On video-
.Acts- book of sermons
.Power to get rich?
.David’s Son
.What’s the sign of Jonah?
.Rich man- Poor man
.Why do I help Pops?
.What are the last words of Jesus?
Some past teaching [below are the verses]-
(835)ROMANS 7:1-4 Paul uses the
analogy of a married woman ‘don’t you know that the law has dominion over a
person as long as he is alive’? If a married woman leaves her husband and
marries another man she is guilty of breaking the law of adultery. Now, if her
husband dies, she is free to marry another man. The act that freed her from sin
and guilt was death! Every thing else in the scenario stayed the same. She
still married another, she still consummated the new marriage. But because her
first husband died, she has no guilt. I always loved this analogy. For years I
wondered why these themes in scripture are for the most part not ‘imbedded’ in
the collective psyche of the people of God. We have spent so much time ‘proof
texting’ the verses on success and wealth, that we have overlooked the really
good stuff! Now Paul teaches that we have been made free from the law by the
‘death of our husband’ [Jesus] so we can ‘re-marry’. Who do we marry? Christ!
He has not only died to free us from the law, he also rose from the dead to
become our ‘husband’ [we are called the bride of Christ]. Paul connects the
death and resurrection of Jesus in this analogy. Both are needed for the true
gospel to be preached [1st Corinthians 15]. Notice how in this
passage Paul emphasizes ‘the death of Christ’s body’. The New Testament doesn’t
always make this distinction, but here it does. In the early centuries of
Christianity you had various debates over the nature and ‘substance’ of God and
Christ. The church hammered out various decrees and creeds that would become
the Orthodoxy of the day. Many of these are what you would call the ‘Ecumenical
councils’. These are the early councils [many centuries!] that both the eastern
[Orthodox church] and western [Catholic] churches would all accept. Some feel
that the early church fathers and Latin theologians [Tertullian, Augustine and
others] had too much prior influence from philosophy and the ‘forensic’
thinking of their time. They had a tendency to describe things in highly
technical ways. Ways that were prominent in the legal and philosophical
thinking of the West. Some of the eastern thinkers [Origen] had more of a Greek
‘flavor’ to their theologizing [Alexandria, named after Alexander the great,
was a city of philosophy many years prior to Christ. This city was at one time
the center of thinking in the East. That’s why Paul would face the thinkers at
Athens, they had a history in the east of Greek philosophy]. Well any way the
result was highly technical debates over the nature of God and Christ. The
historic church would finally decree that Christ had 2 natures, Human and
Divine. And that at the Cross the ‘humanity of Jesus’ died, but his ‘Deity’ did
not. I think Paul agreed by saying ‘we are free from the law by the death of
Christ’s Body’ here Paul distinguishes between the physical death of Jesus and
his Deity. Note- actually, Augustine would be in the same school as Origen.
Alexandrian.
Okay- let’s start a brief overview of some church history.
Over the next few weeks I want to hit on the 16th century Protestant
reformation and try and cover some of the key figures of the movement.
Martin Luther- the German reformer who had the most
influence in the movement was born and raised in Germany.
As a boy his parents were peasant farmers and eventually his
dad became a miner and became a very successful businessman- he would go on and
eventually own 6 foundries.
He sent his son to law school- and young Luther excelled. At
the age of 21 he accomplished more than many of his peers. One day on his way
home from the university a thunderstorm broke out and Luther was almost struck
by a bolt of lightning.
In fear he cried out to Saint Ann [the mother of Mary] and
said ‘Saint Ann- if you save me I will become a monk’ [Ann was the patron Saint
for miners- thus Luther was familiar with her].
He was spared and off to the monastery he went. Luther
eventually became an ordained priest and even though his dad initially was
upset that his son became a priest- yet he was proud of his boy later on.
Luther would eventually make a Pilgrimage to Rome- on foot
[a few month walk from Germany to Rome!] and what he saw devastated him. Rome-
and the Vatican- were in bad shape. Many of the priests lived in open sin- and
the city that he saw as his headquarters for the faith- well it was a mess.
Luther made the famous penitent walk/crawl up the stairs of
the Lateran church [this church was the most famous church before the
construction of St. Peters. The actual stairs of the church are the same stairs
that Christ walked up during his trial under Pontius Pilate. Yes- you hear many
‘stories’ while studying church history- things like the relics or left over
pieces of the Cross- well these stories are usually fake. But the stairs of the
Lateran church are indeed the same stairs that Christ walked on- the early
‘church’ builders dismantled the stairs at Pilate’s court in Jerusalem and
installed them at this church building in Rome].
When Luther got to the top of the stairs- it is reported
that he questioned the faith- he had a crisis of faith and thought that maybe
the whole thing was a sham.
Okay- as we do a few more posts over the coming weeks- I
want you guys to see that the main players of the Reformation were sincere
Catholic men who had many questions about what they saw as corrupt in their own
church. These men did not want to start a breakaway church- they simply wanted
to reform the church they loved.
Keep in mind that Luther excelled during his legal studies-
he had a keen legal mind- this will be important later on when we see the
debates he has with Rome over the doctrine of Justification by faith- the
letters of the apostle Paul [Romans- Galatians] use lots of legal language- and
his early education will help him in these debates.
Okay- that’s it for today. Maybe do a Google search on
Luther and familiarize yourself a little with the history.
The ‘readings’ for this week are 2nd Samuel 6-7
and Psalms 89. See what they have in common.
[1768] LUTHER- THE TOWER EXPERIENCE
Let’s start with some church history. In the last post I
covered the early years of Martin Luther- probably the most significant figure
of the Protestant Reformation.
Luther studied for the priesthood in Erfurt, Germany. He
would eventually wind up in Wittenberg- one of the major university cities of
the Reformation. Wittenberg was actually a small insignificant town- but the
political leader over the region- Frederick the Wise- sought to put it on the
map.
He wanted to turn Wittenberg into a German ‘Rome’. He wanted
it to become a major Pilgrimage city where Christians would see Wittenberg as a
destination- just like they saw Rome.
So Frederick embarked on this plan and he searched thru all
the Catholic learning centers of the time and finally recruited 3 top scholars
to teach out of the university at Wittenberg- Luther was one of the 3.
Just as a side note- Frederick would succeed at making
Wittenberg a major catholic center. He would eventually obtain over 19,000
Relics for the Cathedral church there [Relics were used in the ancient system
of buying indulgences and making special pilgrimage trips to important
Churches. If the church/city that your making the Pilgrimage to has a lot of
Relics- bones or other famous material objects from church history- then the
value of the Pilgrimage was high. In theory Frederick collected so many that if
you added up all the ‘time off’ from Purgatory- you would get 1 million, 900
thousand years off! Some of the famous relics at Wittenberg were a hair from
the beard of Jesus- straw from the manger Jesus was born in- and even a branch
from the famous burning bush of Moses! As you can see- there was a lot of
commercializing going on- even back then].
When Luther arrived in Wittenberg- he made a name for
himself as a top scholar. Many protestants- who revere Luther- usually are not
aware that he was a master Linguist [sort of like Rick Perry!]
Yes Luther mastered language- and he showed it in his
teaching on the book of Psalms.
In 1515 he began his famous study on the book of Romans and
as he went thru the very first chapter- something shook him. He came across the
passage that says the Just shall live by faith. This verse first appears in the
O.T. book of Habakkuk- and is quoted 3 more times in the N.T.
Luther was very aware of the concept of the righteousness of
God- he struggled for many years trying to reconcile his own sinful nature with
Gods holiness- but he never really ‘saw’ the biblical concept of righteousness
as a free gift that God ‘imputes’ to the sinner.
Yes- for the 1st time in Luther’s life- after his
years training for the priesthood- the pilgrimage he made to Rome- the
thousands of hours he spent confessing his sins while a monk in Erfurt- he
never really understood that the righteousness of God was a free gift given to
those who have faith.
It was a giant weight lifted from his shoulders- Luther did
not need to try any more to live up to the standards of God- in a way that would earn for him forgiveness-
but he would simply believe- and the righteousness of God would be counted to him
as a gift.
Luther would go on to call this an Alien Righteousness- that
is it is not found within the person who tries to do all the church works he
can- or buying all the indulgences- or any other of the many religious actions
he was practicing- but this free gift of being right with God- it came to those
who had faith- the Just shall live by Faith- this was indeed good news for the
scholar.
As time went on- Germany would get embroiled in the
political machinations of the day- Luther’s top political cover was Frederick
the Wise- hardly a Protestant Reformer! He spent lots of time trying to make
Wittenberg the major Catholic center in Germany.
But at the time there was a political fight raging between
Rome and some of the other nation/states. There was a figure head office called
the Holy Roman Emperor. This office was really in name only- but it rose up
during the first Millennium of Christian history and sought to replace the
influence that Rome was losing.
So you had France, Spain and England all vying for the
title. Eventually it would go to King Charles of Spain- but the Pope- who
played a major role in nominating the person- he did not want any of these top
3 to get the position. Henry the Eighth was the king of England at the time-
and these ‘3 kings’ were sort of in competition with Rome- so the Pope tried to
get Fredrick the Wise to throw his hat into the ring.
Frederick just happened to be one of the Electors of this
position.
His actual title was The Elector of Saxony.
So Fredrick had lots of influence- and as Rome would
eventually but heads with the stubborn bull of Wittenberg [Luther] Frederick
would become the major protector of Luther.
Okay- I think we’ll stop here for today. The experience that
Luther had- the enlightenment that came to him while teaching the book of
Romans- this is often called The Tower experience of Luther- it took place in
the year 1515.
[1770] TREASURY OF MERIT
Let’s pick up where we left off 2 posts back. We were
talking about Martin Luther and the events that led up to the Protestant
Reformation.
In order to understand the key act that caused the protest-
we will have to teach some Catholic history/doctrine.
In the 16th century Pope Julius began the effort
to build St. Peters basilica in Rome. He got as far as laying the foundation
and died. Pope Leo the 10th would pick up after him.
The church needed to raise money for the project- and the
German prince- Albert- would play a major role.
It should be noted that both Catholic and Protestant
scholars agree that the Popes of the day were pretty corrupt. They came from
what we call the Medici line of Popes.
If you remember last month I wrote a post on the
Renaissance- I talked about the Medici family and how they played a major role
in supporting the Renaissance that took place in the 13th century in
Florence Italy that would spread to the region.
Well this very influential family also played a big role in
who would get top positions in the church.
At the time of Luther and prince Albert- if you had the
right connections and the money- you could literally buy a position in the
church.
Albert already held 2 Bishop seats- and there was an opening
for an Archbishops seat in Mainz [Germany] and he wanted that one too.
It should be noted that official Canon law [church law] said
you could only hold one seat at a time- Albert was bidding on his 3rd one! And
he was too young for all of them.
So even the Pope and the officials held little respect for
what the church actually taught at the time.
So Albert opens up negotiations with Leo- and the bidding
starts AT 12,000 Duckets [money] Albert counters with 7,000- and they agree on
10,000. How did they justify the numbers? 12- The number of Apostles. 7- The 7
deadly sins. 10- The 10 commandments.
Yes- the church was pretty corrupt at the time.
So Albert works out a plan with Leo- he will borrow the
money from the German banks- and pay the banks off by the Pope giving Albert
the right to sell Indulgences.
What’s an Indulgence?
Okay- this is where it gets tricky.
The ancient church taught a system called The Treasury of
Merit. This was a sort of spiritual bank account that ‘stored up’ the good
deeds of others over the years.
You had the good deeds of Jesus at the top- but you also had
Mary and Joseph- the 12 Apostles- and other various saints thru out time.
The way the ‘bank’ worked was you could tap into the account
by getting a Papal indulgence- a sort of I.O.U. that had the Popes guarantee
that it would get so much time out of Purgatory for a loved one.
The actual sacrament that accesses the account is called
Penance [confession].
When a penitent does penance- he confesses his sin to the
priest- and he is absolved by the authority of the church that the priest has.
The priest usually tells the person ‘say so many Hail Mary’s- Our Father’s’ and
that’s a form of penance.
One of the other things the church practiced was called Alms
Deeds. This term is found in the bible and it means giving your money to the
poor- it is a noble act that Jesus himself taught.
In theory- part of the sacrament of penance was tied into
Alms Deeds- you can access the account thru the practice of giving to the poor-
which also meant giving to the church that helps the poor- and in the hands of
the Medici line of Popes- meant outright giving money to the Pope.
So now you see how the abuse worked its way into the pockets
of the faithful.
Albert now had the permission from Leo to sell these
indulgences in Germany- and he would pick a certain corrupt priest to sell them
in a place called Saxony- the region where Luther operated out of.
It should be noted that the Catholic Church never taught the
crass act of ‘buying your way out of Purgatory’. The practice of including
giving money as a part of the sacrament of penance was tied into the biblical
principle of giving to the poor- a good thing.
But Tetzel and others abused the official meaning of the
indulgence- and did make it sound like you could by your way out of Purgatory
[in theory- a loved one might be in Purgatory for so many years- and through
the indulgence you are actually getting time off for them- because the good
deeds of others are now applied to the account].
The money Albert would raise- half would go to Rome for the
building of St. peters- and half would go to pay off the banks in Germany- it
was a sad system- and a sad time for the church as a whole.
It would be wrong to judge the entire church at the time as
being corrupt- you did have many sincere Priests and Catholic men and women who
saw the abuses and did not take part in them.
But there was corruption at the top- and this would
eventually lead to the breakup of the church- and the launching of what we now
call the Protestant Movement.
As a side note- it should be said that many Catholics and
Protestants are not aware of the whole treasury of merit system- and the church
never officially changed her position on the doctrine.
There were 3 Church councils since the time [Trent- 1500’s,
Vatican 1- 1800’s and Vatican 2- 1962-65]. The Treasury of Merit never came up
for change.
Obviously Protestants don’t believe in Purgatory- and it’s
not my purpose in these posts to change Catholics into Protestants or vice
versa- but to give all sides a clear view of the issues that divided us- and to
try and be honest- and respectful during the process.
Does the bible teach anything like a Treasury of Merit? Well
actually it does. The bible teaches that the righteousness of Christ is the
treasury that people can access- by faith- and become righteous in the sight if
God.
The idea- applied to Christ- is good.
But in the hands of the Medici Popes- and the ambitious
prince of Germany- it would lead to disaster.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John
[1773] LUTHER CLASHES WITH ROME
Let’s do another post on the Protestant Reformation. I’ll
probably only do a few more before I transition into another study.
By the way- all the studies I do thru out the year are
posted in the February posts of the following year.
Okay- last we left off Luther was just beginning to butt
heads with the church [Tetzel] over the abuse of the sale of indulgences that
was going on in Germany.
In a previous post I mentioned how the priest- Tetzel- was
selling these ‘get out of Purgatory’ type coupons in the area where Luther
operated out- Saxony.
Actually- Tetzel never entered Saxony itself- but was
selling these out of a bordering city- and many of Luther’s
students/parishioners were being hoodwinked into spending their money to rescue
a loved one out of Purgatory.
Tetzel is known for a jingle he started in connection with
the sale of the indulgence- it goes ‘as soon as a coin in the coffer rings- a
soul in Purgatory springs’- ouch!
Like I said before- the church never taught this- they did
teach the Treasury of Merit [previous post] but the way Tetzel used it was a
real abuse of the teaching of the church at the time.
Now- Luther responds to the abuse by writing the famous 95
thesis. This is the act that is often associated with the launching of the
Reformation- the act that got the ball rolling.
The 95 thesis were simply 95 questions challenging the whole
practice of the sale of indulgences- there was no mention of the doctrine of
Justification by Faith- which will become the trumpet sound that springs out of
the Protestant Reformation.
Luther takes these questions- written in Latin- and nails
them to the university church door at Wittenberg. Sometimes while reading
church history this ‘nailing to the door’ is seen as a sort of vandalism - you
know- ‘he nailed them to the door!’
In actuality Luther was simply using the system of the day
that one scholar would use in order to bring up an official point of contention
with the church- Luther wrote the Thesis in Latin- which was the scholars
language- not the language of the common man.
But Luther’s students quickly translated the Thesis into the
vernacular [German] and it was said that in 2 weeks the paper made it into
every village of Germany.
The challenge was a spark in the lives of many Christians
who also believed the church was off track and that someone needed to rebuke
her- and they picked Luther as the man for the job.
Now- the Catholic church wanted Luther to go to Rome and
discuss the situation there- Luther’s friends warned him not to go- so they
agreed to meet- a few times- in Germany.
The first meeting was in 1518 at Heidelberg- Luther actually
gave a great defense of his argument and convinced some other top Catholic
scholars that he was right [as a side note- the church had already scheduled
this meeting because of a controversy that rose up between the Augustinian
order of monks and the Dominicans. They were debating over which philosophy was
more consistent with church teaching- Nominalism or Realism- for those of you
who have read the posts this past year- I taught this when doing our posts on
philosophy].
One man- Martin Bucer- wrote a stirring account of Luther-
Bucer would later influence another young Swiss priest with Reformation teachings- his name is John
Calvin.
As a side not Calvin will become one of the 3 big heavy
hitters of the 16th century Reformation [Ulrich Zwingli is the 3rd].
Luther will meet again in Augsburg- and debate the leading
Catholic scholar of the day- Cardinal Cajetan.
Then he goes to the city of Leipzig- and debates the leading
German scholar- Johann Eck.
And his last meeting with the church will be at the famous
Diet of Worms [pronounced- Vurmtz] and it will be here that Luther makes his
last stand and officially will break with the church and launch the Protestant
Reformation.
It should be noted that Luther held what we call a High
Church position for most of this time- he still saw the church at Rome- and the
Pope- as a legitimate expression of true Christianity- his beef was what he saw
as an abuse of the system- by the priest Tetzel.
As time progressed- the other beliefs of Luther- founded
upon the bible- did come into contention with Rome.
The main disagreement eventually became the teaching in the
bible called Justification by faith. I have written a study on the topic on the
blog- I have also written a bible study on the book of Romans and Galatians.
For those of you who can- try and read Romans chapters 2-4
and Galatians 2-3- these are the key chapters that cover the teaching.
Down the road I will cover the official teaching of both the
Protestants and the Catholics on the doctrine of justification- the Catholic
Council of Trent- referred to as the Counter Reformation- spells out the
official teaching of Rome- and there are a few papers put out by the Reformers
that explain their belief.
Since the 16th century Reformation there have
been efforts made by Protestants and Catholics to bridge the gap as much as
possible- to try to come to some common language since the historic split.
I like some of the efforts that have been made- and recently
both groups put out a statement that jointly said we all believe that we are
saved by Gods grace thru Christ- that’s good.
But as we get into some of the actual discussion- you will
see the points at which the 2 sides disagreed- and the main one was on the act-
the actual thing that happens- when a person is declared just- the Reformers
said it takes place when a person has faith- believes- the Catholic church said
it takes place at baptism- water baptism.
This- as well as a few other things- will be a defining
distinction between the 2.
[this is part of my study on the
Protestant reformation- the complete study is on my blog]
More past teaching-
(1235) 2ND
CORINTHIANS 12- Before I get into a long history discussion with you guys,
let’s hit a few verses. Paul says ‘when I was with you, did I gain a profit
from you, take advantage of you?’ or ‘when I sent Titus, did he gain a profit
from you?’ He then goes on and says the fathers lay up money for the kids, not
the other way around. He says he has spent out of his own pocket for them, and
he will continue to do so. He says he does all this so people won’t have the
excuse ‘he’s just in it for the money’. Notice, Paul himself did not have the
common mindset we see in ministry today. Often times financial appeals are made
from Paul’s writings in Corinthians, these appeals often say ‘we are not asking
for ourselves, but for you’ it is put in a way that says it would be wrong to
not take money from people. That in some way not taking an offering would
violate scripture. Paul flatly said he did not take money from them for
personal use, nor would he. When the modern church uses Paul’s other sayings in
this letter to appeal to giving, we need to share ‘the whole counsel of God’
not just a few verses that fit in with what we practice. Now, Paul speaks about
being caught up into ‘heaven’ [Gods realm-Paradise] and hearing truths from God
that were not lawful for men to speak. He states that God gave him truth that
came from Divine revelation. If you skip a few pages over in your bible, you
will hit Galatians. In the first chapter he says how after he was converted he
did not confer with the other leaders at Jerusalem ,
but received teaching straight from God. Let’s discuss what revelation is, how
we come to know things. The last few centuries of the first millennium of
Christian history you had the ‘Holy Roman Empire ’
which was a political/religious union of church and state. Under the emperor
Charlemagne the territories of the empire were vast. Those who came after him
did not have the same control over the regions that were vast. Eventually you
had a form of rule arise that was called Feudalism; the sections of the empire
that were too far to benefit directly from Rome would simply come under the
authority of the local strongman [much like the present dilemma in Afghanistan,
I think it’s time to get our boys out of that mess]. People would come under
the authority of a ruler and he would lease out land to the citizens and they
would benefit from his protection. The citizens were called Vassals and the
land was called a Fief. At one point king John of England would do public
penance in a disagreement he had with the Pope and all of England would become a Fief under
the rule of the Pope. Now, this would eventually lead up to the development of
the strong nation states, an independent identifying with your state/region as
opposed to being under Rome
and the papacy. This type of independence would allow for the 16th
century reformation to happen under Luther. If it were not for Frederick
the Wise, the regional authority in Germany where Luther lived, he
would have never had the protection or freedom to launch his reformation.
Luther also had the influence of being a scholar at Wittenberg . Around the 12th-13th
centuries you had the first university pop up at the great cathedral of Notre
Dame in Paris .
The word university simply meant a co-operative effort from two or more people.
It applied to many things besides learning. It was also during this time that
the church began to develop a system of harmonizing Christian doctrine; she
began to do systematic theology. The writings of the Greek philosophers
[Aristotle] were rediscovered after centuries of them being hidden, and the
great intellectual Saint Thomas Aquinas would wed Aristotle’s ideas with
Christian truth. This became known as Scholasticism. Aquinas believed that men
could arrive at a true knowledge of God
from pure reason and logic. But man could not know all the truths about God and
his nature without ‘special revelation’ [the bible and church tradition]. All
Christians did not agree with Aquinas new approach to Christian truth, the very
influential bishop Bernard would initially condemn Aquinas over this. Bernard
said ‘the faith that believes unto righteousness, believes! It does not doubt’.
The Scholastic school taught that the way you arrive at knowledge was thru the
continuous questioning and doubting of things until you come to some basic
conclusions. These issues would be debated for centuries, and even in the
present hour many argue over the issue of Divine revelation versus natural
logical reasoning. Tertullian, an early North Afrcian church father, said ‘I
believe because it is preposterous, illogical’ he became famous for his saying
‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens ’ meaning he did not
believe that Greek philosophy should have any part with Christian truth.
Origen, his contemporary, believed the other way. So the debate rages on. Why
talk about this here? Some believers ‘believe’ in a type of knowledge called
‘revelation knowledge’ they mean something different than the historic use of
the term. Historically ‘revelation’ meant that which God revealed to us THRU
THE BIBLE, not something outside of the bible. For instance, the first canon of
scripture put together was by a man called Marcion. His ‘bible’ contained the
letters of Paul and parts of :Luke. He believed the revelation God gave Paul
was for us today, not the Old Testament or the historical gospels. He was
condemned by the church as a heretic. The point being some took Paul’s writings
about receiving knowledge from God as an indicator that what God showed Paul
was different than what the church got thru the other apostles. In point of
fact the things that God revealed to Paul, or to you or me; all truth is
consistent, it will not contradict any other part of Gods truth. Paul’s letters
are consistent with the gospels, not in contradiction. When believers cling to
an idea that their teachers are sharing ‘special revelation’ or a Rhema word
that is somehow above the scrutiny of scripture, then they are in dangerous
territory. Paul did appeal to his experience with God as a defense of his
gospel, but he backed up everything he said with Old Testament scripture. God
wasn’t ‘revealing’ things to Paul that were outside of the realm of true
knowable ‘truth’. You could examine and test the things Paul was saying, he
wasn’t saying ‘because God showed it to me, that’s why I’m correct’. So in
today’s church world, we want all the things we learn and believe to be
consistent with what the church has believed thru out the centuries. Sure there
are always things that are going to be questioned and true reform entails this,
but beware of teachers who come to you with ‘revelation knowledge’ or a ‘Rhema
word’ that goes against the already revealed word of truth.
(1236) 2ND CORINTHIANS
13- Okay, it took 13 days to do this brief study. Paul finished up his letter
by telling them that God gave him authority to build them up, not tear them
down. The message bible says ‘to not tear them apart’. Why say this? Because
after 13 chapters [yes, I know the chapters are not in the original!] it sure
felt like he wrung them thru a wringer. In Jeremiah 1:10 God gives him power to
root out, tear down, uproot and also build up. If you read the exact wording
Jeremiah does 4 ‘deconstructing acts’ and 2 constructing ones. It is part of
leadership to spend more time dealing with the problems than doing the good
stuff. Dealing with the problems is actually part of ‘the good stuff’. We spent
a few weeks simply trying to look at the context of Paul and his relating
[whole study on my blog]
VERSES I mentioned on video-
Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord
always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad;
moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt
make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us
unto this day.
Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the
flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption.
Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are
witnesses.
Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth
this, which ye now see and hear.
Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith
himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Acts 2:35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly,
that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and
Christ.
But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that
giveth thee power to get wealth, that
he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this
day. Duet. 8:18
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights in theheart of the earth. Matt.
12
Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in
purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Luke 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was
laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luke 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was
carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was
buried;
Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool
my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now
he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a
great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot;
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou
wouldest send him to my father's house:
Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto
them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Luke 16:29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the
prophets; let them hear them.
Luke 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto
them from the dead, they will repent.
Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Revelation 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you
these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the
bright and morning star.
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.
3John 1:1 The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius,
whom I love in the truth.
3John
1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health,
even as thy soul prospereth.
1Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is
certain we can carry nothing out.
1Timothy 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith
content.
1Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition.
1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which
while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, Thestone
which the builders rejected, the same is become the headof the corner: this
is the Lord's doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes? Matt 21
This is the stone which was set at
nought of you builders, which is
become the head of the corner. Acts
4
Unto you therefore which believe he is precious:
but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,the same is made the head of the corner, 1st
Peter 2
Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders refused is become the
head stone of the corner.
Psalm 118:23 This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our
eyes.
Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will
rejoice and be glad in it.
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