Acts 1.. "YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESSES.."
Prelude.
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus
began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after
He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
3 To these He also
presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing
proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the
things concerning the kingdom of God....
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you;
and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
11 They also said,
“Men of Galilee, THIS JESUS, who has been taken up from you into
heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
Acts 2:22, in the first post-ascension gospel declared by the newly Spirit filled
disciples:
and Peter said…. JESUS OF
NAZARETH, ** A MAN** approved of God to you by mighty works
and wonders and signs WHICH GOD DID BY HIM among you, ...
23 him,
being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by
the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay:
24 whom God raised up,
having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be
held by it.
25 For David said concerning him, I beheld the
Lord always before my face;…..
29 Brethren, …the patriarch David, both died and was buried, and
his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of
his loins he would set one upon his throne (i.e. king David's);
31 he foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that neither was he left in Hades,
nor did his flesh see corruption.
32 ===> THIS
JESUS did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Being therefore exalted by
the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this, which ye see and hear.
34 For David ascended not into the heavens: but he said,
The LORD said to my
Lord, Sit on my right hand, Till
I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly,
that God has made him both Lord and
Christ, THIS
JESUS whom ye crucified.
Acts 3: Peter again: to Jewish rulers.
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our
fathers, has glorified >>His
servant Jesus<<<, the one whom you delivered and
disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.
14 But you disowned the
Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be
granted to you,
15 ==> but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised
from the dead <===, a fact to which we are witnesses.
20 and that ===> He
may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you
26 For you first, ===>
God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by
turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
Acts 4:
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said
to them.., 20 for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”..
.....And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
===> through the
name of Your holy
servant Jesus.”
Acts 5: WHAT PETER SAID TO THE SANHEDRIN:
29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather
than men.
30 The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.
31 He is
the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior ,
to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
and so is the Holy
Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
.......................................
42 every day, in the temple and from house to house,
they kept right on teaching and preaching ===>
Jesus as the Christ.
Acts 6 is the account of church growth, deacons, and Stephen who
taught and served, "Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy
Spirit:" As Stephen speaks to the elders of Israel:..........
ACTS 7 Stephen begins quoting the Old Testament:
32 ‘I am the God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’
Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.
37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel,
==>‘God will
raise up for you a prophet ***like me from your brethren***.
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made
by human hands; :
52 Which one of the
prophets did your fathers not persecute?
They killed those who had previously announced the coming of
the Righteous One,
whose betrayers and murderers you have now become
54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick,...
55 But being ***full of the Holy Spirit***,
he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God;
56 and he said, “Behold, I SEE the heavens opened up
and
the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God.”
Who did
he see? God or the son of man standing
at the right hand of God??
Acts: 8 what Philip preached:
5 And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning
the kingdom of God and the name of
Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
The Ethiopian:
32 Now this was the passage of
the Scripture he was reading, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as
a lamb before his shearer is dumb, So he opened not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his
judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For his life is
taken from the earth.
34 And the eunuch said, WHO is the prophet speaking
of?
35 And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this
Scripture, preached to him Jesus.
36 And as they went on the way, they came to a certain water; and
the eunuch said, [here is] water; what hinders me to be baptized?
What did the Ethiopian confess?:
I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Paul in Acts 9:
Had you been with Saul (Paul)
in Acts 9, you would have heard:
4 and he fell upon the earth,
and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
5 And he said, WHO ARE YOU, Lord? And he
[said], I am Jesus whom
you persecute.
Then Saul obeyed the voice and found the disciple named Ananias:
:17 And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying
his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the
Lord, [even] Jesus, who appeared to you in the way has sent me,
that you may receive sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
18 And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and
he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized; 19 and he took food and
was strengthened. And he was certain days with the disciples at Damascus.
And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of
God.
Acts 10
:21 And Peter went down to the men, and said, see, I am
he that you seek: what is the reason for you coming to me? 22 And
they said, Cornelius a centurion, a righteous man that fears God, and well
reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned [of God] by a holy angel
to send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee.
34 And Peter opened his mouth and said .....
36 The Word which **he sent** to the children of Israel, preaching
good tidings of peace by
Jesus Christ (He is Lord *kurios-Master/ruler) of all.) --
38 ***Jesus of
Nazareth***, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power:
who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil;
for God was **with**
him. ...whom also they slew, hanging him on a tree.
42 And he commanded us to preach to the
people, and to testify that ===>
this is he <i.e. Jesus> who is ordained of God [to be] the Judge of the
living and the dead.
43 To him bear
all the prophets witness, that through his name every
one that believes on him shall receive remission of
sins....
44
While Peter spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them
that heard the word. 45 And that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God
Acts 11 is a re-telling of chapter 10 events to the brethren in
Jerusalem
Acts 12 is the death of James, Peter's arrest, divine intervention,
Herod struck down by God...
++++++++++++
ACTS 13.. Saul (PAUL) a
prophet and teacher is called to be an apostle and is sent to preach to the
gentiles..
At Antioch he preached to the Jews in the synagogue saying:
16 Paul stood up, and said, Men of
Israel, and you that fear God, hear:
17 The God of
this people Israel chose our
fathers, and exalted the people when they sojourned in the land
of Egypt, and with a high arm led he them forth out of it. …He raised up David
to be their king; to whom also he bare witness and said, I have found David the
son of Jesse, a man after MY heart, who shall do all MY will.
23 Of this man's <King David> seed has God according to promise brought to Israel a
Savior, Jesus;
To Jews and proselytes in Antioch:
26 Brethren, children of the stock of
Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation
sent forth.
27 For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers,
because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every
sabbath, fulfilled [them] by condemning [him].
28 And though they found no cause of death, yet asked
they of Pilate that he should be slain.
29 And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of
him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
30 ==> But God
raised him from the dead:
33 that God has fulfilled the same to our children, ==> in that HE raised up Jesus; as
also it is written in the second psalm, ==> You are my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
==> 38 Be it known to you therefore,
brethren,
that through
**this man** is proclaimed to you remission of sins:
39 and **by him** every
one that believes is justified from all , ==> from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses.
47 For so has the Lord commanded us, [saying], I have
set thee for a light of the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the
ends of the earth.
48 And as the Gentiles heard this, they were GLAD, and glorified
the word of God: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Acts 14.. Spreading of the gospel.
And it came to pass in Iconium that together they both went into
the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude of both the Jews
and also of the Greeks believed.
5 And when there was an assault made both by the Gentiles and also
the Jews, with their rulers, to use them spitefully and to stone them, 6 they
were aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and the
region that lieth round about. 7 And there
they preached the Gospel.
Acts 15 The “in house” Controversy with The LAW of the Old
Testament and the New Testament churches..
Acts 16 continues this instruction: 4 And as they went through the
cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, that had been ordained by
the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
vs 30: what must I
do to be saved?”
31 They
said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your
household.”
Acts 17: Paul at Berea
Paul at Berea Numerous points here are worth noting and pondering. So many of
us missed the significance. Paul is led by God and circumstances; let’s LISTEN
to him and imagine you are hearing Paul speak:
In Berea, 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they
received the word with great eagerness,
===> examining the Scriptures
daily to see whether these things were so. <==
-I must point out they searched the scriptures and not the
“church fathers” or books on theology. How wise this is, and in doing so, we
seek to eliminate reliance upon the unscriptural words and phrases I will
include in a non-scripture dictionary.
Paul preaches in Athens.. on Mars
Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of
Athens,
I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN
GOD.’ ===> Therefore what you worship in ignorance,
this I proclaim to you...
24 The God who made the world (Gen 1) He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not
dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by
human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself
gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of
mankind to live on all the face of the earth...
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him
and find Him,
though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist
30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now
declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
KEY VERSE ALERT!
Acts 17:31 because He has fixed a day
in which HE <God> will judge the world in
righteousness through a Man whom He
has appointed, having
furnished proof to all men by raising Him <the man> from the dead.”
Acts 18: Paul at Corinth (NASB5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began
devoting himself completely to the word,
==> solemnly
testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
24 Now a Jew named Apollos ...powerfully refuted the Jews in
public, ==> demonstrating by the
Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ...
((the same revelation as Peter's revelation in Mt. 16:16 And Peter answered and said, You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
Acts 19 (NASB) Paul at Ephesus
Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and
found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed?” they said to him, “No, we have not even heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you
baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming
after him, that is, in Jesus.
Acts 20 (NASB) Paul in Macedonia and Greece
17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and
called to him the elders of the church. ..
saying to the elders:
20 I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was
profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly
testifying to both Jews and Greeks
==> of
repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which
the Holy Spirit has made you <the elders> overseers <aka bishops>,
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock;
30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
I would like to point out God did not shed blood and God did not die.
If God shed blood as some believe, then God also died. And that is impossible..
God is not a man, He told us so. Jesus is a man, he told us so
Acts 21 (NASB) Paul Sails from Miletus
<In Jerusalem, Paul is arrested and the Jews seek to kill him:>
21:28 This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against
our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks
into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
39 But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of
no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” 40 When
he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the
people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the
Hebrew dialect, saying,...
ACTS 22 Paul’s Testimony:
6.. it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus
about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,
7 and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?’
8 And I answered, ‘WHO ARE YOU, Lord?’
And He said
to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’
Questions: was God then, a Nazarene?
If Jesus is God, how could Jesus not say to him "I
am God?
Peter had said…. JESUS OF NAZARETH, ** A MAN** approved of God to you."
10 And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me,
‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been
appointed for you to do.’
Ananias ministers to Saul:
12 “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the
Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and
standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very
time I looked up at him.
14 And he said, ‘THE GOD OF
OUR FATHERS has
appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to
hear an utterance from His mouth.
Ananias: "16 Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and
wash away your sins, calling on His name." 17 “ when I returned to
Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,
18 and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of
Jerusalem quickly, ===> because they will not accept your testimony
about Me.’ <===
remember “ME”,
vs. 8?: And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are
persecuting.’
"God of our fathers":
Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham,
and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the
God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom you delivered up,
and denied before the face of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye
slew, hanging him on a tree.
Acts 7:32 I
am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and
of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold. (from Acts 7, where God
(YHWH) said to Moses "I am the God ..."
(note. When
did Jesus ever state "I am the God of thy
fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob" when
speaking to anyone..? )
Acts 24:14 But this I admit to you, that
according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the **God of our fathers**, believing everything that is in
accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets
|
Acts 23 (NASB) Paul testifying to the Jewish leaders, the
"Council". (Sanhedrin)
Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have
lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this
day..
“Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the
hope and resurrection of the dead!”
..10 And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was
afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down
and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. 11 But
on the night immediately following,
===> the Lord stood at his side
and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause
at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
Acts 24, after Paul's arrest, his first trial before his accusers.
Paul's defense: 10 When the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul
responded:
13 Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse
me.
14 But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they
call a sect I do serve the **God of
our fathers**, believing
everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the
Prophets
...‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you
today.’”……..
24 some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a
Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.
Acts 25 King Agrippa hears from Festus what he had heard from Paul:
18 When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against
him (Paul) not of such crimes as I was expecting, 19 but they simply had some
points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive.
24 some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a
Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard
him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.
We have followed Paul now into Acts 26; you are there and what
will Agrippa hear from Paul?
Acts 26 (NASB) Paul’s Defense before Agrippa
:26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for
yourself.” ...I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to
make my defense before you today; 3 especially because you are an expert in all
customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me
patiently. and for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.
8 Why is it considered incredible among you people if
God raises the dead?
9 “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
13 at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven,
brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with
me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me
in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting Me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 And I said, ‘Who are
You, Lord?’
And the Lord said, ‘I
am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
22 So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day
testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and
Moses said was going to take place;
23 that the Christ was
to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead
Acts 27. (NASB) Paul (not Peter) Is Sent to Rome.. Travel, shipwrecked,
survival.. on the way to Rome.
21 When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up
in their midst and said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to
have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.
23 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and
whom I serve stood before me,
24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar;
and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’…..
Acts 28.. Paul Arrives at Rome
11 At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship …
16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with
the soldier who was guarding him.
17 After three days Paul called together those who were the
leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them,
“Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our
fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the
Romans. ..
20 … therefore, I requested to see and to speak with you, as I am
wearing this chain for the sake of
the hope of Israel.”
23 When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his
lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to
persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and
from the Prophets, from morning until evening.
30 And he stayed two full …31 preaching the kingdom of God and
teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.
For study:
Who is Jesus' God here?
Jn 17:3 Jesus said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to the Father: but go to my brethren, and say to them,
=>> I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my
God and your God.
Jesus said God is "MY GOD" FOURTEEN TIMES in scripture.
The LAST STATEMENT IN John 20 for WHAT TO BELIEVE who "JESUS
IS":
*these are written*==>> that YOU may BELIEVE
==>> that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God <==
and that believing ye may have life in his name.
