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Saul: Encouragement in Christ from Cypress
Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement) owned a tract of land. So he sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
ACTS of the disciples of the Apostles 4:36-37 NASB20

Encouragement of Christ’s Apostles by Joseph of Cypress

“Just a moment,” you are likely thinking. “I remember this from That’s Not Fair! Possessions and Community, but I thought that now Luke is talking about Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9?”

Last time, Luke’s account included not only Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, CALLED BY THE RISEN CHRIST JESUS, but also a two disciples of The Way: Ananias, to whom the Lord spoke in a vision, and Judas of Damascus (in the house on Straight Street where BOTH encouraged the blinded and FEARED Saul of Tarsus.)

παράκλησις – more than just Encouragement
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click here for more encouragement
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Of course if the Lord had appeared to you directly, as was the case with both Ananias and Saul, YOU too would obey. But just as Jesus had called James and John a descriptive nickname, “the Sons of Thunder,” and called “Simon son of John, Peter or ‘the Rock,’ so have Peter and the Apostles had named Joseph, Barnabas, or Son of Encouragement.
- paraklēsis Outline of Biblical Usage
  - a calling near, summons, (esp. for help)
  - importation, supplication, entreaty
  - exhortation, admonition, encouragement
  - consolation (14x), comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment
- thus of the Messianic salvation (so the Rabbis call the Messiah (or Christ, in Greek) the consoler, the comforter)
  - persuasive discourse, stirring address
    (the speech of Stephen to the sanhedrin?)
  - instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful hortatory discourse
- (much of the preaching of Paul we are about to hear on his missionary journeys in Acts of the Apostles and his letters to the Churches.)
נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י יֹאמַ֖ר אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
2 דַּבְּר֞וּ עַל־לֵ֤ב יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ וְקִרְא֣וּ אֵלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֤י מָֽלְאָה֙ צְבָאָ֔הּ כִּ֥י נִרְצָ֖ה עֲוֺנָ֑הּ כִּ֤י לָקְחָה֙ מִיַּ֣ד יְהוָ֔ה כִּפְלַ֖יִם בְּכָל־חַטֹּאתֶֽיהָ׃ ס
3 ק֣וֹל קוֹרֵ֔א בַּמִּדְבָּ֕ר פַּנּ֖וּ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְהוָ֑ה יַשְּׁרוּ֙ בָּעֲרָבָ֔ה מְסִלָּ֖ה לֵאלֹהֵֽינוּ׃
Isaiah 40:1-3 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

Encouragement & Comfort

Encouragement and comfort become the Gospel Good NEWS to a God-pursued people. And let’s not forget the context of persecution of both Jews and Christians not only in Acts of the Apostles, but throughout the history of the world.

Skipping ahead just a bit in Luke’s account before we proceed with Saul of Tarsus:

ACTS 9:31

So the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed peace, as it was being built up; and as it continued in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort G3874 of the Holy Spirit, it kept increasing.

And later in ACTS 11:19 Luke gives us the present context of Saul in Jerusalem in Acts 9:

So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.
Acts 11:19 NASB20

Tarsus of Saul, Cypress of Joseph, Damascus of Ananias, Phoenicia (Lebanon) Antioch is in Syria – God into all the world…

Escape from Damascus
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Previously..
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Who is this Saul, Apostle to the Gentiles?

I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

ACTS 9: of Saul in Damascus

Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time.

20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

21 All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

22 But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
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Saul leaves Damascus, spends three years in the wilderness of Arabia, THEN returns.
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23 After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plot. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, but his disciples..

[NOTE Luke’s description, that these are now disciples of the Apostle Saul of Tarsus!]

..took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall.
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ACTS of SAUL OF TARSUS to be continued in Jerusalem...
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March 9, 2022
Stephen: Indictment of our Founding Fathers
All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel.
ACTS 6:15 :: Hebrew Names Version (HNV)

Another Trial before Judah’s Ruling Fathers

7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
ἀρχιερεύς – archiereus

Let’s be clear who Jerusalem’s fathers, in charge of these trials, are:
- A new trial now of Stephen
- Two previous hearings or trials of Peter and John
- And most controversial of all, their trial and crucifixion of Jesus, of whom these Jews now preach as risen from death!
And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to put Him to death

Gospel of Luke 19:40 NASB20 – Describing Jesus’ opposition by the chief priests.

After Jesus, they next tried to discredit Peter and John

Arrested AND Released

Yet an angel had released Peter and John from the prison of the High Priest

And now, Stephen

Stephen, not one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, but a newly appointed disciple of the Disciples. A leading man among seven, overseeing multitudes of these ‘Christ’ followers in Jerusalem’s growing congregations – an overt challenge to the authority of its religious-political leaders responsible for their Roman ‘peace.’

How will Stephen defend Christ before Jerusalem’s political fathers?

Not betrayed, but like the Apostles falsely accused.

Acts of the Apostles 7: (and here, ACTS of Stephen)
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Stephanos will reply to the Hebrew High Priest of the Sanhedrin in the common Hellenized Greek of Roman-occupied Jerusalem:
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7:2 ὁ δὲ ἔφη ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες ἀκούσατε ὁ θεὸς τῆς δόξης ὤφθη τῷ πατρὶ ἡμῶν Ἀβραὰμ ὄντι ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ πρὶν ἢ κατοικῆσαι αὐτὸν ἐν Χαρράν

“Hear me, brethren and fathers!

Stephen now begins his defense with their common history, recorded in Scripture and supposedly taught by Jerusalem’s fathers, shepherds of Judah, in their synagogues. He includes himself as their Jewish brothers, born to a line of their own patriarchs.

Abraham

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him,

Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.

4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.
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Here's Stephen's first point about the Patriarchs (ruling fathers):
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“But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land.
ACTS 7:5a NLT – Stephen’s defense to the fathers of Jerusalem trying him for following the Messiah Jesus

6 But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years…
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We know that Stephen is leading up to Moses leading them from Egypt (in ancient times).
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.. and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.
ACTS 7:8b NASB
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Nothing too controversial in Steven's opening argument to these contemporary patriarchs of the Sanhedrin, right?
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Ἰωσήφ – Joseph – יוֹסֵף

“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him..

11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers..
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Joseph's brothers, patriarchs of Israel DID NOT RECOGNIZR their rejected brother, whom these eleven fathers had  thought would be brought down by slavery.
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14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought..

Joseph saves Israel (Jacob) and its Patriarchs (his brothers, who finally had bowed down to Joseph)
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Jerusalem's fathers (who sit in judgment of Stephen) continue to listen intently to the disciple of Jesus' Disciples they indicted for speaking against the Law. 
The innocence of an angel shines from his face as God-breathed words flow forth from his tongue.
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Stephen reveals God’s Promise through Abraham

“But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt..
Acts 7:17 NASB – Stephen’s history of the Patriarchs of Israel
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FOUR HUNDRED YEARS WILL ELAPSE (as we know) between this first part of Stephen's story about the blessings of the patriarchs and the second part of his history of slavery in Egypt.
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.. until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
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To be continued...
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January 7, 2022
Nazareth of Jesus – Rejected by your hometown
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read..
Luke 4:16 NASB20

Teaching Scripture at your own Church

Is it the Nazareth of Jesus? OR was this ‘Son of Man’ someone from an OTHER place?

Throughout the Gospels [GOOD NEWS] we hear the Lord Jesus called ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH.’ And of course we know from Scripture that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary and finally settled in Nazareth after Herod’s death. So here in his home church (synagogue) Jesus is welcomed at first, but then rejected after reading Scripture and applying its truth.

And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him…

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO BRING GOOD NEWS..
“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”
Jesus Christ reading Isaiah in Nazareth

The crowds of Jews interspersed with gentiles had received Jesus well at first and initial reaction to the Lord at home seemed certain to confirm this local gaining fame throughout Galilee. So like the earlier prophets, Jesus preached with the authority of the Spirit of God.

From Nineveh to Nazareth

Last time we looked at the Prophet Jonah who was called to GO PREACH to the world of the gentiles in Nineveh. (Jonah would have loved to preach in his home church, but the LORD commanded him to preach repentance to those the Jews hated.)

Nineveh – Preaching to a cruel enemy

Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh

“Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Yes, centuries before, Jonah finally relented to the LORD’s will and preached to Nineveh. Then THEY REPENTED!

Here in first century Nazareth however, Jesus will not be accepted for obeying the LORD’s will as the Son of Man reads scripture of an earlier Prophet Isaiah to Jews who thought they knew him.

“No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”

But He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Luke 4:24 NASB20

Nazareth – Preaching to an unrepentant Church

.. And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff..

What had been Jesus’ message to them?

REPENTANCE! The same preaching which the LORD commanded to Nineveh and here as Jesus points out, to Syria in the time of Elijah.

Scriptures

Isaiah 52-53

Original talkofJESUS.com post

Beyond Nazareth

from April 26, 2017 – Topic: Isaiah Prophesies a Far-distant Hope

Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
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July 13, 2021