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Tag: peter

Miracles, Wonders & Signs: Peter’s Amazing Answer
Peter’s Answer to the Acts of Pentecost

How does the anointed follower of Jesus Christ answer the unanswerable questions from the multitudes? Luke records not only the truly awesome events of Pentecost and bewilderment by the crowds, but also the Apostle Simon Peter’s amazing answer to thousands gathered in Jerusalem.

Acts 2:

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind..
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Acts of the Apostles 2:2a,6 KJV

Pentecost – a narrative of the fifty days fulfilled

Previously: We witnessed the Holy Ghost in a crowded upper room.

(I spoke last time how we might more appropriately [from the KJV] view the Holy Ghost and cloven tongues like as of fire lighting on each one.)

One hundred together as one in prayer in the upper room in Jerusalem receive the Holy Spirit!

We now join the Twelve as they move on into the crowds on the busy streets of Jerusalem and multitudes in the Temple.

Acts of Perplexed Jerusalem Crowds on Pentecost

Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.
Acts of the Apostles 2:5 NASB

(Not so different from the crowds of a single Sunday of a 21st century Christmas or Easter festival, is it?)
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NOTE on Population of Jerusalem [~80,000, possibly swelling above 100,000 during the three festival weeks]
- Jewish historian Josephus, who would know because he had lived there during the 60s AD, estimated the number of Pharisees alone to be 6,000 (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 17.42) - * recommended source
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Amazed and Astonished

Image an extended and formal debate between two devout religious officials (perhaps a Pharisee and and Sadducee) wondering how Simon Peter and these other lowly uneducated followers of Jesus from ‘up north’ could possibly speak to others in another language.

And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Acts 2:7 KJV

Of course earlier Luke showed us debate with Jesus by perhaps some of the same ‘devout men’ who some attend these very public festivals just for the wine, prestige or public parties.

They were amazed (beside ones self to explain it, as I pointed out last time) and astonished G2296)].

This is the same reaction of Peter and others to the risen Christ, which Luke records in his first account.

And when He [Jesus] had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they [the Apostles] still could not believe it because of their joy and astonishment G2296, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
Gospel of Luke 24:40-41 NASB20 – Strong’s G2296 – thaumazō

Luke describes the reaction of these men on Pentecost with this same adjective which John employs for an earlier debate of Jesus’ with Nicodemus about the same Holy Spirit which had anointed the Apostles this day.

“Do not be G2296 amazed G2296 that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
Gospel of John 3:8 NASB20

The HOLY Spirit – The Directed WIND of ACTS

Luke uses the same word πνεῦμα that John records from the words of Jesus [John 3:8] as ‘wind‘ and ‘Spirit,’ [pneuma] 70 times in Acts of the Apostles.

As Jesus had told Nicodemus,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit G4151, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit G4151 is spirit G4151.
Gospel of John 3:5-6 – Jesus teaches Nicodemus on the Holy Spirit [G4151]

Debate about Peter & the Apostles
- “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?
- —we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.”
- “What does this mean?”
But others were jeering and saying, “They are full of sweet wine!”
Acts of the Apostles 2:13 NASB

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven [now including Mathias], raised his voice and declared to them:

“Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this, and pay attention to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is only the third hour of the day [that is, 9 o’clock in the morning]..

As Luke has already told us, the crowds include hundreds of ‘devout men from every nation under heaven.’

Certainly these religious leaders had been led to the Apostles by the sound of the Spirit. Although you may not recall the words of ‘this Galilean,’ these devout Jews will know the Scriptures Peter is about to preach.

..On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
Joel 2:

Blow a trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming;
Indeed, it is near,
2 A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness..

21 Do not fear, land; shout for joy and rejoice,
For the Lord has done great things..

The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
23 So shout for joy, you sons of Zion,
And rejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the early rain for your vindication..

The Promise of the Spirit

Hebrew link above is CJB & WLC only

²⁸It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all [flesh] mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will have dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
²⁹And even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days..
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
Just as the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
The Prophesy of Joel 2:28-29, 32b *2:28 begins as v.3:1 in Hebrew
Acts 2:

17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
And your young men will see visions,
And your old men will have dreams;
18 And even on My male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days,
And they will prophesy.
19 And I will display wonders in the sky above
And signs on the earth below,
Blood, fire, and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Peter’s Amazing Answer from Scripture

Jesus’ Apostle Simon Peter speaks to his fellow faithful Jews, many men gathered to hear from the place of this loud noise some explanation for this amazing sign.

Do you recall the interchange between Judeans near Jesus’ trial and Peter? The Apostle knows first hand how they associate Galileans (and Samaritans) as lesser Israelites of David’s line.

“Men of Israel, listen to these words:

Jesus the Nazarene, a Man attested [proven] to you by God [theos] with miracles [dynamis, power], and wonders [a prodigy, portent or omen] and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over [to enemies, or to the power, the will, of some one] by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

The astounded men in the crowd must have wondered:
- Do these men have this same Power [dynamis] which they have just heard?
- Will this Disciple of Jesus now addressing so many continue with his opening indictment?
Yes, and Peter continues with yet another amazing witness of these historic events:

But God raised Him [the man attested, Jesus of Nazareth] from the dead, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Acts of the Apostles 2:24 NASB

THIS SPEAKER [PETER] HAS JUST TOLD MEN WHO NAILED JESUS TO A CROSS JUST FIFTY DAYS AGO THAT THIS MAN [JESUS] COULD NOT BE HELD BY THE POWER OF DEATH!

Peter then returns to Scripture in order to present the Jews an understanding of the Lord and their Messiah, Jesus.

Son of David

Luke has already told those who have read in his Gospel account:

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Gospel of Luke 1:32-33 KJV

The Apostle Simon Peter begins here by addressing the house of Jacob by saying, “men of Israel.”

“For David says concerning Him:
‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
Acts 2:25 NKJV
Psalm 16

Mikhtam. By David:

Protect me, God,
for you are my refuge.
I said to Adonai, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good outside of you.”

⁷I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
⁸I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
Acts 2:25-

Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue was overjoyed;
Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:27 KJV, quoting Psalm 16:10 –
[NASB]- For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
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Tehillim 16:11 (LXX 15:11) ἐγνώρισάς μοι ὁδοὺς ζωῆς πληρώσεις με εὐφροσύνης μετὰ τοῦ προσώπου σου τερπνότητες ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ σου εἰς τέλος
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תּֽוֹדִיעֵנִי אֹרַח חַיִּים שֹׂבַע שְׂמָחוֹת אֶת־פָּנֶיךָ נְעִמוֹת בִּימִינְךָ נֶֽצַח׃

“You have revealed the paths of life to me;
you will fill me with gladness
in your presence.
Acts 2:28 CSB, Peter, quoting David from Psalm 16:11
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Certainly, the Apostle must have paused here..
Peter no doubt would have surveyed the eyes of those men in the crowd revealing the impact of the Spirit through these Scriptures upon their hearts.
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Brothers

Peter, this lowly Galilean addressing multitudes of devout men (with their wives and families gathered beside them for this Jewish festival celebrated fifty days after Passover), now addresses these Judeans, Israelites and faithful pilgrims in Jerusalem endearingly as ‘brothers.’
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ἀδελφός - Strong's G80 - adelphos
 -  From ἄλφα (G1) (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb) -  a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote i.e. a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection
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Don’t miss the personalness of the Apostle’s appeal to those convicted by the Spirit.

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Acts of the Apostles 2:29 KJV

Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

Seeing what was to come, he [David] spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah:

He [the Christ] was not abandoned in Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.
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Acts 2:30-31 CSB [also linked above with KJV & NASB]
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Luke’s account here in the King James Version brings to mind the familiar genealogy from the opening of his Gospel.

“..that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh [that is: from David’s descendants], he [Yᵊhōvâ] would raise up Christ to sit on his [David’s] throne..”

The Apostle Peter reveals to the multitudes through Scripture they know well:

DAVID, King over a United Kingdom of Israel a thousand years ago — David who was also a PROPHET — predicted the resurrection of Israel’s Messiah.

Then Peter, with the eleven other Apostles who have also shown the crowds signs of speaking in their own native languages standing at his side, confirms their own personal witness to ALL:

We witnessed Jesus’ resurrection!

[Brethren, Peter has already addressed them]:
“It is this Jesus [iēsous] whom God [theos] raised up, a fact to which we are all witnesses.
Acts of the Apostles 2:32 NASB20

Just picture what some men and women among the multitudes must have thought hearing this!

Peter has already restated David’s prophesy, in addition to quoting the prophet Joel. Now the Apostle proceeds to the logical conclusion:

Therefore, since He [Jesus] has been exalted at the right hand of God, and has received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.
Acts of the Apostles 2:33 NASB

34 For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says:
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Peter quotes David to affirm his conclusion from PSALM 110:1
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The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.‘

110:1 לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר נְאֻם יְהוָה לַֽאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִֽימִינִי עַד־אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶֽיךָ׃

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Acts of the Apostles 2:36 NASB – Conclusion of Peter’s sermon

THIS IS THE END OF PETER’S SERMON.

“No it’s not,” you say.
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"This can't be the end of Peter's sermon, because the Apostle has more to add."
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While it is true that Luke adds an important interaction between Peter and someone from the crowd, allow me to ask you this:

Doesn’t your pastor END the words of his sermon without interchange or response from his church audience?

(We don’t hear Peter say, “Let us pray,” or “Amen.”

The crowds did not see Peter walk away from the pulpit as his praise band begins a song.)

NEXT:

Like some moments following contemporary sermons in the Spirit, worship continues in the hearts of some. The Apostle’s speech certainly is guided by Scripture, but primarily Peter preaches by the HOLY SPIRIT. So the question which follows from the crowd, also the work of the Spirit in the hearts of men, will bring Peter to continue with a powerful answer.

Next, we will hear Peter’s answer to pierced hearts.
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To be continued...
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October 13, 2021
Matthias – Scripture fulfilled in Jerusalem – מַתַּתְיָה
Choosing Matthias

And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Acts 1:26 NASB20

Matthias fills a position of an Apostle from off the bench (so to speak) as a substitute for Judas who had betrayed Christ and then took his own life. This new Twelfth Apostle gets little mention as we could readily move on to some of the more miraculous events of Acts. (Luke mentions Matthias only twice in these verses.)

What I missed before Peter’s great preaching at Solomon’s Portico in the Temple was the Apostle’s taking up the mantle of leadership of the Church in an upper room in Jerusalem.

Peter Preaching in the Upper Room

After Ten Days Peter finally Acts: Shepherding Christ’s Flock

Acts 1:

Acts of ALL with one accord

The Apostles & others have waited ten days after Jesus’ ascension.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Acts 1:15 KJV *Note: μαθητής – mathētēs translated as disciples in the KJV refers to learners of a teacher, not to be confused with Apostles; other versions translate as ἀδελφός adelphos–generally translated as brethren (in Christ)

Why replace Judas?

After a hundred disciples of Jesus returned to Jerusalem and waited together, we can suppose that the Holy Spirit reveals to Simon Peter why Judas must be replaced by a twelfth Apostle.

“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”
Acts of the Apostles 1:16-17 NASB – Simon Peter preaching to the hundred in Jerusalem

What had David said that applied to Judas now, a thousand years later?

Peter preaches by the same Holy Spirit who inspired David of what is written in the Psalms.

.. the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.17 For he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.”

18 Now this man acquired a field with his unrighteous wages. He fell headfirst, his body burst open and his intestines spilled out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that in their own language that field is called Hakeldama (that is, “Field of Blood”). 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms:

Let his dwelling become desolate;
let no one live in it; and
Let someone else take his position.

Recalling Judas’ betrayal in the upper room and in Gethsemane

In his first account Luke records Judas’ betrayal of Jesus nearly two months prior to Peter anointing his replacement shortly after Christ’s ascension into heaven.

Luke 22:

Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve..

“This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.

But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table. For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
Gospel of Luke 22:21-22 – Jesus foretells His betrayal by Judas at the last supper

That fateful night two months past in Gethsemane

23 And they began to debate among themselves which one of them it was who was going to do this.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a mob came, and one of the Twelve named Judas was leading them. He came near Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49 When those around him saw what was going to happen, they asked,

“Lord, should we strike with the sword?” Then one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear.

(We know that it was Peter who cut off the ear of Malchus.)

51 But Jesus responded, “No more of this!” And touching his ear, he healed him.

Preaching Scripture

Peter had learned well from Jesus the lessons of Scripture for three years.

During more than a month following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection the Lord certainly must have instructed His disciples of the great significance of events recorded in the Bible (their Old Testament or Old Covenant).

Luke records Jesus’ routine of teaching in Jerusalem, which Peter and the Apostles most certainly would have followed during these first days of the Church.

Now [days] during the day [Jesus] He was teaching in the temple, but [nights] at evening He would go out and spend the night on the [hill] mountain that is called [Olive Grove] Olivet.
And all the people would get up very early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.
Gospel of Luke 21:37-38 NASB [incl. footnotes]

Did you miss this during all the times you have heard the gut-wrenching drama of Christ’s Passion during the Lord’s last week in Jerusalem?

I did.

And you may have even wondered about Jesus preaching about David in Psalm 110 from Luke 20.

Peter also points back to David and Psalms in his understanding of replacing Judas recorded by Luke in Acts.

Jesus and Judas, Like David’s enemy

Psalm 41:

All who hate me whisper together against me;
They plot my harm against me, saying,

“A wicked thing is poured out upon him,
So that when he lies down, he will not get up again.”

Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
Psalm 41:9 NASB

How Peter and the Eleven must have also suffered in failing to discern the betrayal of their fellow Apostle.

Psalm 69:

May their camp be desolated;
May there be none living in their tents.
For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself struck,
And they tell of the pain of those whom You have [pierced] wounded.
according to [lilies] Shoshannim. A Psalm of David. 69:25-26 NASB20

Psalm 109:

A Psalm of David.
God of my praise,
Do not be silent!

.. In return for my love they act as my accusers;
But I am in prayer.

So they have [laid upon me] repaid me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

May his days be few;
May another take his office.
Psalm 109:8 NASB – quoted by Peter in Acts 1:20

Peter connects David’s Psalm to Judas

Acts 1:

14 They all were continually united in prayer..

Now Peter by the Holy Spirit speaks of replacing the Apostolic office of Jesus’ betrayer.

21 “Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

YES, during the three years of Jesus’ earthly ministry MANY disciples followed the Lord, believed His teaching and witnessed His acts of miraculous signs only possible through the Lord God.

So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
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A helpful early church history linked below provides insight about casting lots used by the Apostles to choose Matthias over Joseph. 
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Matthias: an Apostle by Providence

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Proverbs 16:33

It was crucial to the remaining 11 Apostles that the number 12 Jesus had chosen be completed again. They chose as candidates two equally qualified disciples, prayed, cast lots and Matthias was chosen.
Sandra Sweeny Silver – EARLY CHURCH HISTORY—LIFE IN ANCIENT ROME & THE EARLY CHRISTIANS – CASTING LOTS IN THE BIBLE

24 And they prayed and said,

“You, Lord, who know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen to [take the place of] occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

And they [gave] drew lots for them, and the lot fell [upon]to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Acts of the Apostles 1:26 NASB – the selection of Matthias as a twelfth Apostle

Matthias

Μαθθίας

Matthias = “gift of God” -the apostle elected to fill the place of the traitor Judas [Acts 1:23, 26]

– apparently a shortened form of G3161; Matthias (i.e. Mattithjah), an Israelite:—Matthias.
- Mattathias = “gift of Jehovah”
  - the son of Amos, in the genealogy of Christ
  - Mattathias was the son of Semei in the genealogy of Christ
LUKE records in his Gospel genealogy, beginning at 3:23

And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi.. which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos.. which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei.. which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David.. [ etc.. ] the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Of Hebrew origin מַתַּתְיָה (H4993)
- Mattithiah = “gift of Jehovah”
- Mattithiah occurs in 8 verses in the KJV, always a son of the priestly line of the Levites.
Matthias – a post script

We do not read of Matthias again in Acts or the pastoral letters; but aren’t you wondering what awaited this important Apostolic ministry for this new twelfth Apostle?

Here is a reliable, little-spoken historical account (though not by Luke).

The Apostles in Jerusalem & all the world
- About two thousand Christians, with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom during the “persecution that arose about Stephen.”
  - God-willing, we will read more about Steven in Acts 7.
- James the son of Zebedee was martyred about ten years later in A.D. 44.
  - As mentioned in my introduction to Acts, Luke had not yet recorded even his Gospel until about A.D. 60.
- Philip thrown into prison [in Phrygia] , and afterwards crucified, A.D. 54.
- The Apostle and Gospel-writer Matthew was slain with a halberd [a two-handed battle axe] in the city of Nadabah, [Ethiopia] A.D. 60.
- At the age of ninety-four [James the Less] was beat and stoned by the Jews; and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club.
Matthias
Of whom less is known than of most of the other disciples, was elected to fill the vacant place of Judas.

He was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. *

SOURCE: FOX’s BOOK of MARTYRS
https://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/fox101.htm
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* Other traditions claim that Matthias was martyred in Cappadocia [modern day Turkey]. 
-- St. Jerome and the early Christian writers Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea attest that Matthias was among the 72 disciples paired off and dispatched by Jesus. - Source: Britannica 

* OR Died	c. AD 80
Jerusalem, Judaea or in Colchis (modern-day Georgia) 
-- The tradition of the Greeks says that St. Matthias planted the faith about Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, residing chiefly near the port Issus. Source: Wikipedia
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NEXT: The Acts of Pentecost
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To be continued...
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September 30, 2021
Does YOUR church preach Christ Jesus?
.. but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness..
1 Corinthians 1:23

Times of Difficulty – 5

Times of Difficulty – from 9/11/2017

Remembering the souls of the victims of 9/11/2001.
An unbeliever walks into your church and what do they seek?

Good teaching for their kids?
Perhaps a trendy King opening heaven’s wide gate?

Does your Shepherd preach Christ Jesus?

The Apostles did!

They preached the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully, even though the first century church faced some of the same challenges we do.
Peter – Preaching Christ to believers in Sodom

Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ:
To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:1 CSB

Simon Peter, who had denied Christ three times during the Lord’s trial but was then restored by Jesus after the resurrection, introduces himself as a servant [bond-servant] and Apostle of Jesus Christ. He speaks of Jesus in the present tense, for Christ has shown Himself to many alive and risen from death!

Peter is a bond-servant of the Living God in the Person of Christ Jesus. And the Apostle writes not to all, but to those chosen by God to receive ‘the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.’

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Peter builds up believers in their faith, assuring them:

18 We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.

THE JUDGMENT OF FALSE TEACHERS

The Apostle then cautions the church of false teaching.

YES, even from the first days of Christ’s Church, built on a foundation of His Apostles, some sought to destroy the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection and restoration of sinners by distorting the way, the truth and the life of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Peter warns:

There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.
2 Peter 2:1-2 CSB

The King James Version then pointedly follows Peter’s warning translated thusly:

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2 Peter 2:3 KJV

Thou Shalt Not Covet. Do you remember the Commandment?
- greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice
These false teachers with insincere words make merchandise of those who would believe Christ Jesus.

Then the Apostle Peter uses the strongest language of their inevitable demise:

and their damnation slumbereth not.

The Lord Jesus had said (using the same Greek word for damnation):

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,^G684 and many there be which go in thereat:
Matthew 7:13 KJV – Strong’s G684 (damnation)

Christ then concluded this caution by stating:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:14 KJV

FEW find the strait gate and the narrow way leading to eternal life. FALSE teachers WILL NOT teach that, though our Lord Christ Jesus preached this challenging truth.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 7:15

Returning to Peter’s analogy of Sodom

The Apostle acknowledges the challenges of believers living in a world of sin and disbelief.

Peter preaches that God cast angels down to hell and did not spare ANY in a sinful world, except Noah and his family.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, held for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly..
2 Peter 2:4-6 NASB Bolded emphasis mine. – RH

The Apostle of the Lord Jesus then encourages the church to be faithful, as were Noah and Lot.

So what is the Apostle’s encouragement to believers who persevere in their own difficult challenges of the first century? (Or, I might add, equally applied for the believer of this 21st century?)

.. and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous people..
.. then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and despise authority.
2 Peter 2:7, 9a NASB20 Bolded emphasis mine. – RH

A (parenthetical) pain of the righteous

We are righteous in Christ Jesus, beloved believer, (though we were condemned as sinners).
- Did you notice my omission of verse (8) above from Peter’s encouragement?
Here the Apostle shows our empathy for Lot as he lived in Sodom.

(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)
2 Peter 2:8 NASB20 – speaking of Lot living in Sodom before its destruction by the LORD
- Is the city of your church a Sodom of sorts?
- (Of course it is.) Here we feel the same compassion for Lot which Peter points out.
Further Description of False Teachers

For your own instruction you may want to read some characteristics of false teachers who will not preach Christ Jesus crucified and risen. READ the rest of the Apostle Peter’s second letter {below}.

2 Peter 2-3

Then consider if YOUR church, your Bible study, your ‘church group,’ and the children’s ministry of YOUR church all preach Christ Jesus.

The Lord Jesus’ Apostle, Simon Peter closes his letter to the church with this:

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Second Letter of the Apostle Peter to the Church 3:18 CSB

Paul – Peaching Christ to Believers in Sodom

Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, though a rabbinically trained Jew of high learning, Paulos of Tarseus {his Greek name}, after encountering Christ Jesus personally on a road to Damascus, also wrote to the Church with encouragement and cautions against false teachers.

In an intellectual environment of Athens where Paul could well have debated hours on end with its idolatrous and worldly philosophers and political leaders, this Apostle to the gentiles chose to defend Jesus Christ our risen Lord as ‘the unknown god.’
- IS CHRIST JESUS the unknown god in YOUR city?
- Who do you preach in your church?
- Do you preach Christ OR some unknown ‘Jesus‘?
We glance back at scenes of the Son of Man, Christ Jesus, walking with Peter and the Twelve throughout all of Galilee, Samaria, Judea and other places – bringing the Good News to all who would believe.

Many of us who grew up in the instruction of a faithful church heard stories of evangelists like John Wesley and others riding further distances into unknown towns on horseback, preaching Christ Jesus and planting churches. These faithful preachers of Christ followed a model of the Apostle Paul of the first century Church.

Some even sailed into new lands as did Paul.

So whether in Athens, Corinth, Rome, London, New York, Washington DC — even Cincinnati or the ‘sin city’ where you reside:

We see Sodom in the mirror of our neighborhood, don’t we?

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene. Burj Khalifa, an 830m-tall tower, dominates the skyscraper-filled skyline.

Source: Google Maps – Photo – Pexels.com

Acts 17:

16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

.. The God who made the world and everything in it —he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things..

So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”
Acts 17:30-31 NASB

The Apostle preaches to the idolaters of their ignorance of the Living God! Paul then preaches God’s mercy in overlooking their past sins. And the Apostle to the gentiles warns:

God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”

This ‘unknown god’ to those on Mars Hill who sought Paul’s teachings is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does your church preach THAT?

So we hear Paul preach Christ crucified and risen from city to city.

Those young saints of the first century Church did repent and believe in the Lord. They often suffered and frequently died for their faith — a true faith — in the One God and risen Lord Jesus Christ — NOT an idolatrous faith in a god of war (Mars), a temple prostitute priestess, or a false prophet promising sinful bliss.

Paul – Writing to the saints in Sodom

Again, I direct our look back at Scripture to understand the heart of those preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

(Oh, how our Lord was so grieved over an unrepentant Jerusalem and all the other cities which witnessed the many proofs (signs and miracles) of the Son of Man, the Messiah Jesus.)

As the Apostle to the gentiles sustains the saints of The Way, Paul writes to believers in cities such as Corinth.

(Of course Athens and Rome were NOT the only sin cities of Paul’s missionary journeys.) The manifest sin of these cities tormented Paul’s heart as such unrighteous men had troubled Noah and Lot and in the Apostles’ time, Christ Jesus.

The city of Corinth was prominent in the first century. It is located in Greece on an isthmus between the Aegean and Ionian Seas, which guaranteed its importance both militarily and commercially. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province Achaia. It was a prosperous city but also known for its immorality. Because of Corinth’s sordid reputation, a new Greek word was coined, korinthiazomai, which meant “to live immorally like a Corinthian.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/church-in-Corinth.html
Paulos, To the ekklēsia theos (church of God) at Korinthos,

to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,
saints by calling,
with all who in every place
call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
Do you have ANY question to whom Paul writes?

TO the saints of the church of God, separated TO GOD in Christ Jesus — those brothers and sisters of the Church who Name (also as He IS for us) Jesus Christ Lord.
- (It is not an earthly name; i.e. Caesar, King, Governor, Prefect, Premier, President, Emperor, Iman or Pope.)
χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:3
- The Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus by Name forty-three [43] times in his two letters to the Corinthians.
- He calls our Savior Jesus Christ (meaning Yeshua the Messiah to Jews) seventeen [17] times AND
  - Christ Jesus an additional nine [9] times,
  - once adding ‘the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us..’
- Paul’s frequent reference to our Master (and his, as a ‘bond-servant’) is Lord Jesus Christ [49 times in 15 verses] & specifically eight times in 1 Corinthians, as well as four times in 2 Corinthians.
- The Apostle further makes some of his most pointed arguments for our Lord Jesus using His Messianic title in Greek: Christ.
- The Church will always hear Paul preach Christ Jesus. The Apostle always serves our Lord Jesus testifying to the truth of His Gospel.
1 Corinthians 15:
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NASB; KJV; CSB; ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ Α΄ 15
SBL Greek New Testament
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12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Paul frequently warns of the false teachers who preach this heresy boldly or in the guise of interpreting ‘God’s word.’

.. no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain.

“IF,’ Paul preaches — IF these things are true, THEN the Gospel of Jesus Christ is false. YET some false ‘christian’ denominations preach and teach this heresy.

Paul says in effect, “You may as well go home and stop calling your self a ‘christian’ or a ‘believer.’

.. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

You know what some preach? No resurrection to the judgment or condemnation to hell. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

But IF God is good and just, how can He just save all to heaven (if indeed life beyond the grave is even possible)?

Many are the heresies which have crept into ‘christian’ thinking over the millennia of these last days.

What about all those funerals?

¹⁸Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

¹⁹If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Are we celebrating (a last time) the lives of the dead? OR

Do our final days and death proclaim Christ?

But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep..
1 Corinthians 15:20 NASB

Do YOU preach Christ?

& Does your church teach Christ Jesus?

Paul has much more to say about the Lord Jesus Christ, as do all the Apostles.

IF you are not fully convinced, dear brother or sister in Christ, READ more of the letters to the Corinthians.

OR even HEAR 1 Corinthians 15 read from Paul’s letter.

2 Corinthians 4:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 NASB20

.. for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down,
we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 4:18b-5:1 NASB20

Second Coming of CHRIST Foretold

The Gospel of Jesus Christ recorded by Luke

“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man..

“It was the same as happened in the days of Lot..

but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone [burning sulfur] from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed [apokalyptō].
Luke 17:29 NASB20 – Jesus answering as to when the kingdom of God was coming

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

from the Apocalypses [Revelation] of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John 22:20 KJV
September 11, 2021