Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Acts 6 - NIV   Enduring Word Commentary The Choosing of the Seven 6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” One of the first conflicts came up in the early church between the Greek Jews and Hebrew Jews. The Greek Jews' widows were not being taken care of. They took this matter to the disciples, who wisely decided not to focus their attention on these internal matters which would take away time and energy to preach the Word. Although ther...

Acts 5 - NIV   Enduring Word Commentary All quotes from David Guzik's Enduring Word Commentary unless noted! Ananias and Sapphira 5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. We read in Acts 4 that all of the believers sold property and put it at the feet of the apostles for helping those in need in the church. But Ananias deceptively sold a piece of property (which may indicate he had more than one) and made it look like he was putting all of the proceeds at the apostle's feet.   The ancient Greek word for kept back is nosphizomai, which means “to misappropriate.” The same word was used of Achan’s theft in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Joshua 7:21). The only other time nosphizomai is used in the New Testament, it means to steal (Titus 2:10). Clearly, both husband and wife were partn...

Acts 4 - NIV   Enduring Word Commentary Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin 4 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. The religious leaders thought they had gotten rid of the problem when they crucified Jesus. But, little did they know they could not snuff out the movement Jesus started. Peter and John's preaching, and the miracles they did, brought five thousand people to faith in Jesus. Note they taught people about how Jesus fulfilled the old covenant under Abraham and Moses and proved He was the Messiah by his resurrection. The leaders realized that things wer...

Acts 3 - NIV Enduring Word Commentary Peter Heals a Lame Beggar 3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Jesus had told the disciples they were going to do the things he did and even greater things. I wonder if they really believed him at the time. Maybe after today they did. There were also stories in the gospels about beggars near the temple like the one today. I.e. John 5 where Jesus healed the lame man by telling him to pick up his mat and walk. This guy was also lame since birth so it was probably thought he deserved his disability.  Si...

Acts 2 - NIV Enduring Word Commentary The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost 2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Pentecost was a term that meant " 50 days ". The feast of Pentecost in the Jewish faith was celebrated 50 days after the Passover. Yesterday, we learned that 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to the right hand of the Father. Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit.  The disciples did as Jesus commanded and sure enough a sound like a violent wind filled the house where they were staying. When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a do...

Today we begin our journey through the exciting book of Acts. More appropriately it should be called, "The acts of the apostles". It is the first book in the bible after the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It chronicles the exciting growth of the church right after Jesus ascended to heaven, 40 days after the resurrection, and ten days later on the day of Pentecost. The first part of Acts shows the ministry of the apostle Peter, primarily to a Jewish audience. At the end of this first section, God reveals to him that the gospel is to be proclaimed to all people. Then, we learn of the conversion of the Apostle Paul and how through his ministry the gospel spread like wildfire through our Europe and Asia.  I have heard over many years of ministry, " We need to be like the church in the book of Acts! " The fuel for the early church was the power of the Holy Spirit. We still have this same Holy Spirit today, so we shouldn't expect any less power from Go...

John 21 - NIV Enduring Word Commentary I am so glad John 21 was included in the canon of scripture. The stories in the chapter give us a glimpse of Jesus' interaction with the disciples after his resurrection that we don't get in the other three gospels.  Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish 21 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. It was no accident that the disciples went back to fishing. It was what they knew. Jesus knew they were there and appeared to him. The Sea of Galilee was the home of the disciples, and where Jesus called them to be his followers. All in all, 7 of the disciples were there. Peter expressed what...

John 20 - NIV Enduring Word Commentary   (All quotes from David Guzik unless otherwise noted!) The Empty Tomb 20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” John gives us many details about what happened post-resurrection, which the other 3 gospels did not report. Because it is the John's gospel, he these are probably eyewitness details. When Mary saw the empty tomb, she immediately ran to tell Peter and John. She did not make the connection between the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection. She assumed the worst that someone had stolen Jesus' body from the tomb. That seems unlikely as what would be their motive for doing so.  3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were r...

John 19 - NIV Enduring Word Bible Commentary Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Flogging was very painful. Sharp, lead balls raked across one's flesh and dug in to induce maximum pain. It is also known as "scourging".  Pilate gave the order, so Jesus was scourged according to Roman practice. The blows came from a whip with many leather strands, each having sharp pieces of bone or metal at the ends. It reduced the back to raw flesh, and it was not unusual for a criminal to die from a scourging, even before crucifixion. - Guzik Purple was the color of royalty, so they clothed him in a purple robe and also twisted a crown of thorns, which dug into his forehead. These items were meant not only to inflict pain but also humi...