Talk of JESUS . com

Category: Acts for a 21st c. Church

Acts Apostolos - Acts of the Apostles - the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church including early leaders like Stephen, Philip the Evangelist, Paul, Barnabas and many others
Acts of the Apostles + a History of Christ’s Church

Acts of the Apostles 1-28

 

Acts of the Apostles:
+ The first century Church SHARED Christ while suffering severe persecution.
+ Luke records a historic account of the Church which gives 21c Christians a context to SHARE the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Read more about the Early Church & add your COMMENT on Scripture.

ACT now.

+ SHARE the Gospel history witnessed in the CURRENT chronological SERIES from ACTS of the APOSTLES.

  • The Lame Walk a Sign from God

    The Lame Walk a Sign from God

    A Sign of Faith in Capernaum

    ~A.D. 27 – Jesus in Galilee

    “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

    Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

    “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—

    “I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”

    Good News of Luke 5:44

    Of course, a paralyzed man obeying Jesus’ command to ‘get up and walk’ is a miracle to the man who can now stand up and walk AND a sign of God to those who witness it!

    Who can say such a thing to one born handicapped?

    And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying,

    “We have seen remarkable things today.”

    But this was a sign to the Jews.

    Luke records [5:17]:

    And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.

    After having healed others as well Jesus answered the Prophet John who had been baptizing in the wilderness of Judea with Good News sent by his messengers:

    “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” - Gospel of Luke 7:22b-23, LSB

    But of course, these signs from the LORD God to the Jews were done by JESUS the Messiah.

    These signs for the Jews where witnessed in regions of Roman Syria AND that had been years ago.

    It’s about two decades later that Paul and Barnabas will enter Lystra.

    A.D. 30’s – The Apostle Peter

    We are Beggars in the House of God
    But when Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” – Acts 3:4

    And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

    And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. – Acts of the Apostles 3:

    More recent signs from God

    Keep in mind that Luke's two-part account of these events is recorded for a Roman-Hellenist world after A.D. 60, 
+ some thirty years after Jesus' resurrection [~A.D. 30],
+ perhaps twenty-five years after Saul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus,
+ about seven years [~A.D. 40] after the Apostle Peter baptizes a Roman Centurion in Caesarea Syria.
    No Longer Paralyzed: Walking in Lydda
    And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. – Acts 9:

    And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

    Acts of the Apostles 9:35 LSB
    The Gospel of an Angel to Cornelius
    Roman Caesarea [pictured] where Peter baptized Roman believers who received the Holy Spirit!

    And what had Peter heard from the angel of God?

    “Get up..”

    ἀνίστημι – anistēmi

    It’s a command of some significance — a command by faith also used by Peter and the Lord Jesus. And it is part of what the Apostle Paul is about to say to the lame man in Lystra.

    • to rise, stand up
      1. of persons lying down, of persons lying on the ground
      2. of persons seated
      3. of those who leave a place to go elsewhere [of those who prepare themselves for a journey]
      4. of the dead

    GOD’S signs have many witnesses among the gentiles by the time Barnabas and Saul enter Lystra.

    ~A.D. 48 –

    In Lystra The Lame Walk!

    Lystra and Derbe in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey

    Acts of Faith in Lystra 14:

    And at Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

    This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had faith to be [made well] said with a loud voice,

    “Stand upright on your feet.”

    Acts 14:10 of Paul commanding a lame man in Lystra

    And he leaped up and began to walk.

    And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language,

    “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

    Acts of the Apostles 14:11b – LSB

    In fact, these Lycaonian pagans were partially right.

    For the Gospel of Paul and Barnabas would reveal that the One God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent his only Son down to us for redemption of sins for those who have faith to believe — even pagan gentiles.

    “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

    Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

    Acts of the Apostles in Lystra — To be continued…

  • Acts 14 Pursued through Lycaonia

    Acts 14 Pursued through Lycaonia

    Fleeing Persecution

    After having fled Pisidian Antioch, Roman capital of the Galatian district of Lycaonia, Barnabas and Paul must again go into hiding as they escape persecution in Iconium.

    Luke’s detailed account of Paul’s first missionary journey in Acts 14 shows us what will frequently take place in many cities throughout the world. His historic account of the Apostles provides background for understanding of the intense hatred of Jesus Christ by many unbelievers.

    Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution
    Iconium lies to east of Lake Egirdir on a plain bordered by the Taurus Mountains

    Acts 14: Fleeing Iconium

    5 And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; and there they continued to proclaim the gospel.

    Lycaonia and the surrounding region

    route through Lycaonia
    A 21st c. satellite view of the plain east of the Taurus mountains.
    (A large man-made lake later provided irrigation to this arid region but would have been a river in earlier centuries.)

    Λυκαονία – Lycaonia

    Luke mentions that they fled to the cities of Lycaonia.. and the surrounding region. Although Lycaonia was also a city in the southern region of this district set on a plain near the Taurus Mountains, he names the next two cities where they will preach the gospel in addition to other more remote towns of Lycaonia.

    Lycaonia = "wolf land"

a region in Asia Minor, situated between Pisidia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Galatia and Phrygia, whose chief towns were Derbe, Lystra and Iconium
metaph. of cruel, greedy, rapacious, destructive men 
- Source: BlueLetterBible.org.

    Barnabas and Paul will eventually enter Lystra where Luke records yet another miracle among the gentiles.

    περίχωρος – períchōros –

    • signifies “country round about,” Luk 8:37; “country about,” Luk 3:3, AV (RV, “region round about”)

    NOTE Luke’s Gospel mention of the Lord Jesus using this same reference also points to rejection of the Gospel.

    And all the people of the country G4066 of the Gerasenes 

    and G4066 the G4066 surrounding G4066 district G4066 asked Him [Jesus] to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear. And He got into a boat and returned.

    Gospel of Luke 8:37 LSB – Strong’s G4066 – perichōros

    Rejection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

    “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,

    BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.

    HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,

    AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,

    TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

    TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

    Gospel of Luke 4:18-19a - Jesus Christ quoting the prophet Isaiah 61
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your [ears].” - The words of Jesus from Luke 4:21

    Acts of the Apostles

    And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

    But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

    – ACTS of the Apostles in Pisidian Antioch 13:49-50 KJV

    But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

    Acts of the Apostles 13:51 King James Version

    And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off G1621 the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. – Gospel of Mark 6:11 KJV

    And it came to pass in Iconium..

    ACTS 14:3-7 KJV

    Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

    But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,

    They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:

    And there they preached the gospel.

    Acts 14:7 KJV

    “The one who listens to you listens to Me,

    and the one who rejects you rejects Me.

    And he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”

    Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ – Luke 10:16 LSB

    To be continued…

    NEXT: Lystra

  • Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution

    Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution

    But having shaken off the dust of their feet against them, they went to Iconium.

    Acts of the Apostles 13:51 LSB
    Their journey of about 90 miles on a Roman road connecting these two capital cities of Asia Minor through the mountains would typically take about a week on horseback or on foot.

    Paul and Barnabas have just been run out of Pisidian Antioch continuing on a mission from Cypress where the Church in Antioch of Syria had initially sent them to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to all the world.

    An Antioch Blueprint of Church Evangelism
    Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.
    – ACTS of the Apostles 11:19-20 LSB

    Observe a developing pattern of reactions and consequent acts when the Good News of Christ Jesus is proclaimed to ALL sinners in a city.

    Acts of Apostles on Mission

    In case you missed their last stop in Antioch of Pisidia:
    Who has believed our message?
    So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. – ACTS 13:42 NKJV

    And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region..
    And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

    Acts of Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch 13:49,52 LSB

    Iconium Lycaonia

    Lycaonia - background: 160 B.C. - After defeat of the Hellenistic King Antiochus Rome gave it to the king of Pergamum after which it became part of Galatia then to Cappadocia.
64 BC -Pompey gave the northern part of the tetrarchy to Galatia and the eastern part of the eleventh strategia to Cappadocia. The remainder was attached to Cilicia. Its administration and grouping changed often under the Romans.

Iconium Ἰκόνιον (Ikónion) in Greek (with regular Medieval Greek apheresis Kónio(n)) and as Iconium in Latin. Ikónion is the Hellenisation of an older Luwian name Ikkuwaniya.

Some claim that the name Ikónion was derived from εἰκών (icon), referring to an ancient Greek legend according to which the hero Perseus had vanquished the native population with an image of the "Gorgon Medusa's head" before founding the city.

The Konya region.. at different times under the rule of the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Classical Greeks, the Persians and the Romans.  - source: Wikipedia

    Acts 14

    Now it happened that in Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

    2 But the unbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the [souls] of the Gentiles against the brothers.

    3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that [miracles] signs and wonders be done through their hands.

    4 But the multitude of the city was divided;

    • and some sided with the Jews,
    • and some with the apostles.

    The familiar pattern:

    • Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together 
      • Pisidian Antioch. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. Acts 13:14
      • Salamis, Cypress. they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews Acts 13:5
    • and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.
      • Pisidian Antioch. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas.. And the next Sabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. Acts 13:43a,44
    • 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers.
      • Pisidian Antioch. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, blaspheming. Acts 13:45
      • Paphos Cypress. they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus.. opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. – Acts 13:6b,8b
    • 14:3 Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that [miracles] signs and wonders be done through their hands.
      • Pisidian Antioch. “Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through [Christ] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.. Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you Acts 13:38,40
      • Paphos Cypress. “..will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him.. Acts 13:10b-11a
    • 14:4 But the multitude of the city was divided; and some were with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
      • Pisidian Antioch.
      • And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48
      • But the Jews incited the worshipping women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their boundaries. Acts 13:50
      • Paphos Cypress. And when they had gone through the whole island .. they found .. a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus.. with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus..[who] summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. Acts 13:6-7 excerpt
      • Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on [Bar-Jesus].. “Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind..” Then the [Roman] proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. Acts 13:9b-10a,12
    • 14:5 And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled..
      • Pisidian Antioch. [they] instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas..
      • Paphos Cypress. Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos..

    And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled..

    Paul, Barnabas and disciples who believed fled from persecution in Iconium to Lycaonia and the surrounding region

    ACTS of these disciples of the risen Christ called Christians — To be continued…