Day 324 (Acts 11-12) - Year 6
08:43 Share

Hey, bible readers, i'm tardy couple and i'm your host for the bible recap.

Today everybody finds out what happened with the gentle son, says rea. Yesterday, when Peter gets back to jerusalem, trouble is, yesterday Peter mentioned that jews went supposed to associate with foreigner. That's one reason why I, god, had to correct this thinking by giving him the vision.

But the rest of the Christ followers back in jerusalem didn't see that vision. They don't understand what's going on. A group of them, known as the circumcision party, are not happy with the fact that Peter, one of the main apostles, has gone to hang out with a bunch of gentiles.

Their primary argument is that any foreigners who commit to following the jewish massage should have to convert to judis m. And adopt the jewish practice of circumcision as well. Since that's been the sign has set them apart for thousands of years.

Being set apart has been a major part of their culture for thousands of years. And any time bornes have decided to follow away, they've assimilate ted into judies m. Now that the masi has come and said that the gospel would go everywhere, they realized that lots of foreigner are probably be going to be converting.

They really want to protect their culture. Plus this is also no, they probably, we have no idea what to do with IT. And the different opinions are causing a lot of division intention among the believers in these early days of the church, when they're figuring things out, I can feel kind of clunky.

IT reminds me of the israel lights in the wilderness, fresh out of four hundred years of slavery, trying to figure out how to live as a free people in a civil society, and following patient god of an evil dictator. There's so much to learn, so many adjustments to make, but god patiently walks them through all the transitions, like the indwelling of the holy spirit. And the government will being preached to all the nations proactively, which is something the just never really done.

They've been very insulted. Making converts isn't really their thing even today. So especially early on, as the church is trying to follow jesus command to spread the gas pol, it's important to them to get god seal of approval on any new decisions for IT to be obvious and evident as they move forward that they're making the right decisions.

That's why they need to see the activity of the spirit, while they need to see obvious evidence that god is the one at the helm of anything new. Peter wants the circumcision party to know that god approved of everything he did, not because he is being defensive, but because he knows they need this kind of verification ation, and they're open to reason. He patiently explains everything that happened in order.

He tells them that god, the spirit, spoke to him and told him to gauge, as says aria, to speak to the gentiles. He shares the vision with them. He tells him how the gentz all believed in, how the holy spirit fell on them all.

And he points them to a teaching of jesus. That boy told this very thing, remember how jesus was always dropping little time capsules of truth along the way, things that didn't make sense in the moment, but that he knew that need in the future. Then Peter says, if god is approving of them, who am I to deny them? And not only does the circumcision party agree that Peter is right, but also glorify god for welcoming in the outsiders.

This is incredible. This is an important turning point in the early church. It's where we start to see that more than anything else, the holy spirit is the marker of god's people, not circumcision.

He is the unifier of his people across all racial and cultural divides. Some of the believers who fled russel m. In the persecution are pretty the goal, but only to the jews, probably because they haven't been filled in yet on what has happened with Peter in the gentiles.

Others preached the gospel to the greek speaking jews, known as the holiness. So they're branching out a little bit. And as we know, some of the holiness are already beevers.

They're the ones whose windows were being ignored in x. six. Who need other holiness, are converted. They started a church in their city.

And ioc, which is in modern day turkey, barnabo ts, word of IT, and goes to make sure everything is running smoothly. Then he even brings so with him. And they stay there for a year, teaching them and building them up.

And for the first time in scripture, believers in jesus are called Christians. This word is actually only used three times in scripture, including here, the church in anio c. Is thriving, and they're even sending money back to jerusalem to help care for the Christians there during a famine.

Then we run in the king hair IT again. But for the first time, same name, different king. Here's a quick refresher.

Here are the great was king when jesus was born. He is the one who had all the baby's murdered in Matthew too. Heard antipas was king when jesus was crucified.

And he's also the one you've be head of J T B. And now his neth w heard a gripper is on the throne. You don't need to remember any of that. There will not be a quiz. But if you anna read more on the haids there's an article in the showed tes harda gripper is a major persecutor of Christians in jerusalem.

He gets violent with a lot of them, and he murders one of the apostles in jesus inner circle, James, as in Peter, James and john, the local jews are thrilled about this, and heart wants to make them with them even more. So he arrested ter during passover. IT fells all too familiar.

The church starts praying, permanent repeat. He's locked up with two chains between two soldiers being watched by two guards guessed they did know with Peter, you need trees. At some point during the night, an Angel wakes him up by punching him in the side.

I'm not kidding. The word here means a forceful blow punched by an Angel. Wednesday, at eight, seven, central, the Angel tells them to get up than his chains fall off, and they walks straight out of the iron door as IT opens right in front of them.

At first, Peter thinks he just took to my gambian, but when he realizes the whole thing is real, he goes to marries house, not jesus mom, but the mom of a guy named john mark. He's believed to be the author of the gospel of mark. By the way, the disciples are all inside.

Behind locked doors, a girl name rota hears him knocked, but he is so over joined and shock that he leaves him outside in the cold. This is kind of funny, but also super dangerous. He's an escaped prisons and is one of the leaders of the people being persecuted.

And here he is, standing in the street in middle of night. When he gets inside, he whispers everything that happened. He tells him to fill all the other discipline, including James, the brother of jesus, not the James, who was just martel.

The next day, when the guards wake up and there's no Peter, they know they're in trouble here. Red orders them killed, then head goes off to meet with some rulers from terror inside and neighbouring studies to the north. He's upset with him, so they're fladgate him, praising him as god.

Immediately, an Angel of the lord strikes him dead because he received the glory that belongs to go alone after his death. The early church continues to thrive and grow in solin barn's head back to any okyo jerusalem. But this time john mark goes with them, what was your god? Jt, today, mine was afraid so small, I almost missed IT.

In eleven eighteen, right after Peter recounts the story of the gentle conversion to the people in the circumcision party, IT says they glorify god, saying then to the gentiles. Also, god has granted repentance that leads to life. The grey word for granted means given god has given repentance to the gentiles.

We often think of repentance as something that we Operate to god, but this first says it's something that he gives to us. He is the one who initiates our repentance, repentance as a gift from him. What an incredible gift to be given, eyes to see in, ears to hear, and a heart to know the truth, into surrender, to IT.

I'm so grateful he has granted me repentance. He is where the joy is. Tomorrow will be starting the second half ax.

So we're linking to a short video overview in the showut videos. S eight minutes long. So check IT out if you have some time. despair.

Hey, bible readers, if you are looking for a seamless way to stay connected the scripture, even when life is hectic, check out the dual bibel lab. I'm constantly on the move. And with the doll bible APP, I can listen to the bible in a way it's easy and engaging.

That's why we ve partner with will to bring you our new testament plan on their APP so you can dwell in god's word even when you don't have time to sit down and read. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking for a way to deepen their bible engagement, especially on go to get started now, go to dwell bible dot com forward, slash new or click the link in the show notes. We love that our tb r community has a large delegation. Spanish speakers, if you have spanishers speaking friends and family, let them know that the bible recap .

is available in spanish. We've got the reading plan podcast, the book and even instagram post translated and ready to go. The spanish version is called .

less and ops dalibard a, and you may need to adjust your language settings to spanish before you search for in a pod test APP or the bibo lap, go to the languages link at the bible recap dot com for more info, or click the link in the showing tes.