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Tag: Luke

Apollos and Paul – Apostles crossing paths
Apollos arrives in Ephesus

Acts 18:

The Connection of Christ’s Missions

21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

[No mention here of Silas, Luke or Timothy also part of this 2nd mission. Email me or comment if you know where these apostles of the church might be as Paul begins his 3rd missionary journey. – Roger@TalkofJesus.com ]
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Notice where Ephesus fits into our A.D. 51-52 timeline as the noted Jewish teacher Saul of Tarsus [Paul] departs and Apollos, another notable Jewish apostle to the gentiles begins working alongside disciples of The Way of the Messiah Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila (also Jews) remain in Ephesus as Paul sails back to Jerusalem and Antioch, Syria [his home church].
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Paul’s Third Missionary Journey Begins

23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

As you can see on a map more familiar to Saul of Tarsus than 21st century christians who simply see modern Turkey, the Apostle Paul has once again set out to visit the churches of his Second Missionary Journey.

Ephesus is miles ahead where Paul will journey through the mountains to the Aegean coast where Apollos has already arrived and preached.
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Luke continues his detailed account of Acts of the Apostles by way of introduction to Apollos.
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Who is this Messianic Jew Apollos?

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
- He was an eloquent man,
- competent in the Scriptures.
- 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
  - (Not by Paul, but by other disciples of the risen Christ.)
- And being fervent in spirit,
- he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus..
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We'll leave it there for the moment. 
Pretty good credentials for a new Preacher of Jesus to the Jews in Asia Minor (Ephesus).
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Apollos the Baptist

Now, perhaps, some controversy might arise from calling apollos a ‘Baptist.’ This is no mere division of denomination of an early church in Asia Minor. No, the Baptist moniker in the year of our Lord 52 would have referred to the preaching of John the Baptist.

MANY would have heard of the Baptist, perhaps even hearing him preach prior to Herod beheading him.
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A.D. 30 - Twenty some years earlier from Luke's Gospel (yet to be published ten years from now along with ACTS of the Apostles sometime between A.D. 60 and A.D. 62.)
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Gospel of Luke 9:

Verses 18-21 Legacy Standard Bible

And it happened that while He [JESUS] was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying,

“Who do the crowds say that I am?”

And they answered and said,

“John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” And He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

But He warned them and directed them not to tell this to anyone..
- AND suppose that Apollos and other disciples had heard The Baptist preach and yet as must have been the case for many never heard the Christ of God preach in Person?
- What might these disciples of JESUS recall some twenty years later?
Luke 3:

[John] .. came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;
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Now unlike most 21st century christians, these 1st century Jews knew their SCRIPTURE!
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as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
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“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,

AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW;

THE CROOKED WILL BE STRAIGHT,

AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH.
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AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.’”
Luke 3:6 LSB quoting: Isa 40:5; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:10

a response to Apollos OR The Baptist OR JESUS

“But indeed the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what should we do?”
Luke 3:9-10 LSB

John answered, saying to them all,

“As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

“His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn,

but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people.

Gospel of Luke 3:18 LSB of the preaching of John the Baptist

Refining the Preaching of Apollos

Acts 18 continued in Ephesus

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
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It is expected that mature believers must instruct new followers of JESUS Christ more accurately. 

Even as Aquilla must have given exhortation to Apollos, the Apostle Paul on the way to Ephesus is most like doing the same as he revisits the new churches of previous missionary journeys (some to whom the Apostles has already written an Epistle).
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27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

God-willing, ACTS of the apostles Paul, Apollos, Aquila and many others — To be continued

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
September 1, 2023
When HE takes Vengeance
DOES THE FIRE OF GOD’S ANGER BURN WITH VENGEANCE?

Paradise on fire – Idolatry consumed!

Remember the lyric of lament over a lost love?

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus?
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way..
Source:
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I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
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You shall not make idols or any image of things that are in the heavens above or that are upon the earth or that are in the waters under the earth.
Exodus 20:4 New Catholic Bible

Of course FIRE and RAIN are elements of the 12 idolatrous signs of the zodiac,

even as love of a friend, family member or the EARTH or AIR may easily become your WORSHIP of idols.

So Those were the days, my friend, of Paradise

We SANG of them in the paradise lost of our memories. In the year of our Lord 1970, half a century ago – a time of imagined idolatrous paradise where one might honeymoon in Hawaii with the Eve or your dreams or perhaps worship each other’s nakedness in the mind-altering smoke of your California dreamin.

How we all sought the peace on earth of friends with benefits..

And that by the children of Jesus raised in the Commandments by the family of the Church — prodigal children wandering into a paradise lost of our own making.

WE KNOW THE STORIES OF SCRIPTURE,

Yet we try God’s patience

And fail to TEACH OUR CHILDREN WELL in the Commandments and Praises, the Proverbs and Gospel

of the HOLY BIBLE of the LORD God of our cultural prodigal witness!

The Imagery of Apocalypse

WE know it. Yet we quickly attribute God’s vengeance to ACTS of man-made cause.

What more idolatrous treason against the Creator of Heaven and Earth can you imagine than to attribute apocalypse to ‘mother nature’ and to ‘humankind’?

WHY do we so easily dismiss GOD’s warning of His vengeance against SIN and SINNERS (who we have become as we now wallow in the muddied cultures of self-worship and karma of the ashes of their phoenix fallen).

.. angels .. he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones..

Woe to them..
excerpt from the letter of Jude, warning of ‘ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. – v.4b

A Repeated Warning behind the Headline

WE can ‘talk of’ KING JESUS all we want but best not dwell on the glory of grace without heeding the warnings of Christ our Lord.

Recognize the signs of false news which does NOT seek the TRUTH of God or acknowledge the LORD’s story of vengeance against SIN and justification ONLY in Christ.
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Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—

.. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

“Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
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The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ from Luke 17:

Deseret News
‘Apocalyptic’ Maui wildfires death toll reaches 80, making it the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii — see the latest updates

Sat, August 12, 2023 at 1:16 PM EDT

TWO Pictures of Maui including our COVER PHOTO TODAY:

NOTE warnings IGNORED as you read FACTS

from the story of JULY 12 in A.D. 2019
- thousands were ordered evacuated,
- it was unclear how many people fled the west Maui coastal communities of Maalaea and Kihei.
- three shelters housed about 500 people
- The Maui High School housed about 200 cats and dogs moved from a local animal shelter
Have you NOT READ?
- He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
- “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
- And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
  - excerpts from the Good News of Matthew, quotes of JESUS CHRIST
Vengeance is Mine!

Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’

Deuteronomy 32:35 ESV
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ESV Quotes on Vengeance

Hebrews 10: NEW CATHOLIC BIBLE


Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
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28 A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses:

29 How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people.

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay,”
and
“The Lord will judge his people.”
³¹It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:30b-31 New Catholic Bible
August 12, 2023
From now on I will go ethnos
ACTS 18 continued..

ἔθνη – ethnos
“Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
ACTS of the Apostles 18:6b ESV – Paul’s curse toward the Jews rejecting the Gospel in Corinth

Paul’s persistence in ACHIA for 18 months

Our 2nd mission to Jews and the ethnos so far..

As we near the end of Paul’s second missionary journey the author of Acts who is also witness to this part of it shows his readers how the ethnos (gentiles) continue to be a challenge to the Jews.

Once again Paul began this second mission from Antioch Syria where the apostles’ depart with an epistle to all the churches from church leaders in Jerusalem.

Previously:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
ACTS of the Apostles 15:1 ESV

Even an epistle from Jerusalem from leaders of the church did not solve this issue of the ethnos joining the Jews in worship.

[In Derbe] 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. 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 of the Apostles 16:3-4 ESV

6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia..
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By the way, as all this has happened Paul writes a letter back to the Galatians addressing some of these same issues of ethnos.
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“This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

.. they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagog ESVue of the Jews.. he reasoned with them from the Scriptures..

4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks.. 5 But the Jews were jealous..

.. the Jews from Thessalonica.. came [to Berea], agitating and stirring up the crowds. ¹⁴Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.
excerpts from ACTS 17 ESV

more about the resurrection?

with the Jews of Corinth
- Paul waits in Athens for Silas and Timothy to return by separate sailing from Macedonia.
- 17:34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
- 18 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ²And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla..
- 18:5 ..Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia..
- (Most Biblical scholars believe that Luke, author of LUKE-ACTS, arrived with them.)
Luke – an ethnos physician from Antioch Syria

Luke was a frequent companion of the Apostle Paul, at least from the time of Paul’s Macedonian vision (Acts 16:9, 10) right up to the time of Paul’s martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:11).
BlueLetterBible.org commentary of John MacArthur

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
ACTS of the Apostles 18:5 ESV

6 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.”

We will go to the ethnos!

Some Jews chained to the cultural teachings of first century synagogues believed that having been chosen by God then the ONLY way to please God was to stick together.

AND leaders of synagogues (NOT places of worship, but of teaching) stuck to select old testaments of certain ancient Scriptures.

The Jews had updated their LAW with rules replacing a broken OLD Covenant which God’s chosen had abandoned long-ago.

SO HOW DOES THIS LOOK TO A GENTILE like Luke REDEEMED BY and worshiping Jesus, THE JEWISH MESSIAH?

HOW DID GENTILES (ETHNOS) like LUKE view THE CHRIST (Greek for Messiah) OF THE JEWS?

We CONTINUE with LUKE’s 2nd account from this juncture between the FIRST TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS OF PAUL and a THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY with the Apostle’s focus into all the world directly pointed to the ethnos – the gentiles of the Roman Empire even beyond Greece.

From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷And 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.

The Gentiles (ethnos) ἔθνος
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Lexicon :: Strong's G1484 - ethnos

Before we conclude our 2nd Missionary Journey with Paul let's look at what the Apostle's gentile physician meant in his 1st century account of the early church.
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The KJV translates Strong’s G1484 in the following manner: Gentiles (93x), nation (64x), heathen (5x), people (2x).
- a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together
  - a company, troop, swarm
- a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus
  - the human family
- a tribe, nation, people group
- in the OT, foreign nations not worshipping the true God, pagans, Gentiles
- Paul uses the term for Gentile Christians
LUKE’s NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNT:
- ethnos – 13x in his Gospel
- Greek ἔθνος (ethnos) – 43x in ACTS of the Apostles
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation^G1484 under heaven. – ACTS 2:5

And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles G1484 also. – ACTS 10:45

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles G1484. – ACTS 13:46 [from Paul’s 1st missionary journey]

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

To be continued…

NEXT: more from Corinth & the conclusion of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey to the ethnos
June 22, 2023