The Lord has begun to form a multi-ethnic and multilingual church. But this is the beginning. The task of taking the gospel is not just to those here and the county who need to listen and re-listen until God touches them and brings them to his feet (as there are some of you this morning that’s still resisting the call of salvation) but to the ends of the earth. The church, which is us, must be obedient and take this message to these people. The question should not be, “Is it me Lord?” But “Where do you want me to go Lord and when?” We are all called to go and make disciples.
How did Christianity (the movement of Christians who carry the message of salvation everywhere they go) or the church born (and grown) outside the confines of Judaism and spread to other ethnic groups? What does it teach us in our work as messengers of Christ? What does it teach us as a church here? There are five elements that helped to give birth and form Christianity.
It’s normal when we think about those who need to know Christ, to think about the people who are in our circle or who are in our culture. It is difficult to think of others who are in other countries that we do not know.
The truth is that the gospel, the good news of Salvation in Christ began with the Jews. Our Lord, who was a Jew, came to His own but his own did not receive Him as their Messiah or Savior. It was after the Lord rose from the dead and ascended to heaven that his disciples announced this good news to the Jewish people. And the church was born. The early years it was mostly a church composed of Jews. Up to this point, the Gospel has been officially presented only to Jews, half Jews (the Samaritans of Acts 8) but not to Gentiles. But this changes after this passage.
What this passage teaches us is that the gospel is for everyone regardless of ethnic, cultural, or linguistic background. Everyone needs to hear the good news of salvation. Peter, as the leader the Lord chose to help found the church, receives a mission from the Lord in an extraordinary way. This mission involves a Roman centurion to whom God has manifested Himself so that he can hear, receive, and believe the gospel. This will open the doors of the gospel to everyone regardless of ethnic, cultural, or linguistic background.
As we learn from Peter doing the work of God, let’s ask ourselves, “Am I doing the work of God?” It doesn’t have to match Peter’s exactly. Another question related to this can be, “Am I hindering the work of God?” This can also be happening. In our previous study we looked at Saul’s conversion and the impact it had on the church. While he goes to train, the focus is once again on Peter. We will see Him actively doing God’s work. Jesus told Peter that He would give him the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19). This meant that Peter would be a key person in the establishment of Christ’s church. It was Peter who preached to the Jews at Pentecost in Acts 2 and who confirmed the Samaritans in Acts 8 as part of the church. In this passage we find him dealing with three specific people: Aeneas, Dorcas, and Cornelius. The latter is very significant because it deals for the first time with Gentiles receiving the gospel. After this the church will be established and Peter will no longer be the key figure in the book of Acts.
A muchos de nosotros nos desanima ver el estado de nuestro mundo, especialmente en referencia al mal. A nuestros ojos, parece que el mal va de aumento. Por donde quiera que miramos, hay maldad y parece que aumento más y más. Esto nos puede llevar a deprimirse, a ser negativos, y tener malas actitudes. El pesimismo puede llegar a apoderarse de nosotros.
Esto nos lleva a mucho a orar “Venga tu reino”. Deseamos que el Señor venga a reinar y establezca la justicia divina. Lo que vivimos nosotros no es tan diferente a lo que experimentaron los que escucharon al Señor cuando anduvo predicando. Israel esperaba al Mesías que les rescataría de la opresión de los romanos. La historia de Israel está repleta de opresión y destierro debido a su desobediencia. Cuando el Señor vino y se presentó como el Mesías, El Salvador de Israel, no fue recibido como tal. Los seguidores comunes, le seguían por los milagros que hacía pero no porque realmente creían que era el Salvador.
Esto llevó al Señor a compartir historias o parábolas que enseñan sobre su reino durante ese tiempo hasta que se establezca. Este tiempo es el tiempo llegó a ser el tiempo de la Iglesia. Este tiempo durará hasta que se cumpla el tiempo de los Gentiles (Rom. 11:25)
¿Cuánto tiempo debemos esperar hasta que el Señor venga y establezca su reino? No lo sabemos. Pero debemos entender lo que el Señor enseño acerca de su reino. En este pasaje encontramos tres de las ocho parábolas sobre el reino que Dios que nos enseñan lo que está sucediendo actualmente hasta que venga sea completamente realizado.
La primer historia o parábola sobre el trigo y la cizaña nos muestra como el reino de Dios opera dentro de un mundo malvado y cómo separará los creyentes y los no creyentes cuando el Señor venga a juzgar el mundo. La segunda sobre el grano de mostaza nos muestra sobre su crecimiento progresivo y la tercera sobre la levadura sobre la influencia subversiva del reino de Dios. El reino de Dios no es insignificante. El reino de Dios está activo hoy en la vida De la Iglesia de Cristo. Entender lo que está sucediendo nos dará esperanza, ánimo, y seguridad hasta que el Señor venga.
Saul, a man who was committed to destroying the Lord’s church, has just been transformed by the power of the risen Christ. He has now been commissioned by the Lord to be His apostle, His servant, His instrument in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus.Here we see his beginning as a servant and proclaimer of Christ.
Saul’s transformation will remind you how God transformed you and how he has called you to fulfill his calling by living a life obedient to Him. God wants to use you to help other believers, especially those who have little faith to establish, encourage, and disciple them.
I was reading this morning Psalm 103 and since it is Father’s Day, verse 13 called my attention. It says,
“As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
Here is a comparison that we often find in Hebrew poetry. The fact that a father shows compassion called my attention. The word “compassion” can mean tenderness, love or kindness. It is obvious that the passage doesn’t intend to say that all father’s are compassionate, kind or tender. But it does focus on a father who is compassionate, tender, loving and kind. In a patriarchal society such as the Hebrew culture the father had an important role in the family as we can see in the Old Testament. It was a family-centered culture. The father took seriously his God-given role. They were to instruct their children in the ways of the Lord (see Deut. 6). Their role as a father required them to model for them what it meant to fear God. A God-fearing father would understand that his role was also to be a compassionate, tender, loving and kind. He knows his children will make mistakes. Children will make mistakes and since the father knows his children well, he will have compassion on them. Not once but many times. Yes, there is a role a father has in discipline but never to the expense of being compassionate, tender, loving and kind. A good father, a God-fearing father, knows this well. This requires that he not only learns how compassionate God is, but also to know all his children well. This requires spending intentional time with them. A father may do everything help his children be what God wants them to be and yet not have these results. But this shouldn’t make him less compassionate.
God elevates this type of father as one worthy to compare the way He responds to those who fear him. God knows we all are frail and need his compassion. There lies our motivation to be a compassionate father.
Philip was obedient to the Lord’s guidance. He not only shared the Good News both publicly but also privately on this occasion. Although the Lord gave him the ability to communicate the gospel in a way that led people to believe, it is God’s work, not man’s, that leads to salvation. But He has chosen us to use us as His instruments. Their example is helpful for us to understand how we can be used by the Lord to share the gospel. It clearly shows us that God will put in our path people whose hearts are ready to receive the gospel. We must be obedient when He does. Let’s look at how he does it in Philip and how we should be attentive to these opportunities.
In this chapter we see that Christians are systematically persecuted, especially in Jerusalem. This is expected. Jesus told his disciples that they too would be persecuted (John 15:18-21). But this will not stop the gospel or his church.
This passage teaches us how persecution of the church is not outside of God’s will and should not alarm us. Difficult situations are opportunities to be faithful to the Lord and to share (be His witnesses) the gospel with others. The Lord’s church will never be destroyed no matter what man does and/or Satan does against it. In addition, this passage teaches us about how the gospel when received and believed brings joy to people. But there is also danger because there are people who claim to believe, but they are not true Christians. They seek their own interests and power to do God’s work. God will always reveal what does not come from Him and He will do so through the leaders He has placed in the church to shepherd it in the way of His Truth. We must learn from what happened in the church in the first century to avoid straying from its truth and to avoid spiritual failure as a church.
Last time we looked at how Stephen showed in his character that he followed Jesus in His Footsteps. Our Lord walked the path of death. He died and rose again. We are called to follow Him in His footsteps. His steps may include giving our lives to the Lord, to whom he gave everything for us. To live and give our life as Stephen gave it and as many after him. How does Stephen deal with death and why? What drives or lead him to risk everything for the cause of preaching the good news of Christ? Although the answer is obvious, let’s look in detail at how it happened. How did Stephen follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and what does he teach us to live for Him as His followers?
Maridos, amad a vuestras mujeres, así como Cristo amó a la iglesia y se entregó a sí mismo por ella, para santificarla, habiéndola purificado en el lavamiento del agua por la palabra.
I am enjoying this book and agreeing with it (like "yes!", "write on"...laughing that Jesus wouldn't get hired because he was single...silly but prob would be true). There are some parts that uses particular language to describe leadersh...
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