ACTS 12-14 Sunday School Lesson

Overall Summary: One major theme is that the sovereignty of God shows even through James death and through the release of Peter from Prison. We even see it through secular politicians after Herod's death. Another major theme is the vibrancy of the church. Chapter 12 focuses on the cruelty of the Jewish state and how God dealt with it, and the total sovereignty of God in dealing with his servants in any way he chooses. The Feast of Unleavened Bread took place the day after Passover. Note the people responded in prayer based on Peter's arrest. Also, Luke details the amount of security that was around Peter to demonstrate even more the Lord's power in releasing him from prison. Notice Peter wasn't restless or panicked, he was asleep. Daniel? Contrast to Jesus in the storm? Summary of Acts 12. Herod's death seems to end temporarily the Jerusalem church to move on to the missionary journeys that are taking place in Asia Minor Prayer played a relevant role and the LORD has sovereign control over his church. He controls when people like James dies, when Peter gets released from prison, and Herod's death. Never think the world is too chaotic for your God to redeem. God is faithful to his people. Acts 13 In 1995 there were at least 600 million Christians and Christianity was spreading at least 3 times the rate of population growth. Think about what God has done from what we just started. Your God is not dead! According to a video by Wycliffe there are roughly 2,ooo people groups who do not have any part of the Bible translated in a language they can understand. Seleucia was a 16 mile trip from Antioch. Barnabas was likely the senior pastor at Antioch. Bar-Jesus literally meant "son of the savior" and Paul calls him child of the devil. The blindness of Elymas became light for Sergius Paulus. During all their time on the island of Paphos, we have one conversion recorded.... a Gentile. Saul has now become Paul because that was his Roman name. Ministry is focused on the Gentiles. John Mark leaving was significant as seen in the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. Paul mentions the history of Israel and the attributes of what God did eventually to get to the promise of David in 2 Samuel 7:6-16 to demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah and the long expected king. This would have brought together the confession of the Jews and the church together demonstrating continuity and fulfillment. John the Baptist, the last prophet ties this together that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. They would not have needed elaboration on these subjects since these Jews in the synagogue would have been very familiar to them. Paul goes on to demonstrate the Gospel which is similar to what he wrote in Romans. He uses Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, and Psalm 16:10 in the passage. David is dead and instead of the Jews waiting on the resurrection of David, salvation has already come through the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Paul shows that the law if foolish and shows them the grace and forgiveness of sins that comes with trusting in Christ. He uses Habakkuk 1:5 to parallel how Israel had failed to see the rise of Babylon and the implications of that awesome enemy on the horizon to those who refused to accept the gospel. Persecution was brought about by envy, not what was preached. Paul preached to the Jews first as was customed and then quotes Isaiah 49:6 to validate his commission to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. Israel was meant to be the light for the Gentiles, but since they could never fulfill that role, God sent Jesus. Dissension here could have been in response to Pax Romana. Figure out relationship to the writing of the letter to the Galatians. Probably at the end of ch. 14. Notice how Jesus was rejected when He told of the coming kingdom and now the disciples were being persecuted for their proclmation of the Gospel for the second time. The prosperity gospel may take you Christianity will make you well liked and wealthy and good things on the earth but obciously the

opposite is true. Are rewards are for the eternal not for the temporal and our mission is to bring glory to God. Acts 14. The Gospel needs to be told to each individual that they may hear and believe. Some will believe and some will reject but like the parable of the lost sheep we must long to take care of each individual. When the Spirit draws them they will believe. How do the churches collaborate to make sure that every person has a chance to hear and respond to the gospel? Is ther something you could do to help the churches do this in any way? Are we strenthening each other in discipleship growth? Focus on missions and the sovereignty of God. Who has been on a mission trip? What does it look like for a church to be missional in the city? Do we look like that? What could we be doing differently and what should we expect once we start doing it?