ACTS CHAPTER 21
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Act 21,1-3
(249b)
Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> True
perception of wealth >> Do not trust the carnal perception of wealth
>> Do not pursue wealth – We visualize Paul taking his journeys
in
his own sailboat, but here we see him hitching a ride on a cargo ship. It was
unlikely Paul and his companions were stowaways; they no doubt had permission to
come aboard probably for a nominal fee. It was by far the most economical way to
travel, though not the most stylish, and much cheaper than buying his own boat,
maintaining it, and then docking it somewhere and leaving it unattended for
months at a time. Paul usually traveled inland from city to city and then whishing to set sail from a
completely different harbor or maybe from a different ocean. So, it would have
been totally inefficient and cost prohibitive to own his own boat. Knowing Paul
who had the heart of Christ, if he had the money to buy a boat, he would have given
the money to the poor instead and continued sailing on cargo ships for a fraction of the cost,
yet nowadays we see so-called Christians flying in their own private jets, prosperity teachers who feel the need to lead by example,
living extravagant lives and forwarding the bill to their church members and TV
viewers, proving that their teachings actually work, at least for them they do.
As though this were the will of God that we all become gluttonous heathens,
they only prove their lack of relationship with Jesus, who said about people like
them, “You have your reward in full.”
Act 21-4,5
(131a) Thy kingdom come >>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Interdependent on each other to do the will of God –
This passage shows the relationships they had with each other being more
valuable to them than anything. It helps to explain the kind of life Christians had back then and how
missionaries lived. They were dependent on the brethren for everything, who bent
over backward for anyone who was in need, especially the leaders of the Church,
people like Paul and other missionaries who risked their lives for the gospel.
It was a privilege to serve them. They were ready to give whatever they
had to support their fellow Christian to the point of sacrificing their own
lives. There was a faith among them that the Church has lost, and for the most
part we don’t even know what we are missing.
Nothing we are told in church today has any bearing on the experiences that the First
Century Church enjoyed regarding relationships with each other. We have no idea how to foster the kind of unity
that was among the brethren in those days, and we are unable to muster their
level of commitment; we don’t know where they got it. We know they were
persecuted; the world doesn't persecute the Church today because it does not offend the world,
because we have not created enough separation
between us and them that anyone would notice. The only difference the world sees
in us is that we go to church and they don’t.
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Act 21-4
(105i) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Led by the Spirit into The will of God >>
Led by the authority of the Church –
Here is another incident of the disciples trying to save Paul’s life, and he
was resisting them again, just like he did in the theater (Act 19-30). Had he
gone in there, the mob would have pounced on him immediately and killed him,
and now he wants to go to Jerusalem. Paul had a death wish; he wanted to die
as a martyr for one of two reasons: either he wanted to go out in a blaze of
glory and fill the imaginations of those who would read about him throughout
the centuries, or else he was shooting for a better resurrection. His
intent was to visit Jerusalem, worship in the temple, be recognized by his
fellow Jews, killed on the spot like Zechariah who was killed between the
temple and the altar (Mat 23-35), or else be arrested first and then murdered,
but what happened? He was arrested and spent many years in prison awaiting
trial, and there wrote many of his epistles as the “prisoner of the Lord.”
His
friends were trying to save his life and prolong his ministry to see what else
God had in store for him.
(106i) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >>
Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >>
Through prophets -- This verse goes with verse 11. The
Church needed Paul; they couldn’t visualize the future without him, because
he was the man who best understood the gospel; he was the one most
committed to the faith and keeping the truth stain-free from false doctrine that
was waiting in the winds for the first opportunity to
infiltrate the Church, liars and deceivers that would come after his
departure. His fellow believers and disciples in the Lord knew the truth very
well, and they were able to avert imposters from Church leadership for a
while, but eventually they would break through their ranks and infiltrate their
teaching and doctrine, and their influence
is with us to this day. The disciples loved Paul, loved the Church and loved
their lives in the faith; he was their watchdog, and they knew his demise would bring negative change, and they were trying to
defer it.
(152k) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the
father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >>
True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- This verse goes with verses 9-14.
The
will of
God in a person's life can be a complicated thing. Scripture
is clear that it was the will of God for Paul go to Jerusalem and initiate the
chain of events that transpired, though his friends, who had a prophetic
anointing, were telling him not to go. He went because he
had a great interest in reaching his former colleagues, the Scribes and
Pharisees and his fellow countrymen the Jews. In the cities that had a synagogue he
went there first, and
the gentiles would investigate the commotion, and when the Jews rejected the
gospel, he would turn to the gentiles who were present. Paul knew that if the
Jewish people believed in Jesus, the gentiles would benefit, because the
gospel belonged to the Jew first, and the Jews were in position to understand
the gospel better than the gentiles, because they lived the Old
Testament regarding the prophecies that were
written about the suffering servant, and God had designed Israel for the
purposes of God, and for this reason they were better able
to convey the gospel to lands unknown, as Paul did. It wasn’t just
because he loved his fellow countrymen; he knew the Jews would make better leaders of the
Church if they only believed, for they could better piece the events of Scripture
together for the gentiles, but it was useless. Satan and thousands of years of
religiosity had twisted their minds into knots that no one could untie, not
Paul and not even God.
(177l) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >>
Presuming the will of God >> Presumption
interprets God’s word -- This verse goes with verses 11&12
Act 21-5
(123i) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Love >>
Spiritual affection >> Being in love with the
body of Christ >> Emotional situations –
Most will never know the full extent of emotions the people had that day. They knew they would probably never see Paul again in this
life; the love they shared for each other far exceeded the Church’s
experience in our own time. We go to church as a mere social gathering instead
of a spiritual union among the saints. We talk about our ice-cream
socials and make plans to get together during the week; some of us are close,
and somewhere in the mix is our Christianity, faith and brotherhood, but they
are buried beneath a thick coating of fleshly interests and worldly concerns.
The faith of most Christians is not at the forefront of their
relationships with each other. What causes faith to rise to the surface is persecution, for then
most of the imposters and liars and pretenders depart, leaving a high
concentration of faithful believers, who establish unity through an anointing they share by
the same Spirit that is in them all.
Act 21-6 -- No Entries
Act 21-7,8
(142i) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >>
Having a reputable ministry >> A reputation of
ministry in the word -- These verses go with verses 20-22.
Phillip the evangelist
may have been one of Jesus'
twelve apostles, who was now being called one of the seven, suggesting that
five of the original twelve had already deceased.
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Act 21,9-14
(44l) Judgment
>>
Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry >>
Make sacrifices –
Fruitfulness is the number one goal in God’s mind regarding His people. What
level of fruit can we expect if we make certain decisions? If we know that our
plans will not produce fruit for the Kingdom of God, then we should not do it, for He would never lead us to make unfruitful decisions, but if we make
a decision that we expect to produce fruit, God will bend over backwards to
help us. The question remains: are we striving to do our will in pretense for
God, or are we striving to do His will?
(54i) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> Ignoring the word of God to find
the will of God –
The prophet took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet with it and said, ‘The
same will happen to the man who owns this belt,’ but he didn’t say,
‘Therefore, don’t go to Jerusalem.’ He just forewarned him what would
happen to him if he did. This is a real lesson in the manner in which God leads us. Imagine Paul
being arrested or killed in the beginning of his ministry and losing all those
fruitful years of evangelism; it would have been a complete waste of life.
This would not have been the will of God for sure. In fact, this very scenario
almost played-out in Damascus shortly after his enlightenment, except that he
was rescued, “His disciples took him by night and let him down through an
opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket” (Act 9-25). He
wouldn’t have even acquired the name that he had as Paul the great apostle
and evangelist of the early Church. He would have been arrested, thrown in
prison as a virtual no-name, his ministry silenced before it even began. See
also: Paradox; 94h
(87d) Thy kingdom come
>> Obedience >> Church obeys all
the Father’s will –
God doesn’t micromanage us, even if Paul went to Jerusalem, terminating his ministry
as an evangelist. Had Paul
not gone, there is no question God had other things for him to do in other places spreading
the gospel, but apparently it wasn’t necessary since it didn’t happen. God
found ways of using Paul in his decision, and he remained
useful because of his faithfulness and obedient heart and his love for God,
but he was no longer an evangelist. There were no longer hundreds of people
coming to know Christ through his efforts, though inadvertently his many
epistles he wrote in prison more than made up for his loss of ministry in
evangelism with millions instead of thousands coming to Christ over the centuries.
That is, Paul
was far more credited for souls coming to Christ throughout the age of grace
than he was in his lifetime. He did the will of God as an evangelist for
many years in establishing dozens of churches, virtually reaching the known
world and accomplishing the goals that God set for him. Going to Jerusalem was
no longer a question of God’s will, but a question of what God was able to
make of it. What is God able to make of the things we decide to do with our
faith in Jesus after we have accomplished the goals that He set for us? It is
hard to say what we might accomplish in our lifetime, but who is to say
what might happen through our efforts after we are gone, what repercussions
might reverberate decades into the future or even centuries?
(94h) Thy kingdom come
>>
God’s perspective >> His perspective on the
witnesses of Jesus –
The prime motivator for Paul going to Jerusalem was love for his fellow
countrymen the Jews. He desperately wanted them to understand and believe in
the gospel and lead the world in faith toward God. Being a
prophet Paul probably knew Israel’s fate that throughout the age of grace
they would be persecuted as "Jesus killers", and he probably knew what kind of
managers the gentiles would make of the gospel, that it would fall into
disrepute before long and the pure message of a simple faith and separation
from the world would be lost. Much as he may have feared these things, they
came true, and he even helped them come true when he went to Rome and
taught the gospel to the Romans, who misconstrued everything and applied their
paganistic superstitions to the gospel and turned it into a religion not so
different from Greek mythology that they named Catholicism. Paul did everything he could to convince the
Jews that Jesus was their Messiah, but all he managed to accomplish was to
assist the Roman Catholic Church on its feet, which did more than any other
human institution to restrict the gospel from the common man. This is not to
condemn Paul, but to merely state a historical fact, that this was the result
of his efforts; anybody’s labor in the gospel is bound to be misconstrued
and used by Satan; it is the way of the world. Just the same, God has been
choosing from the world those who would be His worshippers over these two
millennia, despite Satan's efforts. From
our perspective it appears that Satan is in total control, but from God’s perspective, who pulls purified worshippers from the ashes, He can
barely keep from thanking the devil for his services. See also: Paradox; Act 21,11-14;
58l
(105la) Thy kingdom come >>
Faith >> Led by the Spirit into the wilderness >> Wilderness of pain
(152k) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the
father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >>
True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- These verses go with verse 33
(178i) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >>
Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for making false judgments
(216f) Sovereignty
>>
God overrides the will of man >> God’s will
over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >>
God forces His bond-servants to do His will
(232b) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >>
Count the cost >> The cost is more than you can
imagine so don’t count
(234h) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Sold out >> Placing no boundaries on your
commitment to God >> Going to any extreme to
fulfill the will of God –
God allowed Paul to go to Jerusalem, only because he did it from love for his
countrymen. This is a huge lesson in our own walk with God in effort to stay
in tune with His will. We wonder sometimes how God leads us. As Paul said in
Rom 12-2 there is the “good and acceptable and perfect” will of God. If
that is in sequence, then “good” is not acceptable and
“acceptable” is not perfect. Actually God has only one will for us,
leading us in a three-step process with the goal of perfection in mind.
Seeking the will of God, how he works with us is a mystery. How much does he
care about us; his love is incomprehensible, yet the better question is how He
actually deals with us and how we deal with Him, and how much leeway we have
in His will; to most people, it would probably be a surprise just how much we have. He sets certain goals for us to meet; for
example, in Act 16,6-12 God spoke to Paul in a night vision (dream) that he
should go to Macedonia. God didn’t care if he used a boat, camel or donkey
to get there, so long as he went in haste and presented the gospel to the
people living there. This was a goal that consumed most of Paul’s missionary
life, for Macedonia led to Philippi, which led to Europe, then onto
Thessalonica to Berea, Athens, Corinth....
(236b) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
All things are for your sake >> We are fighting
for you >> Our bondage is for your sake -- These verses go with verse 33.
Paul had a dream and was told by the Holy Spirit where to go next, and when he
went there it would be a gold mine of human souls prepared by God to believe
the gospel (Act 16,6-12). All his missionary journeys were extremely fruitful,
yet we don’t read that the Holy Spirit told Paul to go to Jerusalem, so was
Paul disobedient in this? Nowhere does it say that God was displeased with
Paul about going to Jerusalem, incurring persecution upon himself and
shortening his ministry in evangelism, because he made the decision from love
for his countrymen; he was willing to die for their sakes. It was probably his
vision that he would go down as a martyr preaching Jesus to the Jews in the
streets of Jerusalem, that it might turn some of them from their unbelief to
trust in the gospel and be saved, but it didn’t happen. It was a trend that
whenever he was persecuted for his faith in the public eye people would come
to Christ by the droves. Apparently, his ill-treatment made them think that if
Jesus was real enough to him, a man of God and a preacher of righteousness,
then it was real enough for them to get saved.
(242i) Kingdom of God
>>
Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >>
Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >>
World pressures you to forsake your values –
We could say that Paul’s fiends were pressuring Him to forsake his values,
but this was a surface issue compared to the motives he had to go to Jerusalem
in the first place. His friends wanted him to stay far from the city that
“kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her” (Mat 23-37), so
they could keep Paul a while longer that he might continue in the work he
was doing, evangelizing, making converts and establishing churches. The
problem with people’s opinions of us is that they have no idea about the
will of God for us. We are all shortsighted when it comes to the will of God
for others, and too often when it comes to our own calling from God. That is not a
criticism but simply stating a fact. Had Paul listened to his friends, God
probably would have continued using him as an evangelist, but what his friends
didn't seem to understand about Paul was his deep
love for his fellow Jews, and it is quite possible Paul knew that if the Jews
did not receive the gospel by the time he died, chances were highly improbable they
ever would until the end of the age. He wanted
desperately to see the Jews come to Christ because he probably also knew the
level of suffering they would incur throughout the coming centuries if they
didn’t. Paul probably knew that the Jews would be better managers of the
gospel than the gentiles, simply because they would have correctly viewed it
through the lens of the Old Testament. The gospel belongs in the hands of the
Jews; this is confirmed by all the denominations of Christianity in care of
the gentiles, though the Jews were unfaithful to the old covenant.
(248a) Priorities
>>
God’s priorities >> The will of God >>
We play our part in the will of God >> Knowing
the will of God –
Was it the will of God that Paul went to Jerusalem? The answer to this
question can help understand how God dealt with the Israelites throughout
Scripture; it can also help understand our own way with God. We know Paul’s decision changed the
course of his life, ending his career as an evangelist, except when he got to
Rome he was released and taught the word of God there for two solid years. It
also changed the story of Scripture, for had he not gone to Jerusalem there
would have been other things to write about Paul’s exploits. It even changed
world history, for Rome heard the word of God in purity, which became the seed
that spawned the Roman Catholic Church. Paul’s suffering invariably led to salvation for
others. He no doubt was thinking this when he went to Jerusalem, knowing that
he would be arrested; but when we go back and look at what happened, the best
we could say is that Paul wrote many of his epistles to the churches while in
prison, and the New Testament has undoubtedly helped more people get saved
throughout the last two millennia than those who were saved during his
ministry as an apostle and evangelist.
(248l) Priorities
>>
God’ s preeminence >> Values >>
The Highest Values >> The life to come is more
important than this one
– The only person who thought Paul should go to
Jerusalem was Paul, thus
it was the consensual will of God. Paul not only knew the risks, he actually
invited them into his life. He was a stubborn man, which God used most of the
time for good, but sometimes it got in the way and God had to work around his
stubbornness, just like He does with all of us. He wouldn’t listen to
anyone; he knew he would not receive a warm welcome from the Jews, yet this did not violate the will of God,
who was able to weave His will
into the circumstances to keep Paul safe. It
was like he had a death-wish; he earnestly desired to be a martyr for Jesus,
and the best way to do that was travel to Jerusalem. This way he
could be a martyr and have a better resurrection and a better reward in
heaven, but God had other plans for him; he wasn’t going to heaven just yet.
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Act 21,11-14
(7d) Responsibility
>>
Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by
preaching it – These verses go with verses 26-30
(58l) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> The Lord is warning Paul
/ The Lord is promising Paul -- These verses go with verses 30-40. All the prophets were warning Paul that if he
goes to Jerusalem he will be bound and tortured and possibly murdered, so is God
telling Paul through the prophets not to venture into Jerusalem? Paul didn’t see it that way, so
why did God show the prophets these things? It was as though the Holy Spirit
sent a broadcast message to the whole church, not so much to warn Paul but the
people that they would one day lose their fearless leader. Had Paul
interpreted it as the word of the Lord not to go to Jerusalem, he would not
have gone; rather, he saw it as the Spirit forewarning him of his imminent
future. Paul was by no means going to run from these people, and he determined
that they would not make him feel restricted from going certain places, for
this was God’s earth, and Jerusalem was His city; it didn’t belong
to them. Using our 20/20 hindsight, what was the purpose of going to Jerusalem? The full
answer to that questions is complicated, but the short answer is this: Paul said he
wanted to be there in time to celebrate Pentecost with the elders (the
original apostles of Jesus). He went there to defy his opponents and to
show the Church for all time and especially the Church in the last days that
we are here to defy Satan and his one-world government and defy the Mark of
the Beast and defy fear of being martyred for our faith. See
also: Paradox; Act 21,9-14; 54i
(101e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Zeal does not count the cost >> Zeal goes to
extremes -- These verses go with verses 30-40
(123j) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Love >>
Spiritual affection >> Being in love with the
body of Christ >> Weeping in the Spirit
(188c) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Suffering >>
Growing pains >> Growing outwardly
(189g) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Martyr >>
Martyrs witness to the life of God – Being a martyr was the ultimate goal of
Christians back then, as opposed to some of the radical Muslims with their
wild-eye-ed ideas, who call themselves martyrs for killing themselves and
taking as many “infidels” with them as possible. This is stretching the
word "martyr" to mean something it doesn't, just as they have done to the truth about God,
whom they do not know. What aspect of these people actually corresponds with
the truth? Absolutely nothing! In fact, listening to their monologue, we never
hear them use the word “truth”.
Act 21-11,12
(177l) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >>
Presuming the will of God >> Presumption
interprets God’s word -- These verses go with verse 4. This
man with Paul’s belt was a prophet, and he prophesied that Paul would be
arrested in Jerusalem, and it says that he would be delivered into the hands
of the gentiles, Roman governors. He would have to appear before them and give
a defense, and as a result many years peeled off his life in prison as a
result of going to Jerusalem, and for this reason the people were begging him
not to go. Afterward Paul spent many years in prison waiting to be heard.
Paul’s friends didn’t understand their own prophecies that they spoke over
him, begging him not to venture into Jerusalem, knowing that these things
would happen to him. The Holy Spirit prophesied these things, and they
interpreted it as warning Paul, but he took it as informing him of his fate.
That is, Paul should go to Jerusalem where he would be arrested according to
the will of God. Was it really the will of God that Paul should waste all
those years in prison when he could have been fruitful as a free man preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and expanding his evangelism ministry and
establishing more churches? Paul was getting older and slowing down, and he
more or less reached his goal in evangelism and wanted to switch gears, but
the real motivation behind Paul was the hope of reaching the Jews with the
gospel. He always had a heart for his countrymen and earnestly desired them to
believe in Jesus for their own sake, and also for the preservation of the
Church and for the gospel. He knew that the gentiles would need the Jewish
people to manage the doctrines of the faith throughout the age of grace, not
that they did such a bang-up job preserving the old covenant but because they
were God’s people according to the flesh and it was their job to manage all
things pertaining to God. As it was, they rejected the gospel overall, making
the Church named after the gentiles, which after the third century turned to
Catholicism, which is a pagan/Christian religion, if you can see a paradox in
that. We all know from the Old Testament how much God hated worshipping baalim.
Also, God had in mind for Paul to write his epistles in prison, because if he
were not in prison, he was racing to the next city to share his faith with
everyone there. His writing did more throughout the age of grace to bring many
sons to glory than all of his preaching put together times a thousand.
Act 21-11
(106i) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Means of hearing from God >>
Through prophets -- This verse goes with verse 4
Act 21,12-14
(131l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Having soul ties
(152b) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the
father >> Apostles >>
Commitment to the cause proves apostleship
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Act 21-13,14
(6c)
Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause
>>
Jesus’ yoke of evangelism
(28c) Gift of God
>>
God is our advocate >> God protects the Church from the world -- These verses go with verses 27-40
(129l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Unity >>
Being in one accord >> Single minded >>
Going to any limit to fulfill God’s will
(148i) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >>
Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador
in chains -- These verses go with verses 27-36
(176l) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >>
Extremes >> Exception: going to
extremes to love God
(191f) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>> Result of putting off the old man >>
Set apart >> God sanctifies us through our
devotion to Him
(213h) Sovereignty
>>
God is infinite >> Jesus owns you >>
We are his instruments >> We are clay in the
potters hand –
This may be one the most complicated passages of the Bible. God wanted Paul
to go to Jerusalem so he could be captured by the Jews and sent to Rome to
preach the gospel to Caesar, ultimately resulting in setting up the Catholic
Church, which held the Protestant Church in bondage for twelve hundred
years. Why did God want Paul to go to Rome when He knew this would happen?
He knew the Catholic Church was destined to form no matter what anyone did,
so Paul might as well go to Rome that the gospel should be proclaimed
throughout the world with Rome as the hub that disseminated the gospel
according to the saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” That statement is
true, and so it its opposite, ‘All roads lead away from Rome.’ In this
way Paul produced more fruit than he could any other way. He could have
continued preaching the gospel from city to city, making converts and
establishing churches along the way. He was by no means too old to continue,
but sitting in prison he wrote many epistles that we read today, which had
the effect of saving more people throughout the age of grace than he did in
his lifetime. That is, we read Paul’s epistles because he went to
Jerusalem.
Act 21-13
(67h)
Authority >> Jesus delegates authority
>> Name of Jesus >> Sacrificing your life for the name of Jesus –
The angel said to Mary, “You shall call His name Jesus.” The name
“Jesus” means savior, “for He will save His people from their
sins” (Mat 1-21). Man uses words to think. In contrast, pick any animal
and we can be sure it does not think in literary terms, because it is not
language oriented; it doesn’t use words to represent meaning.
Our pet dog seems to know what we are saying, but more
likely it is deciphering our body language and voice inflections. It may understand a handful of
voice commands, but it most certainly does not
think on those terms. It has no inner monologue (which is typically more
haunting than useful). The point is: our language orientation causes us to erroneously associate
the name of Jesus with the person of Christ, but we don’t realize that His name merely
refers to Him. We have a hard time separating the meaning of words from the
entities to which they pertain, suggesting that we think of them as equal; in
other words, we think the name of Jesus is
equal to the person of Christ, the Son of God, but this is not actually the
case. Again, we are not good at
distinguishing between a person's name and the person himself, which usually
is harmless, but we run into trouble when we
believe the name of Jesus is the same as the person of Jesus. For this reason
many people think the name of Jesus has power in itself, but Heb 1-3 says that
the power of God is in the person of God and not in His name, for “He upholds
all things by the word of His power” (not by the power of His word). In the same way,
then, the name of Jesus calls on the power of
God, but it does not have power in itself, anymore than Scripture has power in
itself, otherwise mankind would have destroyed himself with it long ago.
(233c) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >>
Seeking the goals of the kingdom >> Seek the
goal of knowing God (faith) –
We were given the name of Jesus, so we could know the Son of God, whom we
ascribe glory and praise, so the world knows whom we serve. However, before
Christ and even before Moses, mankind must have wondered about God, no
doubt wondering whether He had a name. Moses said to God, “Now they may say to
me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?” and we all know His answer;
tell them “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3-13,14). “I AM” is more a
description of God than His actual name; in fact, it is possible we still
don’t know the real name of God (Rev 3-12). The term “I AM” implies that
He has always existed, which suggests He always will. Knowing God should be our
ultimate goal, knowing the unknowable (Eph 3-19).
Act 21,15-19
(143i)
Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >>
Popularity >> Sought commendably >> Being sought for your
relationship with God – It appears the reason Paul so earnestly
desired to go to Jerusalem was to relate his accomplishments that he achieved
through Christ to the elders and the remaining original apostles. Remember that the
elders had originally received him at the beginning of his ministry, when
Barnabas recognized Paul as a bona-fide convert to Christianity with potential as a
minister of the gospel. Barnabas saw his heart and zeal and brought him to these
same elders whom Paul was again seeking, not for their approval this time but to share
an account of his accomplishments that resulted from their approval of him. He
related to them how many gentiles were receiving the gospel, expanding the Kingdom of God
and even prevailing in many communities that he had visited. None of Paul's
accomplishments would have been possible without their initial confirmation of his stewardship. Without their endorsement he would have been a rogue
Christian trying to do good, a lone ranger not getting
very far. He needed acceptance and support to accomplish the many things he did
for the Lord.
Act 21-16,17
(235g) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Giving (your inner self) >> Hospitality
(providing a temporary home)
>> Being a good host
Act 21-18,19
(147a) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself >> Remember Jesus’ miracles
KJV
WEB
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Act 21,20-40
(179k) Works of the devil
>>
Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >>
Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people
through ignorance
Act 21,20-26
(1f)
Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> become all things to
all men >> Conform without compromise
– The elders told Paul to pretend to follow the
law, according to the old saying, ‘When in Rome do as the Romans,’ and
when in Jerusalem do as the Jews (1Cor 9,19-23). It might
have made him look like a chameleon to be this to one person
and that to another, but there are instances when
being yourself is unacceptable. Paul was appearing to have the values of the Jews; he was willing to revert to the old
standard to show
that he could be a Christian and live like the Jews. Paul had made up his mind to go to Jerusalem, and everybody was against
the idea, because the Jews had been seeking Paul’s life
for years, and now he was venturing into the lion’s den, into Jerusalem
itself as it were to tempt fate. His motive: he loved the Jews and wanted to
see them free and saved, and he wanted to fellowship with
the brethren, the leading apostles who were headquartered there and to share with them his
victories in the conversion of the gentiles throughout his many hair-raising
adventures and to worship in the holy city during the days of Pentecost. God
may have called him, or he may have determined in his heart to go; either
way, God protected him. In attempt to appease the Jews, they had him go through the rigors of old
covenant purification of the flesh, though it never purified anyone of sin. God had abolished old covenant rules and regulations of
worship, so that we now enter the Most Holy Place through
the word of God and prayer, and we can meet God in His spiritual tabernacle
through the blood of Christ, but in old covenant days they had to first
purify their flesh before entering the temple, and it was an arduous,
time-consuming process, which for Paul meant shaving his head among other
things after coming from the gentiles. So, we see Paul conforming to the
demands of the Jews without compromising his faith, unless a person used these performances to seek
God’s favor; he would then be denigrating the sacrifice of Christ.
(1m)
Responsibility >> Avoid offending
God >> Carrying a false burden >> Making
commitments that contradict Scripture –
Paul was in danger from the Jews who were
following the law, which is misleading enough,
but to follow misconceptions of the law was worse. Those
who follow the law have hundreds of commandments and ordinances they
must continually obey, but the apostles reduced them all to four things to
avoid. Eating meat
sacrificed to idols (see 1Corinthians chapter 8) was a common practice among
the pagans, though the
consumption of those foods would not hex a person or be physically or
spiritually toxic. Rather, it sanctioned idol worship, which sends the wrong
message as Christians. The second and third commandments, to abstain from eating blood and
from what is strangled, turn out to be health and moral issues.
Many diseases are carried through the blood and traumatized animals release large amounts of adrenalin, which is not healthy
for humans. Finally, to abstain from fornication is also a health and moral issue, which is
self-explanatory and is the only one of the four that is still relevant
today.
(62g) Paradox
>>
Anomalies >> Being clever >>
Maintaining a blameless reputation
Act 21,20-25
(108a) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >> Balance between truth and error >>
Wisdom brings balance between truth and error
Act 21,20-22
(142i) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >>
Having a reputable ministry >> A reputation of
ministry in the word -- These verses go with verses 7&8
KJV
WEB
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Act 21-20,21
(44ka) Judgment
>>
Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry
in evangelism >> Fulfill your ministry through opposition -- These verses go with verses
27-40.
Paul did some evangelism in Jerusalem, but he
spent most of his time and energy on missionary journeys in other parts of
the world. Paul’s routine, when he entered a city that he intended to
evangelize, was to find the Jewish synagogue and first preach to those in
attendance, who mostly if not all were Jews. Then after they rejected and
blasphemed, he would start preaching to the gentiles instead, who came to the synagogue
investigating the
commotion. From there he
would go from house to house as one faith encounter led to another.
(162ka) Works of the devil
>>
Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >>
Bondage >> Being slaves of men >>
In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to the Law
(176d) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without
knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Conviction
without commandment
(190j) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Circumcision >>
Circumcision is a sign of obedience >> Symbolism
over substance
(191d) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>>
Separation from the old man >> Extract the
leaven of false doctrine – Paul taught the Jews wherever he went on his
missionary journeys that we are saved by grace through faith and not by
works, but the Jews who lived in Jerusalem did not understand this. The Law of Moses
was meant only to point out sin and had no power to reconcile anyone to God.
They stumbled
over the law as a consequence of Israel’s long legacy of disobedience,
causing them to misinterpret the purpose of the law. God didn't give the law
as a means of forgiveness, but called
Israel to walk as their father Abraham did, by faith. The law, which came many years later, was given to expose sin, not to cure it. Over
the centuries, though, the Jews had misinterpreted the purpose of the law to
mean that if they did not obey it, they would fall out of favor with God, when
in fact a person who disobeyed the law had broken it in his heart long before
he broke it in practice, showing the connection between Abraham and Moses.
Their Jewish practices defined them, so that if they quit following the Law,
it would be as though they
stopped being Jewish.
Nevertheless, Paul was able to reach many Jewish people with the gospel, and was able to convince them that God sent His Holy
Spirit to replace the law, so that if we followed Him, as Heb
10-19,20 says, “…we have confidence to enter the holy place by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through
the veil, that is, His flesh.” In the new covenant we follow a living
person instead of a list of dos and don’ts, and inadvertently achieve far greater success
in fulfilling the law.
(196i) Denying Christ
>>
Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual
laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of
excellence with yours >> Lukewarm Christianity
(205ka) Salvation >>
Salvation is based on God’s promises >> Faith
versus works >> The faith of God versus the
faith of men >> Faith versus the law >> The work of faith versus the
works of the law –
The Jews in Jerusalem in no way
understood the gospel. Many of the so-called believing Jews who
hated Paul were converts of Peter and the elders, who had failed to wean
them off the old covenant law of Moses. They were at a complete loss as how to get
through to them that it was by grace that Christians should achieve the
righteousness of God. Paul had some success helping the Jews grasp
this concept, who lived in other regions of the world among the gentiles, clarifying it for us
too
in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. In these letters he
taught that instead of observing the old covenant law, we now inadvertently
fulfill it in the process of following the Holy Spirit. Ironically, when
God gave Israel the law, they refused to obey it, and when He replaced the law
with the Holy Spirit, they refused to let go of the law. The law was
deeply entrenched in their minds (not their hearts), and they could not conceive of demoting Moses in order to instill a new and
better way through the Spirit. Paul was extremely rigorous in striving to
make his converts understand that salvation comes by grace though faith and
not through the works of the law, yet Paul’s ministry was geared more to the
gentiles, who had a much easier time understanding this.
KJV
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Act 21,22-24
(171h) Works of the devil
>>
Manifestations of the devil >> Outward
appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate
the inside >> Simulating the outer man to
portray the inner man
Act 21,23-40
(54i) Paradox
>>
Opposites >> You cannot please people who have
predetermined that you are wrong
(103l) Thy kingdom come
>>
Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >>
Purified Through hardship
Act 21,23-26
(2e)
Responsibility >> Keep your commitments >>
it is better not to vow at all
Act 21-25
(10e) Responsibility
>> Keeping order in the Church >> Decrees of the Church
– These four restraints are the only "laws" that the original apostles
imposed on the Church, and they were pressured even to give these. In the
old covenant all animals that did not have a cloven hoof were off the menu;
things have changed from the old
covenant to the new. For example, nothing
says you can’t eat pork anymore; however, you had better cook it well
or you might contract parasites. Some
parasites, viruses and bacteria exist as spores that can
resist high temperatures, and for this reason God did not tell
His people to cook pork extra well, because some people would not have done
it, and then disease would have ravaged the camps, and soon the entire
nation of Israel would have had health problems, so He just banned pork
altogether. There were other foods that were off-limits for good reason,
virtually all bottom feeding creatures of the sea, such as lobster, scallops
and shrimp, yet they didn’t have a place on the new covenant list
because God wanted to make the point that His new covenant was not about
rules and regulations, but about obeying the Holy Spirit.
(32d) Gift of God >>
God is our Father >> Grace >> The grace of God’s
healing power – Abstain from eating blood for our physical
health. It is now understood that diseases are carried in the blood, and if we consume
it, we could
contract those diseases. God never gave a
reason to the Israelites not to eat blood; He just said not to do it, for how could
He tell them about micro- organisms? For this
reason Jesus was also vague about some of the spiritual aspects of God's
Kingdom, for we have no knowledge base to understand such things. Eat nothing that has been strangled
was another restriction
for our physical benefit. We have only recently begun to recognize the
imprudence of strangling an animal before eating it. It is extremely stressful
to the animal and gives enough time for adrenaline and other undesirable
hormones to filter into the tissues before it dies, and
these chemicals remain in the flesh for us to metabolize, which are health
hazards. We can avoid this simply by using a
quicker, more humane manner of killing the animal.
(135b) Temple
>>
Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the
body >> Immorality >>
Fornication – During Old Testament times, these four
restrictions were relevant, but the only one that has withstood the test of
time is fornication. By comparison, all the others have become largely
obsolete. Any sociologist could tell you that fornication has
a deleterious affect on society. Any nation without a moral compass with fornication is prevalent, the family structure crumbles, the moral fabric
disintegrates, people become depraved and soon there is nothing left in the
human soul that is redeemable. The amazing thing about the subject of
fornication is that it was never against the law in the Old Testament. It
said “You shall not commit adultery,” but fornication was not named. In
fact, there were many incidences in the Old Testament where fornication
occurred with no significant repercussions. The concept of having a
concubine was a form of fornication, which was not against God’s laws.
However, it was fornication that overthrew Solomon, whose many wives and
concubines led him to worship their idols, and it became a trap to the
nation of Israel. Fornication is a trap to any nation.
(173d)
Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism
>> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Worshipping
idols
– Eating meat sacrificed to idols, this
restraint was for our spiritual health. At the time idol worship
was common, and therefore so was food sacrificed to idols. Paul talked about
abstaining from eating such foods in 1Cor 8,7-13, saying also in
1Cor 10,27-29 that it is for conscience sake that we abstain, “I mean not
your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by
another’s conscience?” If someone sees us dining in an idol’s temple,
it would give him the idea that eating food sacrificed to idols was
acceptable to God, and the next logical step would be to condone idol
worship, which is eternally forbidden. We who have knowledge can eat the
food of an idol without actually worshipping the idol, but our weaker brother may
not understand this and automatically equate eating the food to idol worship. We would
be inadvertently teaching him that idolatry is acceptable
when it is not. There is only one God and we worship Him, and all the other
idols have demons behind them (1Cor 10-20). Most likely, food sacrificed to
idols is just as nutritious as any other food, but after it has been
sacrificed to an idol it is associated with worshipping demons, and for that
reason we should avoid partaking of it, not for our conscience, but for
the sake of others. The
application of this restriction still exists in the Catholic Church where
idol worship is still practiced. They believe the body and blood of Christ
literally replaces the bread and wine during communion. The priest must give
his blessing over the so-called Holy Eucharist before this
transubstantiation can occur. To the person with knowledge, we know that the
bread and wine are just that, but to participate in this ceremony among
those who believe that these things literally undergo a transformation is to
convey the message that we too believe it, when in fact we don’t.
Act 21,26-30
(7d) Responsibility
>>
Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by
preaching it -- These verses go with verses 37-40
Act 21-26
(122k) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Boldness in adverse
circumstances >> Go in places of adversity
(205h)
Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> New
covenant >> The old one is obsolete – These were the regulations that were required
of Israel by Moses. When those laws were first enacted so long ago at the base
of Mount Sinai just after the exile from Egypt, God worked close with the
children of Israel, showing
His mighty power every day for forty years.
Israel ate manna that fell from heaven; they saw the pillar of fire by night and the cloud hovering over the tabernacle by day. These rules of divine worship
were meant for them to observe throughout their generations, yet over the centuries, as God withdrew
from them because of sin, He loosened the consequences of their disobedience, so there were no immediate repercussions
as during the days of Moses. By Paul’s day any divine
consequences for disobedience had all but disappeared (Heb 8-13), their
old covenant having become rancid and toxic. People had grown distant from the
Lord in their hearts, their rituals reduced to mindless routines. The Jews
desperately tried to keep their ancient customs alive, though their
descendants became increasingly resistant to their religion, and when Jesus
took away these things, they refused to let them go. The term “rebellious Jew” is redundant,
yet they represent a cross section of all mankind.
KJV
WEB
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Act 21,27-40
(28c) Gift of God
>>
God is our advocate >> God protects the Church from the world -- These verses go with verses 13&14
(44ka) Judgment
>>
Transformation process >> Fulfill your ministry
in evangelism >> Fulfill your ministry through opposition
-- These verses go with verses 20,21
(72a) Authority >>
Ordained by God >>
We are ordained to walk in His authority –
We begin to see why Christianity didn't go over well with the Jews; they
weren’t ready to quit worshipping God according to their ancient customs
that was handed to them through Moses. They would need an authority figure to
tell them that their religion was no longer necessary and that a change had
occurred. Paul had no authority to tell them to stop worshipping God according
to the laws of Moses. What they needed was Moses or God Himself to descend
from heaven to tell them these things, and so He came, but they hung Him on a cross.
Now who will tell them that a change has occurred, certainly not Paul? The
catch-22 is that this change of covenants could not occur until they crucified
their King.
(117b) Thy kingdom come
>> Faith >>
Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke through
obedience
(126g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Peace >>
Peace in the midst of the storm
(162g) Works of the devil
>>
Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >>
Bondage >> Addicted to sin >>
Being a slave to the sinful nature –
In the mind of the Jews Paul was a traitor of their religion. They never
stopped a minute to think about anything he said. This very
accurately depicts the human condition beginning in the Garden of Eden with
Adam taking the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God said, “You shall surely die” (Gen 2-17); die meaning separation from
God, so enmity formed in the heart of man against God starting that day. This enmity is
spiritual in nature; it is not logical or sensible no even conscious, in that
the same forces
that are in Satan are also in us. This
mystery of lawlessness has yet to be defined, and perhaps it never will. Even in
heaven we may never understand the darkness that was once part of us. See also: Mystery of lawlessness (Satan fulfills the principles of
his own nature); Jn 13-18; 65i
(179d) Works of the devil
>>
Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >>
Stir up the crowd >> Stir up the crowd through
jealousy –
There were Jews in Jerusalem who were from Asia, and
Paul preached the gospel in Asia, and these same men who persecuted him there recognized him in the temple and stirred up the crowd against him, only
this time he was in Jerusalem, which for a prophet was like being in the
lion’s den. The audacity of Paul going there, the people arrested
him and dragged him from the temple, making mostly untrue accusations against
him, but some were true, particularly that Paul was trying to alter the Jewish
customs, preaching against the Law of Moses and against the temple. Paul
taught that all these things had been abolished by the new covenant
since Jesus was sacrificed, and that old covenant temple worship had become
obsolete.
In the ears of the Jews this was blasphemy, but to the Jews who believed in
Jesus it made perfect sense, because the ultimate sacrifice had already been
made, and the Holy Spirit has come into their hearts to show them right from
wrong; so who needs the Law anymore, and who needs the temple to make anymore
sacrifices for sin?
(185c) Works of the devil
>>
The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of
lawlessness >> Having no grounds for your hate >> Hating the Church without a cause
–
It wasn’t good enough to throw Jesus in jail or to
argue with Him or flog Him but to kill Him. In the same way, the Jews didn’t want Paul
arrested but murdered, and so nothing had changed; there was still no repentance. The whole world learned to hate the Jews
because they allowed their religion to become corrupt. What was the cause of the Jews
drifting so far from God’s truth that was written in their manuscripts
they read in their synagogue every Sabbath? The primary cause
was they made their religion all about themselves; anybody who makes
their religion about themselves will suffer the same fate. When Messiah
came and put their Old Testament into His own words, it sounded foreign to
them, because they had veered so far from its original message. When we go
back and read the Old Testament according to the way Jesus presented it,
it’s all there, but when we read the Old Testament according to Jewish
understanding, all we see is a lot of mechanical works, and a relationship with God
was completely removed. Is our relationship with Jesus
still intact or has our religion become mechanical too?
Act 21,27-36
(29a) Gift of God
>>
God is our advocate >> Delivered from our
persecutors
(148i) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >>
Obligation to preach the gospel >> Ambassador in
chains -- These verses go with verses 13&14
(242c) Kingdom of God
>>
Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >>
Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >>
Persecuting the word of God
Act 21,27-32
(163f) Works of the devil
>>
Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used
by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to
destroy the mouthpiece of God –
The Jews were in the process of killing Paul when the authorities rescued him
from their hands, and Paul took their abuse with love. There
are some people who are simply unable to believe the truth, though they are perfectly capable of
religion. We are talking about a heart made of stone and a mind that rejects
logic and reason; if we tried to explain God to them, invariably it would conflict
with
their previous beliefs (Act 7,54-60). The reason these
things have been written is not so much to emphasize the ignorance of the Jews but
to
emphasize the ignorance of man, because the Jews represent mankind. Had God
chosen any other race or nation, they would have followed exactly in Israel's
footsteps, fifteen hundred years later their minds completely devoured by religion,
having already happened to many gentile churches. Try to tell people in just
about any church that their doctrines are skewed, and we will be escorted
from the premises and told never to return. In fact, churches these
days have pastors who are completely inaccessible to actually prevent this encounter
from happening; that wasn’t
true just thirty years ago. There was a time we could go to about any
church and the doors would be open, and we could speak to the pastor about
whatever we wanted without an appointment, but now we can’t even see him by
appointment. The Jews are not unique in preferring religion over a genuine
relationship with God. See also: Apostasy
(Miss the second coming of Christ);
Mat 22,3-6; 18i
Act 21,27-30
(176g) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without
knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Intensity
without insight
Act 21,27-29
(175f) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >>
Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading
the word of God
Act 21-27,28
(18b) Sin >>
Unrighteous judgment >> Condemning God’s
people –
Paul’s enemies were sinners accusing him of sin, being a very common
scenario. Jesus addressed this problem when He said, ‘Who is without sin among
you? Let him be the first to throw a stone at her’ (Jn 8-7), meaning that
being an unrepentant sinner disqualifies you from any judicial standpoint. These
Jews operated according to their own doctrines and religion, which in their
minds completely justified their actions and behavior, but in reality they were
completely ignorant of God and needed saving in this life and in the one to come
if they were going to avoid the eternal sentence of hell.
KJV
WEB
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Act 21-28,29
(178b) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presumption is not founded on facts
-- These verses go with verses 37-39. According
to the Law of Moses, gentiles were not allowed in the temple, and the Jews
assumed that Paul brought Trophimus the gentile into it, because they had earlier seen them
together, but the facts didn’t matter. All that mattered was the sense that
they cannot be wrong, and so it was useless to talk to them. These people had already made up their
minds about everything. Whatever they concluded was their truth, and it trumped
the facts, immediately solidifying in their minds like cement. Nothing Paul said could
convince them otherwise; this was typical not only to them but also to
all people and religions. Whatever people believe about God becomes seared into their
hearts as it were with a hot branding iron, becoming permanent. We cannot talk
to anybody about a change in their religion after they have once believed.
Perhaps a couple months into their faith we can still reason with them, but
not after their beliefs have had time to set-up in their conscience. Bringing
the gospel to people who are absorbed in secular humanism, for example, is met with the same resistance, so who can be saved? The answer is nobody,
except the elect. Poor, third-world countries are more open to the gospel these
days than developed nations. The world is in need of revival, and revival is
coming with authority to reinstate the true doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and a time is coming when people will once again respond to the gospel, and they
will believe in Jesus. The truth is powerful, being the only thing the Holy Spirit
is willing to anoint; He does not anoint the religions of men.
Act 21,30-40
(58l) Paradox
>>
Two implied meanings >> The Lord is warning
Paul / The Lord is promising Paul -- These verses go with verses
11-14
(101e) Thy kingdom come
>>
Zeal does not count the cost >> Zeal goes to
extremes -- These verses go with verses 11-14
Act 21,30-36
(158i)
Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Divide and
conquer >> Division (Cliques) >> Satan is the origin of division
– They assumed that Paul had brought a gentile
into the Jewish temple, which was against Jewish law; the centurions didn’t know Paul,
and the Jews were crying out “away with this man” without giving any
reasons, causing confusion. Every society has their convictions, and they think
there are things in life that are of cosmological importance, yet they can’t even put into
words what means most to them. To them it doesn’t matter; they feel it, so
that’s it. There are many people who go though life this way, having strong
convictions about things they don’t even understand. See also:
World hates Christians; 1Jn 3,10-15; 167j
Act 21-30
(65g) Paradox
>>
Anomalies >> Satan unites the world for the
cause of persecution
(162b) Works of the devil
>>
Carried away bodily –
Paul’s enemies did this to him because he had the audacity to go to
Jerusalem and worship in the temple. Paul had every right to be there, because
he was a Jew, and a Pharisee at that, a former leader of the Jews. His
countrymen were treating him worse than a gentile, because he had become a
Christian; therefore, they did not recognize him as having any rights as a
Jew, considering him to have defiled the temple by his presence, because
of his faith in Jesus. So really, it was his faith that supposedly desecrated
the temple, yet His faith in Jesus correlated with the teachings and
formalities of temple worship that God commanded Israel. Paul actually understood temple worship better than the
people who persecuted him, so we see how twisted the truth had become in the
minds of the Jews in those days. Over a course of fifteen hundred years the
Jews added a wrong turn to a wrong turn, until they completely lost touch with
their direction and forgot where they were going. Their
temple worship morphed into mere actions performed by rote without knowing
what any of it meant, except to assume that if they performed them,
they would please God. They completely lost touch with
the heart and soul of their religion, which had contorted
into an excuse for their sins, and their falsity carried them into darkness
and spiritual deceit, so when their Messiah came, they crucified Him and
inadvertently fulfilled God’s plan that He had prepared from all eternity.
Act 21-31
(25c) Sin
>>
Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >>
Persecution to the death >>
prestige
KJV
WEB
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Act 21-32
(214b) Sovereignty
>>
God controls time >> God’s timing >>
God’s timing transcends our comprehension >>
God’s time does not make sense to the natural mind
Act 21-33,34
(18d) Sin
>>
False Judgment lacks evidence >> Undefined
charges
Act 21-33
(152k) Witness
>>
Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the
father >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >>
True prophets >> Confirming the prophets -- This verse goes with verse 4
(236b) Kingdom of God
>>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
All things are for your sake >> We are fighting
for you >> Our bondage is for your sake -- This verse goes with verses 9-14. Being
bound with two chains was a prophecy that Paul received before he went to
Jerusalem (Act 21-11). He knew the consequences of going there, but he went
anyway, so the consequences were not a surprise to him. What exactly was it that
he was trying to accomplish by going to Jerusalem, and was it really the will of
God that he went? We know it was the will of God that his friends prohibited him
from entering the theater in Act 19-31, for he would have been instantly killed by the mob, so why
would it be any different in this case. Paul had many years of ministry; he
could have continued as a missionary, though he was getting older. He just made
up his mind that his missionary days were over and that he would turn a corner
in his life, for he knew his present course would be altered by this decision to
venture into Jerusalem’s temple. He knew he would not walk from Jerusalem a
free man.
Act 21,37-40
(7d) Responsibility
>>
Protecting the gospel >> Defend the word by
preaching it -- These verses go with verses 11-14
(121g) Thy kingdom come
>>
Manifestations of faith >> Hope >>
Expectation >> Expecting good things based on
God’s character >> Expectation based on His
word
(147d) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear
witness of Himself >> God exercises authority
over every living thing
(148d)
Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear
witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Natural advantage in the flesh regarding evangelism
– Paul pulled out his ace
card, the fact
that he was born a Jewish Roman, having been born in Tarsus. It
carried incredible weight to be citizen of a world empire, being a feather in
Paul's hat that God put there, predestining him to be born in Cilicia and
equipping him with all the resources he would need from his mother's womb to
fulfill his ministry, his Roman status being valuable as a
passport.
(148k) Witness
>>
Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >>
Obligation to preach the gospel >> Consumed by
the desire to do it – Paul interpreted every situation in life as
an opportunity to share the gospel with someone. He didn’t have to stop the
centurion; the authorities were taking him to safety. He took a serious
beating (again) for the opportunity to share the gospel with his countrymen.
His motive was not to clear up any
confusion, but to tell his side, so they might at least know why they hated
him; there may have been someone in the crowd who could understand
what he is saying and get saved. This is why Paul stopped the centurion; his
whole life was about saving souls, often at the risk of his own life. He was compelled to show the
reality of God in his life and the change that had transpired in him.
Act 21,37-39
(178b) Works of the devil
>>
The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presumption is not founded on facts
-- These verses go with verses 28,29
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