Partakers Christian Podcasts

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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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 11

The Spirit Explodes
Part 11 of 22
The expansion of the Church
(Acts 11:1–12:25)

by Roger Kirby

 

These two chapters record the events that led to the transfer of the significant heart of the early church from Jerusalem to Antioch. Antioch was the third largest city of the Roman world, strategically placed near the north-east corner of the Mediterranean sea. 

First we read the third account (Luke’s technique for emphasis again) of how Peter came to recognize Cornelius and his friends to be true Christians. In the first verse Luke signals that another milestone has been reached: the Gentiles received the word of God. The rest of this passage adds nothing significant to what we have already heard.

Note how, curiously, Luke never mentions the name of Cornelius in this passage. To ask ‘why’ would make a good question but I don’t know what the answer is so I won't!

Let's continue to explore together! Listen to the mp3 and answer the questions of this study!

Question 1: What does Peter say is the mark of the Christian? How does he identify the true followers of Jesus?

Question 2: What does this chapter tell us about where the ultimate power lies?

Question 3: Peter walked through many gates on his way out of prison but was left standing at the door of a Christian house. Is this anything more than an incidental detail? If so, what?

Question 4: Why do you think Luke put it in here?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 10

The Spirit Explodes
Part 10 of 22
A major step : welcoming non-Jews
(Acts 9:32–10:48)

by Roger Kirby

 

After introducing Paul to us, Luke switches back to 3 stories about Peter, 2 minor and one major. First the 2 minor stories. As we read them watch out for several sharply contrasting features between the first and the second.

Read Acts 9:32–43.

Question 1:  Apart from the obvious one of a bed-ridden person and a dead person, what are the major contrasts between these 2 stories? What are we meant to learn from them?

Read Acts 10:1–18.

Question 2:  What would these verses have meant to Theophilus, the guy for whom Luke wrote this book?

Read Acts 10:9–16.

Question 3:  What would his reaction have been?

Question 4:  What is the general significance of him being told this?

Read Acts 10:17–43.

Question 5:  What were the most important things in his talk? What would have been the bullet points if he had had a computer?

Read Acts 10:44–48.

Question 6:  This is a fundamentally important question. What was to replace the rules of Judaism?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 09

The Spirit Explodes
Part 9 of 22 - The Conversion of Paul
(Acts 9:1-31)

by Roger Kirby

This story is usually called ‘the conversion of Paul’ but, as we shall see, it was a very unusual conversion. The word ‘conversion’ means a complete change of mind and actions. Paul (we will call him that although for the next four and a half chapters, until a name change is noted, he is actually called Saul) made a complete change in his actions but not in his mind. He considered his decision to follow Jesus a natural, if forced, development from his Jewish belief in God.

Question 1: Paul changed his mind about Jesus. But what exactly was it about Jesus that forced him to change his mind?

Question 2.: Which Old Testament image or images will Paul have instantly related the lights and the voice to?

Question 3: Which was it for Paul?

Question 4: Which was it for you?

Question 5: Are you confident the Lord has seized hold of you?

Question 6: What one word best describes what he did?

Question 7: Paul hit the church like a whirlwind. Apart from his natural ability and energy levels, which were clearly very high, what was it about him that enabled him to make such an impact?

Question 8: What does that imply for us?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 08

The Spirit Explodes
Part 8 of 22 - Spirit and Word
(Acts 8:4-40)

by Roger Kirby

This chapter gives examples of outreach to the outer fringes of Judaism before the start of the main effort towards the truly pagan Gentiles with the conversion and commissioning of Paul. To the north the Samaritans practiced a variant form of Judaism, using only the first five books of the OT, and so were regarded as heretics by the strict Judaists. To the south Ethiopia was a major kingdom in modern Sudan, the nearest black peoples, and the only ones they would know about. Hence it was the “end of the world” to them. So these two episodes are carefully chosen to demonstrate the spread of the good news to “Samaria and the ends of the earth”, as it was put in chapter 1 and at the same time to explain two important aspects of what that news was (and is!)

In this episode we ask questions such as:
Question 1: What was the difference between Simon’s magic and what Philip did? (Modern magic where the speed of the hand deceives the eye will mainly be a third category.)

Question 2: What should we conclude from that variety of situations?

Question 3: How do we recognise when and if the Spirit is given?

Question 4: The “power” of modern day ministry is attractive to certain personality types. To what extent can they fall under the condemnation leveled at Simon?

Question 5: Identify the two main actors in the conversion of the Ethiopian. Which is the dominant one? Which was dominant in the story about the conversion of the Samaritans? What should we conclude from this?

Question 6: What is Luke telling us through this?

Question 7: Why would the Ethiopian have found this passage particularly appealing to him?

Question 8: In what ways is that true?
 

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 07

The Spirit Explodes

Part 7 of 22 - The Martyrdom of Stephen
(Acts 6:1 – 8:3)

by Roger Kirby

Luke, probably guided by Paul’s memories of what happened, sees the teaching and death of Stephen as a major turning point in the progress of the Gospel. To this point opposition has come from the ruling classes in Jerusalem; the common people had approved of what was happening. From here on the believers lost the support of everybody. Consequently the focus of the Gospel is about to move outside Jerusalem.

First: the background in Acts6:1–7.

The “Grecian Jews” of the NIV probably means Greek speaking Jews who had retired to Jerusalem mainly in order to die there; “Hebraic Jews” probably means long term Aramaic speaking residents of the city. Each would have worshipped in a synagogue where their most familiar language was spoken. When some of each became Christian tensions arose.

The seven chosen men are often called deacons but only because the Greek word for “waiting on tables” is diakonia. Their responsibilities do not match those described in the later NT letters. However we can learn useful lessons from them.

Question 1: What were the criteria for choosing the seven? Can we relate these to our situation? All seven names are Greek. What does that tell us about the principles used in the fellowship?
They were chosen purely on the basis of their spiritual depth. I don’t know what happens where you are but all too often men and women are chosen for positions in the church on the basis of their practical qualifications. Their spirituality is the least of the attributes considered. That all of them were Greek speaking suggests that great care was taken to resolve the problems as quickly as possible.
In Acts 6:8 – 7:1, which outline the nature of the problem, Stephen faced.
The troubles started in one particularly radical synagogue, the Synagogue of the Freedmen. This included some from Cilicia, which is where Paul came from so he was probably a member of this meeting.
Now we come to the long speech of Stephen, the longest in the book of Acts. It is not at all easy to see how what he said related to the charges against him, and what upset them so much and caused him to be lynched, so I will interrupt my wife’s reading of the speech as we go along to try and explain it.
Stephen starts his speech by referring back to God’s promise to Abraham. What he says is standard Jewish thinking and quite unobjectionable, but he is starting to emphasise the way that Abraham had no firm roots in any place.
Read Acts 7:2 – 8.
Isaac and Jacob were uninteresting to Stephen because they had secure roots in Israel.
So he moves on to Joseph who did not have secure roots. He also points out that Joseph was rejected by those who should have supported him, his brothers.
Read Acts 7:9 – 19.
Next comes Moses, again a wanderer on the face of the earth, as Stephen is careful to emphasise. He also emphasises that Moses too suffered rejection by his own people on more than one occasion.
Read Acts7:20 – 43.
He continues to trace the history of his people beginning to emphasise the tabernacle as the place where God dwelt. Although David enjoyed God’s favour he did not get building the temple.
Read Acts 7:44 – 47.
He has now set the scene for what he wants to say. He has also by his strong emphasis on Moses effectively rebutted the charge that Jesus was going to change the customs of the law. Remembering how the apostles had been treated by these people he probably had decided he was likely to die anyway and he was not going to do so without making his points. So he continues by making two points:
1) the temple was not as important as they thought it was as all these great men had lived without it, being prepared to meet and worship God anywhere they happened to be. Even if Jesus had said he would destroy the temple (as he hadn’t) it would not have mattered;
2) many of these true prophets of old had been rejected by the people, as Jesus was. They, his hearers, had acted wrongly, but that was nothing new.

Read Acts 7:48 – 53.
He was not exactly diplomatic in the way he put it! The reaction was overwhelming. The veiled argument behind the history is that God is not limited to any one place, in particular the temple. He is therefore not under the control of the Sanhedrin. Their power is finished. The true next step in the purposes of God is with Jesus and his people.

Read Acts 7:54 – 8: 1a.
Question 2: What are the practical implications today of there being no particular place where the Lord is to be worshipped? In what ways do people wrongly contradict that fact?

Cathedrals, and the like, can be wonderful places but they don’t really fit into the scene Stephen paints. The idea that the temple in Jerusalem should be rebuilt, as advocated by some people, also falls before Stephen’s argument. It doesn’t matter where we gather and worship. The important things are gathering and worshiping.

Question 3: Stephen was obviously a vigorous personality who was not prepared to keep quiet, even if he was also full of the Holy Spirit! Such people are not always comfortable to live with. What place should such people have in the present day church?

There ought to be room for every personality type in every fellowship. It is important that the leadership of every group uses to the full the best attributes of everyone while curbing their less useful attributes, whether that be making too much noise or too little!
Probably it was when Stephen said that he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God that his fate was sealed. Jesus said something similar when he said that the Son of Man would be seated at the right hand of God and that was the point at which they decided to kill him. Both were referring to Daniel 7 where one like a Son of Man approached the Ancient of Days and was given authority, glory and sovereign power.

Question 4: Why were these statements taken so amiss?
These were the clearest possible statements that Jesus was the Messiah and that he would be given the authority and power they (the members of the Sanhedrin) so much enjoyed. Beware the love of power!

Read Acts 8: 1 – 3
And so the purposes of God were fulfilled in the persecution and scattering of the church.

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 06

The Spirit Explodes

Part 6 of 22 - And now for the not-so-good news
(Acts 4:32 – 5:42)
by Roger Kirby

The infant church begins to struggle with both internal problems and external ones. It is rather amazing that Luke tells us about some of the more difficult events. He clearly had a purpose in doing so. We will think about that in a few minutes. We have already commented on the problems of this sort of living. Barnabas, who is going to figure prominently in the expansion of the church, is mentioned with clear approval of what he did. There were huge differences of wealth between the landowners and the working people in those days and this is clearly a comment about how those differences should be overcome within the fellowship of the church.

It also highlights the problem that we read about  in Acts 5:1–11. In this podcast we ask the following questions. To learn more, download the mp3 and listen!

• Question 1: What exactly did Ananias and Sapphira do wrong? Why was the punishment so harsh? Christians probably do worse things these days. Why are similar punishments not visited upon the offenders?
• Question 2: Sapphira chose solidarity with her husband over solidarity with the Lord and his people. What are the rights and wrongs in what she did?
• Question 3: What was Luke’s motive in including this account 40 years after the events recorded when he could so easily have chosen to highlight other more positive events?
• Question 4: Acts5:13 “no one dared join them” and the next verse “more men and women were added to their number” seem to be saying two contradictory things. What can they mean?
• Question 5: Apart from a record of the facts what does Luke want us to understand as the significance of what happened?
• Question 6: Where should we follow what we read here; where the teaching of the verses from Romans?

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 05

The Spirit Explodes
Part 5 of 22 - First Signs Of Opposition
(Acts 4:5-31)

by Roger Kirby

Luke now records the beginnings of opposition from the authorities. He probably wrote Acts sometime in the late AD 70s or early AD 80s, that is after the first wave of persecution of the early church under emperor Nero in the AD 60s. Theophilus may have been concerned about the legality of the Christian witness and about the levels of opposition it had aroused. So Luke is intent on showing that these problems had arisen unfairly and how they were handled by the early church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The most important part of this passage is Peter’s speech to the court of the Sanhedrin. Luke has a habit of emphasising a particular event by giving 3 accounts of it. So he tells us about Paul’s conversion 3 times in chapters 9, 22 and 26. He tells us about the dream of Peter that led to the admission of Gentiles into the church 3 times in chapters 10 and 11. Here he records 3 very similar speeches of Peter’s, of which this is the third.
We ask these questions in this study:

• Question 1: What things has Luke emphasised by recording them 3 times in these speeches?
• Question 2: By many modern standards that is an incredibly wrong thing to say, suggesting that there is no other way to salvation and heaven. How can we justify what they said?
• Question 3: How and why were they able to be so effective? What can we learn from the answers to that question?
• Question 4: Think about where and why that has been done in your situation. Obviously I cannot provide any help on the answers to this question.
• Question 5: Why did they pray for boldness of speech and not for the opposition to stop?
• Question 6: Does this arise from what are probably the sharp differences between their prayer and the sort of prayers we probably usually pray, or what?

Download the mp3 and listen to discover more!

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Partakers Bible Thought – The Spirit Explodes 04

The Spirit Explodes
Part 4 of 22 - Healing and challenging
by Roger Kirby

(Acts 2:41 – 4:4)
Luke inserts several summaries of the developing situation into his account of which 2:41 is the first. He then continues his account of those early days of the church in Jerusalem, reinforcing by repetition the points he wants to make.

It is not possible (unless you are very rich!) to live in the way described in these verses for any length of time. Sooner or later the money will run out. Somebody has to work and provide a steady flow of income as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “if a man will not work, he shall not eat”.

Question 1: Why did Luke tell us about this necessarily limited period in the life of the infant church? What positive things is he stressing by doing so?

His purpose must be his interest in telling us about the positively good things that were being done in that early church. There was clearly a deep concern to learn about the meaning of their new found Christian faith and to live a life worthy of the Lord. It is hard for those of us in the calmer parts of the world to think just how different and difficult that will have been in the world of those days. He is stressing the togetherness of the early church with the richer folk looking after the poorer people amongst them.
The clear picture at the end of chapter 2 repeated at the end of chapter 4 is of a close-knit community sharing their worldly possessions and ensuring that there are no great inequalities of wealth among them. It seems that the natural economic forces of globalism lead inevitably to greater and greater inequalities of wealth distribution. The poor stay poor; the rich get ever richer.

Question 2: What can you do to resist this trend?
Probably not a lot! But each one of us must try to help those who are poor, particularly when it is no fault of theirs.

The second thing he is stressing is how much the early Christians were doing together. They were taught by the apostles what it was all about, together. They worshipped together, including the breaking of bread, or, as we call it the taking of communion. They ate together in each other’s houses. And much of it they did in the temple courts together so everybody in Jerusalem could see and hear what was going on. That must have been a powerful way to attract other people to follow Jesus. True Christian fellowship is not a rushing together for an hour or so every Sunday morning but a much more consistent activity spreading through the week. Think about how you meet and fellowship with other Christians and how you could do so more often and more consistently, to your mutual benefit.

Read 3:1 – 10.

Question 3: You, like Peter, may be short of silver and gold! Peter was able to give healing to the lame man. What can you give to the lame, the lonely, the lost or the lacking?


Notice that I carefully said ‘or’ in my list. Very few of us will ever be able to cover more than one of the list of shortcomings with any effectiveness. What is important is to identify our sphere of competence and to work within it with all a Holy Spirit’s energies. If it is the lame you will likely be a medic; if the lonely you will be active in visiting; if the lost you will be an evangelist; if the lacking you will be a teacher of faith. Which is it for you?



Read 3:11 - 4:4

Peter carefully said “it was not by their own power or godliness we made this man walk”.

Question 4: What does that warn us about?

Too many people preaching round the world are quick to claim that it was their super strong faith or special fullness of the Holy Spirit that enabled them to heal people. It is amazing how much influence those with enough self-confidence can wield on other people. Be careful to look for signs of humility and the giving of all praise to God and the glory of Jesus, as Peter did, in those who would try to impress you – and, indeed, in yourself!


Question 5: Peter called for repentance, stating that it would have past, present and future effects when he said “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out (past), that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (present), and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus (future). Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” Which of those aspects:past, present or future, is most attractive to people in your world? How can we ensure that we understand and benefit from all three aspects?

In our world most people are not the least bit interested in repentance because they have no vision of sin as being a serious affront to a Holy God. Any exceptions to that statement are probably only interested in the present anyway. Once we come to a knowledge of Jesus and what he has done for us our interest in the past fades for he has promised to forget our sins – why should we remember them if he does not? We should, however, delight in the promise of a time of refreshing and look ahead in confident assurance that we will eventually be with him in the renewed world to come.


Question 6: What was Peter calling for repentance from? Where does this rank in the list of terrible sins? What, then, can we conclude about the availability of forgiveness from really bad sins?

Peter has just been accusing his hearers of “handing Jesus over to be killed” and “you killed the author of life”. It is hard to think of worse sins than that! We may conclude that no sin is so bad we cannot seek forgiveness from it by exercising true repentance. Amazing.

There is a great promise in what Peter said of “a prophet like Moses”. This prophet will be from “your own people”; he was to be a source of miracle signs like Moses; he was to be listened to. Jesus fitted that prophecy perfectly. Many claims have been made since that somebody or other is this great prophet, but none have been remotely like Jesus or Moses.

Do not follow anyone else!

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