All Discussion PAGE 349

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS (Part 4):

IV: NOW ABOUT THE THEME OF THE BOOK:

This is very interesting. If you take the title, in most English bibles, it will say "The Acts of the Apostles." Originally, this letter had no title whatsoever. So whatever title you have in your English bibles, it is not inspired. It had no title.

But the word Acts comes from the Greek word PRAXEIS that means practices. They added the word apostles from Acts 1:13 because they said this is all about the apostles. So, they called it the Acts, or the Practices of the Apostles.

But this is very misleading. If I had any influential weight to change the title of the book of Acts, I would try to do it. And I think that a lot of people in their approach to the book of Acts, and in their approach to the teachings in the book of Acts, they do so because they say here are the Acts of the apostles.

It's not the Acts of the apostles. It doesn't record what the apostles did. It records what Jesus did through the apostles. There's a difference. Many people will look at the book of Acts and they'll say "Well, now that Jesus is gone, look at all the stuff they did for Him!"

No! As a matter of fact, if you take my challenge, as you read through Acts, start reading through the chapters and you will find out that they did not have a clue as to what to do. They had no "committee meetings," nothing! Even when they were waiting in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they didn't know when He was coming.

The Lord had a specific day and a specific time. They didn't know that! After His ascension, they waited for 10 days before the Holy Spirit came upon the believers. I say all of this because everything that's done in the book of Acts is the Acts of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, through the apostles.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS (Part 3):

III. NOW ABOUT THE BOOK OF ACTS ITSELF:

Luke and Acts express the highest level of Greek in the New Testament. Again, from a very educated man! In fact, many scholars, not bible scholars, but many Greek scholars hold that Luke and Acts are the highest quality of Greek in all ancient literature!

Putting Luke and Acts together with all the literature that they have found, it's the highest quality of Greek. There are 312 Greek words in Luke that are not in the rest of the New Testament. There are 478 Greek words in Acts that are not in the rest of the New Testament. So, he's got a big vocabulary!

Now some think that Luke and Acts are actually trial documents. Paul was on his way to Rome, and it was required, to make an appeal to Caesar, you had to have documents that explain yourself, preceding any appeal before you stand before him. Theophilus was thought of putting this together for Paul, and Luke was doing this for him.

So, Paul was in Rome, and Luke's there, and he contacts Theophilus, and he says if I write up some documents on the ministry of Christ, and the life of Paul, will you use these in your court appeal that goes before Caesar before Paul can stand before Caesar?

Now there are two things by way of characteristics of the gospel and the book of Acts that support the trial document theory. All uprisings recorded in Luke and Acts were caused by Jewish leaders. At no time does Luke make anybody who's Roman the fault. The Roman soldiers are always good guys in the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. They're not the bad guys! It's the Jewish leaders who are the bad guys. So, it helps throw weight into this view that these were court documents because it would be favorably received by the Romans.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS (Part 2):

HERE IS A GENERAL STATEMENT FOR YOU:

The record of the Lord's ministry, from Luke Chapter 1, all the way through to the end of Acts Chapter 28, if you put those two books together, it is the most detailed account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Again, Luke is an educated man. Luke 1:1-4 tells us that he gathered in manuscript. He gathered in all the writings that he could find about Jesus Christ. He interviewed eyewitnesses. And being an educated man, he used a lot of detailed words. He wanted to be accurate and detailed about his presentation.

II. THE RECIPIENT TO THE BOOK OF ACTS:

We are told that the man's name to whom it is written is Theophilus, which literally means "Lover of God," THEOS for God, and PHILEO for love. He's a God lover. It's either his name or his title. Theophilus was a common name at that time. Some people believe it might have been used as a title in order to hide his identity.

But in Luke Chapter 1, he's called "the most excellent Theophilus." The title "most excellent" is either a title of an officer in the Roman military or the title of an official in the Roman government, especially a governor. The title is used three times in Acts, once it's for "most excellent" Governor Felix, "most noble" Felix, and "most noble" Festus, addressing the governors of the Roman government.

So Theophilus was a Roman official. Tradition says that he was from Antioch of Syria. Apparently, Luke and Theophilus knew each other. Luke and Acts, both of them were written to Theophilus. We're told in Acts 1:1-2 and Luke 1:1-4 that they were written to the same person.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS (Part 1):

The book of Acts is the last book of the history section. Matthew through Acts is the historical accounts of the teachings and miracles of Jesus Christ and His Spirit's work through the early church. The book of Acts covers approximately 30 years. So that's the historical section. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, also wrote the book of Acts.

I. ABOUT THE AUTHOR LUKE:

He's only mentioned three times in the New Testament. Colossians 4:14 tells us that He is a physician. Historical accounts tell us that he was schooled in Alexandria Egypt. So, we look at that and we see that God chose an educated man to do a very detailed investigation. Luke is a Greek name and therefore many believe that he was a Gentile.

From Acts Chapter 1 Verse 1 through Chapter 16 Verse 9, Luke uses "they," third person plural in his writings. Starting with Acts Chapter 16 Verse 10 all the way to the end, he changes it to "we." So, at Acts 16:9, this is where Luke joined up with Paul.

He joined up with Paul in Troas. He was probably converted in Troas by Paul. He becomes Paul's personal physician. In Acts Chapter 27, he's right there in the shipwreck with Paul, right before Paul reaches Rome, which will be his last destination before he dies.

Yes, Bibleman72

Will pray for your mother.

Also, Chris has advised you well. I just want to ad one more thing, be sure she has appointed you as her power of attornery for both medical and financial matters.

Numbers Chapter 27

cont.

The 'mantle' signifies and anointing from God that empowers a leader to do the work of God. Joshua already had the Holy Spirit working in him, but to do this job of leading this people into the land and conquering the peoples that resided there, he needed the anointing that Moses had. So Eleazar laid his hands upon him for the reception of this anointing.

When the Bible says not to be hasty about the laying on of hands, this is a good example of the wisdom of this verse. Choosing people to serve the body of Christ in leadership is not just a matter of a person wanting to do it or their training or there sincere devotion to God or their talent or who the people want. It is a matter for God to select and appoint, so all involved need to be sensitive to the will of the Holy Spirit in these situations and to anoint only those they are certain God chose.

This also demonstrates that leaders cannot be self-appointed. They need to be selected by God through others, as demonstrated in this chapter, for the selection of David as king, for the selection of each apostle, for the selection of the writers of Scripture.

Num. Ch. 27

cont.

Moses did not make this choice, YHWH did. Moses knew that he was just a man corrupted by sin. But he also knew that YHWH always chooses rightly. In such an important appointment such as this, it was vital for God to appoint the leader, just as God had appointed Moses as the leader.

Moses set a very good example about bringing matters to the Lord before making decisions, when the people sinned and rebelled, when God brought plagues and death to the camp for sin, and most importantly, in writing the Scriptures as the Spirit moved him. He knew he was not just writing historical accounts, but that God was inspiring him in the writings that are our Scriptures. Even above these things, Moses knew that he was called God's friend and friends foster relationship with one another. Moses must have spent much time in prayer and in the presence of God in the pillar of fire and clouds and in the tent of meeting, as it is stated that he was often there with YHWH and the people would stand and face the tent of meeting while Moses was within. Moses valued building this relationship between himself and the Great God of all. He treasured his privilege that God initiated with him 40 years earlier in the desert at Mr. Horeb. He walked with God for 40 years under tremendous strain and the burden of leading such a people so immense in number.

Moses was instructed to bring Joshua before Eleazar the high priest to be consecrated to the YHWH as Moses' replacement. All three must have been both happy and sad. Happy to know that YHWH chose Joshua and sad because they knew that Moses would soon die. But as great leaders do, they stayed the course YHWH had put before them and completed the task of consecrating Joshua and presenting him to the people when they were all assembled together.

The last thing that I noticed was that YHWH told Moses that Joshua would receive from Moses what God had placed on Moses to be a leader and prophet-often called the mantle...cont.

Hi DanYells,

The prophet is Isaiah, Matthew 1:22-23 shows the fulfillment of one of the many prophecies, this one we see given in Isaiah 14:7. Immanuel or in Greek Emmanuel is a Hebrew personal name meaning God is with us or God is with the people. Immanuel/Emmanuel is representative of the fact that God would demonstrate his love for us by the giving of His only begotten Son, Jesus the Messiah for the deliverance and salvation of his people, John 3:16.

Hebrew names have meaning like Jesus or Joshua that comes from the same Hebrew name Yehoshua meaning God is deliverance. It is derived from yeho meaning God and shua meaning to deliver or save.

God bless,

RLW

Hello Bibleman72. That was very sad to read of your Mother's deteriorating mental condition and of course, your anguish over her & of further action to take. There are times when places such as nursing homes, rehab centers, etc. do not give adequate care & loving response to those in their charge - certainly not all of them and the one your Mother is in right now might be very reputable in this regard. But you, as I also, might have heard of occasions when residents are treated badly, not cleaned after messing up, or being bathed, given adequate food, etc., & their cries both to staff & family members go unheeded. This, as I said, may not be the case here, but you need to also be proactive in the matter. Given her deteriorating mental state & that she still recognizes you & welcomes your being there for her, then list her complaints. Also check, are there any external signs of distress or the center's incompetency; such as, bad odours from her/deposits on her bed, bruising on the body, emaciated appearance, etc.? If anything of that sort is apparent, the first point of action is to make your observances known to the administration & discuss it with them. If no satisfaction from them, get permission to have a medically trained person to talk to your Mother & even examine her to verify her claims. And if it appears that her mind is what is at fault, then it can only be your presence (as often as you are able to be there for her), your wise counsel & support, reading from the Scriptures, as well as help from her pastor/elder, that might give her some relief; though her mind will continue to play havoc with what is real or imagined.

I pray that the Lord will minister to her especially at this time of mental turmoil, & if factual, that the nursing home will speedily rectify the situation there. And for you too, that the Lord will give you the spiritual, mental & physical fortitude to bear up at this time, as it's never easy to see a loved one in such a state.

NUM. CHAP. 27

CONTINUED.

Moses also did not argue with YHWH concerning his pending death. He was 120 years old and ready to join the 'fathers' who had died before him. He had the hope of the heavenly promised land, as Hebrews 11-12 speak of. He did not fight death, but would go the way of all men into death. But he had the hope of eternal life to come. I wonder if it better to not know when you will die or to know. Moses knew that YHWH's will was always true and best. He had spent the last 40 years seeking to know YHWH's will in what he did concerning this time of deliverance from Egypt and sojourning to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was a faithful servant and thought that God's way was much higher and better than anything he could decide. He desired to do God's will, but like all men, he did fail at times. Meribah was certainly not his only sin in the wilderness, but as the leader God chose to be over these people, he dishonored God whom he was to be a representative for in his anger. God takes this type of sin seriously because it lessons the view of Him before the people he was delivering. How closely we need to watch our example before those who are younger in life and/or faith in our lives. We are to be an example of Christ, imitating Him in our conduct, words, motives, etc. Can we be perfect? No, Moses was not either. But Christ was. So, in this instance, Moses represented all men-we all have sinned. And God will always be God-merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth ( Ex. 34:6) Moses knew first hand of these things God demonstrated to him and the nation that Moses often pleaded for so strongly before Him. God heard Moses and extended mercy each time because Moses was a friend of God.

The third section of this chapter is the appointing of Joshua as Moses' successor when Moses would die. God told Moses to do this and to appoint Joshua. ...cont.

NUMBERS CHAPTER 27

There are three parts to this chapter. Th first part is the daughters of Zelophehad coming to Moses to ask for an inheritance in the promised land as their father had no sons to be inheritors. Moses seeks YHWH for a decision and he gets one-that these daughters of Israel would indeed receive an inheritance in the name of their father and not be left destitute. God's mercy is on show here. He would not let women be without rights to inheritances should there be no male heir. This was the case for Naomi and Ruth later on. Because the husbands of these women (who were Israelites) died in Moab, they were without land unless there was a near kinsman to redeem for them an inheritance. Boaz did so in marrying Ruth and bringing both Ruth and Naomi live in the land of Naomi's father's inheritance.

In Numbers 27, these five women are named: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. they di right by coming straight to Moses instead of gossiping around camp about their plight. They came to Moses respecting his favored position as God's appointed leader. They were not proud, or demanding, but spoke up for themselves willing to accept the decision of Moses because they knew he would seek an answer from YHWH. They came to the one who would intercede for their cause before YHWH just as we come to Jesus to intercede before the Father for us. so, here, Moses typifies Christ.

YHWH 's reply did give them their request and also instructions on how such situations are to be justly regulated to prevent women from being left destitute and without rights to land, which was what sustained the people at this time as a livelihood.

The second part is God speaking to Moses about his next steps. He was going to climb up Mt. Abiram (Mt. Nebo) and be allowed a fantastic view of the expanse of the promised land that he knew he would not enter due to his sin at Meribah. Moses was accepting of this privilege with humility and acceptance of God's justice for him. ...cont.

Hi i am in great need of prayers for my mom Paula L. She is in a nursing home right now for rehab and she is telling me horrible things they are supposedly doing to her there.I dont think these things are possible because this is one of the best rated nursing homes in Jacksonville ,florida.I am concerned my mother is beginning to develop either Early dementia or even worse schizophrenia.I am very very concerned because i love my mom and am her fulltime caregiver.I am worried about her doing not wise things.For instance she called the police to the nursing home at 5am to report having no air of water. That seems highly unlikely to me.I really covet your pprayers folks.

Just prayed my Sister ,i hope everything will work out.You can look at a Church finder online and find almost any denomination of your choice .i thimk it is literally called Church finder.I pray the enemy will back off of you.I understand because i use tracts to witness and satan bothers me constantly.

Just prayed for your request friend!

Lordi ask for prayer for this request.Happy Birthday fellowbeliever!

Just prayed Sister Colleen

Just prayed Angelica

Dear David Allen,just prayed again.

Amen Rico

Just prayed Brother David

Johnpage59 We should always let the Word of God give us the Truth, not man or man's traditions!

We are told in ( Mt. 24:29-31) when Jesus Christ (the Son of man) comes in the clouds to gather together His elect. "Immediately after the tribulation". Those who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture theory will tell you these verses are the return of Jesus riding a white horse, that is not the truth John.

The #1 pre-tribulation rapture verse is ( 1 Thess. 4:16-17) If we look closely at these verses we find 3 things mentioned that we can use to compare with the verses of Jesus return to the earth riding a white horse in ( Rev. 19:11-16)

(1) v16 "and with the trump of God"

(2) v17 "shall be caught up together with them"

(3) v17 "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air"

If we look at ( Rev. 19:11-16) We do not see a sound of a trumpet, we do not see a gathering together, and we do not see the Lord coming in the clouds!

Now if we compare those verses with ( Mt. 24:29-31) V29 "Immediately AFTER the tribulation"

We see in ( Mt. 24:31) (1) "with the great sound of a trumpet" (2) ( Mt. 24:31) "and they shall gather together his elect"

(3) ( Mt. 24:30) "and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds"

Also ( Mt. 24:30) Jesus is called the Son of man.

In ( Rev. 19:11) He is called Faithful and True ( Rev. 19:13) His name is called The Word of God.

To believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, one has to take or use verses completely out of context, and also in many cases read into Scripture something that's not there. This is simply the Truth.

I'm sure many on this site will disagree with this but as I said we must let the Word of God give us the Truth! It will speak for itself!

The Truth should be the only thing that matters, If one's pride doesn't get in the way!

Study these verses and compare them, it should be easy to see the Truth.

Blessings to you John.

NUMBERS CHAPTER 26

In this chapter YHWH again calls for a census of the people of this generation that will enter the promised land. Moses and Eleazar (the High Priest now since Aaron died) were tasked to number the tribes. This is why this book of the Bible is named "Numbers".

All of the tribes of Israel were numbered. The total was quite close to the same total that came out of Egypt and who died in the wilderness due to their grumbling. Think of all that death in just 40 years. So much rebellion and murmuring by parents and grandparents of this present generation cost a great loss of life. Yet now, as they are on the edge of entering the promised land, God has sustained the nation and replenished the population to the same level as how many left Egypt.

All tribes but Levites were to receive an allotment of land decided by God through the throwing of lots (perhaps a die or dice).

God guided whatever was thrown down to divide up the land justly.

Moses and Aaron had taken the census at Sinai at the Lord's command and this time Moses and Aaron's son, Eleazar, numbered the people at the Lord's command. God has His reasons for calling for such a census both times. Perhaps this time it was for several reasons:

To determine the size of the allotment of land commensurate with the size of the tribe.

To determine the size of the army that would soon battle many peoples that YHWH would drive out of the land as they followed His command.

To show the nation the goodness of YHWH in building the nation up once again before entering the land.

It was only the sons that were listed here, with the exception of a few daughters.

The chapter notes how all of the generation that had come out of Egypt had died, with the exception of Moses, Caleb, and Joshua. Only Joshua and Caleb will enter the land with this new generation. Moses will die beforehand as God had said he would.

The Levites did not receive land allotments because they are the priestly tribe.

DanYells,

Glad to meet you.

Emmanuel is Hebrew for "God with us" as Jesus was indeed God dwelling in human flesh to live among us during His earthly life in a flesh and blood human body with a human nature, yet without sin. Jesus, the Son of God, who is the Word that is God in John 1:1 has always been God, the divine Son of the divine Father, but when He came to live a perfect earthly life, He also took on humanity in order to fulfill all of the law and obey the Father perfectly as a human man. He did this to fulfill all righteousness in order to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. So, Jesus was truly "God with us", so the name Emmanuel was speaking of who He is for all eternity, and not to be mistaken for only a mortal man when He lived His earthly life among us.

Jesus also told the disciples that He will always be with them after His resurrection. So, as the glorified Christ, He is with us as His Spirit dwells in us. If we have the Spirit in us, The Father and the Son also abide in us, as Jesus spoke at His Last Supper Discourse.

How wonderful is the name Emmanuel! God is with us. He is in us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is not far off from us, but closer than our own breath. He is forever our Lord and Savior.

We are His friends, as He said we are. We are united with Him by faith. We are hid in Him, being protected from the enemy. We are alive in Him because He arose from the dead. We are adopted as children of God through Jesus. We can never be separated from His love. We have an inheritance kept for us by Him in heaven. We will be brought to Him at the resurrection and will be with Him forever in His place of glory.

Hallelujah!

Hello John

There are 3 theories about when the Rapture occurs:

1. Before the antichrist appears in the world

2. After, at the middle of the 7 year period he will be ruling on earth

3. At the very end of this 7 year period.

So which one is true? I am going to leave that to you to decide, but I'll tell you that:

Whether the bus comes at the bus stop at 11:00 or 11:30 or 12:00 it doesn't really matter, you must be there on time. In our christian lives we must be always ready for our departure from this life at any time, we don't know when Jesus comes for each one of us, whether all together or each one of us individually.

GBU

DanYells,

This would be the prophet Isaiah. Matthew tells us in Matthew 1:22 that this is a fulfillment. Matthew is presenting to us the fact that the birth of Christ fulfilled prophecy, which is Isaiah 7:14.

1 Corinthians 6:18

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body."

Hi Johnpage59 , more importantly , what do you think about the rapture theory and , why do you think what you do ? Are your beliefs based on what you have read in the Bible ? Read the Bible for yourself and then you will have confidence in what you believe because you will have read it and understood it . Don't rely on the internet or the people posting on it , go straight to the heart of the Truth . God is with you , read His Word and allow Him to reveal the Truth to you . Read the Bible for yourself , from Genesis to Revelation and when you have finished , start again . Keep doing this for the rest of your life and your faith and understanding and confidence in God will grow and you won't need to ask anyone else what they think . You will know for yourself . May God bless your efforts to draw closer to Him , through Jesus Christ our Saviour .

To give response to what you ask I believe that we have an obligation to tell people the truth but no, you're not gonna be able to tell all Christians that you come in contact with everything that you're doing wrong, but I do believe that if the spirit of the Lord leads you to tell them, you should tell them in obedience to the spirit of the living God and when you speak about trust, yes we should only put on trust in the Lord and his word we can have confidence in people, but we don't put our trust in him and then in truth I'm not sure if you were asking me a question are you trying to tell me something but either way I'm giving this response and confidence that is an answer to maybe a question or maybe the response and yes, we should be able to give scriptures for what it is that we speak and also to give a response to the comment about believing the full Bible, the new and old testament I absolutely agree the Bible says that the the New Testament or the Old Testament is a shadow of the new way to believe it all from the front to the back. There's something in the front for us in our living now just as well as it is something in the back we need to oh and the new, so I definitely believe we are supposed to operate in full word

God is with us, is all I know about that name.

I became a Christian and didn't join a church. Everything I heard and read was on line. Everywhere was Rapture theory. Doubt crept in after a couple of years when I realized that verses were conflated to get that message across. I still feel very confused about this subject. Just wondering what people here think of the rapture theory. Kind regards John.