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| Acts 20:1-16 Exodus 30 Memory Verses: Romans 5:1; 1 John 5:8 Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters, 20:1-6 In our study today, Paul travels a lot, and rather than bore you with the details, let's just say that he covered a lot of ground. It is interesting in v.3 that Paul was able to avoid the plot of the Jews to have him assassinated by a sudden change in plans. It is implied here that he didn't know about the plot. The list of men listed are probably representatives from the local churches, who were gathering together for both planning sessions, and for the distribution of the love-gifts. 20:7 Here it is shown that they were meeting on a Sunday, the first day of the week. The Sabbath day of rest was on the 7th day of the week, Saturday. But the early church met on Sunday. Some say that the "breaking bread" referred to the Lord's Supper 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. They had a regular meal in v.11. The purpose was to gather together for fellowship and instruction on a Sunday. Think on this, wouldn't it be logical for the Christians to meet on Sunday? Many of the Jews were still involved in the synagogue, and if they met on the Sabbath, these Jews would be left out, making it an entirely Gentile gathering. I wonder if the decision to worship and fellowship on Sunday was out of respect for the Jews, making it easier for them to still attend synagogue and its functions, as well as meeting for fellowship with the Christian church. Another reason, and possibly the main reason that fellowship was held on Sunday was because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, and Pentecost took place on a Sunday. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; John 20:19, 26 Paul taught well into the night, can you imagine listening to him teach? Just listening to him give accounts of what he had experienced would be entertaining enough. Galatians 3:28 20:8-12 Eutychus, name translated to mean "fortunate" was sitting in a window listening, slowly fell asleep, fell out of the window, and was killed by the fall. Paul came down and embraced him, breathing life back into him. Remember, Sunday was not their day of rest, it was a work day. Many of these people had probably worked all day, and were attending a late night study. The lamps and the crowd probably didn't help the air quality either. It would be easy to sleep in such a condition. It is estimated that Eutychus was a young man, a servant, possibly around eight to fourteen years old. We are reminded of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:21-22 and Elisha, 2 Kings 4:34-35. God demonstrated His power through His servants, and raised the boy from the dead. Today we need to be very careful with this, "Remember," said Spurgeon, "if we go to sleep during the sermon and die, there are no apostles to restore us!" (Wiersbe) Even after the excitement, they still talked all night, Paul left the following morning, leaving behind a witness to the power of God. 20:13-16 Paul traveled on through the cities, with the end purpose to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. I would imagine that the day held a special significance, since it was the day that the Holy Spirit came upon the church. He wasn't in a hurry to arrive for the rest of the Jewish feast of the Passover, just for Pentecost. Exodus 30 The one piece of furniture that stands out to me in these verses is the basin. It is constructed of bronze, and is used to wash the hands and the feet of the priests. This is a symbol of removing actual filth in life. The symbolic removal of sin with the other sacrifices is in contrast to this actual cleansing of the body. When we come before the Lord, we are to be as pure as we can be, in other words to wash our own lives, and remove what we are able to in the way of sin. We studied a lot of blood sacrifices that covered the sin of the people, here is an example of working out our salvation, Philippians 2:12-13. Don't get tripped up on works, God expects us to put forth effort to change, we're not mindless puppets. It is a call to purity. Lord, as we consider the fantastic story of the boy who fell out of the window, give each one of us the faith to believe Your word, as it is written, and to put it into practice in our lives. In Him, Joe Turner. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Acts 20:17-38 Exodus 31 Memory Verses: 1 Peter 5:6-7 Acts 20:17 In the passage today, Paul gives another sermon, this one to exhort the body, there are a few things that I want to point out, so bear with me. He called the believers together along with the elders of the church. (I realized after working on today's study that I had bit off a larger chunk than normal, due to time constraints, I am going to keep it short, please write in with your comments.) 20:18-21 Look at the testimony here, he had made every effort to reach and persuade them to follow the Gospel, leading both Jews and Greeks to faith in the Lord. He points out that he was in danger from the Jews, 20:3, and that he made sure to disciple them to the best of his ability. He taught them both publicly, and in their homes, nothing was spared in the effort to lead them to a knowledge of the Gospel, and the application of it to their lives. We have a very brief overview of his life with them. His message was simple, first, repent toward God, in other words, turn back to God. The second part of the message was for salvation, to place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Greek, the idea is to place their faith, or trust, check out this note on faith: 1 conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it. 1a relating to God. 1a1 the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. 1b relating to Christ. 1b1 a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. 1c the religious beliefs of Christians. 1d belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same. 2 fidelity, faithfulness. 2a the character of one who can be relied on. Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship. The use of the name our Lord Jesus Christ, speaks volumes of Paul's attitude, it meant that this faith that he was trying to get them to demonstrate in their lives was to be pointed toward the Lord, the master over their lives, Jesus, Christ, the Messiah. In order to pass this message along to the Jews, who didn't believe the Gospel, and to the Greeks, who believed in many gods, was no small task. Especially not in Ephesus, where sin abounded tremendously. Acts 20:22-24 Paul was called to go to Jerusalem, he knows in advance that there is a lot of trouble waiting for him there. He knew that the affliction was awaiting him, Acts 9:15-17. Try to picture his attitude here, he was instrumental in stoning Stephen to death, and in persecuting the Church, bringing harm upon the body of Christ. Now, he is on the other side of the fence, and realizes that there is absolutely nothing that he can do to undo what was done in the past, he knew exactly what "grace" was all about. He willingly accepted the persecution, knowing that it was part of the race to win, 2 Tim 4:7. Acts 20:25-28 Paul is still using the analogy of fighting the fight, or finishing the course here. Part of the course was to be a watchman, spreading the news of the imminent danger of being outside of Christ, and the great rewards of being in Christ. Ezekiel 3:18-21; 33:2-9. He is admonishing the believers to follow his example in being watchmen. Acts 20:28-30 That they are to take up the torch where Paul left off and to make sure that the wolves did not come in and destroy the Church that Christ had built. the analogy of wolves also comes from Ezekiel 22:23-31. The wolves, the false teachers were waiting to come in to destroy the young believes and to drag them away to false doctrines. In reference to the Ezekiel passage, the call is tremendous, with all the false prophets trying to deceive the church, who is going to stand in the gap, build up a wall and defend the body of Christ? That admonition is true especially today. All of us can testify to the existence of false prophets, and those who are using faith in Jesus for their own monetary gain. If we talked for a few minutes, each one of us could probably name off several without further research. The question is still applicable today, are we willing to stand in the gap and fend off the wolves, holding the banner of truth high? Are we willing to separate ourselves from the world, and to live according to the leading of our Lord Jesus Christ? Paul set the example, just as he admonished the believers at Ephesus, let's follow his example. Acts 20:31-35 The meat of the message, Paul admonished each one of them for a period of three years. He made sure that his intentions would not be mis-understood by raising his own support. He encouraged them to draw near to God, and showed them how to do it. Notice verse 32, God actually does the work! He is the one who builds us up, and builds our faith through His grace. He is the one who gives the inheritance to His sanctified ones. He is the one who does it, all that we do, is to draw near. All we do is surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Just as Paul was willing to draw near and surrender his life to Jesus, so also we are to draw near, being willing to surrender, and being willing to follow His instructions. And by doing so, "He Himself said 'it is more blessed to give than receive.'" v.35 NASB Acts 20:36-38 Can you imagine, after three years of Paul ministering to them on a daily basis, it is time for him to leave for good. They can't just call him back over for the evening, flying him back on an airplane. They know that they probably will never see him again. It has to be a difficult time. Exodus 31 A very short chapter. To summarize it quickly, look at the requirements of the Sabbath, if anyone worked on the Sabbath they were to be put to death. The Sabbath was a covenant to the Jews that God is the one who does the sanctification. Not man. God does all the work in the sanctification process, the Sabbath was to remind us that the Lord sanctifies. Along the same line of thinking, if the Law of God reveals sin, doesn't it stand to reason that through the law being taught on the Sabbath, that man should realize that it is impossible to keep the law? Lord, as we study Your Word together today, encourage each one of us to strive toward purity, to strive toward emptying ourselves, and allowing You to be the complete Lord of our lives. In Him, Joe Turner. |
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