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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.

  • Asia – Let’s Not Go There – Acts 16

    Asia – Let’s Not Go There – Acts 16

    The importance of this juncture in Paul’s journey, now with Silas and Timothy, cannot be overemphasized as these apostles are sent out beyond Asia into all the world of Euro-Asia.

    Asia – the BIG picture

    Growing up geographically-challenged (as my 5th grade teacher surely would have confirmed) in a small village far distant from Paul’s missionary journeys I was CLUELESS when I read Luke’s lists of places in Acts.

    Where were these cities? (Or were they states? Perhaps a province of some kind?)

    And ASIA? (That’s confusing.)

    Continents as I remembered (5? or 7?):

    • North America (That’s US.)
    • South America (Go toward Texas & keep going.)
    • Europe (Cross the Atlantic like Europeans did & founded 13 colonies in America)
    • Africa (everything south of the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and all those jungle places south where Europeans brought slaves to America.)
    • Antarctica (it’s all ice and nobody lives there.. Is it the one on the South Pole or north?)
    • Asia (Russia, from where Europe ends west to the Pacific & India, China, Japan along the Pacific
    • Australia (How can an English island below Asia be called a continent?)
    C -

    Go into all the world GEOGRAPHY (remedial)

    Asia Europe Africa 21st c. view from Google Earth
    ASIA ~30% of land area of earth, part of Eurasia, ~17 million sq. miles
    Join me as I refresh some of my quite limited knowledge of geography - especially of Asia.

    Asia facts from WorldGeography.com

    • Asia is the largest and most populated continent
    • It shares land borders with Europe, which is not defined and hence share a landmass called Eurasia.
    • Afro-Eurasia is the name given to the landmass between Asia, Europe, and Africa.
    • Asia shares a lot of its extreme points with Europe, especially Russia.

    Cape Dezhnev, 66°4′45″N 169°39′7″W, located on the Chukchi Peninsular, between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait [W. of Alaska] , is the easternmost point of mainland Asia.

    Pamana Island, 11°00′36″S 122°52′37″E, is the southernmost point of Asia, located in the Lesser Sunda Islands, East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia.

    The northernmost point on the Asian mainland is Cape Chelyuskin, 77°44′0″N 104°15′0″E. At 1370km from the North Pole, ..located at the Taymyr Peninsula,

    Westernmost Point In Asia
    • Cape Baba, 39°28′47″N 26°03′50″E, located on the Anatolian part of Turkey, is the westernmost part of Asia. Located in Babakale village also known as Father’s Castle in historical Troad. Apostles Luke’s journey around the cape, and Apostle Paul’s journey on land are recorded in the biblical book Acts of the Apostles.
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Troas-1024x656.jpg
    Troas on Cape Baba in Babakale, Turkey [Turkiye] is the westernmost point in Asia.

    Asia Minor, Roman Remnant of a former Empire

    Zoom in with Roman military eyes toward a vast empire to the east situated on the westernmost shores of Asia, fixing your eyes on adjacent Aegean shores of 21st c. Turkiye.

    This geographical-historical view of the Asia minor region is provided only for its context of culture as it intersects with Paul's missionary journeys 'into all the world' of Eurasia.
    map of 1st century Asia
    Asia Minor

    Follow the southern coastline from nearest to Rome toward the east and riches of former empires.

    Rome’s region of ASIA MINOR

    • conquered via the vast Mediterranean and inland to the Taurus mountains includes [W. to E.]:
    • Pisidia [N. of Perga],
    • Pamphylia [along a coast N. of Cypress],
    • Cilicia [with its port city of Tarsus] and finally
    • Syria (at times including Judea).
    • Further Roman conquests inland to the north included:

    a large Roman province of GALATIA

    • N from Iconium and on its Western edge Antioch Pisidia, all of the central plain to the borders of
    • a more remote Cappadocia in the mountains to the north of Cilicia and Tarsus and Antioch Syria,
    • N to Bithynia and Pontus on the Black Sea and again toward
    • Phrygia along the mountainous borders with Asia Minor toward Mysia and the strategically situated Sea of Marmara between the narrow isthmus connecting the Black and Aegean Seas.

    In Roman times, however, when Paul journeyed there, the country was divided into two parts, one of which was known as Galatian Phrygia, and

    the other as Asian Phrygia, because it was a part of the Roman province of Asia, but the line between them was never sharply drawn.

    Source: BibleAtlas.org
    In ACTS 16 the Holy Spirit forbids Paul from sharing the gospel in Asia Minor on this second missionary journey.
    And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
    – ACTS 16:6

    The Empires Before Christ

    Babylon captures Judah and brings its captives to the King of Babylon
    6th century Before Christ
    6th-5th centuries B,C. the Persian Empire (to the East) adds the Babylonian Empire to its captive provinces

    Paul, Silas and Timothy will know these events well from Scripture, but those are no longer the Empires of concern to either the Jews or Rome. In a more recent history of Judea and Eurasia one vast Empire rivals all others.

    356 BC – Macedonia

    Roman bust of Alexander the Great who conquered much of Asia and Europe

    Alexander the Great

    • Tutored by Aristotle
    • trained for battle by his father, Philip II

    Roman bust, 2nd century AD / Creative Commons license

    [Alexander’s] undermanned defeat of the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela is seen as one of the decisive turning points of human history, unseating the Persians as the greatest power in the ancient world and spreading Hellenistic culture across a vast new empire.

    https://www.history.com/news/alexander-the-great-defeat-persian-empire

    332 BC – Tyre: a siege of Hellenism close to home

    The siege of Tyre was orchestrated by Alexander the Great in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Persians.

    source: Wikipedia

    The reign of Alexander the Great was short-lived. After subduing all of the Persian Empire, his army marched east and got as far as India before turning back home to Macedon. But he never made it home.

    At just 32 years old, Alexander died in Persia in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon.

    323 BC – 30BC – a Greek-ish Eurasia

    Click the link below to see a map of the Hellenized 'Greek-ish' world after Alexander the Great where the Apostle Paul now witnesses Christ. READ a detailed lecture on

    https://brewminate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Alexander53-768×452.gif

    There were no more city-states. Monarchies prevailed, modeling themselves after Alexander’s empire. He had achieved a divine status in his lifetime, and his successors wanted to as well. They established “ruler cults” in which they were obeyed as kings and worshipped as gods.

    A sense of cosmopolis developed in the Hellenistic Age (“polis” plus “cosmos”). Worldly, experienced, and highly-cultured people used to live in small city-states and not worry about the world beyond, but now they had seen and even ruled this world and began to say they were no longer citizens of Athens, Corinth, and so on, but instead citizens of the cosmic polis (cosmopolis), the world.

    Highly Recommended Source – From a lecture by Dr. Frank Holt, Professor of Ancient History, University of Houston (10.15.2013)

    Paul and the Apostles sent out into all the world live in the crossroads between a culture of Alexander established just a few centuries earlier AND ambitious Roman Caesars reconquering lands and cultures to be absorbed into a new Pax Romana — IF you will surrender your land and its people into one international Empire of their Roman peace.

    Western Eurasia map AD50

    AD 50 – Eurasia

    The year in the middle of Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey.

    Rome had conquered the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt near Judea some time ago, but the Empire’s military defense of the Eastern front in Syria kept close eye on the Parthian Empire and frequently engaged in battle losing and retaking various land.

    A Greek-ish in culture of the Eurasian world remained reticent of Roman Legions suppressing unwilling rulers in uncooperative localities.

    Politically astute men like a Herod or Saul of Tarsus understood this ever-shifting landscape of living as part of the political leadership and military power of the Roman Empire.

    Paul would have been attuned to recent changes in both Asia and Europe as the Apostle now travels toward a new destination with Silas and Timothy. They seem to be travelling intentionally and slowly (which we might easily miss in these few brief verses of Acts.

    AD 43 – During those years after Paul had witnessed Jesus on the road to Damascus, just four years prior to his first missionary journey here and to Cypress, Rome had invaded Britannia in the West. Legions had also conquered Lycia on the SW coast near Asia Minor where previously they had sailed to and from Perga.

    Lycia Source: Wikipedia

    AD 46 – Just a year prior to Paul’s first missionary journey

    After the death of the Thracian king Rhoemetalces III in 46 AD and an unsuccessful anti-Roman revolt, the kingdom was annexed as the Roman province of Thracia. The new province encompassed .. the north-eastern portion of the province of Macedonia as well as the islands of Thasos, Samothrace and Imbros in the Aegean Sea.

    Source: Wikipedia

    Acts of the Apostles 16:

    Previously:
    Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

    4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

    6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

    These apostles sent out from Antioch Syria have traveled about half-way on this 2800 mile [4500 km] journey into a Greek-ish Roman-ruled world. Their remaining journey in Euro-Asia will include many more important cities where they will preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the upcoming year.

    7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

    Acts 16: route of the apostles Paul, Silas & Timothy headed toward Troas beyond Asia Minor. source: graceofourlord.com
    Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey – first half through Asia

    To be continued…

  • Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

    Circumcision < Saul's Extreme Cultural Cut of Timothy

    Why does circumcision of Timothy now seem to be a necessity if he is to continue with Paul and Silas on this second missionary journey?

    After parting ways with Barnabas, Paul has chosen Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 

    And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

    Acts of the Apostles 15:41 ESV
    Lystra and Derbe in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey
    view of the Taurus mountains looking Southeast back toward roads from Syria

    Paul, on this second missionary journey began via a land route from the church in Antioch, rather than by sea and then proceeding north from Perga as he and Barnabas had traveled before after walking across Cypress to its coastal towns.

    Acts 16:

    Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.

    A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

    2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

    But wait! I thought that we had settled those issues of circumcision at the Council in Jerusalem?

    Truth for Gentiles who turn to God
    Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Acts 15:24-25 ESV

    Cultural clashes between Greeks and Jews

    In fact, Saul of Tarsus continues to preach Christ to the Jews at great cost as the apostle returns once more to their local synagogues along with others.

    Do you recall the issue which had led Paul and Barnabas to return to Jerusalem?

    Circumcision.

    Many gentiles had come to follow Christ and worshiped as brothers alongside converted Jews of The Way. Young Timothy is the son of one such believer.

    Saul of Tarsus had been equally zealous for the Mosaic traditions before his encounter with Christ some years ago.

    Joseph of Cypress (Barnabas) had sought out Saul in Tarsus where Paul had mostly stayed out of sight of zealous Judaizers for ten years. This is not dissimilar to Joseph bringing Mary and the child Jesus out of Egypt more than forty years before after the death of Herod’s grandfather.

    Yet Zealots for the Law and traditions had recently caused trouble on Saul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas.

    Apostles sent out into ever-changing political landscapes of Rome, Judea and a Hellenist world in between journeyed on frequently-shifting tectonic plates of clashing cultures.

    Some men had come down to Antioch from Judea saying,

    “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

    Acts 15:1b ESV

    This incident in Iconium, one of many, had threatened the apostles sent out by the Church.

    On his second missionary journey Paul seeks out these new believers once more, including a young man named Timothy who had been raised by his Jewish grandmother and mother.

    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    16:2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

    Luke mentions [16:1] that Paul and Silas travel to Lystra and Derbe even before now mentioning ‘brothers‘ in Iconium. What had happened in Iconium last time?

    Iconium – A Pattern of Persecution
    Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.- Acts of the Apostles 14:1 ESV

    At Iconium as in Antioch Pisidia the apostles received a divided (and sometimes violent) reception to the Gospel.

    The Jews of Cilicia held to their Jewishness in opposition to rampant cultural sin in the customs and ceremonies of an idolatrous Hellenistic majority of their own towns. Saul of Tarsus returns to these Christian brothers trying to convince other Jewish brothers that Jesus is the Christ.

    How could these apostles of the risen Jesus reach even more Jews in theirs journeys?

    In order to do this the Apostle Paul and his company of men must seem most Jewish in order to proclaim Christ in their synagogues.

    BUT the issue of bringing Timothy to other towns is that his father is Greek and of course had not circumcised his son eight days after his birth — in the manner and custom of Hebrew fathers.

    Circumcision set (18th c.)

    חֲתַן דָּמִים לַמּוּלֹֽת׃

    Circumcision

    At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” with reference to the circumcision.

    Exodus 4:26b – Proclamation of Zipporah after she completed this sign of the covenant of the LORD on Moses’ son.

    We read and the Hellenists read of the signs that the Lord God had confirmed His solemn promises to Abraham.

    And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

    ACTS of the Apostles 7:8 – from the preaching of Stephen to the Sanhedrin (most likely with Saul of Tarsus nearby)

    Let’s be clear that in the διαθήκη covenant of περιτομή circumcision that our solemn agreement cut with the LORD is paramount to any sign or evidence of the flesh.

    And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

    “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

    Gospel of Luke 22:20 – the words of the Lord Jesus to the Twelve at the meal of the last Passover

    WE are not Jews or Christians — true followers of the LORD (as was Moses) — true disciples of Jesus the Christ of the New Covenant — by signs of baptism, communion, ceremony or any other claim of grace separate from God’s covenant in Scripture.

    The Apostle Peter had also been confronted with this same issue after reporting back to the Church in Jerusalem of the signs of the Holy Spirit also given to the gentiles.

    Peter, John, Phillip, Paul, Barnabas and all the evangelists of the Gospel must continue to convince Jews as well as gentiles concerning God’s mercy and new covenant of the heart.

    Paul’s later letter begins by addressing circumcision.

    Epistle of Paul to the Romans

    For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

    Romans 1:16 ESV

    To the Jew FIRST — Apostolic approach of taking the Gospel into all of the 1st century world.

    Paul mentions the culture of so many idolaters among whom the Jews and Christians live. This idolatry is a legitimate concern, more so than a sign of circumcision.

    Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

    24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

    Amen.

    These Hellenists to whom the LORD made the Jews a light living among them are citizens of many towns to which Paul now will bring this Greek disciple named Timothy.

    BUT the Jews have been rightly cautious about now allowing the leaven of their idol worship come near the worship of the Living God — most especially at their own Passover feasts.

    2023 Google Earth view of Greece, next stop on Paul's second missionary Journey in Acts 16.
    Note: Konya (Iconium near Derbe & Lystra) in foreground – source: Google Earth AD2023

    For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
    So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

    Paul’s letter to the Romans 2:25-26 ESV

    Festivals of Pagan Idolatry

    I have only to mention recent, current and highly anticipated pagan festivals of the 21st century to paint a glace of the idolatry of first century — idol worship including parades, drinking, ritual sex, raucous celebrations and porneia in the public places — which Jews and Christians recognize as abhorrent to Almighty God.

    The Hellenes to which Paul, Silas and Timothy would soon travel lived NOT in a unified Greece under Roman occupation similar to the religiously-united Judea of the Jews throughout the Empire, but in numerous culturally divergent city-states conquered separately by Roman centurions advancing from ports of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.

    Idolatries of the Hellenes worshipping gods of each city, similar to god idols of Roman myths allowed for a tolerant Roman peace. Romans simply viewed idol worship as harmless and practical public parties of a cultural nature, even a religious duty.

    These frequent festivals sometimes celebrated each year may have been out of obligation, but culturally they generally were celebrations influential men of the city used to maintain their hold on the women, boys, slaves and money they controlled.

    Remember, in most of the Roman Empire and most Hellenist cities MOST men served other men of means in charge of various aspects of their everyday lives. Many captive slaves worked for local land owners and the Roman army as well, including young boys who served their masters in ways NOT acceptable to any faithful Jew.

    On the further mission beyond Derbe, Lystra and Iconium (modern-day Kona, Turkiye) Silas and Saul of Tarsus would certainly NOT want any fellow Jew to mistake this faithful young man and disciple, Timothy, as a Greek (because of his uncircumcision by his non-Jewish Greek father) as some Jews who traveled like Saul already knew.

    Acts 16 continued (with Timothy)..

    4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

    Acts 15 Decisions of the Council in Jerusalem (last year)
.. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. 
If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. 

Farewell.”

    So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

    Acts of the Apostles 16:5 ESV

    ACTS of the apostles Silas, Paul and Timothy .. To Be Continued…

  • 5 friends, a few mentors and family

    5 friends, a few mentors and family

    Paul – Barnabas and other Friends

    Recalling our journeys with friends

    How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?

    • Who are the first friends YOU remember?
      • And where are they NOW?

    In the cover photo from my copy of “Friendship” Emerson suggests that we miss much and mostly undervalue those dear souls we briefly encounter in life.

    Acts of the apostles’ friends

    Acts Apostolos - Acts 1 of the Apostles begins a 28 chapter account of the chronicles of Christ's Apostles - a history of Christ's Church

    Barnabas, I remind us here, was also an apostle (one sent out), from the Greek word indicating the authority of a delegate or messenger sent forth with orders.

    The mission of apostles sent by the Holy Spirit does not diminish any importance of their individual relationships — men maturing together as brothers of the family of Christ.

    The apostle Paul

    Chronologically the apostle’s account (from later in Acts) will recall what Luke recorded previously in Acts 9 and illuminates the timeline of Paul’s journeys as I noted last time.

    “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

    Acts of the Apostles 22:3 ESV – Paul recounting his pervious conversion to Christ ~ AD 37

    We will return to Paul’s second mission shortly & proceed observantly ahead from our half-verse of Acts 16:1a near the beginning of the apostle’s 2nd missionary journey.

    Yet something about the recent split between Paul and Barnabas still bothers me..

    39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 

    Acts of the Apostles 15:39-40 ESV

    What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that I found somewhat disturbing?

    WHY did these friends separate after this second argument?

    • Was it how Barnabas insisted on John Mark joining them — a young man who deserted these friends previously now replacing Paul as Barnabas and now has departed for Cypress with Mark?
    • Did the apostle simply expect loyalty to a co-worker in the Gospel?
    • Or perhaps loyalty of Barnabas to Paul who had witnessed the risen Christ Jesus?

    Recall from earlier, just before their first missionary journey:

    So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people.

    Acts of the Apostles 11:25-26a ESV

    We know that Barnabas had been Paul’s mentor. And now this ‘son of encouragement’ seems to abandon the apostle for a new and younger co-worker in the Gospel?

    Did Joseph of Cypress now choose John Mark or perhaps witnessing to his family on Cypress over his long-time disciple and friend Saul of Tarsus?

    (‘How dare he,’ we mistakenly think while not considering roles best-known to the Holy Spirit.)

    We all question former choices of a friend when something goes amiss in the relationship don’t we? ESPECIALLY when something does NOT go according to plan.

    Yet the Apostle knew his Scripture well:

    And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

    Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV

    SO did Paul ask himself,

    ‘Might I need more than one friend to walk alongside and encourage me on my next journey life?’

    Reflections on Friendship

    ‘What ever happened to ___?’

    Not that you want to hear any stories of my missing friends, but this lament of mine for Paul’s loss of the companionship of Barnabas leads me to share such common wonderings. Perhaps my reflections could help us answer unasked questions of our own hearts about the roles of Very Important People in our lives.

    SO allow me to answer my own opening QUESTIONS.

    1. How many friends have you had in this brief journey of your life?
    2. Who are the first friends YOU remember?
    3. Where are they NOW?
    I would love to hear about YOUR friends in a COMMENT at the end of this post.
 
Reminder that no PRIVATE comment will be posted publically.
I may repost your PUBLIC comment as 'anonymous' if you include any identifiable information along with your COMMENT about your friend, mentor or anything else. - RH
    1. I thank God for more than a handful of close personal relationships over many years with several who at one time I cherished as a close friend, a near brother or a beloved sister.
    2. Several I first counted as a friend were classmates in school. Others in college. And still other first encounters of a best friend in a new workplace, local neighborhood or a new church. (I have recalled some recently: some in quiet times, others on a visit home with frequent memories recalled at a wedding or funeral.)
      • 5 friends who God brought to encourage me include:
        • a family friend from our church who mostly journeyed with me from elementary school through high school in the same class
        • a boy who moved to our school and became my best friend as we participated in the same things – in and after school, school and community groups, memorable journeys with other friends in the formative years of our early lives.
        • a mutual new friend who moved into our town whose affable intellect intrigued us
        • another young man whose seat landed alphabetically near mine and whose humor and wit brought joy to my heart. (I later asked this best friend to be the best man at our wedding.)
        • a mentor – actually several of a group of older friends in high school connected by mutual activities and interests who were close and valued friends of my earliest journeys toward commencement.
    3. Mostly, I have lost track of these friends, some with whom I hope to renew an even more glorious friendship in our eternal time together with the risen Christ Jesus. Now most are retired, a few working in places far distant from my everyday mortal life, some I have not and will never see again and others perhaps I might briefly touch before the inevitable failing of the moral flesh.
      • I might add that the mentor-friend who gave me the Friendship book married another friend of this mentor group and another played ‘taps’ a few years back at my father’s funeral.

      Paul’s friends and Mentors

      What was it about the friendship of Barnabas and Paul breaking up that we find somewhat disturbing?

      I miss many friends whose paths have parted from my own journey in life.

      Certainly as I miss my grade school, high school and college friends of so many years ago, Paul will miss his friend, mentor and fellow apostle Barnabas.

      In fact, Paul has had close friends before including teachers such as Gamaliel and Ananias, called by Christ to lead the blind Saul persecutor of disciples to apostles and disciples of Jesus in Damascus, Antioch and Jerusalem.

      Gamaliel and Ananias had more importantly been mentors to Saul of Tarsus, but Paul is about to become a friend and mentor to many new disciples of The Way of Jesus Christ.

      Will Silas become an equal friend to Paul, even as Barnabas had proven to be over the past few years?

      Jesus’ friends, followers and family

      We do well to consider the preciousness of every friendship, relationship and familial connection to others even as the Lord Jesus gives clear instructions to His friends and disciples, the Apostles, His earthly family and any heart yearning for the love of God.

      Gospel of Luke

      5:10b-11 And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

      8:20-21 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

      No special place for family, even His mother Mary or half-brothers James and Jude.

      9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.. 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

      Jesus is a mentor to his apostles, yet more than that – with the authority of God their Teacher sends them out to begin the healing of sin.

      Later Jesus, their Teacher, will warn his Disciples of the rejection they too will suffer.

      Their friend and Master is about to be delivered up as a Sacrifice on a Cross.

      21:16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

      QUESTIONS for each of us to ask.

      Who is an apostle, a disciple, a brother, a mentor, a friend?

      .. he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

      Luke 6:13b ESV

      A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

      Gospel of Luke 40 ESV – μαθητής – disciple or pupil; διδάσκαλος – a teacher

      Acts of friends & apostles of Jesus

      Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

      No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

      Gospel of John 15:13-15 ESV
      Friend, how will you ACT when a brother in Christ asks you to Talk of JESUS?

Won't you comment about your friends? SHARE the Gospel with a friend by quoting my encouragement of friendship with you. Who is your friend who needs some Good News?

      Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel