

Resurrection

Revelation

Roman Army

Roman Authority

Sadducees

Saul

Sin Unto Death

Sins of the Tongue

Spirituality

Spiritual Royal Birthright

Stone

Suffering and Testing

Temporary Spiritual Gifts

Tent-making

Tongues

Undeserved Suffering

Water Baptism

Witnessing

Abundant life

Apollos

1.     Apollos was a Jewish believer born in Alexandria, Egypt. He had a wonderful knowledge of  the Old Testament and, apparently, had also learned under the ministry of John the Baptist.

2.     He had only been baptized with the baptism of John, which meant that he believed John’s message that the kingdom promises were about to be fulfilled through Jesus, the promised Messiah (Mark 1.1-8; John 1.19-28).

3.      Apollos was a captivating speaker and was enthusiastic about the Lord Jesus.

4.      He spent some time in Ephesus in about AD 52 or 53.

5.      He taught what he understood about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ to his audiences, even synagogue audiences (Acts 18.24-26).

6.      He was not very familiar with church age doctrine, including church age water baptism of believers, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the newness of life that each believer has through union with Christ and living by the power of the Holy Spirit.

7.     While he was in Ephesus, Aquila and Priscilla carefully took him aside and graciously taught him “in the way of God more accurately.” The Bible does not specify which doctrines they taught him, but the contexts of Acts 18-19 and 1 Corinthians seem to indicate that Aquila and Priscilla instructed him on the distinctions between Israel and the church, about John’s baptism and church age believer’s baptism, about the eternal life gospel, about the doctrine of Christ, and possibly other basic Christian life doctrines.

8.      Apollos humbly received their instruction (Acts 18.26). As a result, in about AD 53, Apollos went to Corinth where he became more effective for the Lord (Acts 18.27).

9.     While in Corinth, he used Scripture to demonstrate to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18.28).

10.  Paul recognized Apollos as a leader and valuable fellow-worker for the spiritual growth of the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 3.4-6, 22; 4.6).

11.  Apollos became very prominent at Corinth, so much so that when the church split into factions, one faction claimed to follow Apollos (1 Corinthians 1.12-14).

12.  The carnal Christians became such a problem in Corinth that Apollos left; Paul encouraged him to return (1 Corinthians 16.12).

13.   Paul, near the end of his own life, spoke highly of Apollos (Titus 3.13).

14.  Apollos teaches us many things:

15.Spiritual growth and service for Christ thrive when a knowledge of Bible doctrine combines with graciousness, humility, willingness to learn, and enthusiasm for teaching the Word.

Apologetics

1.     Apologetics is the biblical and reasoned defense of the biblical faith.

2.     God gives us many opportunities to give evidence to others that what we believe is true. We talk with people about the evidence for the existence and nature of God, for Jesus Christ—his life and times, physical resurrection—, for the reliability of the Bible, for Christianity and pagan myths, for the origin of the universe and of man, for miracles, for salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, for biblical and non-biblical worldviews, and for other doctrines of the Word of God.

3.     When we answer the critic’s questions, explain why we believe what we believe, and challenge them to consider what the Bible says, we are not only evangelizing and teaching, we are also practicing apologetics.

4.     The word “defense” comes from the Greek word ajpologiva, apologia, “a speech of defense or reply.” 

5.      The writers of the New Testament use the word eight times—Acts 22.1; 25.16; 1 Corinthians 9.3; 2 Corinthians 7.11; Philippians 1.7 and 16; 2 Timothy 4.16, and 1 Peter 3.15.

6.      Peter tells us to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us: “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3.15).

7.      Paul had an apologetics ministry in Athens, in Ephesus, and even in Jerusalem.

8.      In Athens he spoke with Jews, God-fearing Gentiles, and Greek philosophers:  “reasoning [dialevgomai, dialegomai, to discuss, converse, preach] in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place (Acts 17.17)…. they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, ‘May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?’” (Acts 17.19).

9.       In Ephesus he spoke in the synagogue and in the school of Tyrannus: “reasoning [dialevgomai, dialegomai, to discuss, converse, preach] and persuading [peivqw, peitho, to persuade, to have confidence] them about the kingdom of God (Acts 19.8)….reasoning [dialevgomai, dialegomai, to discuss, converse, preach] daily in the school of Tyrannus”(Acts 19.9). 

10.   In Jerusalem Paul gave his defense for his faith in Christ and for his apostolic ministry: “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense [ajpologiva, apologia, a speech or reply of defense] which I now offer to you” (Acts 22:1).

11.  Apollos was using apologetics when he discussed the faith with some Jews in Corinth: “for he powerfully refuted [diakatelevgcomai, diakatelenchomai, refute completely] the Jews in public, demonstrating [ejpideivknumi, epideiknumi, demonstrate, show, point out] by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18.28).

12.  Paul wrote from a Roman prison that he had a ministry of “defense [ajpologiva, apologia, a speech or reply of defense] and confirmation of the gospel” (Philippians 1.7) and “I am appointed for the defense [apologia, apologia, a speech or reply of defense] of the gospel” (Philippians 1.16).

13.  Paul also instructed Titus that the elders-overseers-pastor-teachers should “be able…to refute [ejlevgcw, elencho, expose, convince, correct] those who contradict” sound doctrine (Titus 1.9). Luke (Luke 1.1-4 and Acts 1.1-3) and Paul (1 Corinthians 15) used evidence to give others a reason to consider that Jesus Christ is the only savior.

14.   Jude interrupted a letter about our salvation through Christ and instead wrote to encourage believers to earnestly contend for the faith: “I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly [ejpagwnivzomai, epagonizomai, to contend, to fight] for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

15.   Then in Jude 22-23, he made it clear that there are some who have doubts about the Word of God. We ought to have mercy on them, which includes teaching, answering questions, and challenging them so that they might grow strong in the biblical faith.

16.  Apologetics is a part of witnessing, teaching, and preaching God’s word. Apologetics is doing what God said to do. Apologetics is giving evidence that “the Word of God is living and powerful” (Hebrews 4.12).

17.  We are all called upon to “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” and “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Authority

1. Authority is the right to rule and make decisions.

2. Divine authority and human authority ought not to contradict each other.

3. God is the absolute authority and the source of all legitimate human authority (Psalm 135.6).

4. God has created the universe (John 1.1-4; Colossians 1.16) and his authority maintains the consistent function of the universe (Colossians 1.17). 

5. God’s authority establishes human freedom; human freedom requires responsibility; responsibility protects human freedom and restrains human authority (Romans 13.1-6; 1 Peter 2.13-17).

6. God has instituted human authority in order to

   a.        Protect free will.

   b.       Protect the human race from self destruction

   c.        Give order to life

   d.        Maintain peace

   e.        Allow the gospel and doctrine to spread and influence people

   f.         Support the believers’ witness by their authority orientation in a rebellious world.

7. He has expressed his authority in His written Word and through Jesus Christ, the living Word (Hebrews 1.1-2; 4.12; 2 Tim 3.16). 

8. Believers have the responsibility to obey human authority except where that authority contradicts God’s authority as expressed in His Word (Daniel 6.4-17; Acts 4.19-20; Acts 5.29).  

9. Believers are under the authority of the laws of their nation; we are to obey them. The exception is that when the laws contradict Scripture, we must obey the Scripture instead of the human laws. Peter and John state this in Acts 4.19-20; Peter records the principle in 1 Peter 2.11-23. Daniel faced this same kind of challenge in Daniel 6.4-17.

10. When we choose for God instead of the human law, we honor God and His plan and at the same time help our country by presenting God’s truth.  If we are arrested or harassed we must take the consequences, all the while continuing to learn the Word of God, living by the Holy Spirit, living by faith, and applying the Word of God to life.

11. We have recently studied principles related to these concepts in the doctrines of Human Freedom and Spiritual Freedom, Divine Institutions, Divine Establishment, and Authority.

Baptism

1. Baptism is a word used many times in the New Testament and is often misunderstood.

2. The Greek word “to baptize” is baptizw, which means to dip, immerse, plunge, overwhelm, and so to identify with something.

3. There are at least seven different kinds of baptism mentioned in the Bible.

4. Three are wet baptisms and four are dry baptisms. The three wet baptisms use water:

   1. The baptism of John meant that one believed John’s message that the kingdom promises were about to be fulfilled through Jesus, the promised Messiah (Mark 1.1-8; John 1.19-28); .

   2. The baptism of Jesus by John was a one-time only baptism. This baptism identified Jesus with God the Father’s plan that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the savior of the world, and the king of Israel (Matthew 3.13-17; Luke 3.21-22);

   3. Church age water baptism emphasized a believer’s relationship with Christ in Christ’s death to sin and resurrection to new life (Matthew 28.19; Acts 8.12 and 16; Acts 16.33; 1 Corinthians 1.13-17).

5. The following four baptisms are dry baptisms:

   1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit began after Pentecost and is unique to the church age; each believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and made a member of Christ’s spiritual body, the church (1 Corinthians 12.12-14);

   2. The baptism of Moses occurred during the Exodus. Israel was baptized into Moses when the nation went through the Red Sea and was led by the cloud during the day; the nation was identified with Moses, their leader (1 Corinthians 10.2);

   3. The baptism of the cup is a figure of speech which Jesus used to identify himself with his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus said that both James and John would also drink his cup, by which Jesus meant that they would suffer severely for him (Mark 10.38-39; Mark 14.36; Matthew 20.22-23; Luke 12.50);

   4. The baptism of fire is a reference to some kind of judgment upon those who reject Christ as Messiah. It will probably be fulfilled at his second coming to earth (Matthew 3.10-12; Luke 3.16-17). Mark 1.8 and John 1.33 are parallel passages and omit the baptism of fire because they also omit the judgment material that Matthew and Luke contain.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit

1. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the act by which the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ the moment he believes, and by this indwelling God identifies and unites that believer with Christ and his spiritual body, the church (1 Corinthians 12.13).

2. One cannot be a believer and in the church apart from the baptism of the Holy Spirit; the Corinthian believers, with all of their spiritual failures, had been baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11.15-18; 1 Corinthians 12.13; Ephesians 1.22-23; Romans 8.9).

3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit provides the basis for Christian living.

   1. Because the baptism of the Holy Spirit identifies each believer with Christ in Christ’s death to sin and in Christ’s new resurrection kind of life (Romans 6.1-11).

   2. Because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is our spiritual circumcision—the removal of the legal control over us by our unbeliever self (Colossians 2.11), and

   3. Because the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the time when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the believer in Christ (Acts 11.15-18). Jesus prophesied the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3.11, Mark 1.8, Luke 3.16, John 1.33, and Acts 1.5.

4. Jesus said, in Acts 1.5,  that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was future to his ascension. It was therefore not a part of the age of Israel, but was the fundamental and basic sign of the church age.

5. The baptism of the Holy Spirit first occurred in Acts 2.1-4 with Jews. God later proved that everyone who believes in Christ will be baptized with the Holy Spirit when he visibly gave the baptism of the Holy Spirit to Samaritans in Acts 8.12-17, to Gentiles in Acts 10.43-48, and to Old Testament believers in Acts 19.1-6.

6. Luke wrote in Acts 10 that, while Peter was preaching to Jews and Gentiles at Cornelius’ house in Caesarea, Peter and his audience witnessed the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Gentiles who believed the gospel (Acts 10.44-47).

   1. Shortly after, Peter went to Jerusalem where Jewish believers criticized him for eating with those Gentiles. He explained to them what had happened when the Gentiles believed the gospel that he delivered; Peter said that he saw the Gentiles being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

   2. Peter then explained that this baptism was exactly what Christ had predicted when he spoke to his disciples before his ascension (Acts 1.5 and Acts 11.15-18).

7. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that God does for each believer in Christ; it is not something that is felt; it occurs at the time a person believes in Christ; it is supernatural; it cannot be improved upon; it is complete and perfect when it happens; it is not now evidenced by signs, though several times in the young church it was evidenced by signs in order to confirm that the Holy Spirit was given to every church age believer in Christ; it is revealed only by the Word of God; it is the basis for the supernatural Christian life.

Barnabas

1. Barnabas was Jewish, a Levite, and a believer in Christ.

2. He was originally from Cyprus; he was generous; he had an active, varied, and wonderful ministry.

3. His original name was Joseph, but the apostles gave him the name Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement (Acts 4.36-37).

4. He was the cousin of John Mark (Colossians 4.10). 

5. Barnabas, about A.D. 37, at a time when  believers were still somewhat afraid of Saul, took Saul in hand and introduced him to the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 9.26-27).

6. Later, when the Jerusalem church heard that a large number of Greeks at Antioch were believing in Christ, the leaders sent Barnabas there to witness the ministry (Acts 11.22). After seeing the good ministry, he encouraged the believers at Antioch.

7. Luke records that Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11.23-24).

8. Barnabas then went to get Saul who was in Tarsus; Saul and Barnabas spent a year in Antioch teaching the Word of God (Acts 11.25-30).

9. Barnabas was Saul’s partner on the first missionary trip (Acts 13-14, about A.D. 48-49) and at the Jerusalem council meeting (Acts 15.1-5). 

10. Barnabas served in evangelism, teaching, reconnaissance, financial responsibilities, and encouragement of believers.

11. Though he was a grace oriented believer, even he gave in to the pressures of the legalists in Antioch; these legalists objected to Peter sitting down to dinner with Gentiles, and so Barnabas, along with Peter, separated from the Gentiles until Paul corrected them (Galatians 2.11-19).

12. Barnabas and Paul disagreed on whether they should take John Mark with them on the second missionary trip; Barnabas said yes, Paul said no. The two men separated; Barnabas took John Mark to Cyprus and Paul took Silas and began the second trip (Acts 15.36-40, about A.D. 50). 

13. Barnabas illustrates biblical application for us:

    1. Be flexible in the use of gifts and training.

    2. The prepared believer has a variety of ministry opportunities.

    3. No service is insignificant.

    4. Spiritual failure does not remove one from future ministry.

    5. Be an encouragement to others, not a discouragement

    6. Beware of legalism.

Blessings

1. Blessings are good things—a word, an act, a gift—that encourage us, lift us, and help us.

2. All blessing begins with God because he created the heavens and the earth and all living creatures.

3. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the verb bless “to confer well-being or prosperity on” and the noun “something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity; a boon.” These definitions are accurate for the Hebrew (krb, berach,  hkrb berachah) and the Greek  (eulogew eulogeo, euloghto~ eulogetos, makario~ makarios) words for blessing.

4. Believers receive unique blessings because of their relationship with Christ.

5. God blessed Israel in the past and will bless Israel in the future because of the conditional covenant with Moses (Mosaic law, Deuteronomy 28) and unconditional covenants for Israel (Abrahamic, Genesis 12.1-3, Palestinian, Deuteronomy 30.1-10, Davidic, 2 Samuel 7.14-16, and New, Jeremiah 31.31-34).  

6. God has blessed every church age believer with positional blessings—the same blessings for all believers—simply because we are believers in Christ (Ephesians 1.3; Romans 4.6-9; Galatians 3.14).

7. He also blesses individual believers with experiential blessings—individualized blessings for those who practice accurately the Christian life  (Acts 20.35; Romans 15.29; Galatians 4.15; Hebrews 6.7; 1 Peter 3.14; 4.14; Revelation 22.7).

8. God also has blessings for believers during the millennial kingdom and eternity; these begin with Christ coming for his church (Titus 2.13; Matthew 5.3-11; Revelation 19.9; 20.6).

Captain

1. The captain of the temple guard in Acts referred to the commander of the temple security police.

Death of Christ

1. Christ died for the sins of all mankind—sins past, present, and future.
2. What kind of a death did He die?
3. The Bible says that God the Father judged his Son, Jesus the Christ, while His Son was on the cross.
4. Christ was on the cross for six hours.
5. The last three hours were the bad ones—He took the judgment for mankind's sins; at the end of that period of time He voluntarily died physically.
6. Jesus was crucified at 9:00 AM (Mark 15.25).
7. The land was darkened from noon until 3:00 PM (Matthew 27.45; Mark 15.33; Luke 23.44). Matthew wrote, “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” (Matthew 27.45).
8. Why the darkness for the second three hours on the cross?
9. The judgment was so catastrophic that the Father broke fellowship with the Son while He was bearing our sins and the sun was darkened during this time to indicate the terrible judgment and separation.
10. Jesus voiced this terrible separation from God the Father when He cried out to him while in darkness and on the cross: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27.46. Also Mark 15.34).
11. At the end of this terrible judgment, Jesus voluntarily gave up His life in physical death:  “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50. Also Luke 23.46). 
12. John was very precise when he recorded Jesus’ physical death: “When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30. Also Matthew 27.50 and Luke 23.46).
13. To what did Jesus, still physically alive, refer when he said “It is finished!”? He meant that God the Father had finished judging Him for the sins of the world. He then died physically—the second stage of His death on the cross.
14. In mankind, physical death is a result of spiritual death. Jesus Christ was  true man; He also died physically, not because He had sinned, but because He had completed the payment for mankind’s sins and now followed humanity in physical death.
15. Because Jesus died physically he was able to arise physically—physical resurrection.
16. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead; He set the pattern as the first resurrected man.
17. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 15.20-22: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.”
18. At the point of His physical death the veil of the temple that separated the holy place from the holy of holies tore into two pieces from top to bottom (Matthew 27.51; Mark 15.38; Luke 23.45).
19. The tearing of the thick veil, which occurred when He said “It is finished!” and died physically, demonstrated that He had completed the redemption of mankind.
20. No longer was there a need for the temple sacrifices, including the day of atonement sacrifice.
21. Note, also, that the soldiers offered Jesus a sedating drink at the beginning of His ordeal on the cross.
22. He refused it (Matthew 27.34; Mark 15.23; Luke 23.36).
23. Why? Because Jesus wanted to be in full control of His mind and senses; He had a world changing job to do: He had to be judged for sin.
24. At the end of the ordeal He requested a drink and was given one (Matthew 27.48; Mark 15.36; John 19.28-30).
25. Why did He take a drink at this time? Because He had completed the agonizing work.
26. Again the question, What kind of death did He die?
27. The Bible indicates that Jesus went through two stages or two kinds of death.
    1. The first was the three hours of darkness and separation from the Father while He was being judged for our sins: it was dark during the day; He was alone; He was under the agonizing pain of our sins and the physical crucifixion. This separation from fellowship with the Father due to judgment for sin was a spiritual suffering or a spiritual death.
    2. The second stage or kind of death was a separation from His physical body or physical death.
28. Which does the Bible emphasize as the most important and terrible part? The three hours on the cross bearing our sins and separated from the Father was the most important.
29. The physical torture on the cross was excruciating, yet He was strong enough to survive it and maintain mental and physical self-control.
30. He deliberately and voluntarily gave up His physical life after He said “It is finished!”
31. The second stage or kind of death demonstrated the completeness of His work and prepared for His physical resurrection and rule.
32. Adam and Eve and then all mankind experienced this spiritual death or separation from God due to sin (Genesis 2.19; Genesis 3.7; Ephesians 2.1, 5; Colossians 2.13; John 3.3).
33. Adam and Eve’s spiritual death was demonstrated in the garden when they fell: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Genesis 3.7).
34. They were very much alive physically.
35. Paul wrote to believers in Asia and said that they were spiritually dead before they became Christians by faith in Christ: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2.1).
36.  In order for Christ to substitute as our sin bearer, He had to die spiritually, then die physically.

Christology

1. Christology is the biblical study of Christ. Christ (Cristov" christos) is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word  for “anointed one,” “Messiah” (j'yvim; massiah).

2. Names for Christ:

   1. Jesus Christ is God (John 1.1-14;  Hebrews 1.1-4,8).

   2. The Son of God (Luke 22.70; Hebrews 1.4-5).

   3. Man (Luke 2; 1 Timothy 2.5).

   4. Prophet (Luke 24.19; John 6.14).

   5. Priest (Hebrews 4.14; 5.5-10).

   6. King of Israel (Matthew 27.11; John 1.49).

   7. Savior (John 4.42; 1 Timothy 4.10).

   8. World ruler (Zechariah 14.9; 1 Corinthians 15.24-28).

3. Jesus, His human name, means savior (Matthew 1.21); Christ or Messiah is His title; LORD is the personal name of the revealed covenant God of Israel; Lord is a title for deity; Immanuel comes from Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 7.14 and means in the Hebrew “God with us” (lae WnM;[;  lae el means God, Wn nu means us, M;[I im means with ).

4. Jesus was virgin-conceived (Isaiah 7.14; Matthew 1.20-23) so that he would be undiminished deity and true humanity without a sinful human nature (Luke 1.35; Hebrews 4.15). This means that he had no human father; God caused Mary to become pregnant—a miracle.

5. Christ became man when he was born of Mary in order to die for the sins of the world—to reconcile mankind (2 Corinthians 5.18-21; 1 Timothy 1.15); He was the lamb of God (John 1.29).

6. Besides not having a sin nature, He never sinned (2 Corinthians 5.21; Hebrews 4.15).

7. Christ is undimished deity and true humanity in one person forever (John 1.1-14; Hebrews 1.1-13; 2.14); the theological name for this is hypostatic union.

8. When he came to earth He voluntarily restricted the independent use of certain divine attributes, though from His birth on He always is undiminished deity and true humanity; the theological name for this truth is kenosis (Philippians 2.6-8).

9. During His time on earth, in His humanity, He relied on the Holy Spirit (Luke 4.14,18).

10. His purpose for coming to earth was to die in our place for our sins; He was our substitute, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

11. During the three hours of darkness, while He was on the cross, God the Father judged Christ, His son, for all the sins of all mankind (1 Timothy 1.15; 2 Corinthians 5.18-21; John 1.29; John 19.30; 1 John 2.1-2).

12. He arose from the dead on the third day (Luke 24; 1 Corinthians 15.4 ); He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father forty days after He arose (Acts 1.3-9 ); He now intercedes for believers (Hebrews 4.14; 1 Jn 2.1-2); He will return for the church to take church believers back to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4.16-18; Titus 2.13), then after the seven years of tribulation on earth, He will come to earth to set up and rule His millennial kingdom (Matthew 24.27-31; Acts 1.10-11; 2 Thessalonians 1.7-10 ); at the end of the millennium, after one last Satan-led rebellion which will be followed by the Great White Throne Judgment, Christ will turn over the kingdom of God to the Father and the Father will have Him continue to rule the eternal kingdom, which will reside in a new heaven and a new earth, forever (Revelation 20; 1 Corinthians 15.24-28).

Chronology of Acts 1-12

1. The chronology of Acts 1-12 helps our perspective of the events covered by Luke’s history.  I have taken this chronology from Harold W. Hoehner.

   1. Pentecost, Sunday, May 24, AD 33 (Acts 2).

   2. Saul’s conversion, summer AD 35 (Acts 9).

   3. Peter’s trip to Cornelius’ house, AD 40-41 (Acts 10.-11.18).

   4. Barnabas sent to Antioch, AD 41 (Acts 11.19-24).

   5. Paul went to Antioch, spring AD 43 (Acts 11.25-26).

   6. Agabus predicted the famine, spring AD 44 (Acts 11.27-28).

   7. Agrippa killed James, spring AD 44 (Acts 12.1-2).

   8. Barnabas and Saul take the relief offering to Jerusalem, fall AD 47 (Acts 11.30).

   9. Barnabas and Saul are back in Antioch, fall AD 47 to spring 48 (Acts 12.25-13.1).

Circumcision

1. Circumcision was a physical sign, a ritual, a human work showing that one believed God’s covenant to Abraham.

2. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin from the male sex organ. 

3. It began with Abraham and the Mosaic Law included circumcision (Leviticus 12.3).

4. It is a ritual which signifies that the individual has accepted the Abrahamic covenant—God’s unconditional covenant that He would bless Abraham by giving him and his heirs a land, by giving him children who would expand into a nation, and by blessing the whole human race through one of his heirs (Genesis 12.1-3; 17; Romans 3.1-2)—by faith (Genesis 17.1-14; Romans 4.10-11).

5. Circumcision was established for all male Jewish children 8 days old (Genesis 17.12), male Gentile children born into the house or purchased (Genesis 17.12-13), and male foreigners wishing to celebrate the Passover or become citizens of Israel (Exodus 12.48).

6. True circumcision was a sign that a particular Hebrew family accepted by faith the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17.1-14; Romans 2.24-29).

7. Circumcision was a prerequisite for eating of the Passover meal. The Passover is indirectly a commemoration of the Abrahamic Covenant (Exodus 12.40-51).

8. Circumcision was never necessary for salvation (Romans 3.30-4.12; 1 Corinthians 7.19; Galatians 2.3-7).

9. There have been two types of circumcision in Israel's history.

   1. True circumcision was the surgical procedure based upon faith in correct doctrine.

   2. False circumcision was the surgical procedure based upon works and incorrect doctrine (John 7.14-24; Romans 2.25-29; 9.1-9; Philippians 3.1-7).

10. Circumcision has no spiritual significance in the church age (Acts 15; Galatians 2; 5.1-13; 6.12-18).

11. The Baptism of the HS is the spiritual sign that a person is a part of the church just as circumcision was a physical sign that the person was a part of Israel under the Abrahamic covenant (Romans 6.3-4; 1 Corinthians 12.13; Colossians 2.11-13).

David

1. David was from the tribe of Judah, a son of Jesse, king of Israel, and psalmist (2 Samuel 23.1).

2. He was the second king in Israel and ruled after Saul, though he was the first king from the ruling tribe, Judah.

3. He began as a shepherd, was Saul’s armor bearer, was anointed by Samuel to be God’s king of Israel (1 Samuel 16).

4. He killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17), was pursued by Saul (1 Samuel 19), and at Saul’s death was inaugurated King of Israel (2 Samuel 5).

5. God promised him (Davidic Covenant, 2 Samuel 7.4-17) that his descendents, and especially his greatest descendant, Jesus the Christ (Matthew 1.1; Romans 1.3) would rule forever over Israel.

6. His most noted sons were Absalom (2 Samuel 3.3, mother was Maacah), Nathan (1 Chronicles 3.3, Bathsheba), and Solomon (2 Samuel 12.24, Bathsheba).

7. He was noted for his faith and loyalty to the Lord (Psalm 22 and 23), and though he publicly sinned numerous times he always returned to fellowship with the Lord by confessing his sin to Him (Psalm 32, 2 Samuel 12.1-15; Psalm 51; 1 Kings 15.3-5).

8. God said that David was a “man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13.14; Acts 13.22, 36); that is, one who, in spite of his sin, always returned to fellowship with God and desired to do God’s will.

9. David was a great military leader and author of many at least 73 Psalms.

10. David’s challenge and instructions to Solomon, and the nation were applications of his understanding practice of grace, humility, obedience, and faith (1 Chronicles 28-29, and especially 29.10-21). 

11. David’s greatness was his consistent desire to do God’s will, his faith in the Lord, his loyalty to the Lord, his willingness to honestly confess sin and failure to the Lord, and his spiritual and national leadership.

Deacons

1. Deacons are servants of the church.

2. The seven men in Acts 6 were not official church deacons, but they did demonstrate the service of deacons.

3. A deacon in the church is a man who functions as a servant of God, the pastor-teacher, and the church.

4. He is the person who, under authority of the pastor-teacher, willingly serves the church body by actively carrying out needed tasks for the benefit of the church (Philippians 1.1; 1 Timothy 3.10-13).

Dispensations

1. Dispensations are the Divine administration of human history (or period of time) in the progressively revealed plan of God.

2. Each dispensation is distinguished by doctrine, people, administrators, and events (Ephesians 1.10; 3.1-12).

3. Time (human history) is divided by God into four basic administrations:

   1. Age of the Gentiles (Genesis 1-11).

   2. Age of Israel (Genesis 12-Gospels and Revelation 4-19).

   3. Church Age (Acts-Revelation 3).

   4. Millennium, the rule of Christ on earth (Select OT Scripture such as Isaiah 11; Psalm 72; Daniel 2.4-45; and Revelation 20).

4.  Dispensational theology is based upon a normal or plain interpretation of the Bible and a recognition of the distinction between Israel and The Church.

5. The word “dispensation” comes from the Greek word oikonomia which means 

   1. Management of a household

   2. Direction office (Luke 16.2-4; 1 Corinthians 9.17; Col 1.25; Ephesians 3.2).

   3. Arrangement, order, plan (Ephesians 1.10; 3.9).

   4. Training (1 Timothy 1.4), (BAGD 559).

6. Another word that has been translated age, world, and dispensation is aiwn (Matthew 13.39,40,49; 28.20; Hebrews 9.26; 11.3).

Divine Discipline

1. God disciplines believers in order to bring about right thinking and right living; He wants to protect, correct, train and bless us.

2. God begins with warning (Revelation 3.19-20), then proceeds to punishment if the warning is ignored (Hebrews 12.5-11), and in certain cases He removes the believer from temporal life—the sin unto death (Acts 5.1-10; 1 John 5.16).

Divine Good

1. Divine good is a way to describe the good works that God produces through believers (John 15.4-5; Ephesians 2.10; 1 Corinthians 12.4-7).

2. It is the right thing done in the right way under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, while human good is the right thing done in wrong way under the direction of our sinful nature or the wrong thing done in the wrong way under the direction our sinful nature.

3. In order to produce divine good we must be spiritual believers— believers living by the Holy Spirit (Gal 5.16, 22-23), we must be in fellowship with God (John 15.4-5), and we must live in the sphere of divine love (1 Corinthians 13.1-7).

4. The good that we produce during our lives will be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ; only divine good will pass the test and be rewarded (1 Corinthians 3.10-15).

Divine Guidance

1. Divine guidance means that God makes His will known to believers.

2. Sometimes we know His will all at once (Jude) and sometimes He reveals His will a step at a time (Peter).

3. God guided Peter in the Cornelius situation through a combination of Peter’s prayer, the Word (the sheet vision), Peter’s thinking about the vision, circumstances, and through the urging of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10.9-22 and Acts 11.4-12).

4. Peter did not fully know to what end God was guiding him until he arrived at Cornelius’ house and heard Cornelius’ explanation as to why he had sent for Peter (Acts 10.34-35).

5. Peter followed God’s guidance step by step.

6. God guided Jude to change the subject of his letter from salvation to an appeal that believers earnestly contend for the faith because of the surrounding apostasy (Jude 1-4).

7. God guided Jude through a combination of Jude’s knowledge of Bible doctrine, the circumstances of apostasy, and a strong inner necessity produced by the Holy Spirit.

8. After the Scripture was completed, God stopped guiding by visions or direct revelations; we now have his completed Word, Bible doctrine.

9. Therefore, we need to know the Word of God, walk in fellowship with God, walk by the Holy Spirit, and listen to the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Election

1. Election, in practical terms, means that God has selected and secured those whom he knows will believe in Christ.

2. The word “election” means selection, choice, differentiation.

3. Charles Ryrie, in A Survey of Bible Doctrine, page 116, writes that election is "the action of God in choosing certain people for certain purposes. The reason the definition is so broad is so that it can include the various people and groups who are said to be elect in the Bible."

4. God selects those who will believe in Christ for eternal life, for privileges, and for opportunities.

5. Life, privileges, and opportunities are only given to those who are related to God by faith (Ephesians 1.3-14).

6. He elected people according to their foreknown faith response to the gospel.

7. He selected and secured these faith people for personal participation and blessing inside His gracious plan (Ephesians 1.3-14; Ephesians 1.4-5; 1 Thessalonians 5.9; 2 Thessalonians 2.13; 1 Peter 1.1-2).

8. Acts 13.48, “and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed,” links God’s election in the past to man’s belief of the gospel in the present.

9. The meaning of “election” has been hotly debated. I believe the following interpretation of election according to God’s foreknowledge answers the most questions and best brings all the Scripture on this subject together. Many think election means that God simply programs people to believe or not believe, and that this definition of election protects God’s sovereignty, but it takes greater sovereignty and power to create beings who have the freedom and ability to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation than to create beings who do just what they were programmed to do.

10. God created man with volition; God was smart enough and powerful enough to plan for every contingency, every bad decision and every good decision and make it all come out to fulfill his plan and honor his character.

11. Predestination is different from election and only applies to believers. It means God designed a destiny for every believer. That destiny is that he will be like Christ (Romans 8.29; Ephesians 1.5-6).

12. Believers, therefore, are predestined to be like Christ. Predestination has nothing to do with man’s eternal destination.

Eli

1. Eli was the priest at Shiloh at the time of Samuel’s birth (1 Samuel 1:9) and a judge (1 Samuel 4:18).

2. He was to serve as priest for Israel and to care for the ark (1 Samuel 4:11-18).

3. He was instrumental in the early training of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:11, 18-21; 3:1).

4. His sons, priests under him (1 Samuel 1:3) were worthless rebels whom he failed to discipline and train (1 Samuel 2:12; 3:13).

5. The Lord, through the Philistines, struck his sons down (1 Samuel 2:34; 4:11).

6. The news that the Philistines had captured God’s Ark caused Eli to collapse. He broke his neck in the fall and died (1 Samuel 4:15-18).

7. Principle:  Eli failed to protect the priesthood by not disciplining and training his priest sons.

8. Principle: God graciously uses his people to bless others even though they have areas of failure.

Encouragement

1. Encouragement is the general ministry of believers to each other in which we encourage, comfort, and challenge each other.

2. Each of us is encouraged by knowing that God cares for us (1 Peter 5.7), that we can go to God’s gracious throne in prayer (Hebrews 4.16), that “God works all things together for good” (Romans 8.28), that God is our helper and will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13.5-6), and that no one or nothing can take us out of his gracious and mighty hand (John 10.27-29).

3. This general encouragement ministry by all believers is different from the special ministry of encouragement directed by the spiritual gift of encouragement (Romans 12.8).

4. God wants us to encourage each other (1 Thessalonians 4.18; 5.11,14; 2 Thessalonians 2.17; Hebrews 3.13; 10.25).

5. We learn to encourage others through our own personal hardship, tests, and suffering (2 Corinthians 1.3-5).

6. We can encourage each other in the following ways:

   1. With the Word of God (Romans 15.4; 1 Thessalonians 4.18; Hebrews 12.5; 1 Peter 5.12).

   2. With news of the spiritual growth and momentum made by other believers (2 Corinthians 7.6-7,13; Ephesians 6.22; Philippians 2.19; Colossians 4.8; 1 Thessalonians 3.7; Philemon 7).

   3. By stressing the great encouragement that comes through our  relationship with Christ (2 Corinthians 1.5).

   4. By reminding others that God encourages us (Acts 9.31; Romans 15.6; 2 Corinthians 1.3; 7.6; 2 Thessalonians 2.16-17).

Eternal Salvation

1. Eternal salvation comes to a person when he believes in Jesus as savior—faith alone in Christ alone.

2. The good news is that Jesus Christ offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who believe in Him because He died in our place for our sins.

3. Paul wrote of this in Romans 1.9, 15-16, 1 Corinthians 15.1-4, 2 Corinthians 10.1, Galatians 3.13, Ephesians 1.13, Philippians 4.15, and 2 Timothy 1.8.

4. This good news or gospel of eternal salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is for the entire world.

5. Eternal salvation becomes the possession of every person at the moment he believes in God’s Son for salvation.

6. People wrongly try to add many things to the gospel—discipleship, changing one’s life, making Jesus the Lord of your life, stopping  sinning, performing Christian service, going to church, giving up certain activities, or obeying God.

7. They may say that unless your life shows morality and Christian growth and service you may not be a Christian.

8. They change grace—grace means that God has done everything Himself and offers us salvation for free—ever so subtly by making us do something to help insure our salvation.

9. They change faith, again very subtly, by making it include obedience to God instead of simply believing in Christ.

10. Faith is a belief, a trust, an inner conviction, a reliance that something is true—faith must be directed toward the right object, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2.8-9; Romans 1.4-8).

Evil

Faith

1. Faith is the conviction that something is true; faith is trust; faith is reliance upon an object.

2. Faith must have an object.

3. We use faith every day.

4. When we are driving a car and step on the brakes, we believe that they will slow the car down; that is faith.

5. When we go to church we believe that there will be a service; that is faith.

6. In order for a person to gain eternal life, he must believe the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ.

7. “Saving faith” is simple faith in the only object who is able and willing to save—Jesus Christ. 

8. In biblical terms, saving faith “is the inward conviction that what God says to us in the gospel is true” (Zane Hodges, Absolutely Free, 31).

9. What He said was that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was judged by God the Father for the sins of the world, including my sins, and that because of His substitutionary death He offers me eternal life if I will believe in Him as my savior (John 1.12; 3.16; 20.31; Acts 16.31; Ephesians 2.8-9; 1 Timothy 1.15; 1 John 5.13).

10. Jesus Christ is, as John said in John 1.29, “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Feasts of Israel

1. Feasts of Israel (Biblical feasts, Leviticus 23) were five in Number.

   1. The Passover and Unleavened Bread

      1. The first of the three great annual feasts (Exodus 12.1-28; 23.5;  Leviticus 23.4-8; Numbers 28.16-25; Deuteronomy 16.1-8). 

      2. The Passover commemorated God’s deliverance from the tenth plague, which brought the death of the firstborn, and the Exodus.

      3. It was a spring festival, the first festival of the religious calendar, and occurred on Nisan 14.

      4. Nisan was the first month of the religious calendar and was equivalent to March-April.

      5. The Passover taught redemption by God.

      6. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was a seven day festival that began the day after the Passover and lasted from Nisan 15-21.

      7. Passover and Unleavened Bread were one unit; the Passover marked the sacrifice, and Unleavened Bread marked the feast following the sacrifice.

      8. Unleavened Bread commemorated the separation from Egypt under God’s direction and protection. 

      9. Unleavened Bread taught separation from the past to a new life with the Lord.

   2. Pentecost

      1. Celebrated in May-June, was the second great annual feast (Exodus 23.16; 34.22; Leviticus 23.15-16; Numbers 28.26; Deuteronomy 16.10).

      2. It was also called the feast of Weeks (Exodus 34.22; Deuteronomy 16.10, 16), the feast of Harvest (Exodus 23.16) and “the day of first fruits” (Numbers 28.26).

      3. Israel observed Pentecost seven weeks plus 1 day (50 days, Pentecost) after the Nisan 16 wave offering of the barley sheaf during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

      4. Pentecost linked the spring barley harvest to the early summer wheat harvest.

      5. Pentecost stressed thanksgiving and taught that God provides the necessities for life for Israel.

   3. Trumpets

      1. Occurred in the fall, during Tishri, September-October, the seventh religious month and the first civil month (Leviticus 23.23-25; Numbers 29.1-6). 

      2. It marked the beginning of the civil year, like our New Years Day.

      3. Israel blew trumpets on the first day of every month (Numbers 10.1,10), but this trumpet blast was on the first day of the seventh religious month or first of the civil month.

      4. The trumpet blasts symbolically called on the Lord to bless Israel (Numbers 10.10).

      5. Trumpets called the Lord’s attention to Israel’s need of His blessing; it may have prepared for the Day of Atonement, besides opening the civil year.

   4. The Day of Atonement

      1. Occurred on the 10th day of Tishri, the seventh religious month, September-October (Leviticus 16; 23.26-32; Exodus 30.10-30; Numbers 29.7-11).

      2. This was the most important annual festival.

      3. The high priest entered the holy of holies.

      4. The scapegoat was sent into the wilderness, signifying the sending away of the people’s sins.

      5. The Day of Atonement taught that God graciously forgives all sin.

   5. The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles

      1. The third great annual feast (Leviticus 23.33-43; Numbers 29.12-39; Deuteronomy 16.13; Nehemiah 8.18; John 7.2,37).

      2. It occurred during Tishri 15-21, the seventh religious month, September-October.

      3. The name comes from the fact that Israel was to live seven days in temporary booths that they made out of boughs.

      4. This commemorated that God took care of Israel during the exodus, during which they did not have permanent houses.

      5. Booths taught that God gives fatherly care and protection.

2. In summary: the Passover taught redemption by God, and Unleavened Bread taught separation from the past to a new life with the Lord; Pentecost stressed thanksgiving and taught that God provides the necessities for life for Israel; Trumpets opened the civil year and called the Lord’s attention to Israel’s need of His blessing, and it may have prepared for the Day of Atonement; The Day of Atonement taught that God graciously forgives all sin; and Booths taught that God gives fatherly care and protection.

Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness is the release from guilt, punishment, and penalty (Acts 26.18).

2. The biblical words “ to forgive” and “forgiveness” denote pardon, to cancel, to lift up and send away, and to let go.

3. Forgiveness is necessary because God is absolute righteousness and man is sinful.

4. All sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51.4; Romans 3.23).

5. God is free to forgive human sin because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for every sin (1 Timothy 1.15;  1 John 2.1-2; John 1.29).

6. God will forgive man (Isaiah 43.25;  Psalm 130.3-4; Acts 13.38-39; Eph 4.32; 1 John 1.9).

7. God commands believers to forgive other believers (Col 3.13; Eph 4.32) as many times as is necessary (Matt 18.21-22); we are to forgive just in the same way that God forgives us—freely and as many times as necessary.

8. We are also to forgive ourselves (Philippians 4.13; 1 Corinthians 4.4).

9. When we have a guilt complex and will not forgive ourselves even though God has forgiven us, we are placing ourselves above God.

10. In practical terms, forgiveness is giving up the right to hurt someone else when they hurt you.

God-Consciousness

1. God-consciousness and gospel hearing identify the two stages of thought and decision that a person goes through before he believes in Jesus Christ as savior.
2. God-consciousness is the stage when a person knows that God exists. 
3. The age that this occurs varies with individuals and cultures.
4. God has made it possible for every person to arrive at God-consciousness through natural revelation and through special revelation  (Romans 1.18-32; Psalm 19.1-6; Acts 14.17; 17.22-24,28; Colossians1.17; Titus 2.11).
5. If, after God-consciousness, that person desires to have an eternal relationship with God through faith in the only Savior, Jesus Christ, God will reveal the gospel to him—give him gospel hearing—so that he may believe, if he chooses, in Christ as Savior and so become a child of God and possess eternal life (John 7.17; Acts 17.26-27).

God-Fearer

1. God-fearer was the term for Gentiles who were attracted by the monotheism and ethical standards of the Jewish community; some practiced in a more limited way the Jewish observance of the Sabbath and the dietary laws; some attended the synagogue and prayed regularly. 

2. God-fearers were respected by  the Jewish people (Acts 10.2,22); they were often open to the gospel and many God-fearers responded in faith to the gospel and became a strong force in the early church (Acts 10.35).

3. Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian cohort who lived in Caesarea, was a God-fearer.

4. God instructed Cornelius to send for Peter, who would reveal the gospel to him.

5. Cornelius, along with other Gentiles, listened to Peter, believed the gospel, received the Holy Spirit, and was baptized in water (Acts 10).

6. A God-fearer was, then, a Gentile who, influenced by the Old Testament, had passed through God-consciousness and was ready to hear the accurate gospel of Christ.

Grace Giving

1. Grace giving occurs when a believer who is walking by the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with God willingly gives to the Lord from his material possessions without any desire for human praise (2 Corinthians 8.1-5; 9.6-8).

Happiness

1. Happiness is a joyful and contented attitude that begins with faith in Jesus Christ as our savior (John 20.29) and then continues as a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23).

2. Happiness is also the by-product of God’s blessings (Psalm 144.12-15) and of the faith application of the principles of the Bible (John 13.17).

3. This application of Bible doctrine takes many roads that lead to happiness:

   1. Gracious treatment of the poor (Proverbs 14.21).

   2. Our possession of God’s wisdom (Proverbs 3.13).

   3. Occupation with Christ and therefore gladness that we are related to Jesus Christ and follow Him (Philippians 4.4).

   4. Knowing that believers to whom we have ministered are growing in their Christian lives (Philippians 4.1).

   5. Our understanding and application of the Word of God (John 13.17).

   6. Knowing that we are doing the right thing (Romans 14.22).

   7. We recognize the tests that come from God and know that God is strengthening us, blessing us, and will reward us later on (James 1.2,12; 5.11).

   8. Knowing that the gospel is going to unbelievers and that we have a part in this spread of the gospel (Philippians 1.18).

   9. Awareness of our privilege to serve God (Luke 1.45-48; 2.10).

4. A sure way to make ourselves unhappy is to make our own happiness the goal of our life, especially at the expense of others.

 Helping Believers

1. Helping believers is God’s will. 

2. God has given us the privilege, the opportunity, and the responsibility to help other believers; guidelines come with this responsibility.

3. We are to help widows (Acts 6.1-4) and other believers (Galatians 6.10); families of widows are to help their widows (1 Timothy 5.4,8); the church is to help certain widows (1 Timothy 5.3-7, 9-11); parents are to support their children and children are to honor and support their parents (1 Timothy 5.8). Paul states the principle for helping believers in Galatians 6.10.

4. He also warned, in 2 Thessalonians 5.10-15, against supporting the lazy believer who would not work.

Hezekiah

1. King Hezekiah (728-686 BC, 2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chronicles 29-32) was Ahaz’s (Jehoahaz, 732-715 BC) son.

2. He was one of the godly kings of Judah.

3. Hezekiah cleaned and repaired the temple and destroyed the idolatrous worship centers (2 Kings 18.3-6).

4. Hezekiah cleansed the temple (2 Chronicles 20); he celebrated a national Passover (2 Chronicles 30); and he destroyed idols and restored contributions for the temple (2 Chronicles 31).

5. He threw off Assyria’s yoke which he had inherited from his father (2 Kings 18.7) and successfully fought the Philistines (2 Kings 18.8).

6. Sennacherib twice invaded Judah.

7. The second time (701 BC), the Lord fought for Judah and destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kings 19.35).

8. Following this victory, Isaiah told Hezekiah that he would soon die.

9. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and the Lord gave him 15 more years (2 Kings 20.1-7).

10. The Lord gave him a miraculous sign that this would be true—the shadow on the staircase went back ten steps 2 Kings 20.8-11).

11. Soon after this, Hezekiah foolishly showed Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, the temple treasures, for which Isaiah scolded him.

12. Isaiah told Hezekiah that in the near future Babylon would come and take the temple treasures to Babylon (2 Kings 20.12-18).

13. Hezekiah placidly accepted this because it would not happen until after his time.

14. Hezekiah is also famous for the construction of the 1777 foot long underground water tunnel that carried water from the Gihon springs outside the city (which he stopped up and covered over) into Jerusalem.

15. Along with the water tunnel he built the Siloam reservoir to hold the water (2 Kings 20.20; 2 Chronicles 32.1-4, 32).

16. The Siloam Inscription in Hezekiah’s Water Tunnel reads “[...when] (the tunnel) was driven through.  And this was the way in which it was cut through:  While [...] (were) still [...] axe(s), each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be cut through, [there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was an overlap in the rock on the right [and on the left].  And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarrymen hewed (the rock), each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits, and the height of the rock above the head(s) of the quarrymen was 100 cubits.”

17. Hezekiah, by his attitude of seeking the Lord, righting wrongs, instituting proper temple worship, and submission to the Lord, was instrumental in a national resurgence of Israel.

Holy Spirit’s Ministries

1. The Holy Spirit's ministries in the church age are many and varied.

2. The rule of thumb is that the Holy Spirit will glorify Christ, not himself (John 16.14).

3. The Spirit works in three areas to provide eternal salvation to the unbeliever, to protect and prepare believers and to produce through believers. 

4. He convicts the unbeliever of his need for salvation (John 16.8-11); to do this he convinces about sin—we are guilty before God, about Christ’s righteousness and our need for it, and about judgment that falls on those who disbelieve in Christ.

5. He then does at least five spiritual services for a person the moment one believes in Christ

   1. Regenerates (Titus 3.5).

   2. Indwells (1 Corinthians 6.19).

   3. Baptizes (1 Corinthians 12.13).

   4. Seals (Ephesians 1.13).

   5. Gives a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12.11).

6. He continues to work in and through the believer during the believer’s life:

   1. He assures of salvation (Romans 8.16).

   2. Fills (Ephesians 5.18).

   3. Teaches (John 14.26).

   4. Guides (Romans 8.14).

   5. Glorifies Christ (John 16.14).

   6. Prays for believers (Romans 8.26-27).

   7. Produces the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23).

   8. Gives the ability to live without giving in to the old sin nature (Galatians 5.16-17).

Human History

1. Human History has been called “His Story.” 

2. God the Father has a specific plan for human history.

3. That plan centers around his Son, Jesus Christ.

4. The specific Bible doctrines that explain this are

   1. The Attributes of God.

   2. Dispensations.

   3. The Theocratic Program.

   4. The Angelic Conflict.

   5. The Historical Plan of God.

   6. Human Volition or Free Will (Acts 17.24-31; 1 Corinthians 15.20-27).

Inheritance

1. Inheritance n the Bible refers to two kinds of blessings from God: position inheritance is passive inheritance and production inheritance is active inheritance.

2. Position inheritance refers to the inheritance that God grants to us as sons ( Titus 3.7; Ephesians 1.11, 13, 14; Ephesians 3.6; Colossians 1.12; Galatians 4.7; Romans 8.17a; 1 Peter 1.4-5 and 3.7).

3. This inheritance is eternal life and relationship with God.

4. It includes the absence of sorrow, pain, fear, death.

5. Peter writes that it will last forever, that it will be righteously and honestly awarded, and that it will never go bad or wilt.

6. Furthermore, this positional inheritance includes the opportunity and privilege of service now and in eternity.

7. Production inheritance refers to the inheritance that God grants to us for honorable service to him—because we have produced divine good, because we have abided in Christ, because we have grown in grace and knowledge of Christ, because we have endured with Christ, because we have blessed others, and because we have lived the Christian life the way God wanted us to live (Romans 8.17b; 1 Corinthians 6.9-10; Galatians 5.21; Ephesians 5.5; 1 Peter 3.9).

Interest Without Interference

1. Interest without interference is how we should interface with other believers.

2. We do have a responsibility to other believers; we are to support them, encourage them, come to their aid, and pray for them (Acts 6.1-4; Galatians 6.1-2,10; 1 Thessalonians 4.18; 5.11,14; Hebrews 3.13; 10.25).

3. It is not our responsibility to interfere in their personal lives by attempting to run their lives, by judging them, by trying to make them accountable to us, or by being critical of them (Job 42.7-9; Proverbs 11.9-13; John 21.21-22; Romans 14.1-13; 1 Corinthians 4.5; Galatians 6.3-5; Colossians 3.23; 1 Timothy 5.13).

Joab

1. Joab was David's nephew (2 Samuel 2:18) and commander in chief of David's army (2 Samuel 5:8).
2. Joab was at different times efficient, brutal, loyal, and wise (2 Samuel 11:6-26; 12: 26-31; 18:14-33; 24:2-4).
3. Joab tried to dissuade David from taking a census.
4. Joab was right, but David did it anyway (2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21).
5. Joab was replaced by Amasa and later restored.
6. Joab finally faltered by supporting a revolt against David and Solomon (1 Kings 1:5-53).
7. Benaiah, in league with Solomon, killed Joab (1 Kings 2:28, 34).
8. Principle: Strong leadership, yet pride and bad judgment get in the way.

Jonathan
 

1.    Jonathan was Saul’s son and heir to the throne (1 Samuel 13:16).

3.    He unknowingly disobeyed Saul’s vow by eating some honey, after which the Israelites would not allow Saul to execute Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:24-45).

4.    He and David were very good friends (1 Samuel 18:1).

5.    He recognized God’s decision to make David king when he turned his robe, armor, sword, bow, and belt (1 Samuel 18:4; 23:16-17).

6.    Though Jonathan was Saul’s son and a soldier in Saul’s army, but did the right thing by protecting David from Saul (1 Samuel 19:1-10; 20).

7.     Jonathan fell with Saul fell in battle with the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:2-3).

8.    Jonathan reminds us that our first loyalty is to Lord. He also demonstrates loyal friendship.

Josiah

1.        Josiah (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35; r. 640-609 BC) was the last prominent king of Judah before the great destruction.

2.        The invasions by Babylon began in 605 BC and eventuated in the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the exile of the people to Babylon in 586 BC.

3.        At the age of eight years he began his reign.

4.        In the eighteenth year of his reign be began repairing the temple. During this construction Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the Law (Moses’ writing). Shaphan the scribe read the Law to Josiah. He was appalled at the apostasy of the people from God’s word.

5.        Josiah purged Jerusalem and Judah of idols, idol high places (for worship), pagan priests, mediums, and spiritists.

6.        Because of his honest acceptance of God’s word, the Lord would put off divine judgment of Judah until after Josiah died.

7.        Josiah met his death when he foolishly went to fight against the Egyptians in 609 BC.

8.        After Josiah died Judah rebelled against God, God’s prophets, and God’s disciplining hand.

9.        God judged this generation through the Babylonians from 605 BC to 586 BC.  

10.   Though Pharaoh Neco of Egypt killed Josiah in battle, set up Josiah’s son Jehoahaz as the client king, then removed and imprisoned him at Riblah in 609 BC, Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar soon disposed of Egypt as a power, and then invaded and destroyed Jerusalem.

Kinsman Redeemer

1.    Kinsman Redeemer. Redeem, 12 times (Ruth 3:13; 4:4, 6, 14). Strong #1350. גְּאוּלִים, גָּאַל ga’al to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman who acts as protector or guarantor of family rights. Also Job 5:20; 19:25; Psalm 44:26; Isaiah 43:14).

2.    The word was used for:

a.    To buy back property that the family had sold.

b.    To provide an heir for a deceased brother by marrying that brother’s wife and producing a child with her.

c.     To buy back a family member who had been sold into slavery due to poverty.

d.    To avenge a relative who had been murdered by killing the murderer.

Knowledge of the Gospel 

1. Knowledge of the gospel (the facts about Jesus Christ) combined with faith in that truth gave the apostles a working confidence and courage to spread the one and only life-giving message, the message of eternal life through the resurrected Christ (Acts 4.19-20).

2. We, believers in Jesus Christ, have the knowledge of the truth available to us in the Word of God.

3. We also have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to teach us and to minister through us.

4. We have the privilege to make faith-application of  the truth; therefore each of us has the opportunity and privilege to confidently and courageously tell others about Jesus Christ.

Legalism

1. Legalism is the belief in and the practice of human religious regulations and taboos because one believes that is the way to please God, become spiritual, and live the Christian life.

2. Legalism can then become the strict following of Scripture or of tradition by human ability. All of this, of course, is wrong.

3. In Acts 21 those “zealous for the law” were legalists. The law of Moses was their code of religious regulations and taboos; they were upset with Paul that he did not place high priority on living by the law.

4. The entire context of Acts 21-23 demonstrates that Paul was unable to persuade Jews that Christ alone was sufficient for salvation and that the Christian life was lived by God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit and by faith.

5. Coupled with this is another belief: that God will bless, help, and prosper the one living this way.

6. A legalist follows the letter of Scripture and tradition in order to gain good from God or show his own righteousness.

7. Legalistic people work for God's blessing, they confuse cause and result, and they misunderstand grace.

8. In contrast to the legalist, a biblical believer follows the meaning of the scripture from a desire to please God.

9. Scripture teaches that a believer is to think and act rightly because of genuine appreciation for God.

10. Legalism becomes a heavy yoke or load to live under (Matthew 11.28).

11. Legalism is against salvation by grace (Galatians 1.6-9; 2.16), spirituality by grace (Galatians 3.2-5; 5.5), and the freedom to live the Christian way of life by grace—which is the freedom to live apart from pressure imposed by a religious community or a taboo list (Galatians 4.8-11; 5.1-5).

12. Legalistic people often attempt to force their lifestyle upon others and thereby judge and interfere in the freedom of other believers (John 7.19-24; Romans 14.1-12; Galatians 2.1-5).

13. Pride, self righteousness, and a critical mental attitude characterize legalists and perpetuate legalism (Matthew 12.10; Luke 18.9-12; Galatians 2.3-5; 6.12-13).

14. The legalistic person has separated himself from the light load and easy yoke of freedom in Christ (Matthew 11.30; Galatians 5.1-4).

15. Legalistic people replace Bible doctrine and the spirit of Bible doctrine with human standards (Matthew 12.1-8; 15.1-3).

16. Common legalistic practices in Bible times include

    1. Observing religious ritual for the sake of ritual (Acts 15.5; Galatians 4.10-11; Colossians 2.16).

    2. Observing special days, months, seasons, and years (Galatians 4.10-11; Colossians 2.16-18).

    3. Circumcision (Galatians 2.3-5; 5.2-4).

    4. Taboo lists (Colossians 2.20-22).

    5. Hand washing before eating (Matthew 15.1-20).

    6. Special rules for the Sabbath (Matthew 12.1-1-5, 9-14).

    7. Self righteousness (Luke 18.9-14).

    8. Depending on personal heritage, ability, and conformity to a regulatory system to please God (Philippians 3.4-6).

17. Current day expressions of legalism related to salvation include believe plus promise to change one’s life, believe plus make Christ Lord, believe plus join the church, believe plus give up habits such as smoking and movies, believe plus an emotional experience, and believe plus participate in church sacraments.

18. Current day expressions of legalism related to the Christian way of life may include right activity done for the wrong reasons: praying regularly, giving money, reading the Bible, and experiencing emotional highs during a church service.

19. Legalism related to the Christian life may also include wrong activity for the wrong reasons:  imitating famous Christians, basing one’s spiritual life on emotional responses to God, avoiding certain taboos such as smoking, attending movies, or playing sports on Sunday. Legalism ultimately emphasizes human works.

20. The Bible teaches that a believer is unable to contribute anything to God through his own human efforts. Grace emphasizes God’s work and the believer’s dependence upon God’s work.

Mental Attitude Sins

1. Mental attitude sins are thought sins; the other two categories of sin are sins of the tongue and action sins.

2. We can commit mental attitude sins without anyone knowing about it, but God knows.

3. Mental attitude sins are the root of the other sins.

4. Common mental attitude sins are worry, judging others, pride, jealousy, hatred, envy, worldliness, plotting evil, and self-righteousness (Proverbs 23.7; Proverbs 6.16-18; Matthew 7.1-2; Rom 12.1-2; 2 Corinthians 10.5; James 4.1-6).

Millennium

1. Millennium is the name for the one thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, the Messianic-Theocratic King, over the entire earth. In that time the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenants will be fulfilled.

2. The Millennium begins with the second coming of Christ to the physical earth; it will end with the final rebellion of Satan followed by the Great White Throne Judgment; and the Millennium will then become the eternal kingdom. 

3. Jerusalem will be his capital; Israel will be his special nation; righteousness will be his platform. 

4. God promised this golden age to Israel when he called Abraham and then through Moses formed the Israeli nation. 

5. It will be a time of physical and spiritual blessing called a time of refreshment (Genesis 12.1-3; Deuteronomy 30.1-8; 2 Samuel 7.12-16 Jeremiah 31.31-34; Isaiah 2.2-4; 11.1-11; Daniel 2.44; Zechariah 13.9, 14.1-8; Matthew 24.29-31; Acts 3.19-21; Revelation 20 and many others).

Ministry

1. Ministry refers to the believer's individual Christian way of life within God's plan, with emphasis on serving God (Ephesians 4.12-16; 1 Corinthians 12.4-7; 1 Peter 4.10-11).

2. God has a production plan for each believer, and that plan forms the basis for his ministry (Ephesians 2.10).

3. Effective ministry is dependent upon the preparation of the believer (Ephesians 4.12) and upon the controlling ministry of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5.16-6.1; Ephesians 5.18).

4. The preparation for service comes through the equipping ministry of the pastor-teacher (Ephesians 4.12-16) and through practice using the spiritual gift in service (Hebrews 5.121-14).

5. Spiritual gifts provide the specialized ability for the ministry of each believer (Romans 12.3-8; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Peter 4.10-11).

6. In order for a ministry to be effective, it must be carried out in conjunction with the love spectrum (1 Corinthians 13.1-7) which is related to the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23).

7. We participate in the blessings of ministry when we serve with divine love (1 Corinthians 13.1-7) and walk by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5.16, 22-23).

Missions

1. Missions is the spiritual ministry that takes the gospel to people who live in geographical regions (foreign missions or home missions) where the gospel is not accurately  proclaimed; “regions beyond” were Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10.16 (Matthew 28.19-20; Acts 1.8; Romans 1.14-16; Acts 13-28 is Luke’s record of the missionary trips; Ephesians 4.11-16).

2. The purpose of missions is

   1. To proclaim the good news that eternal salvation is a free gift to all who will believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.

   2. To teach the new believers Bible doctrine for spiritual growth and ministry.

   3. To help the indigenous believers to form a local church, select a pastor-teacher and deacons, and begin to grow and serve Christ.

3. The missionary will then repeat this process with other people in the same, similar, or different regions.

4. Missionaries ought to revisit the new churches on occasion in order to encourage and teach the believers until they are self-sufficient.

5. Missionaries should be sent out from a home local church and be supported by that church and possibly by other churches in that geographical area.

6. Missionaries ought to return to their own local church to report on their ministry and to be taught and further equipped by the pastor-teacher.

7. A missionary ought to have one of the public communication spiritual gifts: evangelist, teacher, or pastor-teacher.

8. Missionaries must be biblically grounded in all Bible doctrine, but especially the gospel, grace, faith, and basic Christian life doctrines (occupation with Christ, knowledge of the Word, faith-rest, confession of sin, spirituality, prayer, and ministry).

Moab
 

1. Moab was the area north and east of the Dead Sea.
2. The people descended from Lot and his older daughter who had fled Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:30-38). Her son was Moab.
3. The Moabites fought Israel throughout their history.
4. Moabites were forbidden to become part of the Israelite covenant community and worship life (Deuteronomy 23:3-6).
5. The same held true for the Ammonites.

Nazirite Vow

1. The Nazirite vow (Numbers 6.1-21) was a pledge of devotion to the LORD that any Israelite could make.

2. The individual began by making a vow or pledge to abstain from wine and products of the vine, from cutting his hair, and from contact with a dead body.

3. When the duration for the vow ended, the individual offered prescribed sacrifices, and he cut his hair and burned it on the altar.

4. These actions signified that the Nazirite vow had concluded.

5. There were two kinds of Nazirite vows:

   1. The parents could dedicate their child to the Lord. or

   2. An individual could make the choice to enter into the vow.

6. Samuel (1 Samuel 1.11), Samson (Judges 13.5), and John the Baptist (Luke 1.15) are examples of the former.

7. The regulations about wine, hair, and dead bodies symbolized God’s holiness and the individual’s special dedicated service to the Holy God by abstaining from things that symbolized sin or the results of sin in the fallen world.

8. If the Nazirite accidentally contacted a dead body, he went through a procedure that, once completed, allowed him to continue the vow.

9. The Nazirite vow was an opportunity for non-priests to dedicate themselves to special service of the Lord for a specific period of time.

Pastor and Teacher

1. Pastor and Teacher or pastor-teacher is the man gifted by God to equip believers for ministry and for the edification of the church (Ephesians 4.11-14).

2. We often shorten the title to pastor, but that includes the teaching  part of the job.

3. The general profile indicates that he is to study the Word of God and to authoritatively teach the Word of God for spiritual growth and application, and to lead, encourage, and protect his own God-given flock. 

4. This will result in believers who are able to minister and participate in the build up of the body of Christ and therefore represent God on earth (Ephesians 4.11-14; Acts 20.17 and 28; Romans 12.7; 2 Timothy 2.15; Titus 2.15; 1 Peter 4.11-12; 1 Peter 5.1-4).

5. There are three terms that refer to the pastor-teacher: 

   1. "Pastor and teacher" (poimhn kai didaskalo~), which can also be written as pastor-teacher, is the working title for the man God gifts to teach, encourage, lead, and protect his flock or congregation. Pastor emphasizes leadership, encouragement, care for, protection, correction.  Teacher emphasizes communication and instruction of the Word of God. Pastor-teacher emphasizes the person and ministries that result from the gifts. The pastor-teacher is also the overseer and elder (Ephesians 4.11; Acts 20.17 and 28).

   2. The title "overseer" (episkopo~, guardian, superintendent) is an official title emphasizing the supervisory activity (1 Timothy 3.2; Titus 1.7).

   3. The  title "elder" (presbutero~,  elder, older man) is an official title emphasizing the rank.  Both refer to the pastor-teacher as the leader, and both carry authority (1 Timothy 5.17; Titus 1.5; 1 Peter 5.1-4).

6. The pastor-teacher seems to be multi-gifted in order to perform God's function.

7. The gifts most apparent are teaching, leadership, encouragement, and administration (Acts 20.28; Ephesians 4.11-12).

8. God gives each pastor-teacher his own specific flock or congregation to teach and to shepherd (Acts 20.28; 1 Peter 5.2-3).

9. Along with this God-given responsibility, God also gives the pastor-teacher the spiritual authority to serve his own  congregation.

10. This authority has been delegated from God through the Holy Spirit and the Bible (Ephesians 4.11-16; Acts 20.17-28; 1 Peter 5.1-4; 1 Timothy 5.17; Hebrews 13.17).

11. The pastor-teacher must be a servant and must not abuse his authority (Matthew 20.25-28; John 13.15-17; 1 Pet 5.3).

12. In human terms he is a general and a soldier, and a coach and a player.

13. The character of the overseer (pastor-teacher) must be good, but it does not indicate that spiritual leaders are more holy than anyone else.

14. All possess sin natures, all have weaknesses, and all fail (1 Timothy 3.2-7, Titus 1.5-9, and 1 Peter 5.1-3).

15. The pastor-teacher must please the Lord, not people; God wants him to equip his congregation (Galatians 1.10; 1 Thessalonians 2.4-6; Ephesians 4.11-12; Titus 2.15).

16. In day to day life the practice of the pastor-teacher is to study the Bible, from the original languages if possible, and to communicate the content for application, to lead and encourage the church, and  to protect the congregation from bad doctrine and disruptive influences in the church (Acts 20.28-31; Ephesians 4.11-12; Philippians 1.25; 2 Timothy 2.15; 4.2).

Permanent Spiritual Gifts

1. Permanent spiritual gifts are the God given spiritual abilities that we in the church age now possess.

2. A spiritual gift is the special ability that God gives to each believer for ministry within the body of Christ.

3. The permanent spiritual gifts are the public communication gifts (pastor-teacher, teacher, evangelist), church operational gifts (leadership, administrations, service), individual gifts (helping, showing mercy, encouragement), and giving.

4. We must be walking by the Holy Spirit and walking in divine love if we want to properly serve, to participate with God in the ministry, and to spiritually benefit from the use of our spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12.4-7; 13.1-7; 1 Peter 4.10; Romans 12.6-8; Ephesians 4.11).

Persecution

1. Persecution is some kind of attack against a believer in Christ because one is a believer in Christ; it is one of the occupational hazards of a  Christian; Paul wrote to Timothy “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3.12).

2. Persecution of Christians was local and sporadic until about A.D. 250. 

3. It was often initiated by religious authority (Acts 7) and by government authority (Nero, A.D. 54-68; Domitian, A.D. 81-96; Aurelius, A.D. 161-180; Decius; A.D. 249-251; and Diocletian A.D. 284-305).  

4. Some persecution was by arrest and interrogation, and sometimes included jail time (Acts 4-5); other persecution was by mob violence as in Acts 7 and 17; Herod Agrippa executed the Apostles James (Acts 12.1-2); Jews stoned Paul at Lystra (Acts 14.19); Peter writes in 2 Peter 3.1-6 that unbelievers enjoyed ridiculing believers; Paul recorded, in 2 Thessalonians 1.4-5, what probably was physical, verbal, and mental persecution of the new Thessalonian believers; the apostle John was put in some sort of solitary confinement on the Island of Patmos (Revelation 1.5). 

5. Polycarp, at the age of 86 or older, was burned to death at Smyrna because he would not recant his faith.

6. Rome instigated major persecutions in A.D. 249-251, under Decius, A.D. 258-259, under Valerian, and from A.D. 296-310, under Diocletian and especially under Galerius.

7. The intermingling of church and state which began with Constantine and the growth of the papacy eventually brought  persecution by both church and state.

8. There were numerous reasons for persecution: religious establishments have always resorted to the persecution of “heretics”; when the Roman political order thought that Christianity was a threat, the Romans sought to remove the threat by removing Christians; Christians became the scapegoat for failed political policies—Nero and the infamous “Christian torches” is one example.

Peter: Not the First Pope

1. Peter was not the first Pope.

2. In fact, the papacy is a product of man’s design, not God’s. Peter was not even the outstanding leader of the apostles.

3. He was a fisherman turned disciple and apostle by God’s grace. He denied the Son of God during Jesus’ trial (Matthew 26.33-35,  69-75).

4. He was a busybody about John’s ministry (John 21.15-22).

5. Peter gave in to legalism during a trip to Antioch and Paul had to correct him (Galatians 2.11-14).

6. Yet Peter was also the disciple who answered Jesus’ question, “But who do you [all] say that I am?” with “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

7. Jesus responded by telling Peter,  “And I also say to you that you are Peter [petro~, a stone or rock; this is nominative masculine singular; it refers to Peter], and upon this rock [petra, a massive rock or rocky place, the form is petra/ , dative feminine singular; it refers to Peter’s statement about Christ] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.”

8. Jesus told Peter that he was correct and that Jesus would build His church on Himself (Jesus Christ), the doctrine of which was embodied in Peter’s statement “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.”

9. Jesus then told Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16.15,16,19).

10. Jesus meant that Peter would be the one to both formally and publicly open the kingdom of heaven, through preaching the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit.

11. Peter did this with the Jews in Acts 2.38-40, with the Samaritans in Acts 8.14-17, and with the Gentiles in Acts 10.34-36.

12. With regard to Peter’s authority over “binding and loosing,” this statement was made to Peter (Matthew 16.19), then to all the disciples-apostles (Matthew 18.18).

13. This authority refers to the apostles’ leadership and ruling authority during the apostolic period of the first century. Peter, for example,  used the authority in Acts 3 with the lame man and in Acts 5 with Annanias and Sapphira.

14. John 20.23 is different from the two Matthew passages.

15. John records that Jesus extended this authority to declaring the results of a person’s response to God’s terms for forgiveness of sins—those who believe in Jesus have been forgiven and those who disbelieve Jesus have not been forgiven.

16. Roman Catholic theology also wrongly uses Luke 22.32 to support Peter’s authority by making this Scripture teach that Christ’s prayer for Peter guaranteed Peter’s infallibility; the theology also applies this guarantee to those bishops who succeed Peter.

17. From these biblical statements and tradition (religious and historical) the Roman Catholic Church builds its doctrine of the papacy.

18. The Roman church is, of course, quite wrong. Peter later wrote that he was a fellow elder with other elders and so on equal footing with them (1 Peter 5.1).

19. James was the leader of the Jerusalem church, not Peter (Acts 15.13-19). 

20. Peter, when writing about the rock, the stone, the foundation, means Christ; all church believers are living stones of the building called the church (1 Peter 2.4-8; Acts 4.11-12).

21. Peter himself stated that only God can forgive sins (Acts 10.48; 13.38-39).

22. John, another apostle, quoted Jesus’ restrictive statement “and I [Jesus] have the keys of death and of Hades” (Revelation 1:18). A

23. fter the church began, God appointed Peter as the apostle to the Jews. God worked through Peter to build up and enlarge the church.

24. God inspired Peter to write First and Second Peter; the gospel of Mark is possibly Peter’s gospel penned by Mark.

25. While Peter may have spent some time in Rome, there is no evidence that he was ever a bishop of Rome.

26. In summary, Peter was an apostle, the apostle to the Jews (Galatians 2.7-9); God worked through him to help begin, build, and strengthen the church; Peter never thought of himself as the leading apostle, and he certainly was not the first Pope of the Roman Catholic Church nor was he infallible.

27. Some of the Roman Catholic proclamations and their dates are of interest: 1545-1563, the Council of Trent, which made the teachings of the Roman church into binding law, one of which was the denial of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone; 1854, Mary’s immaculate conception; 1869-1870,  First Vatican Council,  which proclaimed  papal infallibility 1870; 1950, Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven at her death; 1962-1965, the Second Vatican Council reaffirmed the rulings of the Council of Trent; 1994, the Catechism of the Catholic Church officially restated for the first time in 400 years the traditional beliefs of the Roman Catholic church.

Prayer

1. Prayer is the way we talk with our heavenly Father:

   1. Believers pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, while living by the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with God, and directed by the Word of God (Ephesians 5.20; 6.18; John 15.7).

   2. Prayer shows dependence upon the Father, for He knows everything in advance.

   3. Prayer is a way of life (Romans12.12).

   4. The general order of prayer is confession of sin if needed, thanksgiving, pray for others, and pray for self.

   5. Prayer should, first of all, be for the spiritual life of people, then for the physical details. Sometimes God leaves the physical problems because he wants to bless us in our spiritual life (Ephesians 6.18-20; 2 Corinthians 12.8-10).

2. We ought to pray: Father, strengthen us in our spiritual lives, give us boldness to live for you, take care of the opposition, and do your work in people's lives in order to get their attention and to verify the message we deliver.

Priests in the Jewish System

1. Priests in the Jewish system during the Book of Acts were of the political religious order who had charge of the temple organization and service.

2. The dedication and service to God by the priesthood had greatly deteriorated from the original standards set by Moses in Exodus 28-29; Leviticus 8-9, 16, and 21-22).

3. The priestly functions included the following: 

   1. To care for the Holy Place (the incense, lamps, and bread of presence).

   2. To care for the courtyard (the altars and offerings).

   3. To inspect unclean persons, administer oaths, and appraise offerings for the sanctuary.

   4. To teach God’s Word to the people.

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

1. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are biblical names for different kinds of songs that believers sing.

2. Psalms (yalmo~) are Bible words put to music. Examples are “Holy, Holy, Holy” from Isaiah 6.3 and “The Lord Is My Shepherd” from Psalm 23.

3. Hymns (umno~) are doctrinal words put to music and addressed to God. Examples are “How Great Thou Art,” “Revive Us Again,” and “God Of Our Fathers.”

4. Spiritual songs (wdh pneumatikh) are doctrinal testimonies addressed to oneself and to others. Examples are “O For A Thousand Tongues,” “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “Victory In Jesus,”  and “He Lives.”

Redeeming the Time

1. Redeeming the Time is specifically taught in Ephesians 5.16.

2. To redeem the time means to purchase or buy time, actually points of time or opportunities that are available to us as  believers.

3. God wants us to use the time and the opportunities for service to him, while Satan, who is the temporary ruler of this world system, tries to prevent us from doing so.

4. Peter did a good job of using the opportunities that he had. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3.23), is another way of commanding us to redeem the time.

Religion

1. Religion seeks to gain God’s praise based upon human works while Christianity receives God’s blessings by faith.

2. The religious man seeks the credit, while the Christian serves in order to honor God.

3. The priests to whom the apostles witnessed were not interested in faith alone in the Messiah alone (Acts 4).

4. James says that biblical religion is the application of God’s character and ways to help others, specifically orphans and widows who are in distress, and to keep us from becoming contaminated by the world’s viewpoint  (James 1.27).

Repentance

1. Repentance is about harmony and fellowship with God.

2. It means to change one’s mind about God and sin.

3. The verb is metanoevw, metanoeo; the noun is metavnoia, metanoia.

4. Repentance has a wide scope; on one end it can be a broad call for a nation to return to her heritage and on the other end of the spectrum it can be a precise call for a believer to confess specific sin and return to fellowship with God.

5. Repentance is not a condition of salvation; faith in Christ as Savior is the only condition for salvation (John 3.16; Acts 16.31; Ephesians 2.8-9).

6. Both unbelievers (Matthew 12.41) and believers (Luke 15; Acts 19.18-20; 2 Corinthians 7.7-10; Revelation 3.19) repent.

7. When unbelievers repent, it does not mean that they have become believers.

8. An unbeliever’s repentance may hold off God’s judgment or prepare him to listen more closely to the gospel.

9. In the case of the believer, repentance may prepare for a confession of personal sin and return to fellowship; at times, it includes the confession of sin as illustrated by the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

10. Jesus and John the Baptist told Israel to repent.

11. This was not a call to eternal salvation, but instead a call to return to the national relationship with God for which God had prepared them.

12. The call to repentance was to prepare them to believe in their Messiah (Matthew 3.1-3; Luke 3.3, 8-9).

13. Jesus also told the Jewish people to repent from their rebellious political and religious activities; if they did not repent, temporal judgment, including physical death would result (Luke 13.1-9).

14. In summary, the command to repent is a call to harmony and fellowship with God. It is a call for the unbeliever or the believer to change his thinking about God and sin and so turn from one’s sin to God.

Resurrection

1. Resurrection was taught in the Old Testament, though not in detail.

2. Paul, the expert in Old Testament theology and Pharisaic theology said that the resurrection was taught and believed in the Old Testament and by Pharisees (Acts 23:6; Acts 26:6-8; Acts 26:22-23).

3. Jesus clearly believed and taught resurrection (Matthew 22.30-33; Luke 14.14; John 2.19-22; 5:28-29).

4. The Old Testament spoke of resurrection of the body. Sometimes faintly, but the doctrine was taught.

   1. (Daniel 12:1-3, 13, [Daniel expects a resurrection of the believer and unbeliever. The believer will enter into his allotted destiny at that time].

   2. Isaiah 26:13-19; Job 19:25-26, [Job would see God after his physical death and from the vantage point of his own body].

   3. Psalm 16:10 with Acts 2.23-36, [Peter interprets this as physical resurrection].

   4. Psalm 116:15, [How do we explain this apart from resurrection].

   5. Psalm 17:15; Psalm 49:15; Psalm 73:24; Hebrews 11:9-10,13,17-19,  [These tell us that the Old Testament believers were expecting a future after death, and that future seemed to include physical bodies].

   6. Ezekiel 37:12-14, [Ezekiel 37 is the vision of the bones and sticks. The point is that Israel will be be raised up and regathered. This may just refer to a national regathering and regeneration, but the figure of resurrection is used and has meaning to the Jews].

5. In conclusion, the Old Testament writers expected a future bodily resurrection of both the believer and unbeliever.

6. It was future to their time. They will be with God.

7. It will be a time of happiness and fulfillment of God’s destiny for them.

Revelation

1. Revelation means that God has communicated himself and his word to mankind (John 1.18; 2 Timothy 3.16-17).

2. There are two kinds of revelation: General and Special.

3. Mankind knows, through General or Natural revelation, that God, exists but General revelation does not tell mankind how to have relationship with God (Psalm 19.1-6).

4. We see God’s glory and design when we look at the heavens (Psalm 19.1-6) or recognize the seasons and weather (Acts 14.17).

5. We know He exists when we see the design and order of  the unseen but accepted laws that govern and maintain the solar system (Colossians 1.17).

6. Since the creation of man all mankind has possessed God-consciousness—an inner knowledge of God’s attributes, power, and nature (Romans 1.18-21).

7. The very existence and survival of  Israel documents that God exists and has a purpose for the world (Hebrews 11.1-2,26-27; Joshua 24; Act 7).

8. Special revelation refers to the way that God has revealed specific details about Himself and His redemption plan: He has specifically revealed himself through His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, the living word (John 1.18; Hebrews 1.2-3) and through the Bible, the written word (1 Corinthians 2.10; 2 Timothy 3.16-17).

9. The Bible is without error (Joshua 23.14-15; Matthew  5.18; 22.31-32; Luke 24.44; 2 Timothy 3.16-17; Deuteronomy 25.4; Matthew 10.10; Titus 1.2).

10. God has made His written word, the Bible, known and understood to mankind through three steps:

    1. Revelation (Acts 3.18-22; 1 Corinthians 2.10; 2 Peter 1.21).

    2. Inspiration (2 Timothy 3.16-17).

    3. Communication (Ezekiel 2-3; Ephesians 4.11-12).

11. Both general and special revelation honor God and bless mankind (Psalm 119).

Roman Army

1. The Roman army helped provide the stability and peace for the age in which Christ was born, kept peace during the time of the early church, and participated in both the  persecution and protection of believers.

2. Jesus marveled at the faith of a centurion, a non-commissioned officer, whom He met in Capernaum (Matthew 8.5-13).

3. The Roman army took part in the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus (Luke 23.47; John 18-19); it both protected and arrested Paul (Acts 21.27-33; 27.31-42); a centurion sent for Peter in order to hear him give God’s message, the gospel (Acts 10.1-2,22); the army arrested Peter on orders from Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12.3,18); the Roman army was so well known that Paul taught believers how to prepare themselves for spiritual battle by comparing believers to Roman soldiers and their armor (Ephesians 6.10-17) and by comparing the Christian life to a soldier’s life (1 Corinthians 9.6; 2 Timothy 2.3-4); and Paul lived with a Roman soldier during his first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28.16) and ministered to the Praetorian Guard and to Caesar’s household (Philippians 1.13 and 4.22).

4. The largest army group was a legion, which was four to six thousand men; six tribuni commanded, in rotation, the legions.

5. A legion had ten groups, called cohorts, of 600 men.

6. A cohort was manned by three maniples, each made up of 200 men.

7. Each maniple was composed of two centuries; a centurion commanded a century.

8. A century had from 70-100 men.

9. The Roman army also had independent or volunteer cohorts made up of 1000 men; Acts 10.1 mentions the Italian cohort and Acts 27.1 mentions  Julius, a centurion of the Augustan cohort.

Roman Authority

1. Roman administrative authority extended far beyond the city of Rome.

2. Though Augustus did not originate the administrative system, he did give careful attention to it.

3. Rome administered the lands that were not a part of the physical city by designating them as provinces,  territories, or  colonies. All fell under Rome’s administrative authority.

4. The provincial system had two kinds of provinces, imperial and senatorial. 

5. There were thirty-two provinces when Paul made his missionary trips: twenty-one were imperial provinces and eleven were senatorial provinces.

6. An imperial province came under the direct control of the emperor. These provinces were in newer and more unstable areas of the empire. The emperor appointed a governor or imperial legate who served until death or until the emperor removed him. The emperor paid the governor a salary and  commanded just treatment of the people. The emperor also stationed  Roman legions in the provinces to keep peace and to protect Roman interests. Imperial provinces included Bithynia, Pamphylia, Galatia (with Lystra, Pisidian Antioch, and Iconium), Cappadocia, Syria (with Tarsus, Damascus, and Antioch of Syria), and after A.D. 70, Judea.

7. A senatorial province was governed by the senate through a proconsul, who served a one year term. The emperor kept a watchful eye on the senatorial provinces. The proconsul had a small military force at his disposal. Senatorial provinces included Crete, Macedonia (with Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea), Achaia (with Athens and Corinth), and Asia (with Ephesus as the capital city). Territories were foreign lands ruled by a client-king. Often provinces began as territories. The king, later on, yielded the territory to Rome. Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Pamphylia, Macedonia, and Achaia began as territories.

8. A Roman colony was a small piece of the city of Rome that was geographically separated from Rome; Luke correctly records that Philippi (Acts 16.12) was a Roman colony; Augustus had granted colony status to Philippi. The Roman colony policy began very early with groups of 300 families sent to garrison coastline cities. The colony policy changed over the years; political reasons surpassed strategic reasons and colonies were used for emigration of common folk or veteran soldiers. Colonies helped to Romanize native communities and to protect Rome’s interests. A colony was a small copy of Rome.

Sadducees

1. Sadducees were one of the three religious parties at this time, the others being the Pharisees and the Essenes.

2. The Sadducees were aristocratic priests and very rigid in their acceptance of Moses’ written law while rejecting the Pharisaic oral tradition; the Sadducees held to freedom of the will in contrast to the Pharisees who held to divine preordination; the Sadducees rejected bodily resurrection, future punishment, and angels (Matthew 22.23; Acts 5.17; Acts 23.8; Josephus Wars 2.8.1).

Saul

1. Saul, also named Paul, was born in Tarsus, an important city within the Roman world.
2. He was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin and a Roman citizen by birth.
3. We do not know for sure how his family first acquired Roman citizenship, but "Presumably Paul's father, grandfather or even great-grandfather had rendered some outstanding service to the Roman cause....One thing is certain, however:  among the citizens and other residents of Tarsus, the few Roman citizens, whether Greeks or Jews by birth, would constitute a social elite." (F.F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, p. 38-39) (Acts 16.37; 21.39; 22.3, 25-29; Romans 11.1; Philippians 3.5).
4. Saul was a Pharisee, and Gamaliel, the leading Pharisee of the day, had taught him (Acts 23.6; 26.5; Philippians 3.5). 
5. He had a wonderful heritage, intellect, ability, and training.
6. He succeeded at whatever he did (Philippians 3.4-6). 
7. Saul was hostile to Christ and Christians. 
8. He was present at the stoning of Stephen; while there he must have heard the message which Stephen delivered.
9. Later he was armed with written authority to seek out and persecute believers (Acts 7.58-60; 8.1-3; 9.1-2; 22.4-8; 26.9-12; 1 Corinthians 15.9; Galatians 1.13; Philippians 3.6). 
10. Later, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to Saul while he was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus to harass and arrest believers.
11. Saul believed in Christ as savior at that time.
12. The Lord immediately sent him to Ananias, a believer, in Damascus.
13. God removed Paul's temporary blindness and instructed him through Ananias (Acts 9.1-19; 22.3-16; 26.12-18). 
14. Soon after Paul met Ananias, he went into Arabia where the Lord taught him and prepared him for his ministry.
15. Following this training he returned to Damascus to witness and teach Bible doctrine (Acts 9.20-22; Galatians 1.16-18).
16. Later, Saul began his missionary travels. Saul began to go by his Roman name, Paul, about the time his missionary trips to the Gentiles began (Acts 13.1-13).

Sin unto Death

1. Sin unto death is the final stage of divine discipline administered by God to a believer because of sin.

2. This discipline is mentioned only a few times; the sins in those cases were seeking information from a medium, lying to the Holy Spirit, and consistently participating in communion with unconfessed sin in the life.

3. There are probably other sins and patterns of sinning that bring on the sin unto death (1 Samuel 28.7; 1 Chronicles 10.13-14; Acts 5.1-10; 1 Corinthians 11.27-30; 1 John 5.16).

Sins of the Tongue

1. Sins of the tongue are a common source of great evil (James 3.1-12).

2. Everyone has a sin nature and will fail in many areas of life; one area of failure that is common to all people is the tongue—our speech.

3. Sins of the tongue are one of the three areas of personal sin (Proverbs 6.16-19).

4. Sins of the tongue will be a part of the increasing apostasy that occurs before Christ returns (2 Timothy 3.1-9); even the Man of Lawlessness will deceive and control people by what he will say; we can even say that lying literature—literature that propagates false ideas—is an extension of sins of the tongue (2 Thessalonians 2.1-12).

5. Mental attitude sins such as pride are often a source of sins of the tongue—flattery is one example (1 Thessalonians 2.5; James 4.16). They can destroy a cohesive group of people, such as a church (Psalm 52.2; Romans 16.17-18; 1 Corinthians 5.6).

6. Control of the tongue is difficult, but if a person can control the tongue,  that shows some spiritual maturity and the self-discipline that goes with maturity (James 3.2).

7. What we say can cause enormous damage, just like a forest fire. The tongue can destroy us; it incites the ups and downs of history; and the tongue seems to be driven by its potential for destruction (James 3.3-8).

8. Believers use the tongue to both curse and bless; this is not right.

9. Since we are in Christ and since we have had Bible doctrine taught to us, we ought to bless or benefit others with the tongue, not cause them trouble (3.9-12).

10. God clearly instructs us to avoid sinning with our tongues (Ephesians 4.29; 5.4; Colossians 3.8).

Spirituality

1. Spirituality (Galatians 6.1) is the absolute condition of any believer “walk[ing] by the Spirit” (Galatians 5.16)  and “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5.18).

2. God the Holy Spirit permanently indwells every believer (1 Corinthians 3.16; 6.19 12.13), but every believer is not always spiritual.

3. Spirituality emphasizes Christian life practice, while fellowship emphasizes Christian life relationship with God (1 John 1.1-10).

4. Spirituality is distinct from spiritual maturity.

5. Carnality, which describes the condition any believer controlled by his sinful nature, is the opposite of spirituality (1 Corinthians 1.1-3 and Galatians 5.16-17).

6. Every believer is either spiritual or carnal at any point in time.

7. Spirituality is the normal condition of the believer’s life, but personal sin quenches (1 Thessalonians 5.19) or grieves (Ephesians 4.30) the Holy Spirit and places the believer under the control of the sinful nature; this condition is carnality (1 Corinthians 3.1-3).

8. Spirituality is regained by confession of sin (1 John 1.9 and 1 Corinthians 11.30 compared to Galatians 5.16-17) and trusting the Holy Spirit to live through one (Galatians 3.2-5).

9. The Holy Spirit controls the sinful nature while a believer is spiritual; the spiritual believer possesses the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23); he can serve in the restoration of carnal believers (Galatians 6.1); he has the spiritual freedom to please God instead of following a legal code out of duty (Galatians 5.18); the spiritual believer has the spiritual freedom to reflect God’s ongoing transformation of him to Christ-likeness (2 Corinthians 3.17-18); and spirituality orders and uplifts the believer’s soul and makes him thankful (Ephesians 5.19-20).

Spiritual Royal Birthright

1. Spiritual Royal Birthright is the possession of every church age believer.

2. The birthright (the right or privilege to which a person is entitled by birth, American Heritage Dictionary) of every citizen of a country is the national heritage, national purpose, and reason for national courage.

3. The birthright belongs to each citizen because he is a citizen.

4. The value of the birthright depends, of course, upon the value and credibility of the founders and the founding documents.

5. Every church age believer is a citizen of heaven: “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3.20).

6. The Father has “transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son” (Colossians 1.13).

7. We are “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3.26).

8. We are “in Christ…a new creation”  (2 Corinthians 5.17).

9. We are “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 3.9). This relationship to God through Jesus Christ confers spiritual royalty upon us.

10. We have, therefore, a spiritual royal birthright. God has given to every believer in the church a royal heritage, a royal mission, and a reason for royal courage.

11. This threefold birthright is the foundation for living the Christian way of life (Philippians 1.27-30).

12. Our royal birthright heritage is summarized in Philippians 1.27: “standing firm in one spirit” (sthkete en eni pneumati).

13. This refers to our unique oneness or commonness of spiritual life in Christ.

14. The three parts of our heritage are the in Christ heritage, the Word of God heritage, and the blessings of God heritage.

15. Our royal birthright mission is summarized in Philippians 1.27: “striving together for the faith of the gospel”  (mia yuch sunaylountev th pistei tou euaggeliou). We actively serve together for the faith like athletes who train and compete in athletic games.

16. Our common mission is to spread the gospel, learn and pass on the word of God, and support believers.

17. Our personal mission is to produce divine good through our spiritual gifts combined with the filling with the Holy Spirit and the word of God in our souls.

18. Our royal birthright courage is summarized in Philippians 1.28: “in no way alarmed by your opponents” (mh pturomenoi en mhdeni upo twn antikeimenwn).

19. Courage is acting on what  we believe—faith-rest and faith-application. This spiritual courage, when used, makes us undaunted in the face of enemy attack. We have courage to fulfill our royal birthright mission because we have and believe our royal birthright heritage.

Stone

1. Stone often refers to Christ.

2. The Father sent Christ as the cornerstone of His redemptive plan, but Israel rejected Christ.

3. When the cornerstone is rejected, the building will not function as planned; it must be fixed. 

4. Israel was set aside and God now works through the church.

5. Later Israel will be brought back into God’s blessing  (Psalm 118.22; Matthew 21.42; 1 Peter 2.7).

Suffering and Testing

1. Suffering and testing refer to pain, pressure, circumstances, ideas, or people that challenge the believer to live God’s plan in the present evil world system.

2. There are two main categories of suffering and testing: undeserved and deserved.

3. Undeserved suffering and testing is the most prominent category for the believer.

4. All suffering and testing, even divine discipline, is designed for blessing (2 Corinthians 4.16-17; 1 Peter 1.6-9; 4.1-2; 4.12-16; Hebrews 12.7-11).

Temporary Spiritual Gifts

1. Temporary spiritual gifts are supernatural sign gifts (supernatural abilities) that God gave to certain believers for a limited period of time so that they could authenticate their ministry and message about Jesus Christ; the primary purpose was not to cure physical or social ills.

2. These gifts were operational only during the transitional first century.

3. The Bible lists the following temporary spiritual gifts:

   1. Word of wisdom

   2. Word of knowledge

   3. Faith

   4. Healing

   5. Working miracles or powers

   6. Apostle

   7. Prophet and prophecy

   8. Differentiating of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12.8-10; 28-31; 13.8-9).

4. The principle of temporary spiritual gifts is found in Hebrews 2.3-4, 1 Corinthians 13.8-11, 2 Corinthians 12.12, and Romans 15.18-19.

5. Paul, during his first Roman imprisonment in AD 60-62, was not able to heal Epaphroditus even though he had healed Publius’ father and others on the island of Malta two years earlier (Acts 28.7-9; Philippians 2.25-27).

6. Paul could not heal him because God had withdrawn the gift of healing.

Tent-Making

1. Tent-making (skhnopoiov") was Paul’s money-making occupation while he witnessed for Christ and taught the Word of God (Acts 18.3-5).

2. He did this in order to support himself when the churches did not support him.

3. Even though those who witness about Christ and teach the Word of God have the God-given right to receive support from those who benefit from their ministry (1 Corinthians 9.6-14 and Galatians 6.6), there are times when believers will not provide support or are unable to provide that support (Philippians 4.13-17); tent-making then becomes necessary.

4. There  are other times when taking support would confuse the issue of God’s free gift of salvation (1 Corinthians 9.15-19); when taking support does confuse grace, Christ’s servant ought to graciously refuse support and take up tent-making while continuing to preach the Word. 

5. Tent-making in order to support oneself in the ministry was, and still is, at times necessary and very helpful; there are advantages, though, to having the freedom to study, teach, and shepherd the flock without the need to “make tents.”

Tongues

1. Tongues is one of the temporary spiritual gifts; it is the ability to speak in a known human language that the speaker had not learned.

2. The principle of temporary spiritual gifts is found in Hebrews 2.3-4, 1 Corinthians 13.8-11, 2 Corinthians 12.12, and Romans 15.18-19.

3. The Greek word for “tongue”  is glw`ssa, which means the tongue or a language (Acts 2.3, 4, 11; 10.46; 19.6; 1 Corinthians 12.10, 28, 30; 13.1, 8;  14.2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 39).

4. The purpose of the gift of tongues was to dramatically notify Jews (tongues was a sign gift) that God was now judging them because they had rejected his word delivered through His prophets and His Messiah (Isaiah 28.11-13; 1 Corinthians 14.18-22).

5. Israel was judged and dispersed between May 67 and May 73 AD;  this was the administration of the fifth cycle of divine discipline promised by God through Moses.

6. Moses described the five cycles, which were increasingly severe divine judgments on Israel, in Leviticus 26.14-39; the fifth cycle is found in Leviticus 26.27-39.

7. God fulfilled the fifth cycle judgment and set aside Israel due to her  rejection of His Word and His Messiah.

8. The gift of tongues ceased when the purpose had been accomplished (1 Corinthians 13.8-11).

Undeserved Suffering

1. Undeserved suffering is pressure, pain, ridicule, injustice, and any harassment  that a Christian faces because he is a believer in Christ or because he is living in a way that pleases God.

2. Genuine undeserved suffering comes upon us because we are believers in Christ and are living the Christ-like life:  by faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and according to the Word of God.

3. Undeserved suffering is part of a believer’s supernatural Christian life (2 Corinthians 6.3-10).

4. Undeserved suffering is not caused by personal sin, spiritual immaturity, or failure to apply Bible doctrine.

5. Paul and Silas were witnessing about Christ and teaching Bible doctrine in the city of Philippi.

6. Even though they both were Roman citizens and had broken no law, they were falsely accused, beaten, and imprisoned—because they were believers in Christ and living in a way that pleased God (Acts 16).

7. Paul, during his first Roman imprisonment, continued to live occupied with Christ and ready and willing to carry on his God given ministry (Philippians 1).

8. His faith in God and God’s word continued to clothe him and to encourage him during his second Roman imprisonment, even though he knew then that he faced physical death because he was a believer and living Christ’s kind of life (2 Timothy 4.6-8).

9. Believers who endure undeserved suffering through faith application of the Word of God are living examples of God’s grace, and this kind of life pleases God (1 Peter 2.19-20).

10. When we endure undeserved suffering because Christ’s kind of life is living out through us we ought to rejoice; we have been granted a great privilege (1 Peter 4.13).

11. We also are being blessed because the Spirit of God’s glory, the Holy Spirit, is at that time abiding in us (1 Peter 4.14).

12. We ought to continue to live God’s kind of life—the Christ-like life—through the faith application of the Word of God, even if it brings more undeserved suffering on us (1 Peter 4.19).

13. We have God’s promise that he is working his good out of hard circumstances (Romans 8.28), that he is on our side (Romans 8.31), and that he will provide all the spiritual resources we need (Romans 8.29).

14. God honors with the crown of life those who continue to live the supernatural Christian life while enduring undeserved suffering (Revelation 3.10).

Water Baptism

1. Water baptism is the church age ritual that publicly identifies a believer with Jesus Christ as savior and with the new eternal kind of life in Christ Jesus.

2. The Greek word “to baptize” is baptizw, which means to dip, immerse, plunge, overwhelm, and so to identify with something. Israel, during the Exodus, was baptized into Moses, which means that the nation was identified with Moses, their leader (1 Corinthians 10.2).

3. Water baptism is not necessary for salvation; it points to relationship with Christ, not to the person administering the ritual; it ought to be done reasonably soon after receiving eternal life by faith in Christ; the ritual is performed by immersion in water and in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

4. Water baptism is of secondary importance to the gospel and to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

5. Any believer can baptize another believer, though usually pastor-teachers or evangelists administer the ritual (Matthew 28.19-20; Acts 16.33; 1 Corinthians 1.13-17).

Witnessing 

1. Witnessing for Christ is our privilege.

2. There are many biblical examples of witnessing, and they help us in our witnessing for Christ.

3. Jesus witnessed about himself as the savior many times: to Nicodemas in John 3; to the woman at the well in John 4; to Martha in John 11; and to Thomas in John 20.

4. Peter was a witness for Jesus Christ when he preached to the Jewish crowd who had seen him heal the lame man (Acts 3).

5. Peter began with the current event that they had seen and used that to move into a message to persuade them that Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had raised from the dead, was the Messiah, the one whom the prophets had announced.

6. He proclaimed to the Jews that to return to the message of the prophets about the Messiah and believe in Jesus Christ would gain for them forgiveness now and prophesied kingdom blessing in the future.

7. To reject Jesus Christ would bring judgment.

8. Paul witnessed for Christ throughout his ministry: to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16; to the Athenian philosophers in Acts 17; to the Jewish mob in Acts 22; to Felix, Festus, and Agrippa in Acts 24-26; and to many others throughout his ministry.

9. Paul’s attitude toward witnessing should be our attitude: “I am under obligation,” “I am eager,” and “I am not ashamed” (Romans 1.14-16).

10. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, therefore we all are to witness for Christ (Romans 1.16; 2 Corinthians 5.18-19).

11. To witness for Christ, then, is to clearly communicate the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He arose, and that whoever believes in Him as Savior will be given eternal life (John 3.16-18; Acts 16.31).

12. Witnessing for Christ, along with teaching and learning Bible doctrine, is the mission of believers between Christ’s first and second comings.

13. The believer gives the gospel (Matthew 28.18-20, 2 Timothy 3.15), the Holy Spirit convinces the unbeliever (John 16.8-11), and when one believes in Jesus Christ as savior the Holy Spirit gives that one eternal life (Titus 3.5; John 20.31).

Witness by Teaching the Bible

1. Witness by teaching the Bible means to communicate God’s Word to the listener so that the listener can understand the message and choose to believe or reject it.

2. To better communicate, one ought to take into account the listener’s frame of reference.

3. Stephen, in Acts 7, teaches us the value of presenting the biblical message within the listeners’ frame of reference and within an historical context.

4. He began with the origin of the Hebrew nation, God’s choosing of Abraham.

5. By the time Stephen had finished, the audience could not argue with him; the well-known history had convicted them.

6. Paul witnessed for Christ to the Athenian philosophers by presenting truths from God’s Word.

7. When he spoke with them about Christ, he took into account their own understanding about the gods (Acts 17.16-33).

8. Apollos, in Corinth, used the Word to demonstrate to Jews that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18.28).

9. We often assume too much on the part of our audience: we need to make sure they understand the context or flow of history and doctrine so that they become convinced of the truth of the message; we need to make sure that we relate the truth to their understanding or frame of reference; we also need to make sure that we use Scripture when we witness about Christ and teach Christian life truth.