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Tag: Church

  • Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA

    Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA

    So why did Paul leave Athens, Greece? These apostles to the Gentiles are sent to Corinth by the Holy Spirit to plant a church in Achaia.

    ACTS of the Apostles 18:

    THIS summary of Paul's first two missions INCLUDES a 20 YEAR TIMELINE OF THE EARLY CHURCH.
    1. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
    After Paul's speech at Mars Hill about the unknow god the Apostle departs for Corinth even though a few wanted to know more about the resurrection of of the dead and Jesus a human Son of God

    You’ll recall the Apostle’s great proclamation of the Gospel at the Areopagus of Mars Hill in the shadow of a Roman built-back-better ancient Acropolis. (The same philosophers’ debates continue into this distant millennium.)

    Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols
    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” – ACTS of the Apostles 17:32 ESV

    So Paul went out from their midst.

    We will talk about those new disciples who joined Paul's mission in Athens once we arrive in Corinth.

    The Mission to Corinth

    17:33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

    Prior to leaving Athens Dionysius and Damaris AND others join 'them.' 
TWO new believers plus unnamed 'others.'

    Please don’t forget that Jesus, the Twelve Apostles, rabbis, and even those Greek philosophers who invited Paul to address them at the Areopagus in Athens all had followers. Some disciples (or followers) of these men frequently traveled with these teaching mentors to learn more.

    Paul and the missionaries of the early church are no exception. The apostle to the gentiles does not preach the Gospel in Athens or anywhere else without the witness of other disciples of Jesus Christ.

    ἀποστέλλω

    Lexicon :: Strong's G649 - apostellō

    Paul has disciples of the Way of Jesus Christ with him — other apostles SENT by the Holy Spirit – and others followers sent to become ministers of Christ’s church in all the world.

    Gospel of Luke 10:

    Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent G649 them in G649 pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

    4 “Go! Behold, I send G649 you out G649 as lambs in the midst of wolves.

    What kind of MAN would send out 70 missionaries with the Gospel into the midst of wolves?

    JESUS!

    “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 G649 Me.”

    Gospel of Luke 10:16 LSB – the Word of Jesus by the Authority of God the Father to seventy disciples

    Paul will later write to his disciple Timothy, whom he has already circumcised to keep the young man from the wolves seeking their lives —

    For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

    1 Timothy 2:7 ESV

    Jesus had brought Paul to Himself years ago in Syria, then to Cypress and Galatia previously with Barnabas. Now with Silas and several others the Apostle of the Gentiles journeys through Syria, Galatia, Macedonia, briefly to Greece and here to ACHAIA and its important city of Corinth.

    Paul and his company of Christians from Antioch and many other places will build yet another church for the Corinthians and Christ Jesus here in the months to come.

    a 20 YEAR Timeline of 2 missions

    PAUL, as before, has fled Athens with the young lambs of Christ’s fold not only preserving his own life from the pack of Jewish and Hellenist wolves but done so to continue on the Lord Jesus’ mission before harm might be inflicted on any in his care.

    A.D. 30’s –

    Jesus crucified and raised from the dead!

    The risen Christ instructs the Twelve (now including Mathias) until Pentecost and appears to more than 500 witnesses before the Lord ascends into Heaven. Jesus’ brothers James (who will later lead the Jerusalem church) and Jude now believe and proclaim Jesus as Lord.

    The Apostles and others receive the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and go out to Jews and Samaritans with the Gospel.

    After Saul of Tarsus (Paul) had pursued and killed many disciples of the risen Lord, Jesus confronts him near Damascus, later sending Saul into all the world as His vessel with the Gospel. Paul then goes to Arabia.

    A.D. 40’s –

    Three years after Paul’s conversion and ten years after Jesus’ resurrection Peter, who earlier had miraculously escaped prison in Jerusalem, takes the Gospel to the Gentiles, including Romans.

    Then in ~A.D. 44 the Apostle James is murdered and once again Peter is freed from prison in Jerusalem by angels.

    The Apostles have begun their journey into all the world, occasionally returning to Jerusalem where Jesus’ half-brother James is now leader of the local church.

    ~A.D. 47- 49 + Paul’s 1st Mission with Barnabas

    Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

    Acts of the Apostles 13:1-3 ESV – commissioning of Paul and Barnabas for 1st mission

    49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

    Lystra, Derbe and Iconium in the Taurus mountains.

    When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

    Acts of the Apostles 14:5-7 ESV

    I reiterate this from Paul’s first mission to emphasize both the persecution by Jews and Gentiles AND the persistence of the Apostles in uplifting these new churches with letters and returning to them on other missions. Barnabas and Mark returned to Cypress. On this mission Paul began by returning to these same churches of his earlier mission in the same regions of Galacia.

    Major Roman Provinces of the Aegean including: Achaia, Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, Galatia, Cypress and Syria including major cities of Paul's first missions.
    ‘Go into all of the world‘ of the Hellenist Roman Aegean with the Gospel

    ~A.D. 49 – 51 + Paul’s Second Mission with Silas & others

    A.D. 49 – the Council at Jerusalem
    In the year of our Lord 49 the Council at Jerusalem was followed by several notable witnesses of Christ in various ways.
    • James, brother of Jesus & leader of the church in Jerusalem writes a letter primarily to the Jews of the dispersion,

    Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

    Letter of James 1:2-4 ESV
    • Paul writes a letter to the Galatians, saints of the churches he and Barnabas have just planted in the region of Galatia including Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

    I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

    from Paul and all the brothers who are with me.. To the churches of Galatia: 1:6-7 ESV
    • The Emperor Claudius expelled most Jews (including the sect of Christians) from Rome
      • Those expelled from Rome included Priscilla and Anguilla, who the Lord will use in an important new missing in ACHAIA.

    Missionaries in Corinth sent out to the STATES of Rome

    Again, in A.D. 50 Paul has been sent out with the Gospel to several states of Roman influence – each with its own culture – each with its unique mixture of Hellenists, Italians more connected to Rome’s politics, Jews (some connected to the politics of Jerusalem), just regular residents, travelers, merchants, foreigners and of course, varying numbers of active and retired Roman soldiers.

    Acts 18 ESV – Paul in Corinth

    NOTE all the other apostles sent to Corinth in ACHAIA with Paul.

    After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

    Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the Roman Empire, being united with Bithynia in a double province called Pontus and Bithynia: this part included only the seaboard between Heraclea (today Ereğli) and Amisus (Samsun), the ora Pontica.[18] The larger part of Pontus, however, was included in the province of Galatia.

    Source: Wikipedia
    google earth of Aegean Sea coast between Troas and Macedonia

    5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them,

    “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

    Once again, the Apostle sent into all the world has taken the Gospel first to his brothers in the faith of God - the Jews. AND once again as in other cities before many BUT NOT ALL Jews reject Paul and the Good News of the Messiah - the Christ, Jesus.

    7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

    (ALSO) 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord (Jesus) , together with his entire household.

    These two local men of Corinth are important and influential Jews, but they cannot dissuade the outside influences of Jewish zealots who have rejected their own Messiah.

    And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 

    Acts of the Apostles 18:8b ESV

    Acts for a 21st c. Church

    – a history of the 1st century church –

    To Be Continued… in Corinth.

  • REPENTANCE! Rated ‘R’ – but Not for Revival

    REPENTANCE! Rated ‘R’ – but Not for Revival

    I will ransom them from the power of the grave;

    I will redeem them from death:

    O death, I will be thy plagues;

    O grave, I will be thy destruction:

    repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

    Hosea 13:14 KJV

    a Gathering of the Dead with NO Hope of Revival

    When the Prophets spoke a convicting word of repentance to the professed chosen of the LORD, WHY didn’t THEY repent?

    Could it be that THEY refused to hear ANY word of conviction – an accountably of the GOD’s indictment of SIN?

    (And like THEM, who among us is not GUILTY of hiding OUR sins from the Lord as we would like to think on occasion after occasion?)

    Are those ancient LEADERS and PEOPLE of Judah, Israel and the nations JUST LIKE US?

    Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out - Acts 3: Peter preaching repentance
    Repentance!

    Repentance oft’ served bitterly in the King James

    (Of course most shepherds of Christ's 21st c. churches resist a call of evangelism by reading the KJV. Most will not preach any convicting word of God given to fallen people through His PROPHETS from ANY translation of the Holy Bible.) 

After all, who comes to church to REPENT?

    The Prophets use severe terms that a pastor hardly dare preach

    – the ‘R’ rated word of the LORD –

    NOT ever to be spoken to a sweetened Sunday flock of young christians, gracefully posing alongside a remnant of the faithful, as sinless sheep.

    AND IF you are not repentant about your continued sins against Him don’t think that your preferred personal designation of ‘King Jesus’ will save you from the grave.

    We certainly wouldn’t want our Jesus-lovers sent home sorrowful [נֹחַם] over our sin.

    Yet this is exactly the other meaning of the repentance of which the Prophet speaks in saying that the LORD will hide YOUR sorrow from His eyes.

    Hosea and other ‘minor’ prophets will often rail on bitterly in a specific call of repentance.

    The LORD reminds Israel through Hosea’s words and obedient unexpected actions of their former disobedience to obey their promises to Him.

    The LORD’s word by the mouth of His Prophets may not only be bitter and offensive, but rated ‘R’ in the church gathering of culturally inclusive Sunday audience.

    So would you with ears to hear prefer to hear the LORD in easier English than the King James? 
(Any translation of Scripture can be convicting to a heart open to receive the word of the Lord.)

    It is your ruin, O Israel,

    That you are against Me, against your help…

    I gave you a king in My anger
    And took him away in My wrath.

    Hosea 13:9.11 LSB

    The LORD laments over Israel when He sorrowfully gave them Saul as a king —

    and then David, a man after God’s own heart

    — and Solomon who built the Temple

    — and his sons who as kings of Israel and Judah lost favor, because these kings and their subjects most often refused to repent.

    Returning to Hosea's calling and also the King James:

    Hosea 1:

    The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

    The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea.

    And the LORD said to Hosea,

    Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

    • Would you like to go tell your President or king THAT?
    • Dare you call your congregation and country ‘children of whoredoms?’ [v.2]
    • Will you warn them “.. ye are not my people, and I will not be your God?” [v.9]

    AND from there, the LORD gets even more graphic in HIS imagery of nakedness of the sin of his CHOSEN PEOPLE who bear witness to HIS NAME (supposedly).

    IS THAT how we witness JESUS when we whisper to Him gracefully on Sunday?

    “‘King Jesus,’ WE love what you have done for US,”

    Christ gets little mention.. no honor.. no priority in six and a half days of our weekly life?

    When do YOU ever Talk of JESUS outside of the walls of a ‘worship’ service?

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    Repent & Turn back to your Savior

    Here’s the idea of Repentance when you have an argument with God:

    COMPLAINT!
    Job 6: “my complaint is just.’ BUT finally the LORD answers Job in a whirlwind (think tornadic pillar of fire!)

    Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

    Job 42:6

    And Job was a righteous man!

    But to the unrighteous kings, princes and people God warns Israel and commands his last Prophet of Israel, Hosea:

    Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

    Hebrew – נָחַם

    KJV Translation Count — Total: 108x
    The KJV translates Strong’s H5162 in the following manner: comfort (57x), repent (41x), comforter (9x), ease (1x).
    Outline of Biblical Usage [?]
    to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted

    Source: BlueLetterBible.org

    Repent – Greek – μετανοέω

    Do you recognize the comfort of having your guilt removed by God when you repent of sin?

    Of course YOU are not alone. For your witness of Christ our Savior ought to be that WE are included with THEM in that all have sinned [Romans 3]. JESUS paid the full price the justice of God requires (even for repentant sinners like you and me).

    Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 2:5 KJV – THIS to the 1st c. CHURCH at Ephesus 
    Shepherds of 21st c. churches also resist the New Testament repentance of preaching Jesus' Revelation of THE END to sheepish christian congregations more entertained than revived.

YES, JESUS is KING of Kings and Lord of lords! Is your worship of the KING appropriate to His call to obedience?

    Lexicon :: Strong’s G3340 – metanoeō

    Outline of Biblical Usage [?]
    to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent

    to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins

    “Repentance (metanoia, ‘change of mind’) involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness.” (F. F. Bruce. The Acts of the Apostles [Greek Text Commentary], London: Tyndale, 1952, p. 97.)

    Source: BlueLetterBible.org

    Repent ye G3340 therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

    Acts of the Apostles 3:19 KJV

    This is how Peter and the Apostles preached.

    Peter Replied: Signs Preached from Solomon’s Porch
    Yet Peter replied also inviting their response.

    Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

    Acts 4:4 KJV

    Revival?

    I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death.
    O Death, where are your plagues?
    O Sheol, where is your sting?
    Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

    Hosea 13:14 ESV

    Aren’t followers of Jesus — Ἰησοῦς His NAME means: “Jehovah is salvation” — ransomed from the cost of sin and the power of Sheol by the price He paid on the Cross?

    Since JESUS IS GOD, aren’t His followers redeemed by Him from Death?

    Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
    whoever is discerning, let him know them;
    for the ways of the LORD are right,
    and the upright walk in them,
    but transgressors stumble in them.

    Hosea 14:9 ESV – the Prophet’s closing cautions to the wise in the Lord.

    The root of revival is ‘to live!’ – חָיָה

    Yet Hosea warns that transgressors will stumble into Sheol and Death.

    AND David sings out in Psalm 37: He Will Not Forsake His Saints

    v.38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
    the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

    Shall the transgressor of Christ’s grace receive carte blanche revival from the grave without witness of the saving Cross of JESUS?

    In fact, what did the King of kings and Lord of lords have to say about such revival?

    Gospel Truth (and the Way and the Life)

    “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord.. And then will I declare to them,

    ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

    Matthew 7:21-23 excerpt ESV

    The word for lawlessness Jesus uses is: ἀνομία – anomia – its definition:

    contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness

    When a man thought a family obligation should delay his discipleship to the Lord Jesus he received an unexpected answer from the Son of Man who could actually revive the dead:

    And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

    Matthew 8:22 ESV

    NO, I do not believe that we will have REVIVAL in the Church (people, and not the building of certain Shepherds) WITHOUT first witnessing the fruit of REPENTANCE by the crowds from which Jesus fled.

    What do YOU think, my fellow follower of Christ Jesus?

    Repentance OR Revival?

  • 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