Partakers Christian Podcasts

Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 21

The Spirit Explodes
Part 21 of 22 - Roman Justice.
Acts 23:12 – 26:32

by Roger Kirby

This lengthy section, though important in showing to Theophilus that Paul was innocent of any crime against Roman law and providing the opportunity for Luke to recount the story of Paul’s conversion for the third time, is of no great interest to us. So we will take it at the gallop.

First there is the rather amusing account of how Paul started out on his much desired journey to Rome.

Read Acts 23:12 – 35.

What is interesting here is that the young man, Paul’s nephew, is able to gain access to the commander of the garrison. This suggests that he, and therefore Paul’s family, were of some considerable status and rank. Their society was exceedingly status conscious. Everyone knew where they stood in the hierarchy and acted accordingly. We have already seen this in the way that the commander reacted to the information that Paul was born a Roman citizen while he had to purchase his. That this comparatively young man is able to speak to the senior authority suggests he was from a well known and respected family. So late in the evening Paul set off for Rome escorted by 470 Roman soldiers.

Question 1: What would Paul’s reaction to this have been likely to be?

Read Acts 24:1 –26.

Question 2: In countries where bribes are expected even for things like justice, should Christians be prepared to pay them?

Read Acts 24:27 – 25:27

Read Acts 26:1 – 23.

Question 3: What is the crux of what Paul said?

One again it is the resurrection of Jesus as the first to rise from the dead. Should this not still be the focal point of all evangelism?

Read Acts 26:24 – 32.

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 20

The Spirit Explodes
Part 20 of 22 - Jewish justice.
Acts 21:1 – 23:11

by Roger Kirby

From this point on Luke tells his story with big incidents, difficult to ask questions about. These first two and a half chapters are about how Paul was tried before the Jewish authorities and found innocent; the next two and a half are about how the Romans found him innocent; the last two tell the story about his voyage to Rome. We will have to take them in those big chunks with more explanation and less questioning than we have been used to.  But first Paul still has to get to Jerusalem. Luke is still with him on this journey and so we get a vivid account of where they went.

Read Acts 21: 1–16.
Luke must have been aware that he was leaving a great puzzle behind for all this readers. In the last chapter he records Paul saying: ‘compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem’. Here he tells us the Christians in Tyre ‘through the Spirit urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem’.

Question 1: How can the Spirit have said these two apparently contradictory things? How can we resolve the conflict and what should we learn from it?
Question 2: Would they be able to do carry out those or equivalent ministries in your church? If, why not?
Read Acts 21:17–22:22.
Question 3: What particular aspects of human nature does this teach us about?
Read Acts 22:23–23:11.
Question 4: Why did he not do so? What should we learn from his experience?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 19

The Spirit Explodes
Part 19 of 22
~Goodbye and Encouragement to the Ephesians
~Acts 20:1-38

by Roger Kirby

 

There is a very end of term feel to this chapter. Things do not go according to plan. One student falls asleep in the middle of a lesson. Then Paul exhorts everyone to a vigorous future just like a headmaster at an end of term assembly. 

Question 1: What more does Paul do than the work of an evangelist?
Question 2: What was Paul’s attitude to danger, as when the Jews, perhaps Jews planning to sail on the same boat as him, plotted against him?
Question 3: In what particular things is he telling them, and therefore us, to follow his example?
Question 4: An image from slavery is a poor one to relate to Paul’s description of how the elders in Ephesus were to operate. What better image of where overlooking occurs can you think of than that?
Question 5: How do we know what is the truth to which we are to firmly adhere?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 18

The Spirit Explodes
Part 18 of 22
~Success and trouble in Ephesus.
~Acts19:1–41

by Roger Kirby

Some time has passed since the main events we read about in the last study. Since Paul left Corinth he has been to Jerusalem and Antioch, travelled through the area he has already been to in the south of what is now Turkey and then travelled over land to Ephesus in west Turkey. As already noted Ephesus was a large city, third largest in the Empire, and correspondingly important both to Rome and the developing churches. Though it is interesting to note that in the book of Revelation the church in Ephesus is warned that ‘if you do not repent I will remove your lamp stand from its place’ and they did not repent and the city no longer exists today except as ruins.

This episode has clearly been put next to that about Apollos not knowing the baptism of Jesus. This time the situation is much clearer: although they are called disciples they did not have the gift of the Holy Spirit. When asked whether they had received the Holy Spirit their reply was literally ‘we have not heard that the spirit is’ probably meaning something like ‘we have not heard that the Spirit is available to the likes of us’. John had spoken about the Spirit so they must have known of his existence.

Question 1: - They answered ‘no’. What can we conclude from that?

Read Acts 19:8–16.

Question 2: - Why do we find it so much more difficult to get everyone to hear the word of the Lord than they did?

Question 3: - What is the essential difference between magic and miracle?

Question 4: - Where in this passage do we hear of the direct challenge of miracles to magic?

Question 5: - Where, in your culture, can you see similar things happening?

Read Acts 19:17 – 22.

Question 6: - Is there anything you should be burning or dumping?

Read Acts 19:23 – 31.

Question 7: - For the second time in this chapter Christian faith is called ‘the Way’. What does this title emphasise?

 Read Acts 19: 32 – 41.

 

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 17

The Spirit Explodes
Part 17 of 22
The magnificent couple
Acts 18:1–28

by Roger Kirby

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I am going to cheat a little in this study! All our recent ones have been determined by geography – following Paul’s travels. If we do that here we shall have a very short study on Corinth followed next time by a very long one on Ephesus, so I am going to focus on Aquila and Priscilla, the most significant couple in the early church. Our study will cover them in both Corinth and Ephesus and glide over the fact that in between those two cities Paul finished his second journey, spent time at Antioch, and then started his third journey.

Corinth was an unpromising place. It was more important than Athens in all except cultural matters. It was a seaport on the narrow isthmus of land between southern and northern Greece (as we call it now). It was a vigorous commercial centre notorious for loose living. Yet it proved to be more receptive to the Gospel than many other quieter cities.

Read Acts 18:1–4.

These verses introduce us to Aquila and Priscilla. Presumably they had been converted in Rome. It has been suggested that not all the Jews in Rome can have been thrown out – since there were about 40000 of them, that would have been difficult. So perhaps they had been treated as troublemakers because of their belief in Jesus.

This passage tells us more about what Paul did than we have been told previously. All Jewish men, however study minded, were expected to learn a trade. Paul was a worker in canvas and leather, probably cutting and stitching at a bench or sitting cross-legged with them in a small open fronted shop in the street of the tent-makers. The three of them, working together, would have had many opportunities to chat with the passers by and tell them about Jesus.

Question 1: What are the advantages and disadvantages in working while also being a pastor or evangelist?

Read Acts 18:5 – 11

Question 2: What about where you are? Does the Lord have many people in your city, as yet unrecognized as Christians as is implied in Corinth? Have you any assurance about that?

Read Acts 18:12 – 23.

Question 3: What would you infer from that?

Read Acts 18:24 – 28.

Question 4: How can we avoid that sort of human weakness?

Question 5: if that is so, what is it implied that he did not have, that was much more important than a mere matter of baptism?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 16

The Spirit Explodes
Part 16 of 22
Many challenges!
Acts 17:1 – 34

by Roger Kirby

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There are many intriguing things happening in this part of the journey as the apostolic band travels south towards the great cities of Athens and Corinth. It sounds as though they did not stop for more than a night until they reached Thessalonica, the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. Unlike Philippi it was a free city in the Emperor’s favour because it had been on the right side in the civil war three generations earlier.

 

Read Acts 17:1 – 9.

Question 1: - Probably few or none of us are good at all these things, but we will all be better at some than others. Which are you good at?

Question 2: - The proving bit reads ‘proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead”. How would Paul have proved that? How can we do something  equivalent?

Read Acts 17:10 – 15.

Question 3: - Of the people you know who are not yet Christians who would be the most likely to ‘examine the scriptures’ diligently?

Read Acts 17:16 – 34.

Question 4: - What makes you think more deeply about the sad and bad things in the world around you? If you don’t, what should do so?

Question 5: - Depending on where you are coming from, what your surrounding culture is, you may be surrounded by images, or completely free of them. Is your situation right? Would you be able to worship the true and only God better if all or most of the images you see were removed or could you do with some (perhaps a cross) to help you worship?

Question 6: - What is he assuming here?

Question 7: - The resurrection seemed as unlikely then as it does now. How do you argue for its reality?

 

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 15

The Spirit Explodes
Part 15 of 22
Excitements at Philippi!
Acts 15:36–16:40.

by Roger Kirby

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We do not know why John Mark had left the little group of missionaries to return to Jerusalem. Of course it turned out that the most important thing he would ever do, writing his Gospel, was still some distance in the future. It is also clear that Paul forgave him enough to have him working with him and then to be anxious to be visited by him when in prison.

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Question 1: What about a bit of guesswork? What reasons might Mark have had for going back to Jerusalem that he thought were good reasons and Paul did not?

Read Acts 16:1 – 5.

Question 2: Why did Paul circumcise Timothy just after it had been agreed that non-Jewish Christians did not need to be circumcised?~

Read Acts 16:6 – 12.

Question 3: Would you agree that this is a good way of proceeding?

Read Acts 16:13 – 15.

Question 4: What does the fact that she was baptized mean?

Read Acts 16:16 – 40.

Question 5: What is the sequence of actions that lead to the joy of the jailer?

Question 6: Why did Paul and Silas not say they were Roman citizens before they were beaten and avoid a very painful experience?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 14

The Spirit Explodes
Part 14 of 22
Who are the people of God?
Acts 15:1–35.

by Roger Kirby

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Who are the people of God? That is and was indeed the question. About 4 studies ago we heard about the problems that arose over the question of what the people of God could eat. As a result of a vision, Peter understood that there were no foods that the people of God could not eat. That was the second of the 3 requirements; circumcision, food laws and Sabbath keeping, that had come to dominate the concerns of the serious Jews who thought of themselves as the only true people of God. Now we come to the first of these and the most important – circumcision.

This was a very critical question. Reluctance to be circumcised as adults would affect the willingness of non-Jewish men to become full converts and follow Jesus completely. It affected the role of women, who, not being subject to circumcision, would forever be second-class citizens in a kingdom for which that was the badge of entrance. Since not being circumcised would mean that followers of Jesus would no longer belong to Judaism they would not enjoy the freedom from harassment and persecution because they did not worship the Roman gods, that the Jews had enjoyed since the days of Julius Caesar.

Much was at stake, as some former Pharisees, now seeking to follow Jesus, correctly realised. They wanted Jesus’ followers to constitute a sub-group of Judaism. We read Acts 15:1–11.

There was therefore a profound theological disagreement between the Pharisaic believers and what was happening far away from Jerusalem. The fundamental underlying question was ‘how do we know who are the people of God in this new situation?’ or ‘what are the marks of a Christian?’. Before we go any further you need to think very carefully what the answer to the following question is in your place and culture. We have already come across this question and its Biblical answer. But what is the practical identifier where you are?

Question 1:  What are the marks of a Christian?

We read Acts 15:12–21.

Question 2:  Why did James quote from scripture?

Question 3:  How would this relate to what Paul says in Romans 15: We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.  Each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up? How does it relate to us?

Question 4:  What idol do we have the most difficulty in avoiding?

We read Acts 15: 22 – 35.

Question 5:  The letter said ‘it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us’. How did they know the mind of the Spirit? How do we know the leading of the same Spirit when we are so liable to add in our own desires to what we think he wants?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 13

The Spirit Explodes
Part 13 of 22
Mixed receptions
(Acts 13:42–14:28)

by Roger Kirby

 

What happened next in Pisidian Antioch proved to be a foretaste of what would happen in city after city. With a few variations this was:they arrived, they spoke to the Jews, usually in the synagogue, a few days later those who had heard what they had said before arrived and contradicted them, stirring up a riot and having them thrown out of the synagogue and often the city. All that took a varying length of time, not noted, but probably a few weeks. They then continued on their travels, returning later, when things had quietened down to make sure the believers were meeting in a regular and controlled fashion. It would be a mistake to think they spent just a couple of weeks here and a couple there after the fashion of modern evangelists. Life went much more slowly in those days and they clearly spent long enough, or as long as they could, in each city to establish a viable church. 

Read Acts 13:42 – 52.

Question 1: Imagine that you were one of the crowd who heard Paul when he preached for the first time. What would he have said that particularly attracted you? What would he have said that you were not so sure about? Would you have been for him, or against him?

Question 2:Are you the sort of person who likes to be first to have some new thing that has just come onto the market – like the latest iPad or Android Tablet? People who rush to buy such things are called the innovators. Or, are you the sort of person who waits cautiously to see if they really work the way the advertisements say before you buy – just before the next new marvel comes on the market.

Question 3: Are you so stuck in your ways that you cannot react as you know you really ought to do to the challenge that the Lord has laid before you through the work of the Holy Spirit?

Read Acts 14:1 – 28

Question 4: What is the chief difference you noticed as we read it?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 12

The Spirit Explodes

Part 12 of 22
Opening the door to the Gentiles
(Acts 12:26–13:41)

by Roger Kirby

As we noted in the last study, in the sometimes surprising purposes of God, the gospel was to go to all nations, as promised to Abraham long ago. It is now clear that Antioch was to be the centre of this great movement.

Acts 12:25–Acts 13:3.

The 5 named leaders in the church in Antioch were a Jew from a priestly family in Cyprus, a black African, a North African Arab (probably), a boyhood friend of Herod, and a Hellenistic Jew.

Question 1: What does that tell us about the early church? How does your church compare with this?

Acts 13:4–12

Question 2: What reasons can there possibly be for this? Where should we expect most conflict to come from and where will it not come from?

Acts 13:13–16

Question 3: How do we expect a preacher to establish contact with his audience?

Acts 13:17–25

Question 4: In which direction? What would he have said to  “spin” it in the other direction? What would have been the result? Why does he mention John the Baptist?

Acts 13:26
Question 5: What would your likely reaction to this statement be?

Acts 13:27–37 
Question 6: What was Paul’s main argument in these verses? Where did he get confirmation of his arguments?
Question 7: What are our main arguments in defence of our faith? Where can we get confirmation from?

Acts 13:38–41
Question 8: What did Paul want his hearers to do?

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