This weeks study is from Acts 18:1-11.  We especially concentrated on the details of this passage that revealed what state Paul was in upon his arrival in Corinth following a rather short and unproductive time of ministry in Athens.  Some of those answers can be found in his subsequent letter to the church formed in Corinth, but mostly seen in the way the Lord ministered to Paul as He spoke personally to him in a vision.  These encounters with Christ would only happen three times in Paul's ministry and it is worth looking at WHY this time in Corinth merited one and what the Lord wanted to say through it.  We have much to learn through these words of Christ too...

Acts 18A  9/27/2023

Doug McCary was our guest speaker this week and shared an overview of the Book of Haggai. The theme of this Book is God's call to His People to change their priorities and return to the work He has redeemed them for.

Haggai by Doug McCary 10/4/23

This weeks lesson is taken from Acts 18:5-22.  While Paul preached a message vehemently opposed by the Jews in Corinth, his message was a Jewish one to it's very core!  Paul described himself as blameless among the Jews and a Pharisee of Pharisees.  No where do we see this more clearly than in his defense of the Gospel in Corinth.   By his own admission written in a letter to the Church later, Paul had arrived in town deeply discouraged and fearful,  But Jesus came to Paul in a vision and spoke words of encouragement to him.  He would protect Paul, as He had many people that belonged to Him in the city that had yet been reached with the Gospel.  We can see this promise from Christ played out as from a movie screen across the pages of Acts 18.  Paul's position as a Jewish man of God, trying to reach his own people with the Gospel of their Messiah, was clearly blessed by God and ordained, even through the means of Pagan rulers.  We are reminded in Acts 18, that it was through the Jewish people that God intended to put Himself on display, and He would not fail in doing so, even as those steeped in this faith of their forefathers continued to.

Acts 18B 10/11/23

It is in Acts 19 that the Gentile Church is formed much like it had been in Jerusalem 20 something years earlier.  This time Peter was not their leader, but their former persecutor, Paul, had been ordained by God to lead them instead. His 12 young disciples had been baptized and received the Holy Spirit and now spread the Word of God, not on the steps of the Temple where the One, True, Living God was worshipped, but in Ephesus- the Capital City of the Province of Asia, where the temple of the pagan goddess of the world stood instead.   And it was to the city of Ephesus that pilgrims from all over the Roman world came to worship the goddess Artemis, where this Church was planted and flourished as they faithfully preached the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ their KING!  But this Good News would bring with it the persecution Jesus promised and in our study of Acts 19 this week we look at how the Church of Christ responded and how it impacted the way they operated in the community around them.

New tracks tagged #Chronological Study Bible