The Sermon in Acts 13

• Acts 13:17-22 – Paul starts with some brief history.
• Acts 13:23-25 – Paul skips 1000 years to talk about Jesus and John the Baptist.
• Acts 13:26-31 – Paul has now proclaimed the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
• Acts 13:32-35 – Paul did some convincing, by referencing Old Testament prophecy, which would carry a lot of weight with the Jews.
• Acts 13:36-37 – This is the same point Peter made in Acts 2.
• Acts 13:38-39 – Forgiveness of sins comes through Jesus.

This was a sermon about forgiveness of sins through Jesus

• Acts 13:23 – Jesus was called the Savior. This was probably a new idea to much of the audience.
• Acts 13:38-39 – Christ now offers freedom from sin. See Hebrews 10:1-4, 10-12. The time has come and the Law of Moses is over!
• Acts 13:42-44, 48-49 – The people shared the gospel and were excited to hear more!

God worked for thousands of years to bring about forgiveness today!

• Acts 13:17 – God “chose our fathers.”
• Acts 13:23 – God did as He promises. See II Samuel 7:12; Acts 2:30.
• Acts 13:27-29, 32 – These promises can be tracked all the way back to Genesis (Genesis 3:15; 12:2).
• Ephesians 1:4-5; II Timothy 1:9 – God’s plan started before time began!

It’s possible to go to church every week and still not know the truth.

• Acts 13:15, 38-41 – They were reading the Law and Prophets, but didn’t know what Paul spoke. The quote here is from Habakkuk 1:5.
• Let us be careful to remove our bias and see God’s plain truth!

Genesis 13 – Abram (a work in progress)

• Genesis 13:10 – It is thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were somewhere near the Dead Sea.
• Genesis 13:14-18 – God repeats two of His promises to Abram.

Genesis 14

• Genesis 14:5-13 – Kings joined forces in battle – 4 kings vs. 5 kings. Lot, his family, and his possessions were captured. One who escaped traveled to tell Abram (approximately 30 miles).
• Genesis 14:14-16 – Abram takes 318 trained men and defeats Chedorlaomer and three other kings. He drove them out of Canaan (over 100 miles).
• Genesis 14:17-24 – Abram meets Melchizedek, priest of God Most High. Melchizedek recognizes that God delivered Abram. Abram pays tithes to Melchizedek and repeats his words. Hebrews 7 references Melchizedek and compares him to Jesus. This shows that God had dealings with other people besides Abram and his lineage. There were righteous people living in Canaan.

Genesis 15

• Genesis 15:1-5 – God reaffirms His covenant. Abram asks for clarification about offspring.
• Genesis 15:6 – Abram believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. His faith was pleasing to God. It’s important to note that God was the one who did the counting as far as righteousness is concerned. It is God’s decision, not ours. See James 2:20-24.
• Genesis 15:7-21 – God gives Abram a sign to prove to him the land promise and to show him what would happen to his descendants, foretelling of the Israelites in Egypt. The iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete, showing that God is patient and just.
• Genesis 15:18 – The land described here is much bigger than what was eventually taken, however under the rule of David and Solomon, the area did indeed expand to what is described here.

Genesis 16

• Sarai tried to intervene for God. She gave Hagar, her Egyptian maid, to Abram as wife.
• Hagar conceived and looked down on Sarai.
• Sarai is upset with Abram, then deals harshly with Hagar, who runs away.
• Hagar travels toward Shur but God sends her back.
• God continues to tell the history of his people.

Introduction

• Letter about starting child beside the road in Ethiopia.

Does my gratitude to God motivate me to imitate Christ by being compassionate and generous to others?

• Who gets the credit?
• I Corinthians 15:10-11 – Paul gave the credit to God.

Thankfulness is a command, an active behavior, an evident foundational attitude

• Ephesians 5:20
• I Thessalonians 5:16-18
• Philippians 4:6

Thankfulness is more than a momentary response to our blessings; it includes a continuing attitude of humility toward God

• Luke 17:15-16
• Daniel 6:10

Glorifying God involves admitting we aren’t the source of our blessings and developing the proper attitude toward our possessions

• Luke 12:16-21, 15
• If it’s not us doing it and it’s not for us, why do we work?
• Ephesians 4:28

A grateful attitude toward God will encourage us and move us to share our blessings

• Galatians 6:10
• I John 3:16-17
• Matthew 19:16-22
• Our gratefulness and desire to follow Christ should bring us joy as we have opportunity to share.
• Luke 16:19-23
• Matthew 25:34-40, 41-46
  • Thanks, gratitude, compassion, and sharing are not optional!

As our gratefulness helps us grow and want to imitate Christ, we become more Christlike ourselves

• We can’t fix the world, but we can find small ways to help.
• John 8:12
• John 3:16 – The greatest blessing God has ever given us!

Acts 6

• Acts 6:1 – This issue could have caused division, so it was important to resolve it. The devil is always looking for ways to divide us (Luke 4:13). Satan never stops! Note that food is not mentioned here. This distribution could be money or some other type of help. Also note that it was to help needy members of the congregation – it was not a community outreach project.
• Acts 6:3 – Seven men were appointed to take care of the task. They are not specifically called deacons. The congregation selected the men and the apostles appointed them. The men’s names seem to be Hellenistic, which would seem to be a wise choice given that the Hellenistic widows were the ones being neglected.
• Acts 6:5 – The phrase “full of faith and the Holy Spirit” seems to indicate that the men were full of the word of God – not necessarily that they already had spiritual gifts.
• Acts 6:6 – This is the first recorded instance of the apostles laying hands on people. Acts 6:8 shows that Stephen could work miracles after this.
• Acts 6:7 – Priests being converted and becoming Christians was a huge change. This no doubt caused even more fear in the remaining Jewish leadership as their numbers diminished.
• Acts 6:11 – This is the same thing Jezebel died to Naboth (I Kings 21:1-14) and the chief leaders did to Jesus (Mark 14:56-59).
• Acts 6:15 – An angel is often thought of as one who reveals the word of God, which is exactly what Stephen was doing.

Acts 7

• Acts 7:1 – The accusations were clearly false, brought up by false witnesses (Acts 6:11-14).
• Acts 7:2-7 – Abraham was obedient to God before circumcision was ever initiated as an act of obedience.

Genesis 10

• The descendants of Noah are listed.
• Shem was contemporary with Abraham!
• Genesis 10:5, 20, 31 – The first mentions of languages in the Bible.
• Genesis 5:25 – This seems to be talking about the tower of Babel.

Genesis 11

• Genesis 11:1-9 – The Tower of Babel
  • Genesis 11:4 – The people had an attitude of defiance or self-reliance in a negative sense. They were not looking to God.
  • Genesis 11:5 – “Children of men” or “sons of men” here seems to be referring to unrighteous people.
  • Note: OpenBible.info has KML files for Google Earth showing places referenced in the Bible.
  • Genesis 11:6 – The word translated “impossible” is the Hebrew word for “restrained” or “cut off.” There would be no end to the pursuit of their own desires.
  • Genesis 11:7 – The languages were confused, possibly leading to isolation of certain traits within different groups.
  • It is thought that the Tower was some sort of ziggurat. Many ruins of ziggurats are located in the Middle East, but it is not known if any of these were the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 12

• Genesis 12:1-3 – God makes a covenant with Abram, including three promises: making him into a great nation, giving him the land of Canaan, and blessing all people through his descendants (the coming of Jesus).
• Genesis 12:4 – Abram does as God commanded.
• Genesis 12:5-9 – Abram passed through Canaan to Shechem (390 miles). He had to walk through the promised land!
• Genesis 12:10-20 – Abram goes to Egypt because of a drought (232 miles to Giza). Is this what God intended? He apparently forgot the promise that God made to him in Genesis 12:2-3 and displays selfishness to protect himself. God continued to keep His promises even though Abraham forgot.