Tag: bsf acts

BSF Acts: Week 9, Day 5, Hebrews 2:1–4

Hebrews 2:1–4

Summary:

Folks, pay attention!  If the law is binding, we are doomed – except by external salvation.  But this salvation is provided through Christ.  He announced it, apostles repeated it and showed it, signs, wonders and miracles made it tangible, the gifts of the H/S made us experience it.

Questions:

10. a. Pay careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away

b. The message of salvation, announced by the Lord, confirmed by the Apostles, testified in signs, wonders, miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit

11. a.Temptation surrounds us.  We live in a time that is more connected and, as such, more corrupted by the sins of all mankind than of any time in the past.  Wickedness is thrust upon us through every medium and temptation is never more than 2 clicks away.

b. The preponderance of wickedness is so overwhelming that we quickly realize the only path out is God’s way.  There is no way to stand up under our own strength.
12. (Personal) We have different learning styles.  Some of us need to see it, some hear, some touch, some experience.  God loves us so that He has taught his truth about salvation in every possible way. I need to be thorough and complete in my teaching of the word.  I need to understand the absolute truth of God’s love and erase all doubt.  I need to blanket myself in His love.

Conclusion:

I love these verses where there is so much packed into so few words.  When you look at it this where there is no reasonable argument for not believing.  Not only can you see it, feel it, experience it, do it, hear it, but you can also clearly understand the ramifications of not following it.  The message has been clearly delivered by the messengers (angels) and by every other means possible.  Only by choosing to becoming purely ignorant and choosing to turn away can we fail to see the importance and the truth.

It requires far more faith to not believe than it does to believe in salvation through Jesus Christ!

BSF Acts: Week 9, Day 4, Hebrews 1:4–14

Hebrews 1:4–14

Summary:

A presentation of the ways in which Jesus is different than and superior to angels.  The passage concludes with the explanation of the role angels are to play: ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation.

Questions:

8.

  • No angel is the Son of God the Father
  • Angels worship Jesus
  • Jesus is anointed by God with the oil of joy
  • Jesus laid the foundations of earth
  • Jesus created the heavens
  • Jesus is eternal and unchanging
  • Jesus sits at the right hand of God
  • Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve believers

9. a. Angels are celestial beings but not divine.

b. Angels are prayed to.  Angels are praised.  Angels are deified in song and artwork.  People mistakenly think that dead love ones become angels and come back to minister to them as such.  Angels in statues and jewelry and artwork and slogans are given credit for the ministering they deliver.

c. It is akin to raising up the delivery man for the gift we receive in the mail. Nothing against the postal worker, but he or she is only the messenger.

Conclusion:

Angels are real.  They are among us sent by God to minister to us. They are God’s messengers and those he sends to carry out specific tasks and deliver specific messages.  They live in the presence of God and experience His glory first hand.  They are not humans, were not humans.  They are not God and were not God.  But they are real.

Through the stories of people in the direst situations that we interact with: survivors of a Cat5 tornado in Joplin, recovering drug and alcohol survivors who lost everything to addiction, those imprisoned – we hear how they know and saw angels sent to protect them from death.  They do not worship angels – the worship Jesus to is above the angels.  They have no question angels are real, Jesus real and the grace of God is the only way.

Knowing that angels are ministering to me gives me strength and courage.  Knowing that God loves me so that he looks after me in so many ways is a comfort above all others.

BSF Acts: Week 9, Day 3, Hebrews 1:4–14

Hebrews 1:4–14

Summary:

Through a significant number of bible references the position of Jesus has been clearly defined.  He is above the angels.

Questions:

6. a. Hebrews 1:5: Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 1:5: 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chron. 17:13; Hebrews 1:6: Deut. 32:43 (see Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint); Hebrews 1:7: Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 1:9: Psalm 45:6,7; Hebrews 1:12: Psalm 102:25-27; Hebrews 1:13: Psalm 110:1

b. This is not something new or different.  Jesus is and has been the focal point of the biblical narrative from the very beginning.  This is not a new theology but simply new light into God’s eternal plan or salvation.

7. (Challenge) a. Here are just a few to choose from: http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_searchresults.php?search=messianic  My favorite is Jeremiah 31:31-34

b. The bible is one story about one God and the love He has for His people.  I hear people comment about “the God of the Old Testament” as if there are two different gods in the bible: one of wrath and one of love.  The attributes of God are unchanging.  He has always loved His creation and throughout the old testament we see time after time that he allows free will to tear his people from the safety of His arms, but when they repent and yell out to Him, He gathers them back.  He holds no more of a just wrath in the Old Testament than He does in the New.  However, one major thing changed – He gave His son to pay the penalty of sin.  We no longer lean on the law and sacrifices of animals as an incomplete and inadequate substitution, but instead the prophecy and the plan of God, present from the day sin entered the world, has reached its apex.  We, who are in Christ, are a new creation, created by the same God who created the heavens and the earth.

Conclusion:

It amazes me, as I read the scriptures, to find how little has changed. 

Here is the situation: if you want to ignore or deny Jesus Christ you still have to deal with the fact of the man on earth named Jesus.  The presence of Jesus, in the flesh on this earth is so well documented throughout history than only the most blind would try to deny it as fact.  What He did, what He said, Where He went, Who saw Him.  It is all written down, verified by witnesses, with original cross-referencing to texts such as the dead sea scrolls.  So instead of denying Jesus, unbelievers attempt to paint Him into the story differently.  He was a great teacher.  He was a great prophet.  He was an angel.  He was a spiritual being – just not the Messiah, not God. 

But the answer to that, presented today, is the same as it is in Hebrews: READ THE BOOK – that isn’t what it says.  In the book of Hebrews some were evidently claiming Jesus was just an angel, but that isn’t what the book says when you actually read it.  This isn’t even a new story, it is the same story presented by the book beginning in Genesis.  None of the stories in the bible are simply quaint tales from history – they all provide revelation into the love of God for His creation and directly or indirectly they all point, ultimately, to the gift of Jesus.

BSF Acts: Week 9, Day 2, Hebrews 1:1–3

Hebrews 1:1–3

Summary:

God has always spoken to His people, most recently and most magnificently through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is a part of the Godhead, the heir to all, active in creation, the radiance of God’s grace, the exact representation of God, the source of power through His word. He provided purification and sits at the right hand of Majesty in heaven.

Questions:

3. a. At least one purpose of the Hebrews author was to provide encouragement and warning to new believers to stay the course, continue to grow in knowledge and faith and to not fall back.

b. The key word the author uses is “hold”.  This is something we already have, not something we have to reach for or earn.  We simply need to hold it like something truly precious (which it is).   And Christ is faithful.  He has promised we never need to hold onto it alone.  We are holding onto our faith – He is holding onto us. 

c. Pray.  Remind me of the promise of the scriptures.  Help me to focus not on the troubles all around me but on the joy to come.  Help redirect my eyes from looking down at my situation to looking up to God.  It is really hard to climb looking down.

4. In addition to all the things written in question 2 (above)… Christ is faithful, Christ is the Son of God and master of His house.  We (the church) are his house.

5. Even when we are most discouraged and down, we are not out on the streets.  We are living under God’s roof, cared for by the master of the house, a part of his family.  You can focus on your problems or you can turn them over to God.  Only one way works.

Conclusion:

I love Hebrews 6:1.  How much time do I spend digging the same basement of faith in God and then filling it back in with sins, only to dig it out again through repentance?  This verse yells at me to get out of the basement and move up in God’s house.  I don’t need to pour the same slab again and again.  I need to change my focus from looking down on my situation to looking up to God.

BSF Acts: Week 9, Day 1

I’m struggling with the word “offend” that popped up again in the notes (it was in the children’s lesson, too).  I think it is the wrong word.  The statement is that christians should not offend other christians.  In the notes it states that christians should avoid that which offends.

I agree wholeheartedly that we should not present ourselves or conduct ourselves in a manner that would cause undue focus or distraction to a fellow believer.  That is why we generally don’t show up at church unshowered and unshaven.  Not only would it be disrepectful to God, but it would be a distraction to others.  We tend not to eat many cute, cuddly pets and it would likely cause a distraction to dine with a fellow believer who did. 

But I think the avenue of “not offending” is too often  used by satanic forces to hurt the church.  Too often it is misconstrued as you can’t point out anything I am doing wrong because it might offend me.  We take on an attitude of “let it be” and let things that are scripturally wrong be taught and promoted in our churches, because “we don’t want to offend people.”

When Peter was in error, Paul wasted no time in confronting him.  The notes point out that the error was public and, as such, the rebuke needed to be as well.  I don’t think Paul took any concern in offending Peter.

That is why I loved the beginning of the notes when it quotes 2 Timothy 4: 3-4, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

We do not want to be offensive or cause others to sin or be distracted by anything we do.  However, I believe we should never let a concern over offending get in the way of defending the truth of the Word of God.

BSF Acts: Bible Lesson 9 – Acts 15: Lecture

Acts 15

Aim: Salvation (justification) comes from faith through grace alone and cannot be earned either by adherence or works

Introduction: You can’t afford the gift you are receiving.  When I look around the room of children’s leaders in our class I am surrounded by business owners, executives, doctors, the chief legal counsel for a multimillion dollar company, accountants, law enforcement officers.  Frankly the bill rate of the people I sit with for three hours every Saturday morning would be astounding.  Yet, the gift of time is freely given in love, not only for the children and other men in the group, but more importantly for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Do not lessen the gift that you are being provided by even imagining that you could pay for it.  You simply can’t afford it!  There is no level or adherence to the law that could even provide a fraction of the cost that Christ paid in dying on that cross and to imply that it could is insulting to our master.  (OK, this’ll preach!)

Division 1: Acts 15: 1-11 – A dispute over circumcision requires a decision by the church leadership. Peter, Paul and Barnabas testify to the Holy Spirit’s presence in Gentile believers.

Acts 15: 1-2 – P&B sent to Jerusalem to conclude: circumscision required or not

Acts  15 3-4 – P&B to Jerusalem, testify  on the way, welcomed by apostles, they give a report.

Acts 15: 5 – Party of the Pharises states their belief: become Jewish to become christian

Acts 15:6 – Apostle and elders meet to consider this question

Acts 15: 7-11 – Peter presents: no distriction between J&G, through grace we are saved.

Principle: The rock stands strong in his testimony: Faith is sufficient

Illustration: I don’t agree.  You say yes I say no.  How do we resolve it?  That was the question facing the new church.  When disputes in belief or practice arise, what do we do?  Go our own ways?  Give in?  In these verses we see step one.  The dispute is presented to a body of leaders and elders who discuss it and look for the hand of God and the direction He is leading.  We see that in the testimony of P, B and Peter.  Look – see – There is God!

Applications: Are you watching for God’s hand moving in your life and your church?  What disputes do you need to quit harboring and get resolved? Do you rely on your intellect first or do you first look to God?

Division 2: Act 15: 12-21  James states the judgment of the Jerusalem Council

Acts 15: 12-18 James reinforces the works of God by the word of God

Acts 15: 19 James judgment: remove difficulty from Gentile converts to Christ

Acts 15: 20-21 James directs Gentiles to follow the Mosaic laws specifically stated  for Jews and Gentiles

Principle: God’s word is the final word

Illustration: In the United States, the Supreme Court is the ultimate decision on the interpretation of laws.  If a judge rules against you, you can take it to the next higher court.  But if the Suprement Court rules a certain way – it is done.  In the same way, God’s word is the final word. 

Applications: What do you want to be right or OK that God’s word says is wrong?  Do you yield to the authority of the gospel or ignore it?  Do the words of the bible hold weight to change your convictions or do you try to change the words to match your desires?

Division 3: 3 witnesses are sent back to testify to Antioch: P&B, S&J and the letter

Acts 15:22-23  – Judas and Silas are picked to go to Antioch with P&B and the letter

Acts 15: 24-29 – The letter: becoming a christian not a burden, but there are suggested restrictions

Acts 15: 30-31 – The letter is delivered and received with gladness

Acts: 15-32-35 – A time of peace, blessing and strengthening continues in Antioch

Principle: The is only one body of Christ on the earth – one church

Illustration: God describes His church on the earth as a body of believers.  We can sit around in our big comfy chairs watching college football and our body will rot away.  God tells us to do something different.  To work.  To go.  To spread His news.  But like any other work, sometimes the work of the body of the church causes strains and they can be painful.  But we have the choice when our arm hurts from a strain or injury.  I guess we could just lop it off.  At least it wouldn’t hurt anymore, right?  But we normally don’t do that.  We nurse it.  We tend to it.  We protect it and we help it get stronger.  That is the message God has for us as His church as well.

Application: Who among believers have you “lopped off”?  What is dividing you from doing God’s work?  What is wrong that you need to be bold about and cause it to stop?

Conclusion:

This wasn’t easy for anyone.  The Judaisers believed they had scripture behind them.  Paul didn’t have a relationship with anyone in Jerusalem – he had only spent 15 days with them.  Barnabas did, but he clearly could see both sides of the argument.  And the leaders in Jerusalem had never faced a challenge like this before.  But they did three very smart things: 1 they looked for God’s direction 2. they stood on the bible 3. they maintained their sights on the ultimate goal – spreading the good news of the gospel.

BSF Acts: Week 8, Day 5, Galatians 2:11–21

Galatians 2:11–21

Summary:

Peter is in Antioch when others from the church in Jerusalem arrive.  Peter falls into old habits of exclusion and works and acts/eats with the implication that the Gentile believers are “unclean.”  Paul calls him on the carpet and gives a strong conviction that you either continue to try to live by the law and fail in so doing or you live as a free man saved by Jesus.  You cannot and should not live as a slave while claiming to have been set free.

Questions:

12. Peters’ actions of not eating with Gentiles because of adherence to Jewish dietary restrictions did two things to cause Christians to stumble: (1) it encouraged a class system and/or separation within the church.  We all understand the divisiveness that can come from not allowing all to drink from the same watering fountain – to not dine at the same table was equally divisive.  (2) it held back the acknowledgment that Christ had provided full and complete justification by saying (through actions) that His gift was insufficient and additional actions and/or behaviors were required.

13. Peter acknowledged Paul’s rebuke in light of both the scriptures and direct revelation that had been bestowed upon him (Peter).  However, he also acknowledged that Paul’s methods can be difficult.

Conclusion:

This reminds me of the Jews of Moses’ day.  Having been set free from the bondage of Egypt, they almost immediately long for the comfortableness of a well-lived pattern, even though that was slavery.  They even request to go back to be slaves in Egypt.  Now, Christ has died, Christ has risen, the price of sin has been paid, the believers have been set free, but they pine for the pattern of slavery under the law.

BSF Acts: Week 8, Day 4, Acts 15:13–35

Acts 15:13–35

Summary:

 The “Council of Jerusalem” meets to settle the disagreement within the church regarding circumcision.  The council decides that it is not a requirement but suggests/decrees 4 halakhah laws that new believers, regardless of background, should follow.  Silas and Judas are dispatched with Paul and Barnabas and the letter back to the church at Antioch and everyone is pleased and comforted.

Questions:

9. a. James suggested that believers within the Gentiles are also a people chosen by God and that they should not be burdened with additional requirements but instead should be encouraged.  He also suggested they abstain from certain practices that the Jewish Christians would be abhorring and vulgar.

b. He spoke as an authority of the church of Jerusalem (It is my judgment therefore), but everything he spoke and suggested was specifically stated in the scriptures where he quoted from Amos 9

10. a. Judas and Silas delivered the letter

b. Acts 15:31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message

11. a. (Challenge) The council provides a watershed moment because it becomes the launching point of a Christian faith separate from traditional Jewish faith.  As importantly it provided a means of unification within the church.  Prior to the council Messianic Jews would have been prohibited from many associations with Gentiles including breaking bread with them – thus no shared communion/eucharist.  Galatians 2:12 and Acts 10:28

It provided a model for any subsequent disputes within the church.  It empowered the ability for the Christian Church to grow during a time when the temple was destroyed.  It ordained a Christian church outside of Judaism.

In the short term, it also paired Silas with Paul for his return mission trip and who became a life-long companion.

b. My personal answer to this question will sound trite, but it has tugged at my heart a number of times.  I am willing to give up the words, “I hope” and replace them with real and actual prayer.  (more to follow in post entitled Hoping versus Praying)

Conclusion:

This division within the church and the method of resolution provided an opportunity for the church to stand or fall.  Through leaders empowered by the Holy Spirit the church stood on the scriptures, specifically Amos, and opened the door for unabated association, unity and communion within the church of believers regardless of background or foreskin.

There are 2 interesting points within this. 

The first is where did James come up with the 4 items within the letter?  These appear to be directly from Lev 17-18.  These rules were outlined by God to Moses and specifically call for them to be adhered to by “any Israelite or any alien living among them.”  There are other rules outlined in these chapters and under the Mosaic law, but these are the ones specifically for Israelites and aliens.

Second: are these items rules or guidelines?  James appears to view them as rules to be strictly followed, while Paul appears to be more in line with the men’s group in BSF seeing things as guidelines rather than rules.  In 1 Corinthians 8 Paul lays this out basically saying don’t get too hung up over the little things such as what you eat – that isn’t what brings you closer to God.  However, he also admonishes against doing anything that would cause another brother to fall into sin.

BSF Acts: Week 8, Day 2, Acts 15: 1-12

Acts 15:1–12
Sumary: The question of ritual comes into play in the new church.  Must someone become a jew to be a christian?  Must they undergo circumcision and follow the Mosaic law to be saved through Christ.  Paul, Barnabas and Peter say no.

Questions:

3. The christians at Jerusalem were footed in the jewish tradition and the teachings in the temple.  The believers in Antioch were not, or at least not to the same degree.
4. The Jews were jealous (Acts 17:5).  The Jews were prejudiced (Gal 2).  The jewish believers may have felt outnumbered and still carried a subservient view (They were under Roman rule and this now brought them out of bondage as it had the Jews of Moses time.)

b. They believed that the Jews were God’s chosen people and saw the path to salvation only through their tradition and ritual.

c. He was “all in” for Christ.  If salvation came through the gift of Jesus’ death and resurrection alone, then any requirement of works or ritual distracted from that covenent and lessened the gift.  Rom 10:12 – “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is the Lord of all…”

5. Peter refers to his vision of the sheet with all matter of animal, clean and unclean, and his subsequent understanding of the vision through the interaction of the Holy Spirit with Cornelius the centurion who received faith.

Conclusions:

The bible is so simple in its requirements – believe, change and be saved.  Yet we can add such complexity.  You must go through these classes.  You must attend these meetings.  You have to be baptized on this day.  You were baptized in what synod, we don’t count that.

There is nothing wrong with teaching, with prayer and with being a shepherd to new believers, but the avenue to a relationship with Jesus Chris does not come with barriers that new believers have to jump over.  Christ seems to be happy that we are on the right path.

BSF Acts: Week 7 – Opening Assembly – Acts 14

It was my turn to lead opening assembly last night and I decided to do something a little different than normal.  A poem:

Paul and Barnabas

Paul and Barnabas, P&B,
2 brave disciples, missionaries, visionaries, for the man who died on the tree.

From Pisidian they left shaking the dust from their feet
To Iconium they came, preaching to the Jews and the Greeks.

Many are saved, many believe but the non-believing jews gather with not believing gentiles to deceive.  Where the spirit moves and power achieves, satanic forces mount creating a division of this very city.  Many are fore, some are against, a conspiracy to stone P&B is conceived.

P&B flee.

To Lycaonia, a new song is sung, but confusion ensues from ignorance and a foreign tongue.  When Paul, through the power of the spirit of the Lord, heals a lame man, a believer,  who jumps up for joy.  But confusion, frustration, appalation ensues when instead of worship God the locals brand Paul as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus.  The apostles tear their clothing, they preach and they plead: worship only the creator not a man such as me.

Then the wolves arrive.  The Jews strive
to turn the local sheep into an angry herd.

The mob turns on the apostolic messengers, casting out a punishment as if they were common blasphemers,
they pick up rocks they pick up stones and throw them at Paul’s head
Bleeding and broken the mob drags him out, leaving him for dead.

The disciples gather in prayer, around Paul whom they plan to bury
but he jumps up, alive, and marches right back into the city.

Then to Derbe, preaching and blessing, the very next day
despite persecution, despite attempted execution, the word of God is here to stay.

They travel back through each town, lifting up the new leaders, strengthening churches, and teaching, encouraging new believers.

The seeds have been planted, the church roots enchanted with the spirit, the word, the living breath that was granted, that was breathed into man into dirt to create life, that spoke , that healed, that gave everlasting peace, that provided new sight

to the blind, and legs to the lame, hope for a sinner, that is the reason the lamb was slain.  But death is defeated, sin has been beaten.  The son of man sings from the throne of the King.

So this hollows eve, we focus our thoughts on the work of the spirit that came from the on-high and on 2 humble servants who were open to gentiles like me, these brave missionaries, with the initial P and the initial B.