Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 17 In Thessalonica This was an important port city, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) and a three-day walk from Philippi. Modern Thessalonika is still a large, thriving city. - Guzik We see the familiar pattern of Paul going into the local synagogue to teach and preach that Jesus is the Messiah, who suffered, died, and rose from the dead. It is says Paul " reasoned with them from the scriptures ". The role of teachers in the church are to take the scriptures and explain them in a way that makes sense. Paul persuaded and proved to them that Jesus was the Messiah.  The teaching and preaching of scripture is persuasive and always proves to be true. The scripture is flawless and when interpreted rightly never fails to achieve what is intended for, the saving of souls. There were also God-fearing Gentiles, who were drawn to the truth in Jesus Christ.  But as before, others rounded up the mobs to find Paul and Silas and give them trouble. They th...

Click Here To Read or Listen to Acts 16 Timothy Joins Paul and Silas Paul and Silas added Timothy to their missionary team to replace John Mark. Timothy became Paul's protege. He was a like a son to Paul. Timothy's mom was a Jewish believer, but his father was Greek, so Paul asked him to be circumcised. He agreed, which was a pretty big sacrifice for to make. They also delivered the decision to the Gentiles in the other churches that the church in Jerusalem had voted to not make them get circumcised.  Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia While traveling around Asia, Paul receives a vision from a man from Macedonia. The vision is so strong that Paul is prevented from going into one of the provinces. It is says the Spirit of Jesus would not let him go in. The phrase, "the Spirit of Jesus" reminds us that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Father sent the Son to the earth, and the Son sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to be with us forever.  The Ma...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 15 The Council at Jerusalem It would only be a matter of time before the church had its first conflict. This came when some believers came from Jerusalem to Antioch and started teaching that Gentile converts needed to be circumcised under the Laws of Moses. Paul and Barnabas were vehemently opposed to this, so they went to Jerusalem to resolve the matter with the church, specifically the apostles and the elders.  This was incredibly important time in the life of the early church. Would they keep the gospel free of charge? Or, go back to the Law? Paul says in Galatians, "Having received the gospel, will you return to the slavery to the Law? (See Paul's discussion of this with the believers in Galatians 3.} One their way back home they strengthened the believers in the Jewish churches. They let them know that Gentiles were coming to faith, as the prophet Amos had foretold. When they got back to Jerusalem, the apostles and elders met to discu...

Click Here to Listen to or Read Acts 14 In Iconium Paul and Barnabas continued their strategy of going first to the Jewish synagogue in Iconium. When they preached the word BOTH Jews and Gentiles came to faith. It says they spoke "effectively". This meant that their words were used by God to bring people to faith.  Paul and Barnabas presented the gospel in a way that invited belief. The way they preached encouraged people to believe in the message of who Jesus is and what He had done for them. - Guzik They were "winsome" to "win some".  Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there. Not only did they preach and teach but also performed miraculous signs, which again confirmed their message. The main purpose of miracles and signs is to point to the truth of Jesus is both Savior and Lord. Meanwhile BOTH Jews and Gentiles didn't like what was happening and plotted to stone them. But, the disciples learned about it and got them out of town right away.  In Lystr...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 13 As the church gathered in Antioch, there were different men gifted in teaching and prophecy exercising their gifts. As they prayed, the Holy Spirit told them to pray over Saul and Barnabas send them off to work the Lord had called them to. There is debate over whether or not the Holy Spirit literally spoke this to them.  The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit spoke, whether it was audibly, or through the prophets, whose role it was to be God's mouthpiece. After they fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them off on their new mission. This model has been used to send off missionaries today. Note there is always a sending church, in this case the church of Antioch.  On Cyprus Cyprus was an island in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Antioch. Luke states that John Mark also joined them.  When they were surveying the island, they met a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas. When the proconsul of the island, Sergius Paulus, asked for ...

Click Here To Read or Listen to Acts 12 Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison The persecution increased under King Herod. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.  This was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, who ruled in the days of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2:1-16). Herod Agrippa I was also the nephew of Herod Antipas, who had a role in the trial of Jesus (Luke 23:7-12). - Guzik James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. He was also part of the inner circle of Jesus' closest friends (Peter, James, and John). Jesus has predicted that some of his apostles would die by the sword and this was the case with James.  Meanwhile, one of Jesus' other closest associates, Peter, was put in prison. As Peter awaited his fate, the church was gathered and praying " earnestly " for him. As we see the miracle that is about to happen, we need to remember that before anything happened, the church prayed earnestly.  Peter was being guarded very closely. H...

Click Here to Listen to or Read Acts 11 Peter Explains His Actions Peter took a risk in reaching out to Cornelius, given he was a Gentile. Sure enough when he got back to Jerusalem, he was questioned by the circumcised believers, which we would assume means Jewish Christians. We would have expected this is of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, but not of the new believers. It shows that they were still holding on to the legalism of their upbringing. They were still seeing God through their previous lens. Ironically, the Old Testament had passages talking about the inclusion of the Gentiles in God's plan of salvation.  But, after Peter recounted the whole story of his divine encounter with Cornelius, it appeased the believers and they even praised God that the mission had extended to the Gentiles. One of the key reasons for their acceptance was that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit in the same way the Jewish believers did on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was the sign of God...

Click Here to Read or Listen to or Read Acts 10 Cornelius Calls for Peter This story has an immense amount of significance for the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles. We learn of a man named Cornelius, who was a centurion in the Roman Army. A centurion oversaw 100 Roman soldiers, so he was a man of authority and power.  Cornelius was also what the passage calls a "God fearer".  Cornelius was in the category of what the Jews called God-fearers (one who feared God). These were Gentiles who loved the God of Israel; they were sympathetic to and supportive of the Jewish faith. Yet they stopped short of becoming full Jews in lifestyle and in circumcision. - Guzik Cornelius suddenly saw an angel in a vision. He knew it was a divine being because he said, " What is it Lord? " The angel told him that his prayers and gifts to the poor had been seen by the Lord. Then he told him to go get Simon Peter, who was at the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea. So, Cornelius in obedi...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 9 Saul’s Conversion As we have read so far, Saul was one of the leading persecutors of Christians, who Luke calls "people of the Way". I like the term "the way". I once had a bible with that name on the cover. Jesus is the Way. He leads us to God and continues to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life for the rest of our lives. He was so ruthless he even persecuted women.  But little did Saul know his life was about to change dramatically.  As he was going to Damascus to do some more persecuting, suddenly a blinding light (literally) made him drop to the ground. And then an audible voice said, " Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me" . This gives us a valuable principle if we are being persecuted. When we are being persecuted, they are persecuting the "Jesus who lives in us".  Saul was blinded and led back into Damascus. He ate and drank nothing for 3 days. Saul was so overwhelmed about what just happened, he cou...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 8 The Church Persecuted and Scattered Verse 1 says, " Saul approved of their killing him ." In a few chapters we will see one of the most important conversions in the history of Christianity, but at this point Saul was in favor of killing Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  Stephen's death was only the beginning of massive persecution against the early church. Only the apostles stayed in Jerusalem as the rest of the believer were scattered abroad. The word "scattered" had important meaning.  According to Boice, there are two different words in the ancient Greek language for the idea of “scattered.” One has the idea of scattering in the sense of making something disappear, like scattering someone’s ashes. The other word has the idea of scattering in the sense of planting or sowing seeds. This is the ancient Greek word used here. Philip in Samaria Philip went out preached and also healed and cast out evil spirits. Many took n...

  Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 7 Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin When we ended Acts 6, Stephen was looking up into the sky with his face looking like that of an angel. Now Stephen gets a chance to preach to the Jewish leaders. God often uses our adversity as a an opportunity to proclam the gospel. In this case Stephen gives a history of God's involvement in the life of Israel and its people. He recounts God's saving acts from Abraham, whom God made an everlasting covenant with, to Solomon who built the first temple for the Lord to dwell in.  In this history he shows how Israel was a " stiff necked " people. Maybe you don't understand what this word means.  To be stiff-necked is to be obstinate and difficult to lead. The Bible often uses this figure of speech when describing the attitude of Israel toward God (e.g., Exodus 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:13; Nehemiah 9:16; Acts 7:51). The term was originally used to describe an ox that refused to be directed by the fa...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 6 The Choosing of the Seven As the early church grew, a problem arose with the Greek speaking widows, who were being neglected in favor of the Jewish speaking widows. The apostles knew it was a problem but decided that they could not do everything. They needed to focus on praying and spreading the word. So the community chose 7 men, who were full of the Holy Spirit. They ministered to these widows. Later they were called " deacons ". The word means simply " servant ".  This is a great example of the apostles not trying to do everything themselves. They delegated and allowed other people in the community to use their spiritual gifts to meet this problem. This decision was a good one because it not only met the problem of feeding the widows, who were being neglected, but it also freed the apostles and got more people involved in the ministry. This principle is as much needed now than ever. We call this " equipping the saints f...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira This is one of the more frightening stories in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, we see plenty of instanced of God's fearsome judgment but not many in the New Testament. Yesterday, we talked about how the believers shared all of their possessions in common, and some when they sold property but gave it to the apostles to do what they thought best. But, in this case a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, sold their property took some of it and gave the rest to the apostles.  But Peter somehow knew what they had done through the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Peter called him out saying,  Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 4 Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin Jesus had promised the disciples that as the leaders had treated him, they would be treated in the same way. And the beginning of this treatment started right away after Peter and John healed the lame beggar. The Sanhedrin was the ruling body of the Jews. They were worried because the healing of this man created quite an uproar. They were worried for many of the same reasons they were worried when Jesus healed people.  Compounding the matter was the fact that 5,000 people had believed in their message. So they questioned th em asking them in what name or power did they do this. Peter says unabashedly,  "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed." Peter also reminded him that they had crucified this same Jesus. Then Peter declares,  "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under h...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 3 Peter Heals a Lame Beggar Jesus had told the disciples they would do even greater things than he had done, because he was going to the Father and would send to them the Holy Spirit. As John and Peter gazed upon the lame beggar, he looked into their eyes thinking they might give him some money. But instead they said, " In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and walk." When they took him by the hand, he got up and walked. He was so elated he jumped up and all around the temple. It must have been quite a sight seeing the once lame man jumping up and down and praising God with great joy in the temple courts! The disciples were now doing the things Jesus promised them they would do in the power of Jesus Christ. Notice they prayed, " In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth ". The power and authority came from Jesus' name. Reminding people that he came from Nazareth, recalled his human birth. Calling him Jesus Christ, affi...

Click Here to Read or Listen To Acts 2   The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost The day had finally arrived that Jesus had told the disciples about and told them to wait for. This is one of the three Jewish festivals which was called "Pentecost". It also called the "Festival of Weeks". It was a festival to give thanks for the Spring Harvest and for the Israelites entering Jerusalem.  " Historically, Pentecost (Shavout) is a Jewish feast celebrating the giving of the Torah and the summer wheat harvest. It was celebrated 50 days after Passover and was marked by pilgrims coming to Jerusalem from all over the world to celebrate the event ." (learnreligions.com) For Christians Pentecost stands for 50 days after the resurrection. The disciples were all gathered in one room, and the Holy Spirit came down like a violent wind and looked like divided tongues of fire that rested on each of them. They started speaking in tongues in the languages of all the Jewish people w...

Click Here to Read or Listen to Acts 1 Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven It doesn't take long to realize that the writer of Acts is none other than Luke, the physician, who begins the book in the same way he does in Luke 1.  In his former book Luke gave a detailed account from the eyewitnesses of Jesus. In this book, he now will teach about all that happened after Jesus was taken up into heaven after 40 days. During these 40 days, he had given the apostles many convincing proofs that he had indeed been raised from the dead.  The former account is the Gospel of Luke. At one time the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were joined together as one book with two volumes. - Guzik The disciples were not sure what was going to happen next. Was Jesus going to restore Israel right then and there? Jesus answered this question by stating,  “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; a...

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 21   Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish I am so glad we have the gospel of John, so we could know this story of Jesus reappearing with his disciples (7 of them). Jesus had called these fishermen (now we know 7 of them made their livelihood by fishing) in virtually the same way he did when he started his public ministry. They were fishing all night as before, and Jesus met them in the morning. They hadn't caught anything. Not very good for professional fishermen. Jesus told them to throw their nets over the boat, and they brought in a huge haul of fish once again.  They didn't recognize it was Jesus at first, but when they did, they all rushed to the shore to meet him. John recognized him first, and Peter was the first to jump into the water to go to shore. This was reminiscent of their race to the empty tomb, after the women told them about it. When they got to the shore, Jesus had made a fire for them to enjoy breakfast. This was their...