Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Acts 26:4  “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child,  from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.   5  They have known me for a long time  and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect  of our religion, living as a Pharisee.   6  And now it is because of my hope  in what God has promised our ancestors  that I am on trial today.   7  This is the promise our twelve tribes  are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night.  King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.   8  Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?   The answer to the question, "God make a rock He can't lift?", is an interesting paradox.  This paradox is a called an "omnipotence paradox".  So how do we solve this seemingly answerable question about God's power.  "Omnipotence" means "all powerful".  You ca

Acts 25 Festus Consults King Agrippa 13  A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea  to pay their r espects to Festus.   14  Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. He said: “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner.   15  When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him  and asked that he be condemned.  16  “I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.   17  When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in.   18  When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 19  Instead, they had some points of dispute  with him about their own religion  and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. 20  I was

Acts 24  When the governor  motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.   11  You can easily verify that no more than twelve days  ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.   12  My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple,  or stirring up a crowd  in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city.   13  And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.   14  However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors  as a follower of the Way,  which they call a sect.  I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,   15  and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection  of both the righteous and the wicked.   16  So I strive always to keep my conscience clear  before God and man.  After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for

23  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin  and said, “My brothers,  I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience  to this day.”   2  At this the high priest Ananias  ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.   3  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  4  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”  5  Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’” As Paul is on trial before the Sanhedrin, which is made up of 70 Jewish elders, he declares that he has fulfilled God's call on his life.  God had called him to preach to the Gentiles and now go to Jerusalem realizing that the Jewish leaders were agressively trying kill him.  Paul has nothing against his fellow Jews, notice he calls t

22  1  “Brothers and fathers,  listen now to my defense.”  2  When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic,  they became very quiet.  Then Paul said:   3  “I am a Jew,  born in Tarsus  of Cilicia,  but brought up in this city. I studied under  Gamaliel  and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.  I was just as zealous  for God as any of you are today. 4  I persecuted  the followers of this Way  to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,   5  as the high priest and all the Council  can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates  in Damascus,  and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.  6  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.   7  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me,  ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’  8  “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.  “  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth,  whom you are persecuting,’  he replied.

Acts 21:20-26 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous  for the law.   21  They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children  or live according to our customs.   22  What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,   23  so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.   24  Take these men, join in their purification rites  and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.  Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.   25  As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”   26  The next day Paul

Acts 20 " And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem,  not knowing what will happen to me there.   23  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me  that prison and hardships are facing me. 24  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me;  my only aim is to finish the race  and complete the task  the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." Paul is near the end of what he calls, "his race".  Like Jesus, the longer he preaches the gospel, he knows his days are numbered.  Just as Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem, now the Holy Spirit compels him to go there as well.  This word "compelled" is an important one.  What exactly does it mean?  How do I know if I am being " compelled " by the Spirit?   The word literally means to be "bound".  Interestingly it is a wordplay and points out that one day he would literally be "bound" in chains in Rome.   I th

Paul in Ephesus 19  While Apollos  was at Corinth,  Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.  There he found some disciples   2  and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit  when [ a ]  you believed?”  They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  3  So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.  4  Paul said, “John’s baptism  was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”   5  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.   6  When Paul placed his hands on them,  the Holy Spirit came on them,  and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.   7  There were about twelve men in all. Something interesting happens when Paul comes to Ephesus.  When Paul asks the disciples (presumably Christians) if they had received the Holy Spirit they say quizzically, " No, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit! "