Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 10 - Acts 15

Transcript

October 10 - Acts 15 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:12
  Hello friends, it is Sean. Here it is Tuesday.
• 0:16
  It is the 10th of October, a date that has been looming large
• 0:22
  on my calendar for quite a while.
• 0:24
  Because friends, today is the day I get to take my Bible and
• 0:28
  go into the local army barracks where I am going to be sworn in
• 0:34
  as a chaplain in the Australian Army Reserve.
• 0:37
  Yep, it is a day that I have been slogging away, studying,
• 0:41
  preparing. No, my goodness.
• 0:44
  Push, upping, sit, upping, running around, doing all sorts
• 0:47
  of things for the last. Over a year and a half.
• 0:50
  And I've now quite unbelievably reached the point where I am
• 0:54
  going to put my hand on my Bible and swear an oath.
• 0:57
  And then I get to be the Padre. I get to look after the soldiers
• 1:02
  who I'll be serving beside caring for them and telling them
• 1:05
  that they are loved and forgiven.
• 1:07
  What an amazing role this is. Thank you to so many of you
• 1:11
  who've supported me along the way Getting here.
• 1:14
  It is quite unbelievable. And I am so, so humbled that God
• 1:19
  has set me on this path, put me on this journey and here I am.
• 1:23
  Today is the day. But before I get there and head
• 1:27
  out in front of all my family and friends and do the oath,
• 1:31
  let's read the Bible together. So we let us set our day up the
• 1:34
  right way. Today is a big day in the book
• 1:37
  of act. Today is the council of
• 1:39
  Jerusalem where the leadership of this young church gathered
• 1:44
  together to work out what do we do with all of these Gentiles
• 1:48
  who are becoming believers? How do we include them in this
• 1:51
  very Jewish movement and how do we make space for them to be
• 1:55
  genuine and full parts of this? Just as the Jews are wonderful
• 2:01
  to see what they do as they are trying to keep up with what the
• 2:03
  Holy Spirit is already doing. So why don't you join me,
• 2:07
  friends? Let us read together Acts
• 2:10
  chapter 15. While Paul and Barnabas were at
• 2:23
  Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach
• 2:28
  the believers. Unless you are circumcised, as
• 2:31
  required by the Law of Moses, you cannot be saved.
• 2:36
  Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently.
• 2:40
  Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to
• 2:43
  Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers to talk to the
• 2:47
  apostles and elders about this question.
• 2:50
  The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem, and they stopped
• 2:53
  along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the believers.
• 2:58
  They told them, much to everyone's joy, that the
• 3:01
  Gentiles too were being converted when they arrived in
• 3:05
  Jerusalem. Barnabas and Paul were welcomed
• 3:08
  by the whole church, including the apostles and elders.
• 3:12
  They reported everything God had done through them.
• 3:16
  But then some of the believers who belong to the sect of the
• 3:19
  Pharisees stood up and insisted the Gentile converts must be
• 3:25
  circumcised and required to follow the Law of Moses.
• 3:30
  So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue.
• 3:34
  At the meeting, After a long discussion, Peter stood and
• 3:37
  addressed them as follows. Brothers, you all know that God
• 3:41
  chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the
• 3:46
  Gentiles so that they could hear the good news and believe.
• 3:52
  God knows people's hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts
• 3:55
  Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us.
• 3:59
  He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed
• 4:03
  their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging
• 4:08
  God by burdening the Gentile believers with a woke that
• 4:12
  neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?
• 4:16
  We believe that we are all saved the same way by the undeserved
• 4:20
  grace of the Lord Jesus. Everyone listened quietly as
• 4:24
  Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God
• 4:28
  had done through them among the Gentiles.
• 4:32
  When they'd finished, James stood and said, Brothers, listen
• 4:37
  to me. Peter has told you about the
• 4:40
  time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a
• 4:44
  people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles
• 4:48
  is exactly what the prophets predicted.
• 4:51
  As it is written afterward, I will return and restore the
• 4:55
  fallen House of David. I will rebuild its ruins and
• 4:59
  restore it so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord,
• 5:03
  including the Gentiles, all those I have called to be mine.
• 5:08
  The Lord has spoken He who made these things known so long ago.
• 5:15
  And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for
• 5:19
  the Gentiles who are turning to God.
• 5:22
  Instead we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food
• 5:26
  offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat
• 5:31
  of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.
• 5:35
  But these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish
• 5:38
  synagogues in every city, on every Sabbath for many
• 5:41
  generations. Then the apostles and elders,
• 5:46
  together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates,
• 5:49
  and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to
• 5:53
  report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the
• 5:57
  church leaders, Judas, also called Bar Sabbath and Silas.
• 6:03
  This is the letter they took with them.
• 6:06
  This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in
• 6:09
  Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile
• 6:12
  believers in Antioch, Syria and Cecilia.
• 6:16
  Greetings. We understand that some men from
• 6:19
  here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching.
• 6:22
  But we did not send them. So we decided, having come to
• 6:27
  complete agreement, to send you official representatives along
• 6:31
  with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their
• 6:34
  lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 6:38
  We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided
• 6:42
  concerning your question, For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit
• 6:47
  and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few
• 6:51
  requirements. You must abstain from eating
• 6:54
  food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of
• 6:58
  strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.
• 7:02
  If you do this, you will do well.
• 7:05
  Farewell. The Messengers went at once to
• 7:10
  Antioch, where they called the general meeting of all the
• 7:12
  believers and delivered the letter.
• 7:15
  And there was great joy throughout the church that day
• 7:19
  as they read this encouraging message.
• 7:22
  Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke at length to the
• 7:26
  believers, encouraging and strengthening their faith.
• 7:30
  They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them
• 7:33
  back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace.
• 7:37
  Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch.
• 7:40
  They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord
• 7:43
  there. After some time, Paul said to
• 7:47
  Barnabas, let's go back and visit each city where we
• 7:50
  previously preached the word of the Lord to see how the new
• 7:53
  believers are doing. Barnabas agreed and wanted to
• 7:56
  take along John Mark, but Paul disagreed strongly, since John
• 8:01
  Mark had deserted them in Pamphilia and had not continued
• 8:05
  with them in their work. Their disagreement was so sharp
• 8:09
  that they separated Barnabas, took John Mark with him, and
• 8:13
  sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas, and as he
• 8:17
  left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord's gracious care.
• 8:22
  Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cecilia, strengthening
• 8:26
  the churches there. Thank you for the wisdom of your
• 8:38
  people. Thank you for the wisdom that
• 8:40
  your Holy Spirit gives us. As we hear about the new
• 8:45
  believers grappling with, should they impose their old system of
• 8:50
  law and requirement onto these new Gentile Christians?
• 8:54
  And instead they come up with this beautiful compromise, Lord,
• 8:57
  which just asked them to abstain from the things that would cause
• 9:01
  real deep offense to the Jewish believers.
• 9:05
  And in doing this, it's not adding more rules onto Christian
• 9:08
  living, but just reminding us that it's not just our
• 9:13
  relationship with you, but it's our relationship with each other
• 9:16
  that matters. Help us to care for our
• 9:20
  relationship with our Christian brothers and sisters so that
• 9:23
  they can be encouraged by us and built up by us, and not
• 9:27
  unnecessarily challenged and pushed so far beyond their
• 9:31
  comfort zone that they're unable to relate.
• 9:35
  Unite us as your Church Lord. Unite us as we do your work, as
• 9:41
  we encourage each other and as we follow your spirits,
• 9:44
  prompting all the while doing what we do with love and
• 9:50
  compassion for every one of your people that you love.
• 9:54
  And we just pray all these things in the name of Jesus.
• 9:59
  Amen.