Acts 14

ACTS 14

Titus 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

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https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/

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Acts 14 videos-

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/6-1-17-acts-14.ziphttps://ccoutreach87.com/6-1-17-acts-14/

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jkkv6md5qsvnc9r/6-1-17%20Acts%2014.mp4?dl=0

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhihuzitjllQA7wI6

ON VIDEO-
.Other cities
.Signs and wonders
.Zeus and Hermes
.Or Jupiter and Mercury
.The legend told
.Don’t worship us!
.Ecclesiology [Just a note- I have a new office/word- the spell check did not recognize this word- ok- but it also does not recognize some other words- that are not as hard- I have been adding ‘to dictionary’ a lot- Oh- the word means church government- it is a common word when writing about the bible and stuff like that]
.Ordination- what is it?
.What is ‘The local church’?
.Avoid the ‘cult of personality’
.Pets Alive!

PAST POSTS- [Past teaching I did that relates to today’s post- Acts 14- Verses below]]
I talked some about ordination and church government on today’s post- here’s a book I wrote years ago that speaks about it-
https://ccoutreach87.com/further-talks-on-church-and-ministry/
https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/

(739)ACTS 14- Paul and Barnabas continue going thru different cities [Iconium, Lystra] Paul heals a man who was lame from birth and the whole city says ‘these men are gods who have come down in human form’. Paul barely stops them from offering sacrifices to them! In each city they travel to, they have a routine. They go into the synagogue and speak to the gathered. Both Jews and ‘God fearers’ [gentile followers] the pattern of some believing and others resisting becomes routine. Paul also has to deal with the Jews who were following him from past cities. They were sort of 1st century ‘apologists’ who made it their purpose to simply stop Paul. I want you to see that the ‘churches’ were the various groups of people who believed. They did gather together [Ecclesia] but they did not see ‘church’ as a place they went to for religious instruction. They did not start ‘gentile synagogues’ in competition with Judaism. Now Paul goes back thru the cities and at that point ‘ordains Elders in every church’. This is important to see. The ordaining of Elders was the simple process of seeing who had the maturity of understanding in the gospel and could be looked up to as a spiritual guide. Any questions or new converts in the towns would know ‘so and so’ is a responsible believer who Paul put his stamp of approval on. Why even do this? Remember, the enemies of Paul [Jewish law keepers] are going behind Paul’s back and trying to undo all the work that Paul was doing. Elders were gifted men who had the ability to push back against those whose ‘mouths must be stopped’ [Paul’s future language against false teachers]. These Elders were not full time Pastors in the modern sense. They were not singular authorities who ‘cover the flock’. They were not hired clergy! The reason why it is important to see this is because we want to stay as close as possible to the historic picture of the church as we read thru Act’s. These ‘local churches’ were caring communities of Christ followers who did have spiritual oversight that were to be respected and held in high esteem. Paul and Peter will teach the concept of giving honor to those who have spiritual accountability for you. But we can’t apply this to unbiblical forms of ecclesiology/hierarchy that will develop over the centuries. In Luther’s day many well meaning men felt Luther [the 16th century reformer] was rebelling against God ordained authority by going against the Pope. We need to understand that John the Apostle rebuked the rise of singular authorities who would seek to have the preeminence amongst Gods flock [Diotrephes- 3rd Jn]. Paul will warn the Ephesian church [later in Acts] that after his departure men would rise up seeking to make disciples after themselves. The point is any future use of the teaching of Elders/Pastors and the true responsibility to honor and submit to godly authority has to be seen in context with the complete story. While Luther’s [and Paul’s] critics could make the case that they were rebelling against God ordained authority, yet at the same time true revolution always carries an element of casting off old systems and restraint. Paul will confront Peter openly over his hypocrisy between treating Jewish believers different than Gentile believers. Peter was an Apostle before Paul and the argument could have been made ‘who does Paul think he is, going over the head of Peter’. So we need to see the biblical truth of God ordained leadership. The fact that many good Pastors and men of God have faithfully served Christ’s church. But we do not want to develop mindsets contrary to the freedom that we have in Christ while teaching the truth of godly leadership. Paul ordained ‘Elders’ on his way back thru Lystra and Iconium. He sails back to Antioch and recounts all the wonderful success that they had with the gentile believers. Antioch has this free flowing spirit amongst the church. They are gentiles and are not keeping the Jewish law. Paul and Barnabas were getting a reputation amongst the Jewish leadership in the cities and towns. Word gets back to Jerusalem and we will see whether Paul’s gospel will prevail before the ‘church authorities’? I believe we could describe Luther’s response before the Catholic church as fitting Paul’s spirit ‘unless I am persuaded by scripture I can not go against my conscience. Here I stand, I can do nothing else’. [Some sites see here https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/2023/11/acts-14-text.html?m=0 ]

VERSES- [These are the verses I talked about on the video- Links to all my sites below]

2 Kudos

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