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VIDEO: Christmas | Dec 18 – Dec 24 | Come Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler | Scripture Central

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17 December 2023
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Come Follow Me Book of Mormon Central Taylor Tyler

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VIDEO: 2 Corinthians 8–13 | Come Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler | Scripture Central

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VIDEO: Come Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler | “Ye Are the Temple of God” | Scripture Central

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VIDEO: Come Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler | “The Power to Overcome Sin” | Romans 1-6 | Scripture Central

dyejo
15 August 2023

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I'm Taylor. And I'm Tyler. This is Scripture Central's Come Follow Me Insights. This week, Acts 10 through 15. This is a very critical turning point in our story of this early Christian movement. It's actually in this set of chapters where we get that label Christian first placed on the followers of Christ by unbelievers up in Antioch. So there's a lot that's going to happen. If you've ever been in a situation where major change has been implemented, where an organization or the Church or a family has changed direction and moved off on a new course, you're going to find principles here that apply to those kinds of situations because, well, everything's going to shift here, beginning in chapter 10 with Cornelius. Yeah. So you are probably familiar with the story that this is where we see how the Church begins to embrace gentiles. And it's a momentous change for the Jewish people to see non Jewish people, particularly participating fully in their religious life. So let's set the stage initially because this will help us throughout the rest of the second half of the New Testament. You have various groups of people people. So you have the Jews, you have this group of people that anybody who's not a Jew is called a gentile. And there were people that had actually become Jews from being gentiles. And we call this group of people proselytes in the first century. So a proselyte is somebody who has embraced fully everything from the Judaism tradition. They worship Jehovah, they read the Hebrew Bible, we call it the Old Testament. They've embraced the 613 laws of the Law of Moses, including the law of circumcision, which becomes a huge deal for the rest of our study of the New Testament. There's another group of gentiles who observes from afar. They will read Hebrew scriptures. They'll listen in at the windows and doors of the synagogue on the Sabbath. And some of them even donate to help build synagogues, even though they themselves are not Jewish. That's right. And this group is called the God Fearsers, or They That Fear God. So they haven't fully embraced the Jewish practices, all 613 laws. But but they love what they see. They're just not fully engaged. Well, within Judaism, you get this little band beginning with Jesus and his followers, and it grows and it continues to grow. And you saw that astronomical growth in chapter 2 and 3 and 4 of Acts where we added 3,000 to the 120 and then 5,000, and then they keep adding daily. So you get this group that they don't see themselves as separate. They see themselves still as a group of Jews. And it's in these chapters where the leadership of the Jewish people push them out of Judaism and they become these Christians. So we're going to write them over here. You get this group called the Christians. And now, keep in mind, for the first, what, eight, nine, 10 years, we don't know for sure, but for many years, all of the converts to Christianity have come from the ranks of the Jews. So this group, we would call them converts. Well, within the group of Christians, there's this group called the Judaismizers. Or the name you're going to see come up over and over in these chapters and subsequent chapters is they of the circumcision. It's Jewish Christians who insist that any gentile who wants to become a Christian has to first become a proselyte. They have to live the full laws of Moses before they can then be baptized into Christianity and become converts. Well, we're going to see a whole group of people come into the Christian faith in these chapters who never became Jews first. And it's going to create all kinds of struggles and internal bickering and contention in this early Christian Church between the hardline Jewish Christians and the newly baptized gentile Christians all sitting together in the same Sunday school meeting, if you will. They all love God. They all want to serve him. And by tradition, for centuries, the way that you would mark yourself as a Jewish man, that you were part of the faith was through circumcision. And you can see that these individuals, they're very motivated to help people demonstrate that they truly are faithful to God. And so you have tradition bumping up against new realities, these gentiles. And we'll see as we get to Acts 15, that church leaders spent time discussing this and enacted what I would say is inspired policy to say that the gentiles are not required to become Jewish first in order to become followers of Jesus Christ. So let's pick it up now in chapter 10, verse 1, with our famous centurion Cornelius. He becomes our first official gentile convert to Christianity. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band. So Caesarea is Caesarea Meritima today. It's up on the western Coast of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. And it's the capital city, basically, for Roman leadership. In the region. Yeah, it was the capital city for 600 years, the time of Herod to 600 AD. And so it is the power base of this guy is a very powerful military figure coming from the epicenter of the military and political power in Israel. So this makes this conversion all the more significant. Now, looking at this simple diagram notice what comes out when you read verse 2, A devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God all way. So he isn't a proselyte. He hasn't become a Jew, but he is a God fearer, and he's worshiping the Lord, and he's giving alms. He's doing amazing things. And in verse 3, it says, He saw in a vision evidently, or the Greek word there is clearly or distinctly, about the ninth hour of the day, so that we... This is not a night vision or an early evening. This is the ninth hour of the day, mid afternoon, about 3 PM. He saw an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and he said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him,thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. Now, let's pause here for a second and notice what the Lord is doing. Remember, Elder Holland's suggested title for this overall Book of the Acts, two lessons previous to this one, when he suggested that we call this book the Acts of the Resurrected Christ, working through the lives and ministries of his ordained apostles through the Holy Ghost. Here we get on the Mount of Ascension, if we rewind the clock, 7, 8, 9, 10 years, however long it's been, Jesus' final command, his final injunction to the Apostles, the 11, was, Go ye into all the world, preach this gospel to every creature. Well, Well, for seven, eight, nine years, it seems that they've stayed in a comfort zone, teaching the gospel only to the Jews. And then they ventured out into Samaria, preaching the gospel in chapter 8 to the Samaritans, scattered Israelites. But we haven't done anything with the Gentiles. Keep in mind, there has been a 1,500 year long tradition of not having table fellowship with gentiles, not having close relationships with gentiles. You keep some distance because they're considered unclean and dirty to you if you're a practicing Jew. So you can see why maybe the Apostles were reticent to take the gospel to the gentiles. And so what is the Lord doing? He's going to the gentiles directly through an angelic ministration to Cornelius, this God fear who is such a good person, but he's not getting the gospel directly from the Apostles. I love the fact that this gentile receives an angelic visit. And of course, we're going to see the angel also speaks to Peter. But it just says something that you don't have to be a convert. You don't have to be already in God's kingdom to get access to God's revelatory power. God can act how he wants, when he wants, with whom he wants. And I find this very compelling. And most of us are members of the Church and we have access to the Holy Ghost. But I find this compelling that God does not restrain his revelation from other children in his kingdom, on earth. So now the invitation or command to Cornelius is, send men to Joppa. So we've got to go down the coastline to Joppa, modern day Tel Aviv in that area. It's about 30, 40 miles. It'd be a good day's solid, steady pace walk for these three men. Send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter, and he's going to be residing in the house of Simon a tenner by the seaside. And he'll tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Very easy to find a tenner's house in Antiquity because it would have smelled pretty pungent, the chemicals they would use to tan these leathers. And Peter is staying there. So he sent three of his servants down. In verse 9, on the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up onto the house top to pray about the sixth hour. So it's about noon, midday. And we find out in the next verse, he's very hungry and he wanted to eat, and then he fell into a trance. He's up on the rooftop, which is a very common occurrence, especially in the heat of the day, midday, you go up to the rooftop, flat roofs with canopies and hangings for those breezes, especially from the sea, to waft over you and keep you cool. So here's Peter in that setting when the vision opens that's going to change the whole course of this early church. He saw the heavens open, and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit or bound at the four corners and let down to the earth. So picture this tablecloth, if you will, or a prayer shul or a sheet, and it comes down, and as it lands on the earth, it opens up, and inside, what does Peter see? All manner of four footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to Peter saying, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. Now, this seems like a really simple concept to us from our Latterday Saint perspective. And these days, it's like, yeah, there you go. You're hungry? Go eat. But keep in mind, for 1,500 years, there's been this tradition, this word of wisdom, if you will, this kosher dietary prohibition against eating unclean animals. And now you have this sheet filled with all manner of meat. And Peter is saying, no, I can't do that. I've never... Yeah, he says in verse 14, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. Now, by the way, could have God just showed up and said, Peter, the church is about to start growing. We're going to move into Gentile lands. This issue is going to pop up around circumcision. And let me just tell you what's going to happen. You're going to let the gentiles come in. You'll have table fellowship. You don't have to have them circumcised. God could have just given a bullet point. Instead, God creates us in instructional experience. Instead of just commanding, which he sometimes does, he allows Peter to have this learning experience that makes it a far more compelling story that invites people into this revelation. And not just that, but he repeats this instructive object lesson three times, which you see through other prophetic ministrations across time as well. There's something powerful about that repetition. So here's Peter and he's saying, No, I'm not going to eat this. And the Lord's response was, What God has cleansed, that call not thou common. Don't call this unclean, Peter, because the Lord has cleansed these animals now. And then verse 16 tells you it was done three times. And then the vessel was received up into heaven again. So here's Peter thinking, What in the world did I just experience? What is going on? What's the message? What should I do? So in verse 19, it says, While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee, arise therefore, get thee down, and go with them, doubing not nothing, for I have sent them. Now you get the first connecting points between what he's just experienced three times with three men coming to the door who are considered unclean. And this message is, that which I have cleansed, don't call it common anymore. I love this part of the story. Peter goes down, he went to the man and he says, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come? And so now they tell the story of Cornelius, this God fearer who was warned of God, sent them down. And look what Peter does in verse 23. He does what to the Judaismisers would be considered unconscionable. You don't do this. What are you thinking, Peter? What does he say? Then called he them in, and he lodged them. He's now giving them a place, these three gentiles to sleep in Simon the tenor's house with them. And on the morrow, Peter went away with them and search and brother and from Joppa accompanied them, or accompanied him. Sorry. And they headed up to Caesarea. Now, let's tie this back into the Old Testament very briefly. Remember, Jonah was called on a mission. And what did he do? He ran away. In fact, J oan left from Joppa, the same seaport that Peter is at. And Jonah leaves in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Peter, on the other hand, embraces these messengers, these gentiles, and goes on the mission that God has sent him on. I love that connection, the contrast that scriptures can teach us. And I don't think that would have been lost on Luke, perhaps, as he was telling a story. Now stop and think about this for a minute. As Taylor had mentioned, the Lord could have done this much more directly, much more powerfully and succinctly. But he sends the angel first to Cornelius, then the vision three times to Peter, opening the door, softening the heart, changing the perspective to say, Oh, maybe it is time. So we're shifting things through the process of the Lord doing this work, rather than just cutting the chase, coming to Peter saying, Hey, I need you to go to Caesarea. And bapt a guy by the name of Cornelius. He could have made it very simple. But watch the power as this story unfolds. On the morrow, because it's a one day journey for them from Joppa up to Caesarea, he He went in and there's Cornelius waiting for them. And he had called together his kinsmen and his near friends. I can almost sense the feeling, the spirit of anticipation, this I love the Lord and I want to know how to serve him better feeling that is just exuding from Cornelius. And he's called all of his relatives, his kinsmen and his near friends, and they're sitting there gathered at his home waiting for Peter to arrive. That's faith. He sent his men down the day or two days ago knowing it's a day's journey down, and it's faith that they're going to bring Peter with them on their return. And there they are. And it says, And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped. That's just stunning because Cornelius is a Roman, right? They're in power. The Jews are like the backwater of the Roman Empire. And you got this fisherman from the Galilee. And by the way, the Galilee was the backwater of Judea, of the area of Israel. And you have this powerful man who commands military men in the most powerful city in Israel, Caesarea. And he is showing worth to Peter. It's really quite incredible, the deep humility this man has that he has not allowed his station in life, that he's been born into as a Roman and has worked into in his role as a military centurion to cloud his ability to be in a state of humility. It's impressive. Now, Peter, in verse 26, took him up saying, Stand up, I myself also am a man. I like that. We'll see that sentiment later on in the Book of revelation as well with John the beloved, with an angel where he vows down to worship an angel and he'll get the same response. So he speaks with him and he found that there were many gathered together. And look at verse 28, He said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or to be or come unto one of another nation. But God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. So Peter is making it very clear. Look, there's been a 1,500 year tradition that we don't dodge with you, we don't eat with you, we don't accompany with you. But God has changed this. He's changed this practice to the point where now I'm here, I came to you without gain saying, as soon as I was sent for. And I ask, therefore, for what intent you have sent for me? What do you want? I love that starting in verse 30 through 33, Cornelius now retells his part of the story. So now Peter is able to connect sees the dots between his vision and what he's been feeling along the way. And he sees, oh, this is the work of the Lord. Verse 34, Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. It's this critical junction, this trigger point where God's chief apostle on the earth recognizes, oh, the time has now come for the Abrahamic promise to actually begin to be fulfilled to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, not just the Jewish people or the scattered Israelites. It's very significant. And after he gives some more detail and background of what the Lord Jesus Christ had done with him and the other Apostles, you jump down to verse 44, and it says, While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. What is the word? He just bore testimony of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead. Among a group of Greco Roman pagans, who the Greeks don't believe in resurrection, they hear the word from the chief apostle bearing testimony of Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost fell upon them. So in verse 45, we know that Peter had with him a group of these Judaismers and it describes them in verse 45, And they of the circumcision, which believed, were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. And so they're shocked to see the spirit of God working with these gentiles. And verse 47 says, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to terry certain days. So we get Cornelius and his household, our first gentile converts to Christianity. What's fascinating here is that they appear to first receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, usually you get baptized and then you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This seems to be a bit inverted. And these Judaismers understand how the Spirit works and they recognize God's God actually has done the baptism for them. We feel the Spirit here. This is really tremendous. In Vites in our lives, are we open to receiving revelation and to be receiving direction from God's appointed leaders that at times, things need to change. That's what revelation is for. Or also to confirm what we know to be true about Jesus Christ. And so when we are so excited about ongoing revelation, it means sometimes there's going to be updates to the way we have thought about things or done things. And it always gets us closer to God. That's the purpose of revelation. One thing that I find beautiful from this story here in chapter 10 is actually connected to the fourth temple recommend question. Now in that fourth question, it's actually broken into three parts, but the first part says, do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and revelator, and is the only person on earth who is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? What we see in Chapter 10 is the Lord was going to make this major shift, not from some random missionary out there in the field, but through the person to whom he had given the keys of the kingdom, this power, this authority. And so it's a beautiful principle for us moving forward in time to recognize that the Lord is able to govern his work, but he's going to do it through the appointed means. Elder Dale G. Renlund gave a beautiful talk in October 2022 General Conference about various runways of revelation and how the prophet and the first presidency in the Book of 12 have charge over major policy or practice changes for the Church. If the Lord is going to change it, it's going to come through them, not from the grassroots. Yeah, you're not going to expect it to show up in your elders quorum. Yeah. So now we jump into chapter 11, and we come back to Jerusalem with this exciting news, this amazing story that we have our first gentile God fear converts who are now baptized and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost. And everyone's going to. Be happy about it. And they're going to be excited. Right. There won't be any problem at all. Fifteen hundred years of tradition, we can just turn on a dime. Right? And it says in verse 2, When Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision, or Judaism, contended with him, saying, That wenteth unto men uncircumcised, and did eat with them. Peter, what were you thinking? And they're pretty upset about this. So he spends all of this chapter rehearsing to them what had happened. He's telling his story. I love how he describes in verse 17, For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? Amen. He's saying to them, you're accusing me of doing something wrong. Well, guess what? I did not do this for myself. It was the Lord who did this, and I wasn't going to withstand him. We want to partake point out something here. Two chapters back to back, essentially replicate the same story. The scriptures tend to be very focused on giving new information, new perspectives, and not repeating itself again and again. So we have to pause. If this story is repeated twice, one chapter after another, there must be something going on. And this is a massively significant change that's going on in the Church, this upgrade of revelation. The fact that Luke keeps both versions here, he could have just said, Oh, and Peter just rehearsed everything. And then Luke could have just not rehearsed it all for us. But Luke is trying to help us recognize that sometimes there are really significant changes and they are worth repeating and pondering, and this is one of those. Now, again, here we are 2,000 years after the fact. This is not a big deal for us because we live with the outcome of this decision. But we do have to understand for these people who were faithful, they wanted to do God's will, but they assumed that tradition alone gave them. All. Full and complete insight into what God's will was, and therefore they didn't seem to be immediately open to the new revelation. Can I just say, we thank the, oh God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days so that when he sees fit to change things, there is an appointed channel. We don't have to wonder. We don't have to look to the experts of the world or take polls or vote on things. We can look to the Lord and follow the appointed means whereby he has promised he will guide his church. What a blessing it is to have modern day prophets, seers, and revelators to testify the Lord and to give us his will. Now, you jump down to verse 19, and it says, Now they, which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Venice and Cypress and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. So here's Luke. And by the way, keep in mind, Luke was not a Jew. Luke was a Gentile. He's a convert to Christianity. I don't know if he was a proselyte first, but we know he's not a Jew. He came into Christianity out of this rank of the gentiles. And he's saying this group that was scattered because Stephen got stoned, so now they're preaching the gospel, they only preached it to the Jews as well. They're not spreading it far and wide. And they're starting to have some success. Verse 21, The hand of the Lord was with them. A great number believed and turned unto the Lord. So then people at the church down in Jerusalem got word of this and so they sent Barnabas, one of the leaders, that he should go as far as Antioch. So you've got Joppa, Let's do it like this. So you have the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea here. Here's Jerusalem. You have Joppa, which is out by the seagate. Then north you have Caesarea, and further up you have Antioch of Syria. It's in the country of Syria today. So just north of Lebanon, if you look at the map. So Barnabas goes up to Antioch and he starts preaching and he does have great success there. It says, verse 24, He was a good man and a full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith, and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Sol. So he leaves Antioch and he goes up into southern Turkey, where Sol or Paul is. And he's like, You got to come with me. Now, remember, Barnabas was one of the men who was at Damascus when he saw Sol making this transition to Paul, he put in a good word for him back in Jerusalem before Sol left into Arabia for three years to let things cool down a bit. And then he's been up to Tarsus for about six years, according to the Epistle to the Galatians. So Barnabas goes and gets him and he says, You got to come. I need your help. You're a really good speaker. And I've got a whole bunch of Jewish converts and others that we need to teach, and I know you can help them. So thus begins this incredible connection between Barnabas and Paul. One of the great missionary companionships of the early Church. Absolutely. Verse 26 says, When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. So for the first time ever, we get the label of Christian right there. In Antioch. It seemed to be a political designation from the people in Antioch. And it's actually, it's a pretty spot on name, even if it was given as initially as a negative derogatory thing from the people who didn't want to be Christians. And we see that the group decides, we're going to take this on. Truly, the way that we are on is the way of Christ. So yes, we are Christians. We are followers of the Messiah. Which is beautiful because as Taylor is pointing out here, previous to this label, they were just called the saints or the way. It's a nice label for them. And by the way, you will find that title Christians in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Elma. Even with stories like Captain Moroni, these people coming forward joining the cause of the Christians, which is interesting because all of those stories are happening 60, 70, 80 years before Christ is even born, they're already being called Christians in some of those BC time periods in the Book of Mormon. It's beautiful to see what they knew about Christ long before he was born. So chapter 12 begins with James, the brother of John, son of Zebedee, being killed by Herod by the sword. And he saw that, well, that made me popular among the Jews, so let's go and arrest Peter. So we arrest Peter as well. And he put him in prison with four quartanions of soldiers. And he's intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Now, that word Easter is a much later label for what would have been Passover, the Jewish festival of the year. Easter isn't a thing until much later. You can imagine for Peter, this is game over. You are stuck in the king's prison, or the leader of the Jews with all these soldiers. There's no way out. Herod's already killed James, so what's the chance of getting out? So the story is preserved in part to just show that God has a plan. And sure, he doesn't always physically save everybody. He's got a purpose for what he does. But he needs Peter to be around for a little longer, and he's going to enact this really incredible miracle of getting Peter out of jail. And that's going to reinforce the faith of the people who are these early converts. Which, by the way, if you're one of those early followers of Christ and you're keeping track of what's going on, and James just got killed. And now Peter's in prison and he's next. You'd be gathering together with some pretty intense prayer and fasting. Well, that's exactly what these people are doing. And that night, the angel comes down, smites the chain, knocks Peter on the side, raises him up, and he gets up and the chains fall off. He comes out of the prison and he goes out and he thought it was a dream. He thought he was imagining this. In the middle of the night. And then when the angel gets him outside the prison and leaves, he realizes, It's real, I'm free. So he goes to the house where these saints have assembled, the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. So John Mark, so John Mark tradition holds that John Mark becomes Peter's personal secretary. So when Mark is writing his gospel, he's probably getting a lot of his information from Peter. Well, here we are at his house. I love. This story. It's just so authentic to how humans are in a moment of stress or surprise or astonishment. Peter knocks at the door of the gate, Casey's out of prison. And a damsel came to hearken, named it. And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate. Here's the guy who just got out of jail and is probably under threat of the guard coming to get him back. So she runs into the house, Peter's here. They're like, Wait, what? And of course, he's still knocking. And they're all inside saying, Roda, be quiet. Stop interrupting our prayer. We've got a really important thing we're praying for for Peter to be released, so stop interrupting us. And she's like, He's out here. But finally, verse 16, But Peter continued knocking. And when they'd open the door and saw him, they were astonished. I just love the story. Just the humanity of you're so excited about having him released, and yet you leave him locked out. Isn't that fascinating that sometimes you actually get what you pray for. Sometimes you're praying for these big things and it happens and we don't often recognize it or even believe it. Is this really happening? Well, in this case, yes, it is. It did happen. And it's a beautiful story. And then at the end of this chapter, you get Herod who is being acclaimed as a God, and the Lord smites him in verse 23 through an angel because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. Now, we shift gears into a significant turning point. Again, in this New Testament unfolding story of this early Christian fold, we get our first official missionary journey. It begins in verse 24 here, But the word of God grew and multiplied, and Barnabas and Solary turned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Under certain Christian traditions, John Mark is a nephew to Barnabas. It's not scriptural, but it's a long standing tradition that Barnabas loves his nephew, John Mark. So we're in Antioch in verse 1 of chapter 13, and it says in verse 2, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me. Perhaps the English words we would use more traditionally today would be, set apart for me, Barnabas and Sol, for the work we're in t o, I have called them. Once again, I hope you don't get tired of us saying this. I don't get tired of repeating it. Put the focus always back on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not about Paul and Barnabas going on a mission. This is about Paul and Barnabas responding to a call that has been given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. If we can keep our focus fixed always on him, it somehow keeps things moving in the right direction so we don't get sidetracked into our own self gratification or pride or caught up with good causes, but not the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah. If Paul was with us right now, I don't think he would say, boy, I really wish people spent a lot more time focusing on me. I think he would say, I really hope people would understand what motivated me to give my life away to the Lord and that they look at what I did and what I wrote and who it was all about. And what a beautiful pattern for us to follow today to be in this covenantal relationship with the Lord that says, I'll go where you want me to go. I'll say what you want me to say. I'll be what you want me to be. It doesn't mean I'm going to be perfect at it, but I know of his grace and his mercy that if I'll just make myself available to him, he will use me as an instrument to do his work according to his time timing and his will. And it's a freeing perspective that we can learn from these scripture characters back here in these chapters. So we have a lot of geographical places mentioned here, and you might find it helpful to open up either digitally or your print copy, the map of Paul's first missionary journey. And it shows you the route he went because a lot of these names here may not mean a lot to you. But if you look at a map, it will help you to see the itinerary they went on as they went out preaching in the Greco Roman world. So if we can recreate a portion of that map, you have Antioch, which is where this missionary journey begins. Keep in mind, Tarsus, where Paul is from us up here. And then you've got Cypress, this island here. And they're going to begin by getting on a ship and come over here. So like Taylor said, if you don't see a map, then all you see is a bunch of words and names on a page, and it doesn't make as much sense. So they go to Cypress and to this place in verse 5 that says they were at Solanas, this side of the island of Cypress. So let's watch a pattern unfold because it's going to play out again and again and again with Paul and Barnabas. This is their mode of operation. This is what they do. When they arrive at a new place, verse 5, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they also had John to their minister. So we have John and Mark with us. So it's a threesome missionary companionship, and we always go first to the Jews, first to the synagogues, and we preached the gospel to them. And when they had gone through the aisle unto Paphos, they found a certain Sorcerer. So now we've gone to the other part of the island, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bart Jesus, which was the deputy of the country, which was, sorry, with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and so on, desired to hear the word of God. But this Sorcerer, his name is Elimus. Now, fascinating, the name Elimus in the Greek, if you read this verse in the Greek, it's the name Olimus means the Sorcerer. He's a magi. He's a magician. And we mentioned before that typically magicians would try to acquire power to deploy for their own personal purposes. We contrast that with the power of God, which is granted and gifted to people in order to bless other people's lives and to enhance their lives. So that's what I'd say is the key distinction between the power of God in the scriptures and magic. One is self focused and one is about focusing on others. Which is a fascinating question for each of us to ask ourselves, am I doing things in order for me to get gain or am I doing things to help others get gain and to receive more of the light and goodness and love from heaven? Here's Elimus, the Sorcerer, the Sorcerer of the Sorcerer, if you read in the Greek, basically. He's talking to Sergios Paulos, and he's trying to dissuade him. He's trying to convince him not to believe in what these missionaries are teaching. Verse 9 says, Then, Sall, who also is called Paul. So for the first time in our story, we make the shift where he stops using his Jewish name, and now he's using his Roman citizen name, Paul, Paulus. It's going to be much more effective in his missionary journeys in the Greco Roman world to be using his Roman, Latin name. When he speaks in verse 10, it makes me think of the Book of Mormon of Amulic responding to Zed's room, who also is trying to use money to dissuade people from listening to the testimony, even trying to convince Amulic to give up his testimony, the truth for money. It's so interesting. Paul says, O, full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, will thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord. Boy, that is some seriously difficult language. I hope I would never hear that against me from anybody. Well, it worked because the man was struck blind. And then in verse 12, it says, The deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. So he sees this miracle and he believes the doctrine, Sergio's Pulse, which it's a fascinating connection because what's going to happen is they're going to leave Crete and go north to the southern coastline of Turkey. And keep in mind, in antiquity, the majority of the population lives within, I don't know, 20, 30 miles of the coastline. But what our missionaries are going to do is now go on a hundred mile journey up a fairly steep climb up into the mountains to get to a place called Antioch of Presidia. You'll notice it's the same name Antioch, Antioch. This one's Antioch of Syria, this one's Antioch of Presidia. It's a hundred mile hike through mountainous terrain. It's not pleasant. And you could just be preaching right along here. You wouldn't have to work at this. The fascinating connection is if you go to Antioch of Presidia today. So I've driven, I've ridden in a car on this journey up because you notice it says in verse 13, They loose from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphilia, and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. This is not in the hiking. So here you are at Perga on the southern Coast of Turkey, and you can picture this debate, possibly, or an argument of, What are you talking about? We're not going to go up there. The reason that there's a potential good reason why they needed to go to Antioch. If you go to Antioch today, the city is in ruins and it's fascinating. You can see the basilica and the city laid out. And there's actually a house in the rich part of the ruins, and they found an inscription, Segers Paulus. So it's almost as if the guy we've been talking about down here, the leader of this city, is from here, and it's as if he probably sent them with letters of recommendation or, Please, go teach my family. They need to hear this. So Paul seems to be locked in on, We are going to go to Antioch and preach the gospel there. And John Mark says, No way. And he abandons the mission and returns to Jerusalem, which is going to come up in our next lesson next week. So hold that thought. We'll readdress that next week. It's a small rift between Paul and Barnabas. One more little thought. Sometimes people get a little confused. The scriptures sometimes use the phrase Asia to talk about certain geography. If you think about where the current modern country of Turkey is today, that is what we would call Asia in the Bible. Now Asia today is considered much further east places like China and Thailand. But in the Bible, when they would say Asia, they had in mind what is now the area of the country of Turkey. So now you jump into this story in verse 14. Oh, what pattern might we look for when Paul and his companion Barnabas arrived in Antioch of Presidia? Synagoges? In verse 14, They went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Ye men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. This is the part of the service on their sabbath day when the congregation gets to participate. So Paul stands up, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God... So the non Jews... Non Jews... Who are coming to the synagogue but haven't yet fully been proselytized to become Jews. The ye that fear God give audience, basically listen up. And then he preaches all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he contextualizes it in the ancient Hebrew story that we find in the Old Testament. So most of the story would make sense to the these listeners until Jesus, that would be like this new plot twist, like, wait, you're adding to the story that we already know from the Old Testament, who is this new person you're talking about? And that's what Paul is trying to do is help them to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of a long series of divine acts that God started all the way back to creation, Abraham, Moses, King David, and the prophets of the Old Testament. He wants the Jewish people to hear at that point, Jesus is part of the story that has been your story, and you can now adopt him as your own. I love this. In verse 38, he says, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness of sins is not going to come from the law of Moses. It's not going to come from Moses himself, nor from Abraham, nor from King David, nor from Joseph in Egypt. It's going to come from this man, Jesus Christ. And by him, all the believer justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Well, this is getting their attention. Verse 42 says, When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. So the Jews might have left, but the gentiles have been listening in and they're saying, Paul, could you come and preach to us next Sabbath? We want to hear more about this. Something happened for us. And so verse 43 says, Now, when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas. So these are born Jews and gentiles who have become proselytes into the Jewish faith. They now follow Peter... Sorry, Paul and Barnabas. Verse 44 says, The next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blast seeming. So Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and they're telling the people, you decide. But ultimately, verse 50 says, But the Jews skirted up the devout and vulnerable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts. And they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium. So we leave Antioch of Presidia and we come east to a city called Iconium. What I love about this is even though there was rejection in that city, Phaedra and Antioch, we get in verse 48 that there were a number of people, particularly the Gentiles, believe. And so Luke is trying to paint this picture of how the church is growing, not just among the Jews, but it also is expanding rapidly among the gentiles, just as Jesus had foretold. What a beautiful lesson for us in the latter days, right? That just because you have success doesn't mean that it's all success or all failure. They go to that city, Antioch of Presidia, they have great success among a certain group, but overall, they're persecuted and pushed out. But it doesn't erase the fact that we left a lot of people who are now growing in the gospel. And we come to Iconium in chapter 14, verse 1, and we go together unto the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. So the Jews being the group that we're used to teaching and of the Greeks, these would be the gentiles, the pagans that now are believing. But the unbelieving Jews stood up the gentiles and made their minds evil, affected against the brotherhood. So they leave. Under threat of being stoned. That's right. And we go to chapter 14 verse 6, it says they were aware of it, this plot to assault them. So they left, they fled unto Lystra and Derby, cities of l iconia, and unto the region that lieth round about. So we come a little bit south and then a little bit further east, and here we get an amazing miracle. There sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb who never had walked. So we've seen this story with Peter, and now we're trying to show that Paul has access to the same power, to these same miracles. This is connecting us absolutely. Luke, who is a physician, a doctor, he loves focusing on healing miracles. It's what he specializes in as a physician, trying to bring comfort to those who are suffering or who are afflicted in any manner. So here's Paul with this man who has never walked a day of his life. The same heard Paul speak, who stead fastly beholding and perceiving that he had faith to be healed. Paul's looking at him and he senses something. It is a gift of the Spirit, the faith to be healed that this man has. So Paul says in verse 10, with a loud voice, Stand up right on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. You're seeing Luke use very similar phrases here as he did back in Acts chapter 3 with Peter and John at the temple. There's a serious difference between these two stories, however. Peter, with the lame man at the temple said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Paul did not invoke the name of the Lord. He just told the man to stand up and walk. Yeah, but that wouldn't create any confusion, right? People know exactly this is from the power. Of Jesus, right? They missed it because at that moment, the whole group in verse 11 says, When the people saw what Paul had done, notice, when they saw what Paul had done, back to chapter 3, the man went into the temple, leaping and walking and praising God, not Peter. Here, they're looking at what Paul had done. They lifted up their voice as saying in the speech of Lyconia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. Which is true. And that was Jesus. But they missed that. Because Paul apparently just missed a key phrase. So they're calling Barnabas Jupiter, and they're calling Paul Mercury or Mercury because he was the chief speaker. So the messenger of the gods is Mercury, and Barnabas is probably big, strong, quiet, silent, powerful type. And they're like, He must be Jupiter, the chief God. And Paul's doing all the talking, so he's Mercury. Yeah. And the word Jupiter comes from the word Jesus, Father. Father just means Father. So Jupiter just literally means Father Jesus. So they think Father Jesus has showed up. And it's like, actually, no, God the Father sent his son. That's what we're trying to teach. And so it's important when we are teaching that we don't miss the opportunity to declare the name of Jesus, which apparently Paul misses the opportunity. He's not going to miss that opportunity in the future because of this, it seems. So he and Barnabas run in tearing their clothes, ripping their clothes, ran in among the people crying out saying, Sirs, why do you do these things? We're also men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities, and unto the living God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein. And he says, look, in the past, God winked at this idol worship of yours, but it's time to change. Well, watch what happens. Verse 18, And with these sayings, scarcely strained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them. So here we are. We just got through that problem. And verse 19 opens, And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, the cities we were at before. And they persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. So in one verse, we're going to sacrifice. To. You. As a God. On your behalf as a God. And then actually, no, we're just going to kill you as a man. Are you noticing a pattern here? Brothers and sisters, when people are convinced of something, it's just a matter of time before they can become unconvinced of it and be convinced of the total opposite, which is what's happening here. It's the difference between a covenantal approach to how you see the Lord and a consumer approach to how you see the gospel and your belonging in the Church. It's easy to become dissuaded at the customer service desk if you're saying, Well, my membership in the Church and my connection in this covenant isn't giving me what I want out of it, and so I demand a refund, or I'm going to take action against you, versus this covenantal approach to your discipleship which says, Dear Lord, here I am. Send me. I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll be whatever you want me to be, and I'm not going to demand anything from you. I'll make requests, but I won't make demands. And these people are using this customer service mentality. They're this concept was shared at a BYU forum in February of 2023 by the President of Yeshiva University, the Rabbi Dr. R. E. Berman. I love this. I love this approach that here are these people who can so quickly shift their loyalty. I think the Lord expects us when we enter into covenant with him that we're not going to treat this as a flavor of the day, or in this case, the flavor of perhaps the hour, and then so quickly shift, but rather commit to him for the long haul that will do anything that he asks us to do. Now, this next set of verses is fascinating because it says, How be it as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up. So they stand round him and he stood up. Makes you wonder if they laid on hands and pronounced the priesthood blessing. And he came into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and it taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch. So he's preaching again in all these places where they've been rejected. But if you notice, he was just stoned. The people thought to death. He's now risen up again and he's preaching. Can you picture the sermon that next morning, that next day? It reminds me of of the tarring and feathering experience that Joseph Smith had at the John Johnson Farm. All night long, they're trying to pull that tar off of the skin. And the next morning, what did he do? Preaches a sermon. And what's the topic? This is forgiveness. It was. And look at what Paul's topic is. Verse 22, he's confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith that we must, through much treaty tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. That is a covenantal relationship with the Lord. That is not a customer service relationship. Paul is saying, you are going to face tribulation. And here he is, probably with bruises and blood and scrapes and scratches all over him, and he's preaching that message to these people. It makes the message a little more profound in my mind, a little more authenticity when he says it's through much tribulation that you enter into the Kingdom of God. Which, by the way, if you haven't suffered in some way, you probably are not alive. You probably never came down to earth. We all suffer. And through that, just like Jesus suffered, we have an opportunity to testify of gospel principles in God's salvation. Sometimes when we preach that testimony in the context of our suffering, it ends up being more powerful than if we simply declare all of God's goodness when all we've had is pomp and circumstance. So they retrace all of their steps, come back on a ship to Antioch, end that missionary journey, and we come south to Jerusalem in chapter 15 for what could be labeled the second general conference of the Church, the first being the Feast of the Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit of Lord back in Acts 2. And here you get this conflict within the Church. These are members of the Church that are having this struggle, this debate, or in some cases, this contention. It says, Certain man which came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. So you have Judaism isers now trying to bully, if you will, the Gentile converts into saying, you're not really going to be saved just because you were baptized because you haven't kept the law of circumcision. Which, by the way, that's nonscriptural. It sounds very compelling. And if you didn't do your homework, you might say, Well, these other members of the Church are speaking with what seems to be authority. It must be true. And you could set up an entire tradition around a doctrine that seems to make sense that isn't founded on reality. And it's significant that we be careful that we always make sure we are grounded in true doctrine and not just in hearsay or somebody's strong opinion, even if it's well meaning. So here we are in Antioch. We finish that mission. These Judaismizers have come down, it says down, even though it's way north because if you're leaving Jerusalem, you're always going down. They're having this debate and Paul and Barnabas aren't taking this lying down. Verse 2 says, When therefore, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. So they're saying, We're not going to be able to work this out. Let's go talk to Peter and the other apostles about this. So they leave, they come into Jerusalem, and we now have this meeting. Starting in verse 6, it says, And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, so now the debate has taken center stage in Jerusalem, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And then Peter, the chief apostle, implores this group of leaders of the church. He says, God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. And then his question, Now, therefore, why tempty God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Why are you going to yoke them with the 613 laws plus some of the oral tradition of the chief priests of the people that they've added to it? Why are you going to do that to them when the Savior has fulfilled the law of Moses? And so everyone kept their silence. And then Paul and Barnabas stood up in verse 12, and they declare all the miracles and wonders that they saw among the gentiles. And then James, the half brother of Jesus, stands up in verse 13. James is the leader of the Judahizers in Jerusalem. He seems to be in charge of that movement down in the capital city of Jerusalem. And he stands up and he makes this proposal that he says, Okay, well, if you're going to say they don't have to keep all of the 613 laws, including the law of circumcision, let's at least... Give them four or five things. Let's make a compromise. And so we see that compromise in verse 20. He says, Let's write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. Pretty straightforward list. And that very much fits in the ancient pagan world view where they were doing a lot of animal sacrifice to fake gods. And they're saying this is a big no, no. One of the first things in the law of Moses is, Thou shalt have no other gods before you. Right? And worshiping other gods through meat offerings was a big problem. So I think James is trying to say, listen, if you're going to be following God, you don't need to be consuming meat and participating in the fall religious practices of these pagans who are worshiping fake gods. So that is the compromise that everybody agreed to. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What might have happened if everybody had said, once Peter the chief apostle had given his proposal, which is don't bind them down with anything, if it would have possibly led to a little more friendship and collegiality among the Jewish Christians and the gentile Christians in the diaspora, in the regions all round about. But we'll never know because that is the message that was now carried out to the whole world. And next week, we'll begin with the very ending verses of chapter 15 as we start the second and then ultimately the third missionary journey of Paul out into that Greco Roman world. To finish today's episode, we've covered a lot of fun stories, a lot of fun teachings and different groups of people. But at the end of the day, if Peter were standing here, or if Cornelius were here, or Paul, or Barnabas, or John Mark, or any of these characters from the story, I think they all might agree that if you keep your focus firmly fixed on the Savior Jesus Christ and turn your life over to him in a covenantal way, not in a consumer mentality, not expecting him to do things for you, but asking him what you can do for him next, he'll guide your steps. I love this quote that President Dieter F. Uchdorff shared in General Conference a few years ago, quoting, it's often attributed this Saint Francis of Assise when he says, Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. May the Lord bless us in our own individual circles of influence to be able to do exactly that. And beyond the Lord's errand is our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Know that you're loved. And spread light and goodness. You.

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