Reading the Bible OUT LOUD | #13 | Thursday 8 April - Morning

welcome to day six of reading the bible out loud yes that's right no sorry day seven uh yes that's right we have done six days already this is our seventh day of reading scripture so in a couple of minutes we'll be getting started in acts chapter 3 we're in the new testament acts chapter 3 see you in a moment [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so so welcome good morning everybody uh good morning from the uk but it may be evening where you are on the other side of the world it may be the middle of the night for some of you um going to bed or in your beds watching this wherever you are in the world you're part of a fellowship of believers journeying with us as we read god's word together we have such had such a wonderful time over the last six days this is day seven we began obviously in the old testament worked our way through that all the way through hearing prophecies about the coming king the messiah the promised one and then yesterday uh with much excitement we transitioned into the new testament and we read the gospels of the good news of jesus christ and his kingdom we met the son of man the son of god and we heard four accounts of his life his miracles his the wonders that he did the teachings the parables and then his death on a cross for us and his resurrection after that he was taken up into heaven and we got to acts chapter 2 in fact heather he'll be reading in a moment was reading from acts chapter 2 and in acts chapter 2 the prophet joel who we read at the beginning of um yesterday the prophet joel is quoted in the last days god says i will pour out my spirit on all people and he finishes that passage and everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved so that is the context we're in through jesus christ all who call in his name and call him savior and lord will be saved may you be blessed as we carry on reading about the acts of the apostles these young uh the new church uh setting out as young believers uh on their journey and today i'm delighted that heather is gonna kick us off in acts chapter three over to you heather good morning peter heals elaine beggar one day peter and john were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts when he saw peter and john about to enter he asked them for money peter looked straight at him as did john then peter said look at us so the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them then peter said silver or gold i do not have but what i do have i give you in the name of jesus christ of nazareth walk taking him by the right hand he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong he jumped to his feet and began to walk then he went with them into the temple courts walking and jumping and praising god when all the people saw him walking and praising god they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called beautiful and they were filled with war wonder and amazement at what happened jesus speaks to the onlookers while the man held on to peter and john all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called solomon's colonnade when peter saw this he said to them fellow israelites why does this surprise you why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we have made this man walk the god of abraham isaac and jacob the god of our fathers has glorified his servant jesus you handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before pilate though he had decided to let him go you disowned the holy and righteous one and ask that a murderer be released to you you killed the author of life but god raised him from the dead we are witnesses of this by faith in the name of jesus this man whom you see and know was made strong it is jesus name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him as you can all see now fellow israelites i know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders but this is how god fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets saying that his messiah would suffer repent then and turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out that times of refreshing may come from the lord and that he may send the messiah who has been appointed for you even jesus heaven must receive him until the time comes for god to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets for moses said the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people you must listen to everything he tells you anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people indeed beginning with samuel all the prophets who had spoken have foretold these days and you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant god made with your fathers he said to abraham through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed when god raised up his servant he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways acts chapter 4 peter and john before this sanhedrin the priests and the captain of this temple guard and the sadducees came up to peter and john while they were speaking to the people they were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people proclaiming in jesus the resurrection of the dead they seized peter and john and because it was evening they put them in jail until the next day but many who heard the message believed so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand the next day the rulers the elders and the teachers of the law met in jerusalem um anas the high priest was there and so were um caiaphas john alexander and others of the high priest's family they had peter and john brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this then peter filled with the holy spirit said to them rulers and elders of the people if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who is lame and are being asked how he was healed then know this you and all the people of israel it is by the name of jesus christ of nazareth whom you crucified but whom god raised from the dead that this man stands before you healed jesus is the stone you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved when they saw the courage of peter and john and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with jesus but since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them there was nothing they could say so they ordered them to withdraw from the sanhedrin and then conferred together what are we going to do with these men they asked everyone living in jerusalem knows they've performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it but to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of jesus but peter and john replied which is right in god's eyes to listen to you or to him you be the judges as for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard after further threats they let them go they could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising god for what had happened for the men who were for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old the believer's prayer on their release peter and john went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them when they heard this they raised their voices together in prayer to god sovereign lord they said you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them you spoke by the holy spirit through the mouth of your servant our father david why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth rise up and the rule is banned together against the lord and against his anointed one indeed herod and pontius pilate met together with the gentiles and the people of israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant jesus whom you appointed they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen now lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant jesus after they prayed the place where their meeting they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of god boldly the believers share their possessions all the believers were one in heart and mind no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own but they shared everything they had with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of lord of the lord jesus and god's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them for from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to anyone who had need joseph a levite from cyprus whom the apostles called barnabas which means son of encouragement sword a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet acts check chapter five ananias and sapphira now a man could ananias together with his wife sapphira also took a piece of property with his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet then peter said ananias how is it that satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the holy spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received to the land didn't it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold wasn't the money at your disposal what made you think of doing such a thing you have not lied just to human beings but to god when ananias heard this he fell down and died and great fear seized all who heard what had happened then some young men came forward wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him about three hours later his wife came in not knowing what happened peter asked us tell me is this price is this the price you and ananias got for the land yes she said that is the price peter said to her how could you conspire to test the spirit of the lord listen the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out also at that moment she fell down at his feet and died then the young men came in and finding her dead carried her out and buried her beside her husband great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events the apostles heal many the apostles perform many signs and wonders among the people and all the believers used to meet together in solomon's colonnade no one else dared join them even though they were highly regarded by the people nevertheless more and more men and women believed in the lord and were added to their number as a result people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by crowds gathered also from the towns around jerusalem bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits and all of them were healed the apostles persecuted then the high priest and all of his associates who were members of the party of the sadducees were filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in public jail but during the night an angel of the lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out go stand in the temple courts he said and tell the people all about this new life at daybreak they entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people when the high priest and his associates arrived they caught together the sanhedrin the full assembly of the elders of israel and sent to the jail for the apostles but on arriving at the jail the officers did not find them there so they went back and reported we found the jail securely locked with the guards standing at the doors but when we opened them we found no one inside on here in this report the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss wondering what this might lead to then someone came and said look the men you you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people at that the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles they did not use force because they feared that the people would stone them the apostles were brought in and made to appear before the sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name he said yet you have filled jerusalem with that your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood peter and the other apostles replied we must obey god rather than human beings the god of our ancestors raised jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging on a cross god exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior that he might brings israel to repentance and forgive their sins we are witnesses of these things and so is the holy spirit whom god has given to those who obey him when they heard this they were furious and wanted to put them to death but a pharisee called gamaliel a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people stood up in the sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while then he addressed the sanhedrin men of israel consider carefully what you intend to do to these men some some time ago theaters appeared claiming to be somebody and about 400 men rallied to him he was killed all his followers were dispersed and it all came to nothing after him judas the galion appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt he too was killed and all his followers were scattered therefore in the present case i advise you leave these men alone let them go for if their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail but if it is from god you will not be able to stop these men you will only find yourself fighting against god his speech persuaded them they called the apostles in and had them flogged then they ordered them not to speak in the name of jesus and let them go the apostles left the sanhedrin rejoice him because they'd been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name day after day in the temple courts and from house to house they never stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that jesus is the messiah and that brings us the end of end of acts chapter 5. thank you heather acts chapter 6 the choosing of the seven in those days when the number of disciples was increasing the hellenistic jews among them complained against the hebraic jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food so the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of god in order to wait on tables brothers and sisters choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom we will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to the prayer and the ministry of the word this proposal pleased the whole group they chose stephen a man full of faith and the hope of the holy spirit also philip prochorus niconor timon parmanas and nicholas from antioch a convert to judaism they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them so the word of god spread the number of disciples in jerusalem increased rapidly and a number of priests became obedient to the faith stephen seized now stephen a man full of god's grace and power performed great wonders and signs among the people opposition arose however from members of the synagogue of the freedmen as it was called jews of cyrene and alexandria as well as the provinces of sicilia and asia who began to argue with stephen but they could not stand up against the wisdom the spirit gave as he spoke then they secretly persuaded some men to say we have heard stephen stephen speak blasphemous words against moses and against god so they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law they seized stephen and brought him before the sanhedrin they produced false witnesses who testified this fellow never stopped speaking against this holy place and against the law for we have heard him say that this jesus of nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that moses handed down to us all who were sitting in the sanhedrin looked intently at stephen and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel acts chapter seven stephen's speech to sanhedrin then the high priest asked stephen are these charges true to this he replied brothers and fathers listen to me the god of glory appeared to our father abraham while he was still in mesopotamia before he lived in haran leave your country and your people god said and go to the land i will show you so he left the land of the chaldeans and settled in haran after the death of his father god sent him to this land where you are now living he gave him no inheritance here not even enough ground to set his food on but god promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land even though at that time abraham had no child god spoke to him this way for 400 years your descenders will be will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and ill-treated but i will punish the nation they serve as slaves god said and afterwards they will come out of that country and worship me in this place then he gave abraham the covenant of circumcision and abraham became the father of isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth later isaac became the father of jacob and jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs because the patriarchs were jealous of joseph they sold him in as a slave into egypt but god was with him and rescued him from all his trouble troubles he gave joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the good will of pharaoh king of egypt so pharaoh made him ruler over egypt and all his palace then a famine struck all egypt and canaan bringing great suffering and our ancestors could not find food when jacob heard that there was grain in egypt he sent our forefathers on their first visit on their second visit joseph told his brothers who he was and pharaoh learned about joseph's family after this joseph sent for his father jacob and his whole family 75 and all then jacob went down to egypt where he and our ancestors died their bodies were brought back to shechem and placed in the tomb that abraham had bought from the sons of hamur at shechem for a certain sum of money as the time drew near for god to fulfill his promise to abraham the number of our people in egypt had greatly increased then a new king to whom joseph meant nothing came to power in egypt he dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die at that time moses was born and he was no ordinary child for three months he was cared for by his family when he was placed outside pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son moses was educated in all the wisdom of the egyptians and was powerful in speech and action when moses was 40 years old he decided to visit his own people the israelites he saw one of them being ill-treated by an egyptian so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the egyptian moses thought that his own people would realize that god was using him to rescue them but they did not the next day moses came upon two israelites who were fighting he tried to reconcile them by saying men you are brothers why do you want to hurt each other but the man who was ill-treating the other pushed moses aside and said who made you ruler and judge over us are you thinking of killing me as you killed the egyptian yesterday well when moses heard this he fled to midian where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons after 40 years had passed an angel appeared to moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near mount sinai when he saw this he was amazed at the sight as he went over to get a closer look he heard the lord say i am the god of your fathers the god of abraham isaac and jacob moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look then the lord said to him take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground i have indeed seen the oppression of my people in egypt i have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free now come i will send you back to egypt this is the same moses they had rejected with the words who made you ruler and judge he was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by god himself through the angel who appeared to him in the bush he led them out of egypt and performed wonders and signs in egypt at the red sea and for 40 years in the wilderness this is the moses who told the israelites god will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people he was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on mount sinai with our ancestors and he received living words to pass on to us but our ancestors refused to obey him instead they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to egypt they told aaron make us gods who will go before us as for this fellow moses who led us out of egypt we don't know what has happened to him that was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf they brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made but god turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun moon and stars this agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for 40 years in the wilderness people of israel you have taken up the tabernacle of molech and the star of your god rephan the idols you made to worship therefore i will send you into exile beyond babylon our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant with law with them in the wilderness it had been made as god directed moses according to the pattern he had seen after receiving the tabernacle our ancestors under joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations god drove out before them it remained in the land until the time of david who enjoyed god's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the god of jacob but it was solomon who built a house for him however the most high does not live in houses made by human hands as the prophet says heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool what kind of house will you build for me says the lord or where will my resting place be has not my hand made all these things you stiff-necked people your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised uncircumcised you are just like your ancestors you always resist the holy spirit was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute they even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one and now you have betrayed and murdered him you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it the stoning of stephen when the members of the sanhedrin heard this they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him but stephen full of the holy spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of god and jesus standing at the right hand of god luke he said i see heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of god at this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices they all rushed at him dragged him out of the city and began to stone him meanwhile the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named saul while they were stoning the hymn stephen prayed lord jesus receive my spirit when he while they were stoning sorry while they were stoning him stephen prayed lord jesus received my spirit then he fell on his knees and cried out lord do not hold this sin against him when he had said this he fell asleep acts chapter 8 powerful acts chapter 8 and saul approved of their killing him on that day a great persecution broke out against the church in jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout judea and samaria godly men buried stephen and mourned deeply for him but saul began to destroy the church going from house to house he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went philip went down to a city in samaria and proclaimed the messiah there when the crowds heard philip and saw the signs he performed they all paid close attention to what he said for with shrieks and pure spirits came out of many and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed so there was great joy in that city now for some time a man named simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of samaria he boasted that he was someone great and all the people both high and low gave him their intention and exclaimed this man is rightly called the great power of god they followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery but when they believed philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of god in the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women simon himself believed and was baptized and he followed philip everywhere astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw we're on acts chapter 8 um verse 13 we're now in verse 14. um olive would you be able to pick up from that point good morning olive morning thank you david acts 8 14 when the apostles in jerusalem heard that samaria had accepted the word of god they sent peter and john to them when they arrived they prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit because the holy spirit had not yet come upon any of them they had simply been baptized into the name of the lord jesus then peter and john placed their hands on them and they received the holy spirit when simon saw that the spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands he offered them money and said give me also this ability so that everyone on whom i lay my hands may receive the holy spirit peter answered may your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of god with money you have no part or share in this ministry because you ha your heart is not right before god repent of this wickedness and pray to the lord perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart but i see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin then simon answered pray to the lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me when they had testified and proclaimed the word of the lord peter and john returned to jerusalem preaching the gospel in many samaritan villages philip and the ethiopian now an angel of the lord said to philip go south to the road the desert road that goes down from jerusalem to gaza so he started out and on his way he met an ethiopian eunuch an important official in the chat in charge of all the treasury of candice sorry candice queen of the ethiopians this man had gone to jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of isaiah the prophet the spirit told philip go to that chariot and stay near it then philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading isaiah the prophet do you understand what you're reading philip asked how can i he said unless someone explains it to me so he invited philip to come up and sit with him the unit was reading this passage of scripture he was led like a sheep to the slaughter as a lamb before the shearer is silent so did so he did not open his mouth in his humiliation he was deprived of justice who can speak of his descendants for his life was taken from the earth the eunuch asked philip tell me please who is the prophet talking about himself or someone else then philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about jesus as they traveled along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said look here is water why shouldn't i be baptized and he gave orders to stop the chariot then both philip and the eunuch went down into the water and philip baptized him when they came up out of the water the spirit of the lord suddenly took philip away and the eunuch did not see him again but went on his way rejoicing philip however appeared it as a zotus and travelled about preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached caesarea saul's conversion chapter 9 meanwhile saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the lord's disciples he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way whether man or woman he might take them as prisoners to jerusalem as he neared damascus on his journey suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him saul saul why do you persecute me who are you lord saul said i am jesus whom you are persecuting he replied now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do the men traveling with saul stood there speechless they heard the sound but did not see anyone saul got up from the ground but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing so they led him by the hand into damascus for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything in damascus there was a disciple named ananias the lord called to him in a vision ananias yes lord he answered the lord told him go to the house of judas on straight street and ask for a man from tarsus named saul for he is praying in a vision he was he has seen a man named ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight lord ananias and answered i i have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in jerusalem and he has come here with authority from chief priests to arrest all who call on your name but the lord said to ananias go this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the gentiles and their kings and before the people of israel i will show him how much he must suffer from my name then ananias went to the house and entered it placing his hands on saul he said brother saul the lord jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit immediately something like scales fell from saul's eyes and he could see again he got up and was baptized and after taking some food he regained his strength soul in damascus and jerusalem [Music] saul spent several days with the disciples in damascus at once he began to preach in the synagogues that jesus is the son of god all those who heard him were astonished and asked isn't he the man who caused havoc in jerusalem among those who call on his name and hasn't he come here to take us take them as prisoners to the chief priests yet saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the jews living in damascus by proving that jesus is the christ after many days had gone by the jews conspired to kill him but saul learned of the plan soul and night day and night sorry day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him but his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall when he came to jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple but barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles he told them how saul on his journey had seen the lord and that the lord had spoken to him and how in damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of jesus so saul stayed with them and moved about freely in jerusalem speaking boldly in the name of the lord he talked and debated with the grecian jews but they tried to kill him when the brothers learned of this they took him down to caesarea and sent him off to tarsus then the church throughout judea galilee and samaria enjoyed a time of peace it was strengthened and encouraged by the holy spirit it grew in numbers living in the fear of the lord annas and dorcas as peter travelled about the country he went to visit the saints in lyda there he found a man named anas a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years and as peter said to him jesus christ heals you get up tidy up your mat immediately anus got up all those who lived in leiden and sharon saw him and turned to the lord in joppa there was a disciple named tabitha which then translated as dorcas he was always doing good and helping the poor about that time she became sick and died and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room lyda was near joppa so when the disciples heard that peter was in lyra they sent two men to him and urged him please come at once peter went with him and he arrived and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room all the when widows stood around him crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that dorcas had made while she was still with them peter sent them all out of the room then he got down on his knees and prayed turning towards the dead woman he said tabitha get up she opened her eyes and seeing peter she sat up he took her by the hand and helped her to her feet then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive this became known all over joppa and many people believed in the lord peter stayed in dropper for some time with a tanner named simon cornelius calls for peter chapter 10. at caesarea there was a man named cornelius a centurion in what was known as the italian regiment he and all his family were devout and god feeding he gave generously to those in need and prayed to god regularly one day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision he distinctly saw an angel of god who came to him and said cornelius cornelius stared at him in fear what is it lord he asked the angel answered your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before god now send men to joppa to bring back a man named simon who is called peter he is staying with simon the tanner whose house is by the sea when the angel spoke to him had gone cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants he told them everything that had happened and sent them to joppa peter's vision about noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city peter went up on the roof to pray he became hungry and wanted something to eat and while the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance he saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners it contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air then a voice told him get up peter kill and eat surely not lord peter replied i have never eaten anything impure or unclean the voice spoke to him a second time do not call anything impure that god has made clean this happened three times and immediately the sheep was taken back into heaven while peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision the men sent by cornelius found out where simon's house was and stopped at the gate they called out asking if simon who was known as peter was staying there but peter was still thinking about the vision the spirit said to him simon three men are looking for you so get up go downstairs do not hesitate to go with them for i have sent them peter went down and said to the men i'm the one you're looking for why have you come the men replied we have come from cornelius the centurion he is a righteous and god-fearing man who is respected by all the jewish people a holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say then peter invited the men into the house to be his guests peter at cornelius's house the next day peter started out with them and some of the brothers from joppa went along the following day he arrived at caesarea cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends as peter entered the house cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence but peter made him get up stand up he said i am only a man myself talking with him peter went inside and found a large gathering of people he said to them you're well aware that is against the our law for a jew to associate with the gentile or visit him but god has shown me that i should not call any man impure or unclean so when i was sent for i came without raising any objection may i ask why you sent for me cornelius answered four days ago i was in my house praying at this hour at three in the afternoon suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said cornelius god has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor send to joppa for simon who is called peter he is a guest in the home of simon the tanner who lives by the sea so i sent for you immediately and it was good of you to come now we are all here in the presence of god to listen to everything the lord has commanded you to tell us then peter began to speak i now realize how true it is that god does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right you know the message god sent to the people of israel telling the good news of peace through jesus christ who is lord of all you know what has happened throughout judea beginning in galilea sorry beginning in galilee after the baptism that john preached how god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because god was with him we are all wit we're all witnesses of everything he did in the country of the jews and in jerusalem they killed him by hanging him on a tree but god raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen he was not seen by all the people but by witnesses whom god had already chosen by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom god appointed as judge of the living and the dead all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name well peter was still speaking these words the holy spirit came on all who heard the message the circumcised believers who had come with peter were astonished that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising god then peter said can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water they have received the holy spirit just as we have so he ordained that they be baptized in the name of jesus christ then they asked peter to stay with them for a few days and i'm now going to hand over to david at chapter 11 of acts thanks so much olive acts chapter 11. i just need a moment my uh bible has closed but we're going to act chapter 11. peter explains his actions acts chapter 11 the apostles and the believers throughout judea heard that the gentiles also had received the word of god so when peter went up to jerusalem the circumcised believers criticized him and said you went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them starting from the beginning peter told them the whole story i was in the city of joppa praying and in a trance i saw a vision i saw something like a large large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners and it came down to where i was i looked into it and i saw four footed animals of the earth wild beasts reptiles and birds then i heard a voice telling me get up peter kill and eat i replied surely not lord nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth their voice spoke from heaven a second time do not call anything impure that god has made clean this happened three times and then it was all pulled up to heaven again right then three men who had been sent to me from caesarea stopped at the house where i was staying the spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them these six brothers also went with me and we entered the man's house he told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say sent to joppa for simon who is called peter he will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved as i began to speak the holy spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning then i remembered what the lord had said john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit so if god gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the lord jesus christ who was i to think that i could stand in god's way when they heard this they had no further objections and praised god saying so then even to gentiles god has granted repentance that leads to life verse 19 now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when stephen was killed traveled as far as phoenicia cyprus and antioch spreading the word only among jews some of them however men from cyprus and cyrene went to antioch and began to speak to greeks also telling them about the good news of the lord jesus the lord's hand was with them and a great number of people believed and turned to the lord news of this reached the church in jerusalem and they sent barnabas to antioch when he arrived and saw what the grace of god had done he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the lord with all their hearts he was a good man full of the holy spirit and faith and a great number of people were brought to the lord then barnabas went to tarsus to look for saul and when he found him he brought him to antioch so for a whole year barnabas and saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people the disciples were first called christians at antioch during this time some prophets came down from jerusalem to antioch one of them named agabus stood up and through the whole through the spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire roman world this happened during the reign of claudius the disciples as each one was able decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in judea this they did sending their gift to the elders by barnabas and saul moving on to acts chapter 12 and peter's miraculous escape from prison it was about this time that king herod arrested some who belonged to the church intending to persecute them he had james the brother of john put to death with the sword when he saw that this met with approval among the jews he proceeded to seize peter also this happened during the festival of unleavened bread after arresting him he put him in prison handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the passover so peter was kept in prison but the church was earnestly praying to god for him the night before herod was to bring him to trial peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and sentries stood guard at the entrance suddenly an angel of the lord appeared on a light shone in the cell he struck peter on the side and woke him up quick get up he said and the chains fell off peter's wrists then the angel said put on your clothes and sandals and peter did so wrap your cloak round you and follow me the angel told him peter followed him out of the prison but he had no idea what the angel that what the angel was doing was really happening he thought he was seeing a vision they passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city it opened for them by itself and they went through it when they had walked the lengths of one street suddenly the angel left him then peter came to himself and said now i know without a doubt that the lord has sent his angel and rescued me from herod's clutches and from everything the jewish people were hoping would happen when this had dawned on him he went to the house of mary the mother of john also called mark where many people had gathered and were praying peter knocked at the outer entrance and a sen servant named rhoda came to answer the door when she recognized peter's voice she was so overjoyed she ran back with her opening and exclaimed peter is at the door you're out of your mind they told her when she kept insisting that it was so they said it must be his angel but peter kept on knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished peter motioned with his hands for them to be quiet and described how the lord had brought him out of prison tell james and the other brothers and sisters about this he said and then he left for another place in the morning there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of peter after herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed then herod went from judea to caesarea and stayed there he had been quarreling with the people of tyron tyre and siren they now joined together and saw an audience with him after after securing the support of blastus a trusted personal servant of the king they asked for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply on the appointed day herod wearing his royal robes sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people they shouted this is the voice of a god not a man immediately because herod did not give praise to god an angel of the lord struck him down and he was eaten by worms and died but the word of god continued to split spread and flourish barnabas and saul sent off verse 25 when barnabas and saul had finished their mission they returned from jerusalem taking with them john also called mark acts chapter 13. now in the church at antioch there were prophets and teachers barnabas simon call simeon called niger lucius of cyrene manaeon who had been brought up with herod the tetrarch and saul while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the holy spirit said set apart for me barnabas and saul for the work to which i have called them so after they had fasted and prayed they placed their hands on them and sent them off the two of them sent on their way by the holy spirit went down to seleucia and sailed there from there to cyprus when they arrived at salamis they proclaimed the word of god in the jewish synagogues john was with them as their helper they traveled through the whole island until they came to paphos there they met a jewish sorcerer and false prophet named bar jesus who was an attendant of the proconsul sergius paulus the proconsul an intelligent man sent for barnabas and saul because he wanted to hear the word of god but ellie matt's the sorcerer for that is what his name means opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith then saul who was also called paul filled with the holy spirit looked straight at ellie mass and said you are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery will you never stop perverting the right ways of the lord now the hand of the lord is against you you are going to be blind for a time not even able to see the light of the sun immediately mist and darkness came over him and he groped about seeking someone to lead him by the hand when the proconsul saw what had happened he believed for he was amazed at the teaching about the lord from paphos paul and his companion serge sailed to perga in pamphilia where john left them to return to jerusalem from perga they went down to pacifidi in antioch on the sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down after reading from the law and the prophets the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them saying brothers if you have a word of exhortation for the people please speak standing up paul motioned with his hand and said fellow israelites and you gentiles who worship god listen to me the god of the people of israel chose our ancestors he made the people prosper during their stay in egypt with mighty power he led them out of that country for about 40 years he endured their conduct in the wilderness and he overthrew seven nations in canaan giving their land to his people as their inheritance all this took about 450 years after this god gave them judges until the time of samuel the prophet then the people asked for a king and he gave them saul son of kish of the tribe of benjamin who ruled for 40 years after removing saul he made david their king god testified concerning him i have found david son of jesse a man after my own heart he will do everything i want him to do from this man's descendants god brought to israel the savior jesus as he had promised before the coming of jesus john preached repentance and baptism to all the people of israel as john was completing his work he said who do you suppose i am i am not the one you are looking for but there is one coming after me whose sandals i am not worthy to untie fellow children of abraham and you god fearing gentiles it is to us that this message has been sent the people of jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize jesus yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath though they found no proper ground for a death sentence they asked pilate to have him executed when they had carried out all that was written about them they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb but god raised him from the dead and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from galilee to jerusalem they are now his witnesses to our people we tell you the good news what god promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us their children by raising up jesus as it is written in the second psalm you are my son today i have become your father god raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay as god has said i will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to david so it is stated elsewhere you will not let your holy one see decay now when david had served god's purpose in his own generation he fell asleep he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed but the one whom god raised from the dead did not see decay therefore my friends i want you to know that jesus through jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of moses take care that what the prophets had said does not happen to you luke you scoffers wonder and perish for i am going to do something in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you as paul and barnabas were leaving the synagogue the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next sabbath when the congregation was dismissed many of the jews and devout converts to judaism followed paul and barnabas who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of god on the next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the lord when the jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy they began to contradict what paul was saying and heaped abuse on him then paul and barnabas answered him boldly we had to speak the word of god to you first since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life we now turn to the gentiles for this is what the lord has commanded us i have made you a light for the gentiles that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth when the gentiles heard this they were glad and honored the word of the lord and all who were appointed for eternal life believed the word of the lord spread throughout the whole region but the jewish leaders incited the god-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city they stirred up persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them from the region so they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and with the holy spirit oh i'd love to keep on reading but it's time to hand over to micah who will ably take us on into acts chapter 14 over to you micah all right thank you yep acts chapter 14 which is titled in iconium at iconium paul and barnabas went as usual into the jewish synagogue there they spoke so effectively that a great number of jews and greeks believed but the jews who refused to believe stirred up the other gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers so paul and barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the lord who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders the people of the city were divided some sided with the jews others with the apostles there was a plot to foot among both gentiles and jews together with their leaders to mistreat them and stone them but they found out about it and fled to lyconian cities of lystra and derby into the surrounding country where they continued to preach the gospel in lystra there sat a man who was lame he had been that way from birth and had never walked he listened to paul as he was speaking paul looked directly at him saw that he had faith to be healed and called out stand up on your feet at that the man jumped up and began to walk when the crowd saw what paul had done they shouted in the lyconian language the gods have come down to us in human form barnabas they called zeus and paul they called hermes because he was the chief speaker the priest of zeus whose temple was just outside the city brought bowls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them but when the apostles barnabas and paul heard of this they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting friends why are you doing this we too are only human like you we are bringing you the good news telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living god who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them in the past he let all nations go their own way yet he has not left himself without testimony he has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy even with these words they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them then some jews came from antioch and iconium and won the crowd over they stoned paul and dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead but after the disciples had gathered around him he got up and went back into the city the next day he and barnabas left for derby they preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples then they returned to lystra iconium and antioch strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of god they said paul and barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and with prayer and fasting committed committed them to the lord in whom they had put their trust and after going through pasidia they came into pamphilia and when they had preached the word in perga they went down to adelia from adelia they sailed back to antioch where they had been committed to the grace of god for the work they had now completed on arriving there they gathered the church together and reported all that god had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles and they stayed there a long time with the disciples chapter 15 the council at jerusalem certain people came down from judea to antioch and we're teaching the believers unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by moses you cannot be saved this brought paul and barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them so paul and barnabas were appointed along with some other believers to go up to jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question the church sent them on their way and they traveled through phoenicia and samaria they told how the gentiles had been converted this news made all the believers very glad when they came to jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and the the apostles and the elders to whom they reported everything god had done through them then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the pharisees stood up and said the gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of moses the apostles and elders met to consider this question after much discussion peter got up and addressed them brothers you know that some time ago god made a choice among you that the gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe god who knows the heart showed that he accepted them by giving them the holy spirit just as he did to us he did not discriminate discriminate between us and them for he purified their hearts by faith now then why do you try to test god by putting on the necks of gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear no we believe it is through the grace of our lord jesus christ that we are saved just as they are the whole assembly became silent as they listened to barnabas and paul telling about the signs and wonders god had done among the gentiles through them when they finished james spoke up brothers he said listen to me simon has described to us how god first intervened to to choose a people for his name from the gentiles the words of the prophets are in agreement with this as it is written after this i will return and rebuild david's fall intent its runs i will rebuild and i will restore it that the rest of mankind may seek the lord even all the gentiles who bear my name says the lord who does these things things known from long ago it is my judgment therefore that we should not make it difficult for the gentiles who are turning to god instead we should write to them telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols from sexual immorality from the meat of strangled animals and from blood for the law of moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every sabbath verse 22 then the apostles and elders with the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to antioch with paul and barnabas they chose judas called barsabbas and silas men who were leaders among the believers with them they sent the following letter the apostles and elders your brothers to the gentile believers in antioch syria and cilicia greetings we have heard that that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you troubling your minds by what they said so we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends barnabas and paul men who have risked their lives for the name of our lord jesus christ therefore we are sending judas and silas to confirm by word of mouth with what we are writing it seemed good to the holy spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements you are to abstain from food sacrifice to idols from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality you will do well to avoid these things farewell so the men were sent off and went down to antioch where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter the people read it and were glad for its encouraging message judas and silas who were them who themselves were prophets said much to encourage and strengthen the believers after spending some time there they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them but paul and barnabas remained in antioch where they and many others taught and preached the word of the lord verse 36 sometime later paul said to barnabas let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the word of the lord and see how they were doing barnabas wanted to take john also called mark with them but paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in pamphilia and had not continued with him in the work they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company barnabas took mark and sailed for cyprus but paul chose silas and left commended by the believers to the grace of the lord and he went through syria and sicilia strengthening the churches chapter 16 timothy joins paul and silas paul came to derby and then to lystra where a disciple named timothy lived whose mother was jewish and a believer but whose father was a greek the believers at lystra and iconium spoke well of him paul wanted to take him along the journey so he circumcised him because of the jews who lived in that area for they all knew that his father was a greek and as they traveled from town to town they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in jerusalem for the people to obey so the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of phrygia and galatia having been kept by the holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of asia when they came to the border of missia they tried to enter bidna but the spirit of jesus would not allow them to so they passed by missia and went down to troas during the night paul had a vision of the man of macedonia standing and begging him come over to macedonia and help us after paul had seen the vision we got ready at once to leave for macedonia concluding that god had called us to preach the gospel to them from troas we put on to sea and sailed straight for samurai face and the next day we went on to neapolis from there we traveled to philippi a roman colony and the leading city of the just of that district of macedonia and we stayed there several days on the sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of prayer we sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there one of those listening was a woman from the city of thyatira named lydia a dealer in purple cloth she was a worshiper of god and the lord opened her heart to respond to paul's message when she and the members of her household were baptized she invited us to her home if you consider me a believer in the lord she said come and stay at my house and she persuaded us once when we were going to the place of prayer we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future she earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling and she followed paul and the rest of us shouting these men are servants of the most high god who are telling you the way to be saved she kept this up for many days finally paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit in the name of jesus christ i command you to come out of her and at that moment the spirit left her when her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone they seized paul and silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities they brought them before the magistrates and said these men are jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us romans to accept or practice the crowd joined in the attack against paul and silas and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods after they had been severely flogged they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully when he received these orders he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in stocks about midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the other prisoners were listening to them suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken at once all the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose the jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open he he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped but paul shouted don't harm yourself we are all here the jailer called for lights rushed in and fell trembling before paul and silas he then brought them out them out and asked sirs what must i do to be saved and they replied believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved you and your household then they spoke the word of the lord to him and to all the others in his house at the hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds then immediately he and all his household were baptized the jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them and he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in god he and his whole household and when it was daylight the magistrate sent their officers to the jailer with the order release these men the jailer told paul the magistrates have ordered that you and silas be released now you can leave go in peace but paul said to the officers they beat us publicly without a trial even though we are roman citizens and they threw us into prison and now they want to get rid of us quietly no let them come themselves and escort us out the officers reported this to the magistrates and when they heard that paul and silas were roman citizens they were alarmed they came to appease them and escorted them from the prison requesting them to leave the city after paul and silas came out of the prison they went to lydia's house where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged it and encouraged them then they left and i'll now pass it on on acts 17 to the finches accent thank you when paul and his companions has passed through amphiphilis and apollonia they came to thessalonica where there was a jewish synagogue as was his custom paul went into the synagogue and on three sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and proving that the messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead this jesus i'm proclaiming to you is the messiah he said some of the jews were persuaded and joined paul and silas as did a large number of god fearing greeks and quite a few prominent women but other jews were jealous so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace formed a mob and started a riot in the city they rushed to jason's house in search of paul and silas in order to bring them out to the crowd but when they did not find them they dragged jason and some other believers before the sea officials shouting these men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here and jason had welcomed them into his house they all defying caesar's decrees saying that there is another king and one called jesus when they heard this the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil then they made jason and the others post pond and let them go as soon it was as soon as it was night the believers sent paul and silas away to berea on arriving there they went to the jewish synagogue now the berean jews were of more noble character than those in thessalonica for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see what paul said was true as a result many of them believed as did also a number of prominent greek women and many greek men but when the jews in thessalonica learned that paul was preaching the word of god at berea some of them went there too agitating the crowds and stirring them up the believers immediately sent paul to the coast but silas and timothy stayed at berea those who escort paul brought him to athens and then left with instructions for silas and timothy to join him as soon as possible while paul was waiting for them in athens he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols so he reasoned in the synagogue with both jews and god fearing greeks as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there a group of epicurean and stoic philosophers began to debate with him some of them asked what is this babbler trying to say others remarked he seems to be advocate advocating foreign gods they said this because paul was preaching the good news about jesus and the resurrection then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the arab pagas where they said to him may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting you are bringing some strange ideas to our ears we would like to know what they mean all the athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas paul then stood up in the meeting of the arapagas and said people of athens i see that in every way you were very religious for as i walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship i even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown god so you are ignorant of the very thing you worship and this is what i am going to proclaim to you the god who made the world and everything in it is the lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything rather he himself gives every everyone life and breath and everything else for one man he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their land god did this so that they would seek him and perhaps re reach out for him and find him though he is not far from any one of us but in him we live and move and have habit and have our being as some of you own poets have said we are his offspring therefore since we are god's offspring we should not think that divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image made by human design in skill in the past god overlooked such ignorance but now he commands all people everywhere to repent for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed he's given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead when they heard about the resurrection of the dead some of them sneered but others said we want to hear you again on this subject at that paul left the council some of the people became followers of paul and believed among them was diana dionis a member of arapagas also a woman named emirates and a number of others acts chapter 18 after this paul left athens and went to corinth there he met a jew named aquila a native of pontus who had recently come from italy with his wife priscilla because claudius had ordered all jews to leave rome paul went to see them and because he was a tempt maker as they were he stayed and worked with them every sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue trying to persuade jews in greeks when silas and timothy came from macedonia paul devouted himself exclusively to preaching testifying to the jews that jesus was the messiah but when they opposed paul and became abusive he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them your blood be on your own heads i'm innocent of it from now on i will go on to the gentiles then paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of titus justice a worshiper of god crispus the synagogue leader leader and his entire household believed in the lord and many of the corinthians who heard paul believed and were baptized one night the lord spoke to paul in a vision do not be afraid keep on speaking do not be silent for i am with you and no one is going to attack you and harm you because i have many people in this city so paul stayed in corinth for a year and a half teaching them the word of god while galio was prince consuela of ikea the jews of corinth made an united attack on paul and brought into the place of judgment this man they charged is persuading the people to worship god in ways contrary to the law just as paul was about to speak galileon said to them if you jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime it would be reasonable for me to listen to you but since it involves questions about words and names and your own law settle the matter yourselves i'll not be a judge of such things so he drove them off then the crowd they were turned on sustenance the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the prom proconsul and galio showed no concern whatever paul stayed on in corinth for some time then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for syria accompanied by priscilla and aquila before he sailed he had his hair cut off at century because of a vow he had taken they arrived at ephesus where paul left priscilla and aquila he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the jews when they asked him to spend more time with them he declined but as he left he promised i'll come back if it is god's will then he set sail from ephesus when he landed at caesarea he went up to jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to an antioch after spending some time in antioch paul sent out from from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of galatia and phrygia strengthening all the disciples meanwhile a jew named apollos a native alexandria came to ephesus he was a learned man with a through with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures he'd been instructed in the way of the lord and he spoke with great feather and taught about jesus accurately though he knew only the baptism of john he began to speak boldly in the synagogue when priscilla and aquila heard him they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of god more adequately when apollos wanted to go to ikea the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrought to the disciples there to welcome him when he arrived he was a great help to those who by grace had believed for his vigorous for his vigorously refuted his jewish opponents in public debate proving from the scriptures that jesus was the messiah acts chapter 19 while apollos was at corinth paul took the road through the interior and arrived at ephesus there he found some disciples and asked them did you receive the holy spirit when you believed they answered no we've not even heard that there is a holy spirit so paul asked then what baptism did you receive john's baptism they replied paul said john's baptism was a baptism of repentance he told the people to believe in the one coming after him that is in jesus on hearing this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus when paul placed his hands on them the holy spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied there were about 12 men in all paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months arguing persuasively about the kingdom of god but some of them became abstinent they refused to believe and publicly maligned the way so paul left them he took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of tyranus this went on for two years so that all the jews and greeks who lived in the province of asia heard the word of the lord god did extraordinary miracles through paul so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them some jews who went around driving out evil spirits try to invoke the name of the lord jesus over those who were demon-possessed they would say in the name of jesus whom paul preaches i command you to come out seven sons of skiva a jewish chief priest were doing this one day the evil spirit answered them jesus i know and paul i know about but who are you then the man who the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all he gave them such a beating that they ran up the house naked and bleeding when this became known to the jews and greeks living in ephesus they were all seized with fear in the name of the lord jesus was held in high honor many of those who believe now came and openly confessed what they had done a number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly when they calculate the value of the scrolls the total came to 50 000 drachmas in this way the word of the lord spread widely and grew in power after all this had happened paul decided to go to jerusalem passing through macedonia and ikea after he'd been there he said i must visit rome also he sent two of his helpers timothy and eretus to macedonia while he stayed in the province of asia a little longer about that time there were rules of great disturbance about the way a silversmith named demetrius who made silver shines of artemis brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there he called them together along with the workers in related trades and said you know my friends that we receive good income from this business and you see in here how this fellow paul has convinced and led astray in large numbers of people here in ephesus and in particularly the whole province of asia he says that god gods made by human hands are no gods at all there is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name but also that the temple of the great goddess artemis will be discredited and the goddess herself who is worshiped throughout the province of asia and the world will be robbed of her divine majesty when they heard this they were furious and began shouting great is artemis of of the ephesians soon the whole city was in an uproar the people seized gaius and aristicus paul's traveling companions from macedonia and all of them rushed into the theater together paul wanted to appear before the crowd but his disciples would not let him even some of the officials of the province friends of paul sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater the assembly was in confusion some were shouting one thing some another most of the people did not even know why they were there the jews in the crowd pushed alexander to the front and they shouted instructions to him he motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people but when they realized he was a jew they all shouted in unison for about two hours great is artemis of the ephesians the city clerk quieted the crowd and said fellow ephesians doesn't all the world know that the city of ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great artemis and of her image which fell from heaven therefore since these facts are undeniable you ought to calm down and not do anything rash you've brought these men here though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess if then demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody the call to open and there are pr prong con prone consoles you can press charges if there is anything further you want to bring up it must be settled in a legal assembly as it is we are in danger of being charged with writing because of what happened today in that case we would not be able to account for this commotion since there is no reason for it after he had said this he dismissed the assembly thanks grace right we'll continue reading acts at chapter 20. when the uproar had ended paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging them said goodbye and set out for macedonia he traveled through that area speaking many words of encouragement to the people and finally arrived in greece where he stayed three months because some jews has plotted against him just he was about to sail for syria he decided to go back through macedonia he was accompanied by softer son of ferris from berea ostkus and cenkus from thessalonica gaius from derby timothy also antagius and trophamus from the province of asia these men went on ahead and waited for us at troas but we sailed from philippi after the festival of unleavened bread and five days later joined the others at roast where we stayed seven days on the first day of the week we came together to break bread paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day kept on talking until midnight there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting seated in a window was a young man named luticus he was sinking into a deep sleep as paul talked on and on when he was sound asleep he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead paul went down threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him don't be alarmed he said he's alive then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate after talking until daylight he left people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted there's 13 polls farewell to the ephesian elders we went on a head to the ship and sailed for asos where we were going to take paul aboard he had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot when he met us at asos we took him aboard and went on to mitilane the next day we set sail from there and arrived of chaos the day after that we crossed over to samos and on the following day arrived at militis paul had decided to sail past ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of asia for he was in a hurry to reach jerusalem if possible by the day of pentecost from militis paul sent to ephesus for the elders of the church when they arrived he said to them you know how i lived the whole time i was with you from the first day i came into the province of asia i served the lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my jewish opponents you know that i have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house i have declared to both jews and greeks that they must turn to god in repentance and have faith in our lord jesus and now compelled by the spirit i am going to jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there i only know that in every city the holy spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me however i consider my life worth nothing to me my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the lord jesus has given me the task of testifying to the good news of god's grace now i know that none of you among whom i have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again therefore i declare to you today that i am innocent of the blood of any of you for i have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of god keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the holy spirit has made you overseas be shepherds of the church of god which he brought with bought with his own blood i know that after i leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them be on your guard remember that for three years i never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears now i commit you to god and to the word of his grace which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified i have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing you yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions in everything i did i showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak remembering the words the lord jesus himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive when paul had finished speaking he knelt down with all of them and prayed they all wept as they embraced him and kissed him what grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again then they accompanied him to the ship acts chapter 21 on to jerusalem after we had torn ourselves away from them we put out to sea and sail straight to coasts the next day we went to roads and from there to potara we found a ship crossing over to francia went on board and set sail after sighting cyprus and passing to the south of it we sailed onto syria we landed at tyre where our ship was to unload its cargo we sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days through the spirit they urged paul not to go on to jerusalem when it was time to leave we left and continued on our way all of them including wives and children accompanied us out of the city and there on the beach we knelt to pray after saying goodbye to each other we went aboard the ship and they returned home we continued our voyage from tyre and landed at plantamus where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day leaving the next day we reached caesarea and stayed at the house of philip the evangelist one of the seven he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied after we had been there a number of days a prophet named agabus came down from judea coming over to us he took paul's belt tied his own hands and feet with it and said the holy spirit says in this way the jewish leaders in jerusalem will bind the owner of his belt and will hand him over to the gentiles when we heard this we and the people there pleaded with paul not to go up to jerusalem then paul answered why are you weeping and breaking my heart i am ready not only to be bound but also to die in jerusalem for the name of the lord jesus when he would not be dissuaded we gave up and said the lord's will be done after this we started on our way up to jerusalem some of the disciples from caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of namson where we were to stay he was a man from cyprus and one of the early disciples verse 17 paul's arrival at jerusalem when we arrived at jerusalem the brothers and sisters received us warmly the next day paul and the rest of us went to see james and all the elders were present paul greeted them and reported in detail what god had done among the gentiles through his ministry when they heard this they praised god then they said to paul you see brother how many thousands of jews have believed and all of them are zealous for the law they have been informed that you teach all the jews who live among the gentiles to turn away from moses telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs what shall we do they will certainly hear that you have come so do what we tell you there are four men with us who have made a vow take these men join in their purification rights and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law as for the gentile believers we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols from blood from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality the next day paul took the men and purified himself along with them then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them when the seven days were nearly over some jews from the province of age asia saw paul at the temple they stood up the whole crowd and seized him shouting fellow israelites help us this is the man who teaches everyone against our people and our law and this place and besides he has brought greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place they had previously seen trophymus the ephesian in the city with paul and assumed that paul had brought him into the temple the whole city was aroused and the people came running from all directions seizing paul they dragged him from the temple and immediately the gates were shut while they were trying to kill him news reached the commander of the roaming troops that the whole city of jerusalem was in an uproar he at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd when the rioters saw the command and his soldiers they stopped beating paul the commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains then he asked who he was and what he had done some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar he ordered that paul be taken into the barracks when paul reached the steps the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers the crowd that followed kept shouting get rid of him as the soldiers were about to take paul into the barracks he asked the commander may i say something to you do you speak greek he replied aren't you the egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago paul answered i am a drew from tarsus in sicil a citizen of no ordinary city please let me speak to the people after receiving the commander's permission paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd when they were all silent he said to them in aramaic acts chapter 22 brothers and fathers listen now to my defense when they heard him speak to them in aramaic they became very quiet then paul said i am a jew born in tarsus but brought up in this city i studied under chameleon and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors i was just as zealous for god as any of you are today i persecuted the followers of this way to their death arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison as the high priest and all the council can themselves testify i even obtained letters from them to their associates in damascus and went there to bring these people as prisoners to jerusalem to be punished about noon as i came near damascus suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me i fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me saul saul why do you persecute me who are you lord i asked i am jesus of nazareth whom you are persecuting he replied my companions saw the light but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me what shall i do lord i ask get up the lord said and go into damascus there you will be told all that you have been assigned to do my companions led me by the hand into damascus because the brilliance of the light had blinded me a man named ananias came to see me he was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the jews living there he stood beside me and said brother saul receive your sight and at that very moment i was able to see him then he said the god of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear words from his mouth you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard and now that you and now what are you waiting for get up be baptized and wash your sins away calling on his name when i returned to jerusalem and was praying at the temple i fell into a trance and saw the lord speaking to me quick he said leave jerusalem immediately because the people here will not accept your testimony anymore about me lord i replied these people know that i went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you and when the blood of your martyr stephen was shared i stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him then the lord said to me go i will send you far away to the gentiles the crowd listened to paul until he said this then they raised their voices and shouted read the earth of him he's not fit to live as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air the commander ordered that paul be taken into the barracks he directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this as they stretched him out to flog him paul said to the centurion standing there is it legal for you to flog a roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty when the centurion heard this he went to the command and reported it what are you going to do he asked this man is a roman citizen the commander went to paul and asked tell me are you a roman citizen yes i am he answered then the commander said i had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship but i was born a citizen paul replied those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put paul a roman citizen in chains the commander wanted to find out exactly while paul was being accused by the jews so the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the sandrian to assemble then he brought paul and had him stand before them chapter 23 paul looked straight at the sandrine and said my brothers i have fulfilled my duty to god in all good conscience to this day at this the high priest ananias ordered those standing near paul to strike him on the mouth then paul said to him god will strike you you whitewashed wall you sit there to judge me according to the law yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that i be struck those who were standing near paul said how dare you insult god's high priest paul replied brothers i did not realize that he was the high priest for it is written do not speak evil about the ruler of your people then paul knowing that some of them were sadducees and the other pharisees called out in the sandrine my brothers i am a pharisee descended from pharisees i stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead when he said this a dispute broke out between the pharisees and the sadducees and the assembly was divided the sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there are neither angels nor spirits but the pharisees believe all these things there was a great uproar and some of the teachers of the law who were pharisees stood up and argued vigorously we find nothing wrong with this man they said what if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him the dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid paul would be torn to pieces by them he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks the following night the lord stood near to paul and said take courage and he was testified about me in jerusalem so you must also testify in rome i'll hand over to you david at the first hotel plot to pill paul thank you deb thank you finches acts chapter 23 verse 12 the plot to kill paul the next morning some jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed paul more than 40 men were involved in this plot they went to the chief priests and the elders and said we have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed paul now then you and the hunt sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case we are ready to kill him before he gets here but when the son of paul's sister heard of this plot he went into the barracks and told paul then paul called one of the centurions and said take this young man to the commander he has something to tell him so he took him to the commander the centurion said paul the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you the commander took the young man by the hand drew him aside and asked what is it you want to tell me he said some jews have asked have agreed to ask you to bring paul before the sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him don't give in to them because more than 40 of them are waiting in ambush for him they have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him they are ready now waiting for your consent to their request the commander dismissed the young man with this warning don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me then he called two of his centurions and ordered them get ordered them get ready a detachment of 200 soldiers 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go to caesarea at nine tonight provide horses for paul so that he may be taken safely to governor felix he wrote a letter as follows claudius lysius to his excellency governor felix greetings this man was seized by the jews and they were about to kill him but i came with my troops and rescued him for i had learned that he is a roman citizen i wanted to know why they were accusing him so i brought him to their sanhedrin i found that the accusations had to do with questions about their law but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment when i was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man i sent him to you at once i also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him so the soldiers carrying out their orders took paul with them during the night and brought him as far as antipatris the next day they let their cavalry go on with him while they returned to the barracks when the cavalry arrived in caesarea they delivered a letter to the governor and handed paul over to him the governor read the letter and asked what province he was from learning that he was from cilicia he said i will hear your case when your accusers get here then he ordered that paul be kept under guard in herod's palace on to acts chapter 24 paul's trial before felix five days later the high priest ananias went down to caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named turtulos and they brought their charges against paul before the governor when paul was called in turtulos presented his case before felix we have enjoyed a long period of peace under you and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation everywhere and in every way most excellent felix we acknowledge this with profound gratitude but in order not to wear you further i would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly we have found this man to be a troublemaker stirring up riots among the jews all over the world he is a ringleader of the nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple so he seized him by examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him the other jews joined in the accusation asserting that these things were true when the governor motioned for him to speak paul replied i know that for a number of years years you have been a judge over this nation so i gladly make my defense you can easily verify that more no more than 12 days ago i went up to jerusalem to worship my accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city and they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me however i admit i admit that i worship the god of our ancestors as a follower of the way which they call a sect i believe everything that is in accordance with the law and that is written in the prophets and i have the same hope in god as these men themselves have that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked so i strive always to keep my conscience clear before man god and man after an absence of several years i came to jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings i was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this there was no crowd with me nor was i involved in any disturbance but there are some jews from the province of asia who ought to be here before you and bring char you bring charges if they have anything against me or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when i stood before the sanhedrin unless it was this one thing i shouted as i stood in their presence it is concerning the resurrection of the dead that i am on trial before you today then felix who was well acquainted with the way adjourned the proceedings when lysius the commander comes he said i will decide your case he ordered the centurion to keep paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs several days later felix came with his wife drusilla who was jewish he sent for paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in christ jesus as paul talked about righteousness self-control and the judgment to come felix was afraid and said that's enough for now you may leave when i find it convenient i will send for you at the same time he was hoping that paul would offer him a bribe so he sent for him frequently and talked with him when two years had passed felix was succeeded by perseus festus but because felix wanted to grant a favor to the jews he left paul in prison acts chapter 25 paul's trial before festus three days after arriving in the province festus went up from caesarea to jerusalem where the chief priests and the jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against paul they requested festus as a favor to them to have paul transferred to jerusalem for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way festus answered paul is being held at caesarea and i myself am going there soon let some of your leaders come with me and if the man has done anything wrong they can press charges against him there after spending eight or ten days with them festus went down to caesarea the next day he convened the court and ordered that paul be brought before him when paul came in the jews who had come down from jerusalem stood round him they brought many serious charges against him but they could not prove them then paul made his defense i have done nothing wrong against the jewish law or against the temple or against caesar festus wishing to do the jews a favor said to paul are you willing to go up to jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges paul answered i am now standing before caesar's court where i ought to be tried i have not done any wrong to the jews as you yourself know very well if however i am guilty of doing anything deserving death i do not refuse to die but if the charges brought against me by these jews are not true no one has the right to hand me over to them i appealed to caesar after festus had conferred with his counsel he declared you have appealed to caesar to caesar you will go a few days later king agrippa and bernice arrived at caesarea to pay their respects to festus since they were spending many days there festus discussed paul's case with the king he said there is a man here whom felix left as a prisoner when i went to jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned i told them that it is not the roman custom to hand over anyone before they ever faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges when they came here with me i did not delay the case but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in when his accusers got up to speak they did not charge him with any of the crimes i had expected instead they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named jesus whom paul claimed was alive i was at a loss how to investigate such matters so i asked if he would be willing to go to jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges but when paul made his appeal to be held over for the emperor's decision i ordered him to be held until i could send him to caesar then agrippa said to festus i would like to hear this man myself he replied tomorrow you will hear him the next day a gripper and bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high ranking military officers and the prominent men of the city at the command of festus paul was brought in festus said king agrippa and all who are present with us you see this man the whole jewish community has petitioned me about him in jerusalem and here in caesarea shouting that he ought not to live any longer i found he had done nothing deserving of death but because he made his appeal to the emperor i decided to send him to rome but i have nothing definite to write to his majesty about him therefore i have brought him before all of you and especially before king agrippa so that as a result of this investigation i may have something to write for i think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner on to rome without specifying the charges against him and we're on to acts chapter 26. i i think this would be a good time to hand over over to pauline well sorry pam it's pam today hi chapter 26. then agrippa said to paul you have permission to speak for yourself so paul motioned with his hand and began his defense king agrippa i consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as i make my defense against all your accusations of the jews and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the jewish customs and contra controversies therefore i beg you to listen to me patiently the jews all know the way i have lived ever since i was a child from the beginning of my life in my own country and also in jerusalem they have known me for a long time and can testify if they are willing that according to the strictest sect of our religion i lived as a pharisee and now it has is because of my hope in what god has promised our fathers that i am on trial today this is a promise our 12 tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve god day and night o king it is because of this hope that the jews are accusing me why should any of you consider it incredible that god raises the dead i too was convinced that i ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of jesus of nazareth and that is just what i did in jerusalem on the authority of the chief priests i put many of the saints in prison and when they were put to death i cast my vote against them many a time i went from one synagogue to another to have them punished and i tried to force them to blaspheme in my obsession against them i even went to foreign cities to persecute them on one of these journeys i was going to damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests about new knocking as i was on the road i saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun blazing around me and my companions we all fell on the ground and i heard a voice saying to me in aramaic saul saul why do you persecute me it is hard for you to kick against the goods then i ask who are you lord i am jesus whom you are persecuting the lord replied now get up and stand on your feet i have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what i will show you i will rescue you from your own people and from the gentiles i'm sending you to them to open our eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of satan to god so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place amongst those who are sanctified by faith in me so then king agrippa i was not disobedient to the vision from heaven first to those in damascus then to those in jerusalem and in all judea and to the gentiles also i preached that they should repent and turn to god and prove their repentance by their deeds that is why the jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me but i have had god's help to this very day and so i stand here and testify to small and great alike i'm saying nothing beyond what the prophets and moses said would happen that the christ would suffer and as the first to rise from the dead would proclaim light to his own people and to the gentiles at this point festus interrupted paul's defense you're out of your mind paul he shouted your great learning is driving you and saying i'm not insane most excellent festus paul replied what i'm saying is true and reasonable the king is familiar with these things and i can speak freely to him i am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice because it was not done in a corner king agrippa do you believe the prophets i know you do then agrippa said to paul do you think in such a short time you can persuade me to be a christian paul replied short time or long i pray god that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what i am except for those these chains the king rose and with him the governor and bernice and those sitting with them they left the room and while talking with one another they said this man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment agrippa said to festus this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to caesar acts 27 paul sails for rome when it was decided that we would sail for italy paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named julius who belonged to the imperial regiment we boarded a ship from andromedon about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of asia and we put out to sea aristicus macedonian from thessalonica was with us the next day we landed at sidon and julius and kindness to paul allowed him to go to his friends so they may provide for his needs from there we put out to see again and passed to the lee cyprus because the winds were against us when we sailed across the open sea of the coast of sicily philisia and pamphilia we landed at myra in lysia there the centurion found an alexandrian ship sailing for italy and put us on board we made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off canada when the wind when the wind did not allow us to hold our course we sailed to the lee of crete opposite salmon we moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called fair havens near the town of lacia much time had been lost and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the fast so paul warned them men i can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo and to our own lives also but the centurion instead of listening to what paul said follow the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship since the harbour was unsuitable to winter in the majority decided that we should sail on hoping to reach phoenix and winter there this was a harbour and creek facing both south west and northwest the storm when a gentle-sized wind began to blow they thought they had a they had obtained what they wanted so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of crete before very long a wind of hurricane force called the north easter swept down from the island the ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the winds so we gave way to it and were driven along as we passed to the lee of a small island called cordicorder we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure when the men had hoisted it aboard they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together feeling that they would run aground on the sound sandbars of certain they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along we took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging we finally gave up all hope of being saved after the men had gone a long time without food paul stood up before them and said men you should have taken my advice not to sell from crete then you would have spared yourself this damage and loss but now i urge you to keep up your courage because not one of you will be lost only the ship will be destroyed last night an angel of god whose i am and whom i serve stood beside me and said do not be afraid paul you must stand trial before caesar and god has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you so keep up your courage men for i have faith in god that it will happen just as you told me nevertheless we must run aground on some island the shipwreck on the 14th night we were still being driven across the adriatic sea when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land they took surround soundings and found that the water was 120 feet deep a short time later they took soundings again and found it was 90 feet deep feeling that we would be dashed against the rocks they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight in an attempt to escape from the ship the sailors let the lifeboats down into the sea pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow then paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay with the ship you cannot be saved so the soldiers cut the ropes that held a lifeboat and let it fall away just before dawn paul urged them all to eat for the last 14 days he said you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food you haven't eaten anything now i urge you to take some food you need it to survive not one of you will lose a single hair from his head after he said this he took some bread and gave thanks to god in front of them all then he broke it and began to eat they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves altogether there were 276 of us on board when they had eaten as much as they wanted they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea when daylight came they did not recognize the land but they saw a bay with a sandy beach where they decided to run the shipper ground if they could cutting loosely anchors they left them in the sea and at the same time time untied the ropes that held the rudders then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach but the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground the bows stuck fast and would not move and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf the soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping but the centurion wanted to spare paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the land the rest were to get there on planks or on pieces of a ship in this way everyone reached land in safety ashore and malta chapter 28 once safely on shore we found out that the island was called malta the islanders showed us unusual kindness they built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold paul gathered a pile of brush wood and as he put it on the fire a viper driven out by the heat fastened itself to his hand when the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand they said to each other this man must be a murderer although he escaped from the sea justice has not allowed him to live but paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no effects the people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happened to him they changed their minds and they said he was a god there was an estate nearby that belonged to puberty publius the chief official of the island he welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospital hospital but never mind his father was sick in bed suffering from fever and dysentery paul went in to see him and after prayer placed his hands on him and healed him when this had happened the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured they honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail they furnished us with the supplies we needed arrival at rome after three months we put out to see in a ship that had wintered in the island it was an alexandrian ship with a figurehead of the twin gods caster and pollocks we put in its syracuse and stayed stayed there three days from there we set sail and arrived at regulum the next day the south wind came up and on the following day we reached putili there we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with him and so we came to rome the brothers there had heard that we were coming and they traveled as far as the forum of our prayers and the three taverns to meet us at the sight of these men paul thanked god and was encouraged when we got to rome paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to guard him three days later he called together the leaders of the jews when they had assembled paul said to them my brothers although i have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors i was arrested in jerusalem and handed over to the romans they examined me and wanted me to release wanted to release me because i was not guilty of any crime deserving death but when the jews objected i was compelled to appeal to caesar not that i had any charge to bring against my own people for this reason i have asked to see you and talk with you it is because of the hope of israel that i am bound with this change they replied we have not received any letters from judea concerning you and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you but we want to hear what your views are for we know that people everywhere are talking about this sect they arranged to meet paul on a certain day and came in even larger numbers for the place where he was staying from morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of god and tried to convince them about jesus from the law of moses and from the prophets some were convinced by what he said but others would not believe they disagreed among themselves and began to leave after paul had made this final statement the holy spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through isaiah the prophet go to this people and say you will be ever hearing but never understanding you'll be ever seeing but never perceiving for this people's heart has become calloused they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes otherwise they might see with their eyes here with their ears understand with their hearts and turn and i would heal them therefore i want you to know that god's salvation has been sent to the gentiles and they will for two whole years paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of god and taught about the lord jesus christ i'll hand over to paulie now it's in romans chapter 1 romans chapter 1 addressing the believers in rome paul writes what is most likely the meatiest missionary fundraising letter ever written to jesus sorry hold on that's not right where is it sorry romans chapter 1 paul a servant of christ jesus called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of god the gospel he promised beforehand through the prophets in the holy scriptures regarding his son who was who was as to his human nature was a descendant of david and who through the spirit of holiness was declared with the power of god by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord through him and for his name's sake we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith and you also are among those who are called to belong to jesus christ to all in rome who are loved by god and called to the saints grace and peace to you from god our father and from the lord jesus christ paul's long longing to visit rome first i thank my god through jesus christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world god whom i serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his son is my witness how constantly i remember you in my prayers at all times and i pray that now at last my god will my god's will the way may be opened for me to come to you i long to see you so that i may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong that is that you and i may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith i do not want you to be unaware my brothers that i planned many times to come to you but have been prevented from doing so until now in order that i might have a harvest among you just as i had have had among the other gentiles i am obligated both to the greeks and the non-greeks both to the wise and the foolish that is why i am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at rome i am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of god for the salvation of everyone who believes first for the jew then for the gentile for in the gospel our righteousness from god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith god's wrath against mankind the wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness the wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness since it may that sense what since what may be known about god is plain to them because god has made it plain to them for since the creation of the world god's invisible invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what he has made so that men are without excuse for although they knew god they neither glorified him as god nor gave thanks to him but their thanks their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened although they claimed to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal god for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles therefore god gave them over to the in the sinful desires of their heart to sexual impurity from a degrading of their bodies with one another they exchanged the truth of god for a lie and worshiped the served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised amen because of this god gave them over to shameful lusts even the women exchanged natural relationships for unnatural ones in the same way the men also abandoned natural relationships with women and were inflamed with lust for one another men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion furthermore since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of god he gave them over to a deprived mind to do what ought not to be done they were becoming they have become filled with every kind of wickedness evil greed and depravity they are full of envy murder strife deceit and malice they are gossip slanderers god haters insolent arrogant and boastful they invent ways of doing evil they disobey their parents they are senseless faithless heartless and ruthless although they know god's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death they do they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them chapter 2 romans chapter 2 god's righteous judgment you therefore have no excuse you who pass judgment on someone else but at whatever point you judge the other you are condemning yourself because you are passing judgment you who are passing judgment do the same things now we know that god's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth so when you a mere man pass judgment on them and yet do the same things do you think that you will escape god's judgment or do you show contempt for the riches of the kindness tolerance and patience not realizing that god's kindness leads you towards repentance but because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of god's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed god will give you each person according to what he has done to those who by persistence is doing good seek glory honour and immort immortality he will give eternal life but for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil there will be wrath and anger there will be trouble and distress for every human human being who does evil first for the jew then for the gentile but glory honor and peace for everyone who does good first for the jew and then for the gentile for god does not show veritasm all who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law for it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in god's sight but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous indeed when gentiles who do do not have the law do by nature things required by the law they are law for themselves even though they do not have the law since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing now even defending them this will take place on the day when god will judge men secret through jesus christ as my gospel declares the jews and the law now you if you call yourself a jew if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to god if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law if you're convinced that you are a guide for the blind a light for those who are in the dark an instructor of the foolish a teacher of infants because you haven't have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth you then who teach others do not teach yourself you who preach against stealing do you steal you who say that people should not commit adultery do you commit adultery you who abhor idols do you rob temples you who brag about the law do you dishonor god by breaking the law as it is written god's name is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you circumcision has value if you observe the law but if you break the law you have become as as though you had not been circumcised if those who are not circumcised keep the laws requirements will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised the one who is not circumcised politically and yet obeys a law will condemn you who even though you have the written code and the circumcision are a law breaker a man is not a jew if he is only outwardly nor is circumcision merely outward and physical no a man is a jew if he is one inwardly and and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit not by the written code so a man's praise is not from men but from god chapter three of romans god's faithfulness what advantage then is there in being a jew or what value is there in circumcision must in every much and every way first of all they have been entrusted with the very words of god what if someone what if some did not have faith will their lack of faith nullify god's faithfulness not at all let god be true in every man a liar as it is written so that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge but if our righteousness brings out god's righteousness more clearly what shall we say that god is unjust in bringing his wrath on us i am using a human argument certainly not if that were so how could god judge the world someone might argue if if my if my falsehood enhances god's truthfulness and so increases his glory why am i still condemned as a sinner why not say as we are being slanderous people sorry why not say as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say let us do evil that may that god may that good may result their condemnation is deserved no one is righteous what shall we conclude then are we any better not at all we have already made the charge that jews and gentiles alike are all under sin as it is written there is no one righteous not even one there is no one who understands no one who seeks god all have turned away they have together become worthless there is no one who does good not even one their throats are open graves their tongues practice the seat the poison of bikers is on their lips and their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood ruin and misery mark their ways and the way of peace they do not know there is no fear of god before their eyes now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced in the whole world held accountable to god therefore no one will be declared righteous in the sight by observing the law rather through the law we become conscious of our sin righteousness through faith but now our righteousness from god apart from the from law has been made known in which the law and the prophets testify this righteousness from god comes through faith in jesus christ to all who believe there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by jesus christ god presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood he just did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbiddence he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he did did it to them he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in christ jesus where then is boasting it is excluded on what principle on that of observing the law no but on that of faith for we maintain that man is justified by faith apart from observing the law is god the god of jews only is he not the god of gentiles too yes of gentiles too since there is only one god who will justify this circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith do we then nullify the law by this faith not at all rather we uphold the law and i'll pass over to pam for romans four romans chapter 4 abraham justified by faith what then shall we see that abraham our forefather discovered in this matter if in fact abraham was justified by works he had something to boast about but not before god what does the scripture say abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness now when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift but as an obligation however to the man who does not work but trust god who justifies the wicked this place is credited as righteousness david says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom god credits righteousness apart from works blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven whose sins are covered blessed is the man whose sin the lord will never count against him is this blessedness only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised we have been saying that abraham's face was credited to him as righteousness under what circumstances was accredited was it after he was circumcised or before it was not after but before and he received a sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised so then he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised in order that righteousness might be credited to them and he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the face that our father abraham had before he was circumcised if it was not through the law that abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world but through the righteousness that comes by face for if those who live by law are heirs face has no value and the promise is worthless because law brings wrath and where there is no law there is no transgression therefore the promise comes by face so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all abraham's offspring not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of face of abraham he is the father of us all as it is written i have made you a father of many nations he is our father in the sight of god in whom he believed the god who gives life to the dead and calls things and are not as though they were against all hope abraham and hope believed and so became the father of many nations just as it had been said to him so shall your offspring be without weakening in his face he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that sarah's womb was also dead yet regarding the promise of god but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to god being fully persuaded that god had power to do what he had promised this is why it was credited to him as righteousness the words it was credited to him were written not for him alone but also for us to whom god will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised jesus our lord from the dead he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification peace and joy chapter 5 therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of god not only so but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance perseverance character and character hope and hope does not disappoint us because god has poured out his love into our hearts by the holy spirit whom he has given us you see at just the right time when we were still powerless christ died for the ungodly ver very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die but god demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners christ died for us since we have now been justified by his blood how much more shall we be saved from god's wrath through him for if when we were god's enemies we were reconciled to him to the death of his son how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life not only is this so but we also rejoice in god through our lord jesus christ through whom we have now received reconciliation death through adam life through christ therefore just as sin entered the world to one man and death through sin and in this way death came to all men because all sinned for before the law was given sin was in the world but sin is not taken into account when there is no law nevertheless death reigned from the time of adam to the time of moses even over those who did not sin by breaking her command as did adam who was a pattern of the one to come [Music] but the gift is not like the trespass for if the many died by the trespass of the one man how much more did god's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man jesus christ overflow to the many again the gift of god is not like the result of one man's sin the judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification for if by the trespass of the one man death reigned through that one man how much more will those who receive god's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man jesus christ consequently just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men for just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous the law was added so that the trespass might increase but where sin increased grace increased all the more so that just a sin reign and death so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through jesus christ our lord death to sin alive in christ what shall we say then shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase by no means we die to sin how can we live in it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into christ jesus were baptized into his death we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father we too may live a new life if we have been united with him like this in his death we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slave to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin now if we died with christ we believe that we shall also live with him for we know that since christ was raised from the dead you cannot die again death no longer has mastery over him the death he died he died to sin once for all but the life he lives he lives to god in the same way count yourselves dead to sin but alive to god in christ jesus therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness but rather offer yourselves to god as those who have been brought from death to life and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness for sin shall not be your master because you're not under law but under grace slaves to righteousness but then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace by no means don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death or to obedience which leads to righteousness but thanks be to god that though you used to be slaves to sin you wholeheartedly obeyed a form of teaching to which you were entrusted you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness i put this in human terms because you're weak in your natural selves just as you used to offer the parts of your body and slavery to impurity and to ever increasing wickedness so now offer them in into holiness when you were slaves to sin you were free from the control of righteousness what benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of those things resulted in death but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to god the benefits you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life for the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord an illustration from marriage do you not know brothers for i am speaking to men who know the law that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives for example by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage so then if she marries another man while her husband is still alive she is called unadulterate but if her husband dies she is released from that law and is not an adulteress even though she marries another man [Music] so my brothers you also die to the law through the body of christ that you might belong to another to him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit to god for when we were controlled by the sinful nature the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies so that we bore fruit for death but now by dying to what once bound us we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code struggling with sin what shall we say then is a law sin certainly not indeed i would not have known what sin was except through the law but i would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet but sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire for apart from law sin is dead once i was alive from the law apart from the law but when the commandment came sin sprang to life and i died i found that very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death for sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me and through the commandment put me to death so then the law is holy and the commandment is holy righteous and good did that which is good then become death to me by no means but in order that sin might be recognized as sin it reduced death in me through what was good so that through the commandments sin might become utterly sinful we know that the law is spiritual but i am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin i do not understand what i do for what i want to do i do not do but what i hate i do and if i do what i do not want to do i agree that the law is good as it is it is no longer i myself who do it but it is sin living in me i know that nothing good lives in me that is in my sinful nature for i have the desire to do what is good but i cannot carry it out for what i do is not the good i want to do no the evil i do not want to do this i keep on doing now if i do what i do not want to do it is no longer i who do it but it's a sin living in me that does it so i find this lot work when i want to do good evil is right there with me for in my inner being i delight in god's law but i see another law at work in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members what a wretched man i am who will rescue me from this body of death thanks be to god through jesus christ our lord so then i myself in my mind i'm a slave to god's law but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin i'll hand over to pauline now for chapter eight romans romans chapter 8 therefore there is now no condemnation for those who were in christ jesus because through christ jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death for what the law was powerless to do and that it was it was weakened by the sinful nature god did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering and so he condemned sin and sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the spirit those who live according to the sinful nature have their mindset on what that nature desires but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset on what the spirit desires the mind of the sinful man is death but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace the sinful mind is hostile to god it does not submit to god's law nor can it do so those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please god you however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the spirit if the spirit of god lives in you and if anyone does not have the spirit of christ he does not belong to christ but if christ is in you your body is dead because of sin yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness and if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead is living in you he who raised christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you therefore brothers we have an obligation but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it for if you live according to the sinful nature you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live because those who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you receive the spirit of sonship and by him we cry abba father the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are god's children now if we are children then we are heirs heirs of god and co-ears with christ if indeed we share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory future glory i consider that our present sufferings are not worth worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us the creation waits an eager expectation for the sons of god to be revealed for the creation was subjected to frustration not by its own choice but by the will of one who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from the bondage its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of god we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time not only so but we ourselves we have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we eagerly await for our adoption as sons and redemption of our bodies for in this hope we are saved but hope that is seen as no hope at all who hope for what he already has but if we hope for what we do not yet have we wait for it patiently in the same way the spirit helps us in our weaknesses we do not know what we ought to pray for but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints and according to god's will more than conquerors and we know that in all things god works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose for those guard for knew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those he predestined he also called those he called he also justified those he justified he also glorified what then shall we say in response to this if god is for us who can be against us he did not spare his own son but gave him up for for us all how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things who will bring any charge against those whom god has chosen it is god who justifies who is he that condemns christ jesus who died more than that was who was raised to life is at the right hand of god and is also interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall trouble our hardship our persecution our famine our nakedness our danger or sword as it is written for your sake we face death all day long we are considered the sheep for the slaughter no in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am convinced that neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god that is in christ jesus our lord chapter 9 of romans god's sovereign choice i speak the truth in christ i am not lying my conscience confirms it in the holy spirit i have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for i could wish that i myself were cursed and cut off from christ for the sake of my brothers those of my race my own race the people who of israel theirs is the adoption as sons there's the divine glory the covenants the receiving of the law the temple worship and the promises theirs are the theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of christ who is god over all forever praised amen it is not as though god's word had failed and for not all who are descended from israel are israel nor because they are his descendants are they all abraham's children on the contrary it is through isaac that your offspring will be reckoned in other words it is not the natural children who are god's children but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as abram abraham's offspring but this is how the promise was stated at their point of time i will return and sarah will have a son not only that but rebecca's children had one and the same father our father father isaac yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad in order that god's purpose in an election might stand not by works but by him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger just as it is written jacob i loved but esau i hated what then shall we say is god unjust not at all but he says to moses i will have mercy on whom i have mercy and i will have compassion on whom whom i have compassion it does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort but on god's mercy for the scripture stay to pharaoh i raised you up for this very purpose that i might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth therefore god had has mercy on whom he he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden one of you will say to me then why does god still blame us for who who resists his will but who are you o man to talk back to god shall what what is formed say to him who formed it why did you make me like this does not the potter have the right to make either the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use what if god choosing to show his wrath and make his power known bore with great patience the object of his wrath prepared for destruction what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy whom he prepared in advance for glory even us whom he also called not only from the jews but also from the gentiles as he said in hosea i will call them my people who are not my people i will call her my loved one who is not my loved one and it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them you are not my people they will be called sons of the living god isaiah cries out concerning israel though the number of the israelites be like the sand by the sea only the remnant will be saved for the lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality it is just as isaiah said previously unless the lord almighty had left us descendants we would have become like sodom we would have been like gomorrah israel's unbelief what then shall we say that the gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it a righteousness that is by faith but israel who pursue the law of righteousness has not attained it why not because they pursued it not by faith as it is as it as if it whereby works they stumbled over the stumbling stone as it is written see i lay as that in zion a stone that causes men to stumble in a rock that makes them fall and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame chapter 10 of romans brothers my heart's desire and prayer to god for the israelites is that they may be saved for i can testify about them that they are zealous for god but their zeal is not based on knowledge since they did not know the righteousness that came from god and sought to establish their own they did not submit to god's righteousness christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes moses described in this way the righteousness that is by the law the man who does these things will live by them but the righteous that is by faith says do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is to bring christ down or who will descend into the deep that is to bring christ up from the dead but what does it say the word is near near you it is in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith we are proclaiming if you confess with your mouth jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised them from the dead you will be saved for it is in your heart that you believe and are justified and it is in your mouth that you confess and are saved as the scriptures say anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame for there is no difference between jew and gentile the same lord is lord over all and right and richly blesses all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved how then can they call in the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them and how can they preach unless they are sent as it is written how how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news but not all the israelites accept the good news for isaiah said lord who has believed our message once consequently faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of christ but i ask did they not hear of course they did their voice has gone out into all the earth their words to the ends of the world again i ask did you not understand first moses says i will make you envious by those who are not a nation i will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding and isaiah boldly said i was found by those who did not seek me i revealed myself to those who did not ask for me but concerning israel he said all day long i have held out my hands added to a disobedient and obstinate people and i'll hand this over now to to you emma chapter 11 in romans thank you pauline did you get to the end of chapter 10 yes yes brilliant hi guys out in facebook land and youtube land how are you doing we are in the home straight the glory of god is increasing we are reading some oh just earth-shatteringly brilliant verses so keep chatting in the comments keep encouraging us as you listen to us as we go as i read to you for probably about half an hour is my slot here and then back on again later as we build our new testament a new covenant theology so romans 11 i asked then did god reject his people by no means i am an israelite myself a descendant of abraham from the tribe of benjamin god did not reject his people whom he foreign don't you know what scripture says in the passage about elijah how he appealed to god against israel lord they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars i am the only one left and they're trying to kill me and what was god's answer to him i have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to ba'al so too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace and if by grace then it cannot be based on works if it were grace would no longer be grace what then what the people of israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain the elect among them did but the others were hardened as it is written god gave them a spirit of stupor eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear to this very day and david says may their table become a snare and a trap a stumbling block and a retribution for them may their eyes be darkened so they cannot see and their backs be bent forever again i ask did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery not at all rather because of their transgressions salvation has come to the gentiles to make israel envious but if their transgression means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the gentiles how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring i am talking to you gentiles inasmuch as i am the apostle to the gentiles i take pride in my ministry in the hope that i may somehow arise my own people to envy and save some of them for if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world what will their acceptance be bought life from the dead if the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy then the whole batch is holy if the root is holy so are the branches if some of the branches have been broken off and you though a wild olive have been grafted in among the others a nice share in the nourishing sap from the olive root do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches if you do consider this you do not support the root but the root supports you you will then say branches were broken off so that i could be grafted in granted but they were broken off because of unbelief and you stand by faith do not be arrogant but tremble for if god did not spare the natural branches he will not spare you either consider therefore the kindness and sternness of god sternness to those who fell but kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness otherwise you also will be cut off and if they do not persist in unbelief they will be grafted in for god is able to graft them in again after all if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree how much more readily will these the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree all israel will be saved reading verse 25 i do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery brothers and sisters so that you may not be conceited israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the gentiles has come in and in this way all israel will be saved as it is written the deliverer will come from zion he will turn godlessness away from jacob and this is my covenant with them when i take away their sins as far as the gospel is concerned they are enemies for your sake but as far as election is concerned they are loved on accounts of the patriarchs for god's gifts and his call are irrevocable just as you who were at one time disobedient to god have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience so they too have now become obedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of god's mercy to you for god has bind everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all doxology oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of god how unsearchable is judgments and his paths beyond tracing height who has known the mind of the lord or who has been his counselor who has ever given to god that god should repay them for from him and through him and for him are all things to him be the glory forever amen romans chapter 12 a living sacrifice therefore i urge you brothers and sisters in view of god's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to god this is your true and proper worship do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and approve what god's will is his good his pleasing and his perfect will for by grace given me i say to every one of you do not think of yourself more highly than you ought but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith god has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members and these members do not all have the same function so in christ we though many form one body and each member belongs to all the others we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us if your gift is prophesying then prophesy in accordance with your faith if it is serving then serve if it is teaching then teach if it is to give encouragement then give encouragement if it is giving then give generously if it is to lead do it diligently if it is to show mercy do it cheerfully love must be sincere hate what is evil cling to what is good be devoted to one another in love honor one another above yourselves never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor serving the lord be joyful in hope patient in affliction faithful in prayer share with the lord's people who are in need practice [Music] hospitality bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse rejoice with those who rejoice mourn with those who mourn live in harmony with one another do not be pride but be willing to associate with people of low position do not be conceited do not repay anyone evil for evil be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone if it is possible as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone do not take revenge my dear friends but leave room for god's wrath for it is written it is mine to avenge i will repay says the lord on the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink in doing this you will keep burning coals on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good david you on chapter 13 happy too it is poor packed stuff isn't it amazing romans chapter 13 submission to governing authorities let everyone be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which god has established the authority the authorities that exist have been established by god consequently whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what god has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves for rulers hold no terror for those who do right but for those who do wrong do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority then do what is right and you will be commended for the one in authority is god's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason they are god's servants agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong doer therefore it is necessary to submit to the authorities not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience this is also why you pay taxes for the authorities our god servants who give their full time to governing give to everyone what you owe them if your taxes pay taxes if revenue then revenue if respect then respect if honor then honor let no debt remain outstanding accept the continuing debt to love one another for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not cover it and whatever other command there may be are summed up in this one command love your neighbor as yourself love does no harm to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law and do this understanding the present time the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed the night is nearly over the day is almost here so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light let us behave decently as in the daytime not in carousing and drunkenness not in sexual immorality or debauchery not in dissension and jealousy rather clothe yourself with the lord jesus christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh romans 14 romans chapter 14 the weak and the strong accept the one whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters one person's faith allows them to eat anything but another whose faith is weak eats only vegetables the one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does 4 god has accepted them who are you to judge someone else's servant to their own master servant stand or full and they will for the lord stand for the lord is able to make them stand one person considers one day more sacred than another another considers every day alike each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind whoever regards one day is special does so to the lord whoever eats meat does so to the lord for they give thanks to god and whoever abstains does so to the lord and give thanks to god for none of us lives for ourselves alone and none of us dies for ourselves alone if we live we live for the lord and if we die we die for the lord so whether we live or die we belong to the lord for this very reason christ died and returned to life so that he might be the lord of both the dead and the living you then why do you judge your brother or sister or why do you treat them with contempt for we all stand before god's judgment seat it is written as surely as i live says the lord every knee will buy before me and every tongue will acknowledge god so then each of us will give an account of ourselves to god therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister i am convinced being fully persuaded in the lord jesus that nothing is unclean in itself but if anyone regards something as unclean then it is for to that person unclean if your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat you are no longer acting in love do not buy your eating destroy someone for whom christ died therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of god is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness peace and joy in the holy spirit because anyone who serves christ in this way is pleasing to god and receives human approval therefore let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification do not destroy the work of god for the sake of food all food is clean but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble it is better not to eat meat to drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall so whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and god bless is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves and whoever has diets is condemned if they eat because their eating is not from faith and everything that does not come from faith is sin david chapter 15. romans chapter 15 we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves each of us should please our neighbors for their goods to build them up for even christ did not please himself but as it is written the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope may the god who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind towards each other that jesus christ had so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the god and father of our lord jesus christ accept one another then just as christ accepted you in order to bring praise to god for i tell you that christ has become a servant of the jews on behalf of god's truth so that promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and moreover that the gentiles might glorify god for his mercy as it is written therefore i will praise you among the gentiles i will sing of the praises of your name again it says rejoice you gentiles with his people and again praise the lord o ye gentiles let all the peoples extol him and again isaiah says the root of jesse will spring up one who will arise to rule over the nations in him the gentiles will hope may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit i myself am convinced my brothers and sisters that you yourselves are full of goodness filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another yet i have written to you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again because of the grace god gave me to be a minister of christ jesus to the gentiles he gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of god so that the gentiles might become an offering acceptable to god sanctified by the holy spirit therefore i glory in christ jesus in my service to god i will not venture to speak of anything except what christ has accomplished through me in leading the gentiles to obey god by what i have said and done by the power of signs and wonders through the power of the holy spirit of god so from jerusalem all the way around to a lyric hymn i have fully proclaimed the gospel of christ it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where christ was not known so that i would not be building on someone else's foundation rather as it is written those who are not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand this is why i have often been hindered from coming to you but now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions and since i have been longing for many years to visit you i plan to do so when i go to spain i hope to see you while passing through and that you will assist me on my journey there after i have enjoyed your company for a while now however i am on my way to jerusalem in the service of the lord's people there for macedonia and archaea were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the lord's people in jerusalem they were pleased to do it and indeed they owe it to them for if the gentiles have shared in the jews spiritual blessings they owe it to the jews to share with them their material blessings so after i have completed this task and i've made sure that they have received this contribution i will go to spain and visit you on the way i know that when i come to you i will come in the full measure of the blessing of christ i urge you brothers and sisters by our lord jesus christ and by the love of the spirit to join me in my struggle by praying to god for me pray that i may be kept safe from the unbelievers in judea and that the contribution i take to jerusalem may be favorably received by the lord's people there so that i may come to you with joy by god's will and in your company be refreshed the god of peace be with you all amen amen well it's the last chapter of romans we're now starting romans 16 and it's got a lot of names in it here goes personal greetings i commend to you our sister phoebe a deacon of the church in chen shrey i ask you to receive her in the lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you for she has been the benefactor of my people including me greet priscilla and aquila my co-workers in christ jesus they risk their lives for me not only i but all the churches of the gentiles are grateful to them greet also the church that meets at their house greet my dear friend epinepis who was the first convert to the church in the province of asia greet mary who worked very hard for you greet andronicus and junia my fellow jews who have been in prison with me they are outstanding among the apostles and they were in christ before i greet amphilatus my dear friend in the lord greet urbanists our co-worker in christ and my dear friend staccius greta palace whose fidelity to christ has stirred the test greet those who belong to the household of arista bullas greet rhodey and my fellow jew greet those in the household of narcissus who are in the lord greek trifena and trifosa those women who work hard in the lord greet my dear friend persis another woman who has worked very hard in the lord greet rufus chosen in the lord and his mother who has been a mother to me too great as syncretis feligon hermes patribas hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them greet philojus julia neerus and his sister olympus and all the lords people who are with them greet one another with a holy kiss all the churches of christ send greetings i urge you brothers and sisters to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned keep away from them for such people are not serving our lord christ but their own appetites by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people everyone has heard about your obedience so i rejoice because of you but i want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil the god of peace will soon crush satan under your feet the grace of our lord jesus be with you timothy my co-worker sends his greetings to you as do lucius j jason so separator my fellow jews i tourettus who wrote down this letter greet you in the lord gaius whose hospitality and the whole church here enjoy send you his greetings erastus who is the city's director of public works and our brother quarters send you their greetings nigh to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel the message i proclaim about jesus christ in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal god so that all the gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith to the only wise god be glory for ever through jesus christ amen who right we are jumping into first corinthians one i'll read a little bit of it and then we'll hand over to bob who's coming up i'll let you into a secret bob is our second oldest church member a mighty man of god hi bob uh you've worked for years in missionary work taking the gospel across the nations and it's a joy to have such an elder statesman as bob in our church bob i'm going to read for two minutes and then i'm going to hand over to you lovely one okay first corinthians 1 paul called to be an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god and our brother suffentes to the church of god in currents to those sanctified in christ jesus and called to be his holy people together with all those everywhere who call in the name of our lord jesus christ their lord and ours grace and peace to you from god our father and the lord jesus christ i always thank god for you because of his grace given you in christ jesus for in him you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge god thus confirming our testimony about christ among you therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the lord jesus christ to be revealed he will also keep you formed to the end so that you will be blameless on the day of our lord jesus christ god is faithful who has called you into fellowship with his son jesus christ our lord i appeal to you brothers and sisters in the name of our lord jesus christ that all of you agree with one another in what you say that there be no divisions amongst you but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought my brothers and sisters some from chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you what i mean is this one of you says i follow paul another i follow apollos another i follow cephas and still another i follow christ is christ divided was paul crucified for you were you not baptized in the name of paul i thank god that i did not baptize any of you except crispus and gaius so no one can say that you are baptized in my name yes i also baptized the household of stephanus beyond that i don't remember if i baptize anyone else for christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel not with wisdom and eloquence lest the cross of christ be emptied of its power lovely bob it's over to you i've left off at the end of verse 17 so you're starting verse 18. first corinthians 1 verse 18 have you got it yep you're on it good man you're muted coming on youtube cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved as the power of god for it is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise the intelligence of the intellect intellect intelligence i will frustrate where is the wise person where is the teacher of the law where is the philosopher of this age has not god made foolish the wisdom of this world for since in the wisdom of god the world through its wisdom did not know god god was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe jews demand a sign and greeks look for wisdom but we preach christ crucified a stumbling block to the jews and foolishness to the gentiles but to those whom god has called both jews and greek christ the power of god and the wisdom of god for the foolishness of god is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of god is stronger than human strength brothers and sisters think of what you were when we when you were called not many of you were wise by human standards not many were influential not many were of noble birth but god but god chose the foolishness at the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and god chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong god chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may voice before him it is because of him that you are in christ jesus who has become for us wisdom from god that is our righteousness holiness and redemption therefore as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the lord now first corinthians chapter 2 and so it was with me brothers and sisters when i came to you i did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as i proclaimed to you the testimony of god for a result our result not uh to know nothing while i was with you except jesus christ and him crucified i came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with the demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on god's power god's wisdom revealed by the spirit we do however speak a message of wisdom among the mature but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing no we declare god's wisdom a mystery that has been hidden and that god destined for our glory before time began none of the rulers of this age understood it for if they had they would not have crucified the lord of glory however as it is written what no i have seen what no ear have heard and what no human mind has conceived the things god has prepared for them for those who love him these are the things god has revealed to us by his spirit the spirit searches all things even the deep things of god for who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them in the same way no one knows the thoughts of god except the spirit of god what we have received is not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from god so that we may understand what god has freely given this is what we speak not in words taught taught us by human wisdom but in words taught us by the spirit explaining spiritual realities with spirit taught words the person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of god but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit the person with the spirit makes judgments about all things but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments for who has known the mind of the lord so as to instruct him but we have the mind of christ in first corinthians chapter 3 brothers and sisters i could not address you as people who live by the spirit but it's people who are still worldly mere infants in christ i gave you milk not solid food for you were not ready for it indeed you are you are still not ready you are still worldly for since there is jealousy and quarreling among you you are not you are not worldly are you not acting as mere human like your humans for when one says i follow paul and another i follow apollos are you not mere human beings what after all is apollos and what is paul only servants through whom you came to believe as the lord has assigned to each's task i planted the seed apollos watered it but god has made it grow so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but god who makes things grow and the one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose and they will be rewarded according to the labor for we are co-workers in god's service you are god's field and your god's building by the grace god has given me i laid a foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it but each one should build with care for no one can lay any foundation other than the one the one already laid which is jesus christ if anyone builds on this foundation using gold silver costly stones wood hay or stubble their word will be their work will be shown for what it is because the day will will bring it to light it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work if what has been built survived the builder will receive a reward if it is burned up the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved even though only one escaping through the flames don't you know that you yourselves are god's temple and that god's spirit dwells in the midst of you if anyone destroys god's temple god will destroy that person for god's temple is sacred and you together are that temple do not deceive yourselves if any of you think you're wise by the standards of this age you should become fools so that you may become wise for the wisdom of the world is foolishness in god's sight as it is written he catches the wise in their craftiness and again the lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile so then no more boasting about human leaders all things are yours whether paul or apollos or cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future all are yours and you are of christ and christ of god first corinthians chapter four this then is how you ought to regard us as servants of christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries god has revealed now it is required that those who have been given a trust much proof faithful i care very little that i am judged by you or by any human court indeed i do not even judge myself my conscience is clear but that does not make me innocent it is the lord who judges me therefore judge nothing before the appointed time wait until the lord comes he will judge he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart and that each time will receive their and that each time each will receive their praise of god now brothers and sisters i have applied these things to myself and apologize for your benefit so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying do not go beyond what is written then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other for who makes you different from anyone else what do you have that you did not receive and if you did receive it why do you boast as though you did not already you have all you want already you have become rich you have become you have begun to reign and that without us how i wish that you really had begun to reign so that we might reign with you for it seems to me that god has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession like those condemned to die in the arena we have been made spectacle to the whole universe to angels as well as to human beings we are fools for christ but you are so wise in christ we are weak but you are strong you are honored we are dishonored to this very hour we go hungry and thirsty we are rags we are brutally treated we are homeless we work hard with our own hands when we were we are cursed we bless when we are persecuted we endure it when we are slandered we answer kindly we have become the scum of the earth the garbage of the world to this moment paul's appeal and warning i'm writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children even if you had ten thousand guardians in christ you do not have many fathers for in christ jesus i became your father through the gospel therefore i urge you to imitate me for this reason i have sent you timothy my son whom i love who is faithful in the lord he will remind you of the way of life in christ jesus which agrees with what i teach everywhere in church some of you have become arrogant as if if i were not coming to you but i will come to you very soon if the lord is willing and then i will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking but what power they have for the kingdom of god is not a matter of thought but power what do you prefer shall i come to you with a lord of discipline or shall i come to you in love and with the gentle spirit amen brilliant bob we love you thank you i'll be starting at first corinthians chapter five dealing with the case of incest it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate a man is sleeping with his father's wife and you are proud shouldn't you rather have gone into mourning and have put out your fellowship the man who has been doing this for my part even though i am not physically present i am with you in spirit as one who is present with you in this way i have already passed judgment in the name of our lord jesus on the one who has been doing this so when you are assembled and i am with you in spirit and the power of our lord jesus is present hand this over hand this man over to satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the lord your boasting is not good don't you know that a little yeast leavens a whole batch of dough get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new unleavened batch as you really are for christ our passover lamb has been sacrificed therefore let us keep the festival not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth i wrote to you my letter not to associate with sexual immoral people not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and swindlers or adulterers in that case you would have had to leave this world but now i'm writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but a sexually immoral or greedy an adulterer or slanderer a drunkard or swindler do not even eat with such people what business is it of mine to judge those outside the church are you not to judge those inside god will judge those outside expel the wicked person from among you first corinthians chapter 6 lawsuits among believers if any of you have a dispute with another do you dare to take it before the ungladly for judgment instead of before the lord's people or do you not know that the lord's people will judge the world and if you are to judge the world are you not competent to judge trivial cases do you not know that we will judge angels how much more the things of this life therefore if you have disputes about such matters do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church i say this to shame you is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers but instead one brother takes another to court and and this in front of unbelievers the very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already why not rather be wronged why not rather be cheated instead yourselves cheat and do wrong and you do this to your brothers and sisters or do you not know that wrongdoers were not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor adulterers nor idolizers or men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god and this is what some of you were but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus christ and by the spirit of our god sexual immorality i have the right to do anything you say but not everything is beneficial i have the right to do anything but i will not be mastered by anything you say food for the stomach and the stomach for food and god will destroy them both the body however is not meant for sexual immorality before the lord and the lord for the body by his power god raised the lord from the dead and he will raise us also do you not know that your bodies are members of christ himself shall i then take the members of christ and unite them with a prostitute never do you not know that he who reunites himself with the prostitute is one with her and body further said the two will become one flesh but whoever is united with the lord is one with him in spirit flee from sexual immorality all other sins a person commits are outside the body but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body do you not know that your bodies are temples of the holy spirit who is in you whom you whom you have received from god you are not his own you were bought at a price therefore honor god with your bodies first corinthians chapter 7 concerning married life now for the matters you wrote about it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman it it but since sexual immorality is occurring each man should have sexual relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband the husband shall fulfill his marital duty to his wife and likewise the wife to her husband the wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband in the same way the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer then come together again so that satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control i say this as a concession not as a command i wish that all of you were as i am but each of you has your own gift from god one has this gift another has that now to the unmarried and the widows i say it is good for them to stand married as i do but if they cannot control themselves they should marry for it is better to marry than to burn with passion to the married i give this command not i but the lord a wife must not separate from her husband but if she does she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband and a husband must not divorce his wife to the rest i say this i not the lord if any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him he must not divorce her and if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and is willing to live with her she must not divorce him for the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband otherwise your children would be unclean but that but as it is they are holy but if the unbeliever leaves let it be so the brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances god has called us to live in peace how do you know wife whether you will save your husband or how do you know husband whether you will save your wife verse 17 nevertheless each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the lord has assigned to them just as god has called them this is the rule i laid down in all the churches was a man already circumcised when he was called he should not become uncircumcised was a man uncircumcised when he was called he should not be circumcised circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing keeping god's commands is what counts each person should remain in a situation they were when god called them were you a slave when you were called don't let it trouble you although if you can gain your freedom do so for the one who was a slave when called to faith in the lord is the lord's freed person similarly the one who is free when called is christ slaves you were bought at a price do not become slaves of human beings brothers and sisters each person as responsible to god to remain in the situation they were in when god called them concerning the unmarried now about virgins i have no command from the lord but i give a judgment as one who by the lord's mercy is trustworthy because of the present crisis i think that is good for a man to remain as he is are you pledged to a woman do you not seek to be released are you free from such a commitment do not look for a wife but if you do marry you have not sinned and if a virgin mary she has not sinned but those who marry will face many troubles in this life and i want to spare you this what i mean brothers and sisters is that the time is short from now on those who have wives shall lives live as if they do not those who mourn as if they did not those who are happy as if they were not those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them for this world and its present form is passing away i would like you to be free from concern an unmarried man is concerned about the lord's affairs how he can please the lord but a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world how can he how can he please his wife and his interests are divided an unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the lord's affairs her aim is to be devoted to the lord in both body and spirit but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world how she can please her husband i'm saying this for your own good not to restrict you but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the lord if anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry he should do as he wants he is not sinning they should get married but the man who has settled the matter in his own mind who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin this man also does the right thing so then he who marries a virgin is right but he who does not marry her does better a woman is bound to her husband as long as she lives as long as he lives but if her husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes but he must belong to the lord in my judgment she is happier if she stays as she is and i think that i too had the spirit of god first corinthians chapter 8 concerning food sacrifice to idols now about food sacrifice to idols we know that we know that we all possess knowledge but knowledge puffs up while love builds up those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know but whoever loves god is known by god so then about eating food sacrificed to idols we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no god but one for even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth as indeed there are many gods and many lords yet for us there is only but one god the father from whom all things come and for whom we live and there is but one lord jesus christ through whom all things came and through whom we live but not everyone possesses this knowledge some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god and since their conscience is weak it is defiled but food does not bring us near to god we are no worse if we do not eat and know better if we do be careful however that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak if some for if someone with a weak conscious sees you with all your knowledge eating an idol's temple won't that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols so this weak brother or sister for whom christ died is destroyed by your knowledge when you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscious you sin against christ therefore if what i eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin i will never eat meat again so that i will not cause them to fall and i'm going to pass it over to emma who will start at first corinthians chapter nine thank you megan paul's rights as an apostle am i not free am i not an apostle have i not seen jesus our lord are you not the result of my work in the lord even though i may not be an apostle to others surely i am to you for you are the seal of my apostleship in the lord this is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me don't we have the right to food and drink don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us as the other apostles and the lord's brothers in cfas or is it only i am barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living who serves as a soldier at his own expense who plants a vineyard and does not eat the grapes who tends a flock and does not drink the milk do i say this merely on human authority doesn't the law say the same thing for it is written in the law of moses do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain is it about oxen that god is concerned surely he says this for us doesn't he yes this is written for us because whoever applies and thrashes should be able to do so in hope of sharing the harvest if we have sown spiritual seeds amongst you it is is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you if others have this right of support from you shouldn't we have it all the more wow but we did not use this right on the contrary we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of christ don't you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered at the altar in the same way the lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel but i have not used any of these rights and i am not writing this and hope that you will do such a thing for me for i would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast for when i preach the gospel i cannot bow since i am compelled to preach woe to me if i do not preach the gospel if i preach voluntarily i have a reward if not voluntarily i am simply discharging the trust committed to me well then is my reward just this that in preaching the gospel i may offer it free of charge and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel verse 19 though i am free and belong to no one i have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the jews i became like a jew to win the jews to those under the law i became like one under the law though i myself am not unto the law so as to win those under the law to those not under the law i became like one not having the law though i am not free from god's law but i'm under christ's law so as to when those not having the law to the weak i became weak to win the week i might have become all things to all people so that by all means possible i might save some i do all this for the sake of the gospel so that i might share in its blessings do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize run in such a way as to get the prize everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training they do it to get a crime that will last but we do it to get a crime that will last forever therefore i do not run like someone running aimlessly i do not fight like a boxer beating the air no i strike a blow to my body and i make it my slave so that after i have preached to others i myself will not be disqualified for the prize first corinthians chapter 10 warnings from israel's history for i do not want you to be ignorant of the fact brothers and sisters that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea they were all baptized into moses and in the clyde and in the sea they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock was christ nevertheless god was not pleased with most of them their bodies were scattered in the wilderness now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did do not be idolaters as some of them were it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry we should not commit sexual immorality as some of them did and in one day 23 000 of them died we should not test christ as some of them did and were killed by snakes and do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel these things happen to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come so if you think you are standing firm be careful that you don't fall no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind and god is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear but when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it idol feasts and the lord suffer therefore my dear friends flee from idolatry i speak to sensible people judge for yourselves what i say is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks our participation in the blood of christ and it's not the bread that we break a participation in the body of christ because there is one loaf we who are many are one body for we all share the one loaf consider the people of israel do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar do i mean then that food sacrifice to an idol is anything or that an idol is anything no but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons not to god and i do not want you to be participants with demons you cannot drink the cup of the lord and the cup of demons too you cannot have a part in both the lord's table and the table of demons are we trying to arise the lord's jealousy are we stronger than he i have the right to do anything you say but not everything is beneficial i have the right to do anything but not everything is constructive no one should seek their own good but the good of others eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience for the earth is the lord's and everything in it if an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience but if someone says to you this has been offered in sacrifice then do not eat it both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience i am referring to other person's conscience not yours for why is my freedom being judged by another's conscience if i take part in the meal with thankfulness why am i denies because of something i thank god for so whether you eat or drink or whatever thing you ever you do do it all for the glory of god do not cause anyone to stumble whether jews greeks or the church of god even as i try to please everyone in every way for i am not seeking my own good but the good of many so that they may be saved david you read in chapter 11. chapter 11 1 corinthians chapter 11. first corinthians chapter 11 follow my example as i follow the example of christ i praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as i pass them on to you but i want you to realize that the head of every man is christ and the head of the woman is man and the head of christ is god sorry just meeting you there every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head it is the same as having her head shaved for if a woman does not cover her head she might as well have her hair cut off but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved then she should cover her head a man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of god but woman is the glory of man for man did not come from women but women from man neither was man created for women but women for man it is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head because of the angels nevertheless in the lord woman is not independent of man nor a man independent of women for as women came from man so also man is born of women but everything comes from god judge for yourselves is it proper for a woman to pray to god with her head uncovered does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace to him but that if a woman has long hair it is her glory for long hair is given to her as a covering if anyone wants to be contentious about this we have no other practice nor do the churches of god in the following directives i have no praise for you for your meetings do more harm than good in the first place i hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you and to some extent i believe it no doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have god's approval so then when you come together it is not the lord's supper you eat for when you're eating some of you go ahead with your own private suppers as a result one remains hungry and another gets drunk don't you have homes to eat and drink in or do you despise the church of god by humiliating those who have nothing what shall i say to you shall i praise you certainly not in this matter for i received from the lord what i also passed on to you the lord jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes so then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the lord everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup for those who eat and drink without discerning the body of christ eat and drink judgment on themselves that is why many among you are weak and ill and a number of you have fallen asleep but if we are more discerning with regard to ourselves we would not come under such judgment nevertheless when we are judged in this way by the lord we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world so then my brothers and sisters when you gather to eat you should all eat together anyone who is hungry should eat something at home so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment and when i come i will give further instructions we're at first corinthians chapter 12. first corinthians 12. love this one concerning spiritual gifts now about the gifts of the spirit brothers and sisters i do not want you to be uninformed you know that when you were pagans somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols therefore i want you to know that no one who is speaking by the spirit of the lord says jesus be cursed and no one can say jesus is lord except by the spirit there are different kinds of gifts but the same spirit distributes them there are different kinds of service but the same lord there are different kinds of working but in all of them and in everyone it's the same god at work now to each one the manifestations of the spirit is given for the common good to one there is given through the spirit a message of wisdom to another a message of knowledge by means of the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healing by that one's spirit to another miraculous parse to another prophecy to another distinguishing between spirits to another speaking in different kinds of tongues and still another the interpretation of tongues all these are the work of one and the same spirit and he distributes them to each one just as he determines brilliant nate and family it is over to you i got two verse 11. so you're starting verse 12. and the lovely little ones are there hi elias so he's going to start us off with verse 12 right there buddy just just read i'll stop you going just a body blue one has many parts but all its many parts from from one body so it is with christ fully were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body whether jews or gen gentiles gentiles soy for free but i'll give it all given the ones thought to drink even so the body is not made up of one part but many now if your foot should say because i'm not a hand i do not fall into the body it would not for that reason stop being part of the body and if the earth should say because i am not an eye i do not belong to the body it would not for that reason stop being part of the body okay good job buddy if the whole body were an eye where would the sense of hearing be if the whole body wore an ear where would the sense of smell be if the whole body were an ear where where would the sense of smell be but in fact god has placed the parts in the body every one of them just as he wanted them to be if they were all one part where would the body be as it is there are many parts but one body the eye cannot say to the hand i don't need you and the head cannot say to the feet i don't need you on the contrary those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor and the parts that are unpre presentable are treated with special modesty why our presentable parts need no special treatment but god has put the body together giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it so that there should be no division in the body but that its parts should have equal concern for each other if other part or if one part suffers every part suffers with it if one part is honored every part rejoices with it now you are the body of christ and each one of you is a part of it and god has placed in the church first of all apostles second prophets third teachers and then miracles then gifts of healing of helping of guidance and of different kinds of tongues are all apostles are are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles do all have gifts of healing do all speak in tongues do all interpret now eagerly desire the greater gifts and yet i will show you the most excellent way chapter 13 if i speak in tongues of men or of angels but do not have love i am only resounding a gong or a clanging symbol if i have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries in all knowledge and if i have faith that can move mountains but do not have love i am nothing if i give all i possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that i may boast but do not have love i gain nothing love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it does not dishonor others it is not self seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trust always hopes always preserves love never fails but where there are prophecies they will cease where there are tongues they will be stilled where there is knowledge it will pass away for we know in part and we prophesy in part but when completeness comes what is part disappears when i was a child i talked like a child i thought like a child i reasoned like a child when i became a man i put the ways of childhood behind me for now we see only a reflection as a mirror then we shall see face to face now i know in part then i shall know fully as i even as i am fully known and now these three remain faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love chapter 14 follow the way of love eagerly desire gifts of the spirit especially prophecy for anyone who speaks in their tongue does not speak to people but to god indeed no one out understands them they utter mysteries by the spirit but the one who prophesies who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening encouraging and comfort anyone who speaks in tongues edifies themselves but the one who prophesies edifies the church i would like every one of you to speak in tongues but i would rather have you prophesy the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless everyone interprets so that the church may be edified now brothers and sisters if i come to you and speak in tongues what good will i be to you unless i bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy a word of instruction even in a case of lifeless things that make sounds such as a pipe or a harp net how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes again if the trumpet does not sound a clear call who will get ready for battle so it is with you unless you speak in intelligible words with your tongue how will anyone know what you are saying you will just be speaking into the air undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world yet none of them is without meaning if then i do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying i am i am a foreigner to speak to the speaker and the speaker is a foreigner to me so it is with you since you are eager to to for gifts of the spirit try to excel in those that build up the church for this reason the one who speaks in tongues should pray that they may interpret what they say for if i pray in tongue my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful so what shall i do i will pray with my spirit but i will also pray with my understanding i will sing with my spirit but i will also sing with understanding otherwise when you are praising god in the spirit how can someone else who is now put in the position of an inquirer say amen to your thanksgiving since they do not know what you are saying you are giving thanks well enough but no one else is edified i thank god that i speak in tongues more than all of you but in the church i would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue brothers and sisters stop thinking like children in regard to evil be infants but in your thinking be adults in the law it is written with all with other tongues and through the lips of foreigners i will speak to this people but even then they will not listen to me says the lord tongues then are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers prophesy prophecy however is not for unbelievers but for believers so if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues and inquires or or unbelievers come in will they not say that you are out of your mind but if a unbeliever or inquire comes in while everyone is prophesying they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare so they will fall down and worship god exclaiming god is really among you good order in worship verse 26 what then shall we say brothers and sisters when you come together each of you as a hymn or a word of instruction a revelation a tongue or an interpretation everything must be done so that the church may be built up if anyone speaks in a tongue two or at most three should speak one at a time and someone must interpret it if there is no interpreter the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself into god two or three prophets should speak and the others should weigh carefully what is said and if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down the speaker should stop for you can all prophesy and turn so that everyone may may be instructed and encouraged the spirits of of prophets are subject to the control of prophets for god is not a god of disorder but of peace as in all the congregations of the lord's people women should remain silent in the churches they are not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the law says if they want to inquire about something they should should ask their own husbands at home for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church or did the word of god originate with you or are you the only people it has to reach if anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the spirit let them acknowledge that that that that what i am writing to you is the lord's command but if anyone ignores this they will themselves be ignored therefore my brothers and sisters be eager to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues but everyone should be done in fitting in orderly way and that's ch chapter 14 and i'm going to pass it over to my wife and for chapter 15. i'm reading first corinthians chapter 15 the resurrection of christ now brothers and sisters i want to remind you of the gospel i preached to you which you received and on which you have taken your stand by this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word i preach to you otherwise you have believed in vain for what i received i passed on to you as of first importance that christ died for our sins according to the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to caiaphas and then to the twelve after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time most of whom are still living though some have fallen asleep then he appeared to james then to all the apostles and last of all he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born for i am the least of the apostle apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because i persecuted the church of god but by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace to me was not without effect no i worked harder than all of them yet not i but the grace of god that was with me whether then it is i or they it is what we preach and this is what you believed the resurrection of the dead but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead if there's no resurrection of the dead that not even christ has been raised and if christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith more than that we are then found to be false witnesses about god for we have testified about god that he raised christ from the dead but he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised forth the dead are not raised and christ has not been raised either and if christ has not been raised your faith is fertile you are still in your sins then those also who have fallen asleep in christ are lost if only for this life we have hope in christ we of all we are all of all people most to be pitied but christ has indeed been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep for since death came through a man the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man for as an adam will die so in christ all will be made alive but each in turn christ the first fruits then when he comes those who belong to him then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom of god the father after he has destroyed all dominion authority and power for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy to be destroyed is death for he has put everything under his feet now when it says that everything has been put under him it is clear that this does not include god himself who put everything under christ when he has done this the son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him so that god may be all in all now if there's no resurrection what will those who what will those do who are baptized for the dead if the dead are not raised at all why are people baptized for them and as for us why do we endanger ourselves every hour i face death every day yes just as surely as i boast about you in christ jesus our lord if i fought wild beasts in ephesus with no more than human hopes what have i gained if the dead are not raised let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die do not meet do not be disled bad company corrupts good character come back to your senses as you ought and stop sinning for there are some who are ignorant of god i say this to your shame the resurrection body verse 35 but someone will ask how are the dead raised with what kind of body will they come how foolish what you sow does not come to life unless it dies when you sow you do not plant the body that will be but just as a seed perhaps of wheat or something else but god gives it as body as he has determined and to each kind of seed he gives it its own body not all flesh is the same people have one kind of flesh animals have another birds another and fish another there are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another the sun has one kind of splendor the moon another and the stars another and star differs from star and splendor so it will be with the resurrection of the dead the body that a son is perishable it is raised imperishable it is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body if there is a natural body then there is also a spiritual body so it is written the first man adam became a living being the last adam a life-giving spirit this spiritual did not come first but the natural and after that the spiritual the first man was the dust of the earth the second man is of heaven as was the earthly man so are those who are of earth and as is the heavenly man so also are those who are of heaven and just as we have borne the image of the earthly man so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man i declare to you brothers and sisters that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god nor does the impa nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable listen i tell you a mystery we will not all sleep but we will all be changed in a flash and the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed for the perishable must clothe itself of the imperishable and the mortal with immortality when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with the immortality then then the saying that is written will come true death has been swallowed up in victory where o death is your victory whereo death is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to god he gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ therefore my dear brothers and sisters stand firm let nothing move you always give yourselves fully to the work of the lord because you know that your labor in the lord is not in vain first corinthians chapter 16 the collection of the lord's people now about the collection of the lord for the lord's people do what i have told the galatian churches to do on the first day of every week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income saving it up so that when i come no collections will have to be made then when i arrive i will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to jerusalem if it seems advisable for me to go also they will accompany me after i go through macedonia i will come to you i will be going through macedonia perhaps i will stay with you for a while or even spend the winter so that you can help me on my journey wherever i go for i do not want to see you now make only a passing visit i hope to spend time with you if the lord permits but i will stay on at ephesus until pentecost because a great door for effective work is open to me and there are many who oppose me when timothy comes see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you for he is carrying on the work of the lord just as i am no one then should treat him with contempt send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me i am expecting him along with the brothers now about our brother apollos i strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers he was quite unwilling to go now but he will go when he has the opportunity be on your guard stand firm in the faith be courageous be strong do everything in love you know that the household of stephanius were the first converts in ikea and they were devoted themselves to the servants of the lord's people i urge you brother and sisters to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it i was glad when stephanus and fortunettus and nikaias arrived because they have supplied what was lacking from you for they refreshed my spirit and yours also such men deserve recognition the churches in the province of asia send you greetings akilah and priscilla greet you warmly in the lord and so does the church that meets at their house all the brothers and sisters here send you greetings greet one another with the holy kiss i paul write this greeting in my own hand if anyone does not love the lord let that person be cursed come lord the grace of the lord jesus be with you my love to all of you in christ jesus amen and now we're moving into second corinthians second corinthians chapter one paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god and timothy our brother to the church of god in corinth together with all his holy people through aca grace and peace to you from god our father and the lord jesus christ praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ the father of compassion and the god of all comfort who comforts us and our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from god for just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of christ so also our comfort abounds through christ if we were distressed it is for your comfort and salvation if we were comforted it is for your comfort which produces and you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer and our hope for you is firm because we know that just as you share in our sufferings so also you share in our comfort we do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters about the troubles we experience in the province of asia we were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired of life itself indeed we felt we had received the sentence of death but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on god who raises the dead he has delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us again on him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us as you help us by your prayers then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us an answer to the prayers of many verse 12 now this is our boast our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you with integrity and godly sincerity we have done so relying not on worldly wisdom but on god's grace for we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand and i hope that as you have unders stood us in part you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of lord jesus because i was confident of this i wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice i wanted to visit you on my way to macedonia and to come back to you from macedonia and to have you send me on my way to judea was i fickle when i intended to do this or do i make plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath i say both yes yes and no no but as surely as god is faithful our message to you is not yes and no for the son of god jesus christ who is preached among you by us by me and silas and timothy was not yes and no but in him it has always been yes for no matter how many promises god has made they are yes in christ and so through him the amen is spoken by us to the glory of god now it is god who makes both us and you stand firm in christ he anointed us set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come i call god as my witness as i stake my life on it that is what that it was in order to spare you that i did not return to corinth now that we lord it over your faith but we work with you for your joy because it is faith you stand firm second corinthians chapter two so i made up my mind that i would not make another painful visit to you for if i grieve you who is left to make me glad but you whom i have grieved i wrote as i did so that when i came i would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice i had confidence at all of you that you would all share my joy for i wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you if anyone has caused grief he has not so much grieve me as he has grieved all of you to some extent not to put it too severely the punishment afflicted on him by the majority is sufficient now instead you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow i urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him another reason i wrote to you is to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything and anyone you forgive i also forgive and what i have forgiven if there is anything to forgive i have forgiven in the sight of christ for your sake in order that satan might not outwit us for we are not unaware of schemes now when i went to treos to preach the gospel of christ and found that the lord had opened a door for me i still had no peace of mind because i did not find my brother titus there so i said goodbye to them and went on to macedonia but thanks be to god who always leads us as captives in christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere for we are to god the pleasing aroma of christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing to the one we are an aroma that brings death to the other an aroma that brings life and who is equal to such a task unlike so many we do not peddle the word of god for profit on the contrary and christ we speak before god with sincerity as those sent from god and i'm gonna finish there and pass it over to emma again who will begin at second corinthians chapter three brilliant thank you very much megan ii corinthians chapter three are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need like some people letters of recommendation to you or from you you yourselves are our letter written on our hearts known and read by everyone you show that you are a letter from christ the result of our ministry written not within but with the spirit of the living god not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts such confidence we have through christ before god not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves but our competence comes from god he has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the spirit gives life now here's the ministry that brought death which was engraved in letters of stone came with glory so that the israelites could not look steadily at the face of moses because of its glory transitory though it was will not the ministry of the spirit be even more glorious if the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness for what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory and if what was transitory came with glory how much greater is the glory of that which lasts therefore since we have such a hope we are very bold we are not like moses who would put a veil over his face to prevent the israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away but their minds were made dull for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read it has not been removed because only in christ is it taken away even to this day when moses is read a veil covers their hearts but whenever anyone turns to the lord the veil is taken away now the lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is freedom and we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the lord who is the spirit second corinthians 4 present weakness and resurrection life therefore since through god's mercy we have this ministry we do not lose heart rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways we do not use deception nor do we distort the word of god on the contrary by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of god and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of christ who is the image of god for what we preach is not ourselves but jesus christ as lord and ourselves as your servants for jesus sake for god who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of god's glory displayed in the face of christ but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing par is from god and not from us we are hard-pressed on every side but not crushed perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not abandoned struck dying but not destroyed we always carry around in our body the death of jesus so that the life of jesus may also be revealed in our body for we who are alive are always being given over to death for jesus's sake so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body so then death is at work in us but life is at work in you it is written i believe therefore i have spoken since we have that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak because we know that the one who raised the lord jesus from the dead will also raise us with jesus and present us with you to himself all this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of god therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal hallelujah that is so exciting isn't it right do you want to take over second corinthians 5. second corinthians chapter 5. for we know that if the earthly temp we live in is destroyed we have a building from god an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands meanwhile we've grown longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling because when we are clothed we will not be found naked for while we are in this tent we've grown in our burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be enclosed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is god who has given us the spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are home in the body we are away from the lord for we live by faith not by sight we are confident i say and we prefer to be away from the body and at home with the lord so we make it our goal to please him whether we are at home in the body or away from it for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ so that each of us may receive what is due for us due to us for the things done while in the body whether good or bad since then we know what it is to fear the lord we try to persuade others what we are is plain to god and i hope it is also plain to your conscience we are not trying to commend ourselves to you again but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart if we are out of our mind as some say it is for god if we are in our right mind it is for you for christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died and he died for all that all those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view though we once regarded christ in this way we do know we do so no longer therefore if anyone is in christ the new creation has come the old it's gone the new is here all this is from god who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that god was reconciling the world to himself in christ not counting people's sins against them and he has committed us to the message of reconciliation we are therefore christ's ambassadors and so god we're making his appeal through us we implore you on christ's behalf be reconciled to god god made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of god second corinthians chapter six yes second corinthians 6 as god's co-workers we urge you not to receive god's grace in vain before he says in the time of my favor i heard you and in the day of salvation i helped you i tell you no is the time of god's favor now is the day of salvation we put no stumbling block in anyone's paths so that our ministry will not be discredited rather as servants of god we commend ourselves in every way in great endurance in troubles hardships and distresses in beatings imprisonments and riots in hard work sleepless nights and hunger impurity understanding patience and kindness in the holy spirit and in sincere love in truthful speech and in the power of god with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left through glory and honor bad report and good report genuine yet regarded as imposters known yet regarded as unknown dying and yet we live on beaten and yet not killed sorrowful yet always rejoicing per yet making many rich having nothing and yet possessing everything we have spoken freely to you corinthians and open wide our hearts to you we are not withholding our affection from you but you are withholding yours from us as a fair exchange i speak as to my children open wide your hearts also do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with darkness what harmony is there between christ and belial or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever what agreement is there between the temple of god and idols for we are the temple of the living god as jesus has said i will live with them and walk among them and i will be their god and they will be my people therefore come out from them and be separate says the lord touch no unclean thing and i will receive you and i will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters says the lord almighty amazing i think lisa is it your turn yes that happy smiley face who we miss and you are second corinthians chapter seven lovely lady thank you over to you yes chapter 7 therefore since we have these promises dear friends let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit perfecting holiness out of reverence for god paul's joy over the church's repentance make room for us in your hearts we have wronged no one we have corrupted no one we have exploited no one i do not say this to condemn you i have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you i have spoken to you with great frankness i take great pride in you i'm greatly encouraged in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds for when we came into macedonia we had no rest but we were harassed at every turn conflicts on the outside fears within but god who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of titus and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him he told us about your longing for me your deep sorrow your ardent concern for me so that my joy was greater than ever even if i caused you sorrow by my letter i do not regret it though i did regret it i see that my letter hurt you but only for a little while yet now i'm happy not because you were made sorry but because your sorrow led you to repentance for you became sorrowful as god intended and so we're not harmed in any way by us godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret but worldly sorrow brings death see what this godly sorrow has produced in you what earnestness what eagerness to clear yourselves what indignation what alarm what longing what concern what readiness to see justice done at every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter so even though i wrote to you it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong nor an account of the injured party but rather that before god you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are by all this we are encouraged in addition to our own encouragement we were especially delighted to see how happy titus was because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you i had boasted to him about you and you've not embarrassed me but just as everything we said to you was true so our boasting about you to titus has proved to be true as well and his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient receiving him with fear and trembling i'm glad i can have complete confidence in you second corinthians chapter 8 the collection for the lord's people and now brothers and sisters we want you to know about the grace that god has given the macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity for i testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability entirely on their own they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the lord's people and they exceeded our expectations they gave themselves first of all to the lord and then by the will of god also to us so we urge titus just as he had earlier made a beginning to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part but since you excel in everything in faith in speech in knowledge in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you see that you also excel in this grace of giving i am not commanding you but i want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter last year you were not you were fir last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according to your means for if the willingness is there the gift is acceptable according to the to what one has not according to what one does not have our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed but they're there but that there might be equity at the present time your plenty will supply what they need so that in turn there plenty will supply what you need the goal is equality as it is written the one who gathered much did not have too much and the one who gathered little did not have too little titus sent to receive the collection thanks be to god who put into the heart of titus the same concern i have for you for titus not only welcomed our appeal but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative we are and we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel what is more he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering which we administer in order to honor the lord himself and to show our eagerness to help want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift for we are taking pains to do what is right not only in the eyes of the lord but also in the eyes of man in addition we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous and now even more so because of his great confidence in you as for titus he is my partner and co-worker among you as for our brothers they are representatives of the churches and an honor to christ therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you so that the churches can see it second corinthians chapter nine there is no need for me to write to you about this service to the lord's people for i know your eagerness to help and i have been boasting about it to the macedonians telling them that since last year you and akai were ready to give and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action but i am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow but that you may be ready as i said you would be for if any macedonians come with me and find you unprepared we not to say anything about you would be ashamed of having been so confident so i thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised then it will be ready as a generous gift not as one grudgingly given remember this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver and god is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work as it is written they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor their righteousness endures forever now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to god this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to god because of the service by which you have proved yourselves others will praise god for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and everyone else and in their prayers for you our their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace god has given you thanks be to god for this indescribable gift second corinthians chapter 10 paul's defense of his ministry by the humility and gentleness of christ i appeal to you i paul who am timid when face to face with you but bold toward you went away i beg that when i beg you that when i come i may not have to be as bold as i expect to be towards some people who think that we live by the standards of this world for though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world on the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ and we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience once your obedience is complete you're judging by appearances if anyone is confident that they belong to christ they should consider again that we belong to christ just as much as they do so even if i boast somewhat freely about the authority the lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down i will not be ashamed of it i do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters for some say his letters are weighty and forceful but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent we will be in our actions when we are present we do not compare we do not dare to comp classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves they are not wise we however will not boast beyond proper limits but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service god himself has assigned to us a sphere that also includes you we are not going to too far in our posting as would be the case if we had not come to you for we did not get as far with as sorry we are not going too far in our boasting as would be the case if we had not come to you for we did get as far as you with the gospel of christ neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others our hope is that as your faith continues to grow our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you for we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else's territory but let the one who boasts boast in the lord for it is not the one who commends himself who is approved but the one whom the lord commands first corinthians chapter 11 paul and the false prophets i hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness yes please put up with me i am jealous for you with a godly jealousy i promised you to one husband to christ that i might present you as a pure virgin to him but i am afraid that just as eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to christ for if someone comes to you and preaches a jesus other than the jesus we preached or if you receive a different spirit from the spirit you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted you put up with it easily enough i do not think i am in the least in fear to those super apostles i may indeed be untrained as a speaker but i do have knowledge we have made this perfectly clear to you in every way what is was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of god to you free of charge i robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you and when i was with you and needed something i was not a burden to anyone for the brothers who came from macedonia supplied what i needed i have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way and will continue to do so for as surely as the truth of christ is in me nobody in the regions of okay will stop this boasting of mine why because i do not because i do not love you god knows i do and i will keep on doing what i am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about for such people are false apostles deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of christ no wonder for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light it is not surprising then if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness their end will be what their actions deserve and i will now pass it to trey um from verse 16. it's about his sufferings i repeat let no one take me for a full but if you do then tolerate me just as you would a fool so that i may do a little boasting in this self-confident boasting i am not talking as a lord would but as a fool since many are boasting in the way the world does i too will boast you've gladly put up with fools since you are so wise in fact you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or who exploits you who takes advantage of you or who puts on airs or slaps you in the face to my shame i admit that we are too weak for that whatever anyone else dares to boast about i am speaking as a fool i also dare to boast about are they hebrews so am i are they israelites so am i are they abraham's descendants so am i are they servants of christ i am out of my mind to talk like this i am more i have worked much harder been in prison more frequently been flogged more severely and been exposed to death again and again five times i received from the jews the 14 lashes minus one three times i was beaten with rods once i was parted with stones three times i was shipwrecked i spent a night and a day in the open sea i have been constantly on the move i've been in danger from rivers and danger from bandits in danger from my fellow jews in danger from gentiles in danger in the city in danger in the country in danger at sea and in danger from false believers i have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep i have known hunger and thirst and have gone gone without food i've been cold and naked besides everything else i face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches who is weak i do not feel weak who is led into sin and i do not inwardly burn if i must boast i will boast of the things that show my weakness the god and father of the lord jesus christ who is to be praised forever knows that i am not lying in damascus the governor and a king artist had the had the city of the damascus guarded in order to arrest me but i was lowered in a basket from a window in the hall and slipped through his hands 2 corinthians 12 paul's vision and his thorn i must go on boasting although there is nothing to be gained i will go on to visions and revelations from the lord i know a man in christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven whether it was in the body or at the body i do not know god knows and i know that this man whether in the body or apart from the body i do not know but god knows was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things things that no one is permitted to tell i will boast about like a man like that but i will boast i will not boast about myself except about my weaknesses even if i should choose to boast i would not be a fool because i would be speaking the truth but i referring so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what i do or say or because of these surpassing great revelations therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited i was given a thorn in my flesh a messenger of satan to torment me three times i pleaded with the lord to take it away from me but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect in weakness therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ's power may rest on me that is why for christ's sake i delight in weaknesses in insults in hardships in persecutions in difficulties but when i am weak then i am strong paul's concern for the corinthians i have made a fool of myself but you drove me to it i also been commended by you for i am not the least inferior to the super apostles even though i am nothing i persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle including signs and wonders and miracles how were you inferior to the other churches except that i was never a burden to you forgive me this wrong now i am ready to visit you for the third time and i will not be a burden to you because that because what i want is not your possessions but you after all children should not have to save up for their parents but parents for their children so very gladly spend for you everything i have and explain myself as well if i love you more would you love me less be that as it may i have not been a burden to you yet crafty fellow that i am i caught you by trickery did i exploit you through any of the men i sent you i urged titus to go to you and i sent our brother with him titus did not exploit you did he did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same spirit have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you we have been speaking the sight of god as those in christ and everything we do dear friends is for your strengthening but i'm afraid that when i come i may not find you as i want you to be and you may not find me as you want me to be i fear that there may be discord jealousy fits of rage selfish ambition slander gossip arrogance and disorder i'm afraid that when i come again my god will humble me before you and i'll be grieved and many have over many who have sinned earlier have not repented of the impurity sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged 2 corinthians 13 final warnings this will be my third visit to you every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses i already gave you a warning when i was with you the second time i now repeat it while absent on my return i will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others since you are demanding proof that christ is speaking through me he is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you for to be sure he was crucified in weakness yet he lives by god's power likewise we are weak in him yet by god's power we will live with him in our dealing with you examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith test yourselves do you not realize that christ jesus is in you unless of course you failed the test and i trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test now we pray to god that you will not do anything wrong so that people will see that you have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed but we cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth we are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong and our prayer is that you may be fully restored this is why i write these things when i'm absent that when i come i may not have to be too harsh to use my use of authority the authority that the lord gave me for building you up not for tearing you down final greetings finally brothers and sisters rejoice strive for full restoration encourage one another be of one mind live in peace and the god of love and peace will be with you greet one another with a holy kiss all god's people here send their greetings may the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all galatians 1 paul an apostle sent not from men or by a man but by jesus christ and god the father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers and sisters with me to the churches in galatia grace and peace to you from god our father and the lord jesus christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our god and father to whom be the glory forever and ever amen no other gospel i am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you let him be under god's curse as we've already said and i'll say again i say again if anyone is preaching to your gospel other than what you accepted let them be under god's curse am i now trying to win the approval of human beings or of god or am i trying to please people if we were still trying to please people i would not be a servant of christ poor called by god i want you to know brothers and sisters that the gospel i preached is not human origin i did not receive it from any man nor was i taught it rather i received it by revelation from jesus christ you have heard my previous way of life in judaism how intensely i persecuted the church of god and tried to destroy it i was advancing in judaism beyond many of my own age among my people was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers but when god who set me apart from my mother's womb called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son in me so that i might preach him among the gentiles my immediate response was not to consort any human being i did not go up to jerusalem to see those who were apostles before i was but i went to arabia i later returned to damascus then after three years i went up to jerusalem to get acquainted with caphias and stayed with him 15 days i saw none of the other apostles only james the lord's brother i assure you before god that what i am writing to you is no lie then i went to syria and cilicia i was personally unknown to the churches of judea that are in christ they only heard the report the man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy and they praised god because of me galatians 2. paul accepted by the apostles then after 14 years i went up again to jerusalem this time with barnabas i took titus along also i went in response to a revelation and meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders i presented to them the gospel that i preach among the gentiles i wanted to be sure i was not running and had not been running my race in vain yet not even titus who was with me was compelled to be circumcised even though he was a greek this matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in christ jesus and to make us slaves you did not give in to them for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you as for those who were held in high esteem whatever they were they were makes no difference to me god does not show favoritism they added nothing to my message on the contrary they recognized that i had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised just as peter had been uncircumcised but god who was at work in peter as an apostle to the circumcised was also working me as an apostle to the gentiles james kophias and john those who esteemed as pillars gave me and barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognize the grace given to me they agreed that we should go to the gentiles and they took the circumcised all they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor the very thing i'd been eager to do all along paul opposes cephus when cephus came to antioch i opposed him to his face because he stood condemned well before certain men came from james he used to eat with the gentiles but when they arrived he began to draw back and separate himself from the gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group the other jews joined him in this hypocrisy so that by their hypocrisy even barnabus was led astray when i saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel i said to see first in front of them all you are a jew yet you live like a gentile and not like a jew how is it then that you force gentiles to follow jewish customs we who are jews by birth and not sinful gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in jesus christ so we too have put our faith in christ jesus that we may be justified by faith in christ and not by the works of the law because by the works of the law no one will be justified but if in seeking to be justified in christ we do find out jews find ourselves also among the sinners does that mean that christ promotes sin absolutely not if i rebuild what i'd destroyed then i really would be a law breaker although the law through through the law i died to the law that i might live for god i've been crucified with christ and i no longer live but christ lives in me the life and i live in the body i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me i do not set aside the grace of god but if righteousness could be gained through the law christ died for nothing hi ruth do you want to read from galatians 3 yes thank you trey thank you chapter 3 faith or works of the law you foolish galatians who has bewitched you before your very eyes jesus christ was clearly portrayed as crucified i would like to learn just one thing from you did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard are you so foolish after beginning by means of the spirit are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh have you experienced so much in vain if it really was in vain so again i ask does god give you his spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by you believing what you heard so also abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness understand then that those who have faith are children of abraham scripture foresaw that god would justify the gentiles by faith and announce the gospel in advance to abraham all nations will be blessed through you so those who rely on faith are blessed along with abraham the man of faith for all who re rely on the works of the law are under a curse as it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before god because the righteous will live by faith the law is not based on faith on the contrary it says the person who does these things will live by them christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole he redeemed us in order that the blessing given to abraham might come to the gentiles through christ jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the spirit the law and the promise brothers and sisters let me take an example from everyday life just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established so it is in this case the promises were spoken to abraham and to his seed scripture does not say unto seeds meaning many people but unto your seed meaning one person who is christ what i mean is this the law introduced 430 years later does not set aside the covenant previously established by god and thus do away with the promise for if the inheritance depends on the law then it no longer depends on the promise but god in his grace gave it to abraham through a promise why then was the law given at all it was added because of transgressions until the seed to whom the promise referred had come the law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator a mediator however implies more than one party but god is one is the law therefore opposed to the promises of god absolutely not for if a law had been given that could impart life then righteousness would certainly have come by the law but scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin so that what was promised being given through faith in jesus christ might be given to those who believe children of god before the coming of this faith we were held in custody under the law locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed so the law was our guardian until christ came that we might be justified by faith now that this faith has come we are no longer under a guardian so in christ in so in christ jesus you're all children of god through faith for all of you who were baptized into christ have clothed yourself with christ there is neither jew nor gentile neither slave nor free nor is there male and female for you are all one in christ jesus if you belong to christ then you are abraham's seed and ears according to the promise chapter four what i am saying is that as long as an heir is underage he is no different from a slave although he owns the whole estate the heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father so also when we were under age we were in slavery other under the elemental spiritual forces of the world but when the set time had fully come god sent his son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship because you are his sons god sent the spirit of his son into her heart the spirit who calls out abba father so you know you are no longer a slave but god's child and since you are his child god has made you also an heir paul's concern for the galatians formerly when you did not know god you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods but now that you know god or rather are known by god how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again you're observing special days and months and seasons and years i fear for you that somehow i've wasted my efforts on you i played with you brothers and sisters become like me for i became like you you did me no wrong as you know it was because of an illness that i first preached the gospel to you and even though my illness was a trial to you you did not treat me with contempt or scorn instead you welcomed me as if i were an angel of god as if i were christ jesus himself where then is your blessing of me now i can testify that if you could have done so you'd have torn out your eyes and given them to me have i now become your enemy by telling you the truth those people are zealous to win you over but for no good what they want is to alienate you from us so that you may have zeal for them it is fine to be zealous provided the purpose is good and to be so always not just when i'm with you my dear children for whom i am again in the pains of childbirth until christ is formed with you how i wish i could read with you now and change my tone because i am perplexed about you hey garen sarah tell me you who want to be under the law are you not aware of what the law says for it is written that abraham had two sons one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman his son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh but his son by the free woman was born as a result of a divine promise these things are being taken figuratively the women represent two covenants one covenant is from mount sinai and bears children who are to be slaves this is hagar now hagar stands for mount sinai in arabia and corresponds to the present city of jerusalem because she is in slavery with her children but the jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother for it is written be glad barren woman you who never bore a child break forth and cry aloud you who were never in labour because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband now you brothers and sisters like isaac are children of promise at that time the son according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the spirit it is the same now but what does scripture say get rid of the slave woman and her son for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son therefore brothers and sisters we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman chapter 5 freedom in christ it is for freedom that christ has set us free stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery mark my words i paul tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised christ will be of no value to you at all again i declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is required to obey the whole law you who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from christ you've fallen away from grace for through the spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope for in christ jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love you were running a good race who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth that kind of persuasion doesn't come from the one who calls you a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough i am confident in the lord that you will take no other view the one who is throwing you into confusion whoever that may be will have to pay the penalty brothers and sisters if i'm still preaching circumcision why am i still being persecuted in that case the offence of the cross has been abolished for those agitators i wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves life by the spirit you my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh rather serve one another humbly in love for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command love your neighbor as yourself if you bite and devout each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each other so i say live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh they are in conflict which with each other so that you're not to do whatever you want but if you're led by the spirit you are not under the law the acts of the flesh are obvious sexual immorality impurity and debauchery idolatry and witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of rage selfish ambition dissensions factions and envy drunkenness orgies and the like i warn you as i did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of god but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace forbearance kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit let us not become conceited provoking and envying each other chapter 6 doing good to all brothers and sisters if someone is caught in a sin you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently but watch yourself or you also may be tempted carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of christ if anyone thinks there's something when they're not they deceive themselves each one should test their own actions then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else for each one should carry their own mood nevertheless the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor do not be deceived god cannot be mocked a man reaps what he sows whoever sows to please their flesh from the flesh will reach destruction whoever sows to pleases spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life let us not become weedy in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of believers see what large letters i use as i write to you with my own hand those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised the only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of christ not even those who are circumcised keep the law that you that yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh may i never boast except in the cross of our lord jesus christ through which the world has been crucified to me and i to the world neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything what counts is the new creation peace and mercy to all who follow this rule to the israel of god from now on let no one cause me trouble for i bear on my body the marks of jesus the grace of our lord jesus christ be with your spirit brothers and sisters amen and i hand over now to tree to begin ephesians thank you rude ephesians 1 paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god to god's holy people in ephesus the faithful in christ jesus grace and peace to you from our from god our father and the lord jesus christ praise the spiritual blessings in christ praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in christ for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through christ jesus in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of god's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in christ to be put on to be put into effect when the times reached the fulfillment to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth unto christ in him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we were the first to put our put our hope in christ might be for the praise of his glory and you were also included in christ when he heard the message of truth the gospel of your salvation when you believed you are marked in him with a seal the promised holy spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are god's possession to the praise of his glory thanksgiving and prayer for this reason ever since i heard about your faith in the lord jesus and your love for all god's people i have not stopped giving thanks for you remembering you in my prayers i keep asking that the god of our lord jesus christ the glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better i pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority power and dominion and every name that is invoked not only in the present age but also in the one to come and god placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills everything in every way ephesians 2 made alive in christ for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air the spirit who is now working those who are disobedient all of us also lived among them at one time gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath but because of his great love for us god who is rich in mercy made us alive in christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace that you have been saved and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in christ jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in christ jesus it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of god not by work so that no one can boast but we are god's handiwork created in christ jesus to do good works which god prepared in advance for us to do jew and gentile reconciled through christ therefore remember that formerly you who are gentiles by birth and called and circumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision which is done in the body by human hands remember that the time you were separate from christ excluded from citizenship in israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without god in the world but now in christ jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself is our peace who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier the dividing war wall of hostility by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two thus making peace and in one body to reconcile both them to god through the cross by which he put to death their hostility he came and preached peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near well through him we have we both have access to the father by one spirit consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers but fellow citizens with god's people and also members of his household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets of christ jesus himself as the key chief cornerstone in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy holy temple in the lord and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which god lives by his spirit ephesians 3 god's marvelous plan for the gentiles for this reason i paul the prisoner of christ jesus for the sake of you gentiles surely you have heard about the administration of god's grace that was given to me for you that is the mystery made known to me by revelation as i've already written briefly in reading this then you'll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of christ which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the spirit to god's holy apostles and prophets this mystery that is through the gospel the gentiles are heirs together with israel members together of one body and share us together in the promise in jesus in christ jesus i became a servant of this gospel by the gift of god's grace given me through the working of his power although i am less than the least of all the lord's people this grace was given to me to preach to the gentiles the boundless riches of christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery which for ages passes kept hidden in god who created all things his intent was was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of god should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in christ jesus our lord in him and through faith in him we may approach god with freedom and confidence i ask you therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you which are for your glory a prayer for the ephesians for this reason i kneel before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and i pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the lord's holy people to grasp how high sorry how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of christ and to know his love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of god now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is work at as at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in christ jesus right all generations forever and ever amen ephesians 4 unity and maturity in the body of christ as a prisoner for the lord then i urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing with one another in love make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who was over all and through all and in all but to each one of us grace has been given as christ apportioned it this is why it says when he ascended on high he took many captives and gave gifts to his people what does he ascended me except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions he who descended is the very one who ascended ivan higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe so christ himself gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and teachers to equip his body for works of service so that the body of christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of god and become mature attained to the whole measure of the fullness of christ then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming instead speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is christ from him the whole body joined is held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself itself up in love as each part does its work instructions for christian living so i tell you this and insist on it in the lord that you must no longer live as the gentiles do in the futility of their thinking they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of god because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity and they are full of greed that however is not the way of life you learnt when you heard about christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in jesus you were taught with regard to your formal way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self created to be like god in true righteousness and holiness therefore each of you must put away uh must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor for we are all members of one body in your anger do not sin do not let the sun go down while you're still angry and do not give the devil a foothold anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful with their own hands so that they may have something to share with those in need do not let any and wholesome talk come up your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may be a benefit to those who listen and do not grieve the holy spirit of god which with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption get rid of all bitterness rage and anger brawling and slander along with every form of malice be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as christ god forgave you and we're now moving to the next stream this stream is ending but we'll see you in a moment you

Channel: Global Prophetic Alliance-Glasgow Prophetic Centre

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Published: Thu Apr 08 2021