Through the Bible with Chad

  Acts 16 A Dream Gave Paul His Map      Paul and his companions, including Timothy, traveled to various towns to preach and strengthen the congregations. They attempted to go to Asia and Bithynia, but were led by the Holy Spirit to Troas. There, Paul had a dream about a man in Macedonia asking for help, so they went to Philippi. They met Lydia, a God-fearing woman who believed in Jesus and was baptized with her household. Lydia then invited Paul and his companions to stay with her.     This is a great chapter, I love how they are led by God's Spirit, we see their obedience in following the promptings and how they work out! It's also fun to note all the dreams that people are having and how accurate they are. If you listen around you will discover that this is still going on to this very day! There are people having dreams about situations and they listen and obey and the dreams end up being prophetic and true.  Beaten Up and Thrown in Jail ...

 To Let Outsiders Inside      Some Jews arrived from Judea and argued that all non-Jewish believers must be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas opposed this idea and the church decided to send them to Jerusalem to resolve the matter with the apostles and leaders.       Along the way, they shared news of the breakthrough to non-Jewish believers and everyone was thrilled. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed and shared their journey and how God used them to reach non-Jewish believers. Some Pharisees, who believed but still held to strict laws, argued that the pagan converts must be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.       The apostles and leaders debate this issue until Peter spoke up, reminding them that God had made it clear he wanted the pagans to hear the message of the good news and that the Holy Spirit had been given to them just as to the Jewish believers. He questioned why they would tr...

 Acts 14      Paul and Barnabas' travel to the city of Iconium, where they preached the gospel and performed many miracles. Despite initial success, the Jews and Gentiles there became hostile and plotted to kill them.      However, Paul and Barnabas learned of the plot and fled to the cities of Lystra and Derbe. In Lystra, they encountered a man who was born lame but was healed by the power of God through the apostles. This caused the people to proclaim them as gods, They even began to organize a parade to perform a ritual sacrifice.  But Paul and Barnabas corrected their mistake and reminded them that they were merely servants of God and take advantage of the crowd's attention to proclaim the good news.      Unfortunately some of the angry Jews from Antioch find them in Lystra and stir the crowds against them. Paul gets beaten unconscious and is thrown out of the city. Once the other disciples gathered around his body he gets ...

  Acts 13 Barnabas, Saul, and Doctor Know-it-All           The passage opens with a description of the leaders of the church in Antioch of Syria, who are "prophets and teachers." Among them are Paul and Barnabas, who are set apart by the Holy Spirit for the work of spreading the gospel.      The church in Antioch prays and fast, asking guidance from the Holy Spirit, through obedience they send Paul and Barnabas on a mission to the neighboring cities of Cyprus and the surrounding area. The two men set out, accompanied by John Mark, and begin preaching the word of God in the synagogues of these cities.      As they travel, they encounter opposition and persecution, but they remain steadfast in their mission to spread the gospel. In the city of Paphos, they encounter a magician named Bar-Jesus, who tries to resist the message of Paul and Barnabas, but is struck blind by the power of God.      In the ancient Med...

  Acts 12     This chapter begins with Herod deciding that he wanted in on persecuting christians. The James mentioned in Acts 12:2 who was murdered by King Herod was James, the son of Zebedee and one of the twelve apostles. He is also known as James the Greater to distinguish him from James, the brother of John and another apostle, who is referred to as James the Less. James the Greater was one of the original disciples of Jesus and a prominent leader in the early Christian church.     During Passover week he has Peter arrested and jailed with an extra guards and plans to have him lynched after passover ( Lynching is a form of extrajudicial punishment that involves the killing of a person by a mob, often carried out in a public setting.) “All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously.” ‭‭Acts‬ ‭12‬:‭5‬ ‭MSG‬‬     An angel shows up in the jail and releases Peter, walking him straight out...

  Acts 11      In this chapter, the apostle Peter recounts to the apostles and leaders in Jerusalem his experience with the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit, which had previously only been given to Jews who believed in Jesus.      The story starts with Peter being criticized by some members of the church for eating with Gentiles, which was considered impure according to Jewish custom. Peter then explains to them how he was praying and received a vision from God, in which he was told to eat the impure animals. After this, he was visited by three men from Caesarea who were sent by Cornelius, a Gentile army officer who wanted to hear more about Jesus.      Peter went to Caesarea and preached the gospel to Cornelius and his household, and they all received the Holy Spirit. This event was a turning point for the early church, as it showed that God was now extending salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews.      The apostles and ...

Acts 10      Acts 10:1-23 is a story in the New Testament that describes the vision of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and how it led to the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles.      Cornelius was a devout man who feared God and gave generously to the poor. One day, he had a vision in which an angel of God instructed him to send for Peter, who was staying in the city of Joppa. The next day, Cornelius sent two servants and a soldier to fetch Peter, and while they were on their way, Peter himself had a vision in which he saw a large sheet filled with unclean animals. The Lord told him to eat, and Peter protested that he had never eaten anything unclean. The Lord replied, "What God has made clean, you must not call unclean."      When Peter arrived at Cornelius' house, he was greeted by Cornelius and his household, and he began to share the message of the gospel with them. While he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening, a...

      Awe yes, the famous Acts 9:       The first part of the chapter details the miraculous conversion of Saul, who later became the apostle Paul. Saul, a devout Jew and enemy of the Christian church, was traveling to Damascus to persecute Christians when he was suddenly blinded by a bright light from heaven. Saul fell to the ground and said "who are you, Master? “He said, “Who are you, Master?” “I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.””  Saul was then led to Damascus, where he was filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized.     There is a great example of faith in this story, when Ananias is asked by God to go and open the eyes of Saul he is rightfully scared, everyone knows that this man is the one who had been hunting down christians! Ananias obeys and goes to Saul and heals his eyes!       The second part of the chapter describes ...

  Acts 8      Acts 8:3-8 details the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem, where Saul (later known as Paul) consented to the death of Stephen and was involved in a wave of arrests and imprisonments. However, many Christians fled Jerusalem and scattered throughout the surrounding regions, preaching the word of God as they went. Philip was among those who fled and went to the city of Samaria, where he preached the gospel to the people there.      I love the mayhem the early church is causing. "many who could neither stand nor walk were healed that day!"   The church is under attack and people are openly being murdered and arrested for being a part of the movement Proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah!      One common theme that was pointed out to me this morning was that Demons don't leave quietly.  This makes me curious about our culture today, and our perception of the spiritual realm, I don't think it's d...