Good morning. Today we start the book of Acts. As you know, Luke also wrote this book. The first account I composed, “Theo”, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 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. At the end of Luke, he wrote that Jesus led the disciples as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them; and while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Back to Acts: to these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Remember that the day of Pentecost is 50 days after Passover; so they only had to wait a few days after He left. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which, He said, you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. The word translated “with“ can also be translated as “in, or by“. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? They still did not understand His mission. He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. He is about to give Luke’s version of the great commission. Neither Luke nor John had it in their Gospels. Mark’s version was in chapter 16 in the part that is under dispute; and was probably tacked on later. Matthew’s, the one we actually call the great commission, was given in Galilee (remember that I said that Matthew’s gospel is the only one that did not have Jesus meeting the disciples in what was probably the upper room, but had them going straight to Galilee). We will see Luke’s version next time. Father thank You for the rain. Help us to receive the rain of Your Holy Spirit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

  Good morning. Out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (Kind of like Egypt with the grasshoppers). They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, not any green thing, nor any tree (normally these are the things that the locusts would be interested in), but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (most likely the 144,000 - possibly the only believers left on earth). They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months [My Bible says it is a limited period of time suggested by the lifecycle of the locust.]; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. Add in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. I guess the stings were so painful that they got to the point where they wished they were dead. We will see what the locusts looked like tomorrow. Father just like You will pro...
Read more

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

  Good morning. But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. “And do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled”. In Greek, the word “if“ has different degrees of significance unlike in English. My Bible says that in the Greek, this conditional clause (if you should suffer…) is the furthest removed from stating a reality. Suffering for righteousness is a remote possibility, but even if it does occur, it brings special blessing to the sufferer. All Christians wrestle with the question, “should I share the gospel with this person or not?“ The following verse tells us how we should do it: sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. Some Christians try to cram the Bible down the throats of unbelievers. This says that we first must set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. This ensures that we do it with the r...
Read more

To those, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood

  Good morning. Today we begin with I Peter. Peter identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus. There was only one, so we know who is writing. To those who reside as aliens (believers are aliens to this world), scattered throughout (different places), who are chosen (we didn’t earn it) according to the foreknowledge (this comes from the same Greek word from which we get the medical term prognosis) of God the Father, and by the sanctifying work of the Spirit (this shows that the third Person of the Trinity is also involved), to obey Jesus Christ (which we are incapable of doing without being sanctified) and be sprinkled with His blood (all articles of worship in the tabernacle and then in the temple were sprinkled with the blood of animals – we are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus): may grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Father thank You that You chose us despite knowing all of the awful things that we would do before and after becoming Christians. Help us to walk in Yo...
Read more