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Acts 18:
Claudius ordered the Jews to
leave Rome, so Paul meet Aquila and Priscilla, his wife, in Corinth. These
were some of the Jews who left Rome and were tentmakers like Paul. Each
Sabbath, Paul will go into the synagogues to reason with the Jews and Greeks
that the prophets prophesized about the coming of Jesus and to accept Jesus as
the Messiah. Paul dedicated himself to the preaching and testifying to
the Jews about Jesus as the Christ, but when he realized that the Jews were
going to reject Jesus as the Christ for Judaism, laws of Moses, and
circumcision, he cursed them and decided to dedicate himself to the Gentiles
from there on. As many converts were made in Corinth, God encourage
Paul in a vision to keep speaking because he was with Paul. The Jews soon
attacked Paul and charged him in court for teaching the people to worship God
through Jesus Christ and not the law of Moses. So the Jews beat Paul in
front of the Court. Paul still went to different places to reason with the Jews
in the synagogue and strengthened the church in those places. A Jew
named Apollos, was very educated, understood the scriptures, taught about Jesus
accurately, but only knew the Baptism of John. The other disciples (Aquila
and Priscilla) then told him more about the life of Jesus and then he went on to
win more souls for Jesus Christ. So Apollos became a believer just by
words of Jesus' baptism without evidence of his miracles, teaching, and
resurrection. What great faith!!! Apollos also refuted the Jews
publicly in proving that Jesus was the Christ from the Jewish scriptures.
Both Paul and Apollos were extremely effective in God's kingdom because they
were both educated and had the power of reasoning.
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The Political & Spiritual Purpose of the
Holy Land
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Acts 19:
In Ephesus, Paul met
people who were baptized in the baptism of repentance of John the Baptist, so
Paul gave them the baptism of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. The men did
receive the Holy Ghost and started speaking in tongues and prophesizing in God.
A lot of people opposed Paul and the teaching of Jesus, but God did
lots of miracles with Paul to the extend that handkerchiefs and aprons that
touched Paul drove demons out and healed the sick whenever it was given to them.
Some Jews, who did not accept Jesus as the Christ, went around casting out
demons in the name of Jesus that Paul represented. One of the evil spirit
responded by saying that it knew both Paul and Jesus, but did not know them.
So the man with the evil spirit gave them a sever beating that they bled.
Even demons recognize the representatives of Jesus. This led to a lot
of conversion to Christianity to the extend that people began to confess their
sin and burnt their sorcery manuals worth about a person's wage for 50,000 days
(137 years). Soon, makers of the idol (goddess Artemis) staged a
massive protest in the city because Paul had converted so many people against
idol worship that it was beginning to affect their business. They grabbed
some of Paul's followers, but the city clerk dismissed the riot because the men
have stolen nothing and no official charge was brought against them legally.
Act 20:
Paul went to different
places to do God's work in order to avoid the plot of the Jews against him and
the teaching of Jesus. In one of the preaching, Paul talked until about
midnight. One of the young men fell asleep and fell from the third floor.
He was picked up as dead, but Paul restored him. Paul soon went back to
the Church eders in Ephesus and informed them about how he had served God in
humility, preached, suffered, was prosecuted by the Jews, and how the Spirit has
informed him about facing prison in many cities around. Regardless, Paul
was determined to carry on with of preaching that Jesus was the Christ.
Paul advised the elders to the watchful and prepared for persecution and
betrayals, but they must protect the church of God as Shepard. Paul
instructs them not to depend on others for survival or sustenance, like he had
done to them, because it is more blessed to give than to receive. So
pastors are not supposed to be depending of their congregation for survival.
He told them goodbye and that they will not see him again physically, and he
left.
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