Tag Archives: Acts

Living with the certainty of the resurrection of the dead

In Alexandria Troas, Paul bids farewell to the congregation in the evening. Then a man named “The Lucky One” (Eutychus) falls out of a third-story window.

Paul touches the young man, as Elijah once touched the widow’s child, and the dead man comes back to life.

They then celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In doing so, they remember that Jesus, through the cross and the resurrection, has overcome death. The listeners have just experienced this power before.

Those who walk with God are not spared all suffering and difficulties, but God glorifies himself again and again in our lives by intervening.

We experience God in times of need when he takes away our burdens or gives us the strength to bear them.

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The business with the Queen of Heaven

A revival had just taken place in Ephesus.

Ephesus was a place of pilgrimage for the goddess Artemis. The belief in a Queen of Heaven is very old.

In Ephesus, silversmiths sold small temples and other sacred objects to which divine powers were attributed (Acts 19:23-40). Paul spoke out against the effectiveness of such man-made images (verse 26). However, he did not blaspheme against the goddess herself (verse 37).

Since many had turned to faith in Jesus, the business of faith seemed to be in danger (verse 27).

Sometimes it is better to remain silent, especially when emotions are involved.

It is also interesting that Paul never spoke negatively about the faith of others. In any case, he and his fellow believers could not be accused of blaspheming against the goddess (verse 37). It was important to him to show people that faith places its trust in Jesus and not in objects to which divine powers are attributed.

Spirit-led faith

Apollos believes in Jesus, but he lacks the immerse in the work of the Holy Spirit that enables him to live an empowered life in Christ (Acts 18:25).

It is the difference between an intellectual faith and a Spirit-led faith with a living relationship with the heavenly Father.

Apollos is willing to listen to uneducated believers. Priscilla and Aquila share their experiences of faith and widen Apollos’ understanding of the way with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit guides and inspires people to follow Christ.

This experience makes him a newly blessed instrument in the hand of God in the region of Achaia, where Corinth is also located.

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Jealousy leads to opposition

Paul and Barnabas go directly to Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14-52). This is the first sermon by Paul that we know of, and it shows what is important to him.

Paul shows that through Jesus our lack has been overcome. The law does not cancel out our failing (sin) (Acts 13:38), but through reconciliation with God we receive forgiveness.

After a week of good dialogue and contact, jealousy arises. Paul and Barnabas are negated. Not for theological reasons, but out of pure envy.

Joseph’s brothers in the Old Testament were also envious and no longer had a kind word for him (Genesis 37:4, 11).

Paul quotes Isaiah 49:6 and announces that they will now turn to the gentiles (Acts 13:47).

Those who can rejoice in God despite opposition will be filled more and more with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52).

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Called by the Holy Spirit

Suddenly, the Holy Spirit (and not the church) called Saul and Barnabas to a new ministry. They went to the homeland of Barnabas in Cyprus.

In the Roman provincial capital, they were warmly welcomed by the governor Sergius Paulus. Cyprus thus became the first country in the world to be ruled by a Christian.

Elymas, the governor’s counsellor, shows how Satan wants to divert people from the path of faith. As a deceiver and enemy of all righteousness, he perverts the straight path of God (Acts 13:10). The movement of Jesus’ disciples was called “the way” at that time (Acts 9:2; 24:14).

Elymas earns what he is spreading: Darkness. Paul performs the first miracle. Now the name change takes place (verse 12). In resistance Saul becomes Paulin resistance we are formed. Paul does not become proud, but small. Saul means the one who is prayed for. Paul means the little one.

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Tabita – The disciple of Jesus

Only once in the New Testament, in Act 9:36, is a woman literally referred to as a disciple.

When Tabita died, two men went to Lydda and asked Peter to come.

Peter has experienced something similar before. Back then in Capernaum, in the house of the synagogue ruler Jairus. At first it looked as if they had arrived too late. Jesus behaved in exactly the same way as Peter did now and first of all made sure there was calm. Jesus said to the dead woman: ‘Talita kum’ (get up girl) (Mark 5:40-41).

Peter must first talk to God. He does not simply pray for a miracle, but the miracle arises from the prayer. Then he will have said: ‘Tabita kum’.

We are always in danger of praying for something obvious instead of listening in prayer to what is on God’s heart at that moment.

This is how the first raising of the dead occurs among the followers of Jesus.

Peter stays in Joppa with Simon, a tanner. Tanners belonged to the unclean professions. Peter stays with just such a person. It is a clear statement: no one is excluded from the people of Jesus.

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Jesus grants healing

Peter is allowed to say to Aeneas: ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you.’ It says nothing about Aeneas asking him to do this. It is also not Peter who heals and not Peter who asks Jesus, but Jesus who grants healing through Peter. So it is not Peter who takes centre stage, but Jesus who heals. Jesus gives the impulse. That is why it is important to know from God what has to happen.

People are turning to Jesus – not just in Lydda, but in the entire Sharon Plain. This is the coastal strip north of the river Jarkon (Tel Aviv) as far as Haifa. The man with the Roman name must therefore have been very well known. In Roman mythology, Aeneas (Aineias) is the progenitor of the Romans. The Jewish family must have been very cosmopolitan.

How long must Aeneas have prayed before God answered his prayer? It is clear that he was paralysed for eight years and that his healing served the glory of God and Jesus.

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A saint according to the Bible

Peter visits the saints in Lydda (today Lod). The city lies on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. It has been an important transport hub since ancient times.

In Acts 9:32, the believers in Jesus are referred to as saints for the second time.

Hananias had previously referred to the believers in Jerusalem as such in the same chapter (Acts 9:13).

Whoever invites Jesus into their life, the Father and the Son come to them through the Holy Spirit (John 14:23). The person is thereby sanctified and, according to biblical usage, is a saint.

In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul writes: ‘To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.’

According to Paul, anyone who prays to Jesus is a saint. Holy means destined for God or belonging to him.

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From persecutor to persecuted

Saul was let over the city wall of Damascus in a basket. This allowed him to escape (Acts 9:25).

Verse 23 says ‘after many days’ they decided to kill Saul. Galatians 1:17 says that Saul was in Arabia and returned to Damascus.

Paul probably spent some time in Petra. For in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, Paul writes that King Aretas had the city gates in Damascus guarded. King Aretas IV ruled over Nabataea from 9 BC to 40 AD.

It is most likely that Paul had spread the gospel in Arabia-Petrea, outside the Jewish-Roman power. The king wanted to arrest him, but Saul went back to Damascus, where he was known and recognised.

Jesus’ message causes offence. Saul now faces this himself.

He was not trusted in Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). Barnabas, the ‘son of consolation’, stands up for Saul. In Damascus, Saul argued with the Jews on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. He behaved differently with the Greek Jews in Jerusalem. They were used to philosophical thinking. Everything had to sound ‘logical’ to them. So it is said that Saul ‘argued’ with the Greek Jews. Philosophy has open back doors in the way of thinking and speaking and philosophising leads to no end.

But Greek and Hebrew Jews agree on one thing: this man could become a global danger. He must die. Saul has to flee again. He goes to Tarsus, his home town.

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Jesus acts through us

Turning to Jesus is not the happy ending of a story, but the start of a new life as a learner of Jesus.

Saul is immediately ready to do what Jesus tells him. Hananias, on the other hand, someone who already knows Jesus as Lord, initially has a big ‘but’ (Acts 9:13).

Firstly, Saul needs the ministry to himself. The unknown Hananias allows to be sent and goes in the name of Jesus to the man everyone is afraid of.

Then Saul begins to witness that Jesus was not a failed prophet, but the Son of God (Acts 9:20 / a title for the Jewish Messiah cf. John 11:27) and the promised Saviour (Acts 9:22).

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