Henry: Welcome to immerse, the daily bible reading experience.
Day 15.
When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission to Jerusalem, they
returned taking John Mark with them.
Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were
Barnabas Simeon called the Black Man, Lucius from Cyrene Manion, the Childhood
Companion of King Herod Anus and Saul.
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit
said, appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.
So after more fasting in prayer, the men laid their hands on
them and sent them on their way.
So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit.
They went down to the seaport of Scia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus.
There in the town of Salami, they went to the Jewish synagogues
and preached the word of God.
John Mark went with them as their assistant.
Afterward, they traveled from town to town across the entire island
until finally they reached pfas.
Where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named bar Jesus.
He had attached himself to the governor, Serius Paulus, who was an intelligent man.
The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him for, he wanted to hear the
word of God, but elmas the sorcerer as his name means in Greek, interfered and
urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said he was trying
to keep the governor from believing.
Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit and
he looked the sorcerer in the eye.
Then he said, you son of the devil, full of every sort of deceit and
fraud and enemy of all that is good.
Will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord.
Watch now for the Lord has laid his hand of punishment upon you
and you will be struck blind.
You will not see the sunlight for some time.
Instantly mist and darkness came over the man's eyes and he began
groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead him.
When the governor saw what had happened, he became a believer for he
was astonished at the teaching about the Lord Paul and his companions.
Then left fuss by ship for Pamphylia landing at the port town of Perga.
There, John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem, but Paul
and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia on the Sabbath.
They went to the synagogue for the services after the usual readings from
the books of Moses and the prophets.
Those in charge of the service sent them this message.
Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for
the people, come and give it.
So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them and started speaking.
Men of Israel, he said, and you, God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me.
The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and
grow strong during their stay in Egypt.
Then with a powerful arm.
He led them out of slavery.
He put up with them through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land
to Israel as an inheritance.
All this took about 450 years after that God gave them judges to rule
until the time of Samuel the prophet.
Then the people begged for a king and God gave them Saul, son
of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for 40 years.
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David.
A man about whom God said.
I have found David's son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.
He will do everything I want him to do, and it is one of King
David's descendants, Jesus, who is God's promised Savior of Israel.
Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of
Israel needed to repent of their sins and turned to God and be baptized.
As John was finishing his ministry, he asked, do you think I am the Messiah?
No, I am not.
But he is coming soon and I'm not even worthy to be his slave and
untie the sandals on his feet.
Brothers, you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles.
This message of salvation has been sent to us.
The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as
the one the prophets had spoken about.
Instead, they condemned him and in doing this, they fulfilled the prophet's
words that are read every Sabbath.
They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed.
Anyway, when they had done all that, the prophecies said about him, they took him
down from the cross and placed him in a tomb, but God raised him from the dead.
And over a period of many days, he appeared to those who had gone
with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.
They are now his witnesses to the people of Israel.
And now we are here to bring you this good news.
The promise was made to our aunt ancestors and God has now fulfilled it for us,
their descendants by raising Jesus.
This is what the second Psalm says about Jesus, you are my son.
Today I have become your father.
For God had promised to raise him from the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave.
He said, I will give you the sacred blessings I promise to David.
Another Psalm explains it more fully.
You will not allow your holy one to rot in the grave.
This is not a reference to David for after David had done the will of God in his
own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.
No, it was a reference to someone else, someone whom God raised
and whose body did not decay.
Brothers, listen.
We are here to proclaim that through this man, Jesus.
There is forgiveness for your sins.
Everyone who believes in him is made right in God's sight.
Something the law of Moses could never do.
Be careful.
Don't let the prophet's words apply to you.
For they said, look, you mockers, be amazed and die for I am doing something
in your own day, something you wouldn't believe even if someone told you about it.
As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak
about these things again the next week.
Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas,
and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God.
The following week, almost the entire city turned out to hear
them preach the word of the Lord.
But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous.
So they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said.
Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared it was necessary that we
first preach the word of God to you Jews.
But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal
life, we will offer it to the Gentiles.
For the Lord gave us this command when he said, I have made you a light to
the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.
When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for
his message, and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.
So the Lord's message spread throughout that region.
Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the
city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.
So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the
town of Iconium, and the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
The same thing happened in Iconium.
Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such
power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.
Some of the Jews, however, spurned God's message and poisoned the minds of the
Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.
But the apostles stayed there a long time preaching boldly
about the grace of the Lord.
And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to
do miraculous signs and wonders.
But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them.
Some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.
Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders,
decided to attack and stone them.
When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lyonia, to the towns of
Lyra and Derby and the surrounding area.
And there they preached the good news.
While they were at Lira, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet.
He had been that way from birth, so he had never walked.
He was sitting and listening.
As Paul preached looking straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.
So Paul called to him in a loud voice, stand up, and the man jumped
to his feet and started walking.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect,
these men are gods in human form.
They decided that Barnabas was their Greek God, Zeus, and that Paul was
Hermes since he was the chief speaker.
Now the temple of Zeus was located just outside the town, so the priest
of the temple and the crowd brought bowls and wreaths of flowers to the
town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to the apostles.
But when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening, they
tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting
friends, why are you doing this?
We are merely human beings just like you.
We have come to bring you the good news that you should turn from these
worthless things and turn to the living God who made heaven and earth the sea
and everything in them in the past, he permitted all the nations to go their
own ways, but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness.
For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives
you food and joyful hearts.
But even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain
the people from sacrificing to them.
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town thinking he was dead.
But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town.
The next day, he left with Barnabas for Derby.
After preaching the good news in Derby and making many disciples,
Paul and Barnabas returned to Lira, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia where
they strengthened the believers.
They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that
we must suffer many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church.
With prayer and fasting.
They turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they had put their trust.
Then they traveled back through pisidia to Pamphylia.
They preached the word in perga, then went down to Aliah.
Finally, they returned by ship to Antioch of Syria where their journey had begun.
The believers there had entrusted them to the grace of God to do
the work they had now completed.
Upon arriving in Antioch, they called the church together and reported
everything God had done through them and how he had opened the
door of faith to the Gentiles too.
And they stayed there with the believers for a long time.
The while Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea
arrived and began to teach the believers.
Unless you are circumcised, as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.
Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them arguing vehemently.
Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem accompanied
by some local believers to talk to the apostles and elders about this question.
The church sent the delegates to Jerusalem and they stopped along the way in Fania
and Samaria to visit the believers.
They told them much to everyone's joy that the Gentiles too were being converted.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole
church, including the apostles and elders.
They reported everything God had done through them, but then some of the
believers who belonged to the sec, the Pharisees stood up and insisted the
Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.
So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue.
At the meeting after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows.
Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to
preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the good news and believe.
God knows people's hearts and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them
the Holy Spirit just as he did to us.
He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed
their hearts through faith.
So why are you now challenging God?
By burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor
our ancestors were able to bear.
We believe that we are all saved the same way by the undeserved
grace of the Lord Jesus.
Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous
signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
When they had finished, James stood and said, brothers, listen to me.
Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to
take from them a people for himself, and this conversion of Gentiles is
exactly what the prophets predicted.
As it is written afterward, I will return and restore the fallen house of David.
I will rebuild its ruins and restore it so that the rest of humanity might
seek the Lord, including the Gentiles.
All those I have called to be mine.
The Lord has spoken.
He who made these things known so long ago, and so my judgment is that
we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered
to idols from sexual immorality.
From eating the meat of strangled animals and from consuming blood.
For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city,
on every Sabbath for many generations.
Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem
chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and
Barnabas to report on this decision.
The men chosen were two of the church leaders.
Judas also called Barsabas and Silas.
This is the letter they took with them.
This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem.
It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and cia.
Greetings.
We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with
their teaching, but we did not send them.
So we decided having come to complete agreement to send you
official representatives along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul
who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided
concerning your question.
For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden
on you than these few requirements.
You must abstain from eating food offered to idols from consuming
blood, or the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.
If you do this, you will do well.
Farewell, the messengers went at once to Antioch, where they
called a general meeting of the believers and delivered the letter.
There was great joy throughout the church that day as they
read this encouraging message.
Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets spoke at length to the believers
encouraging and strengthening their faith.
They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them back to the church
in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace, Paul and Barnabas stayed at Antioch.
They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord There.
After some time, Paul said to Barnabas, let's go back and visit each city where we
previously preached the word of the Lord to see how the new believers are doing.
Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark, but Paul disagreed
strongly since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not
continued with them in their work.
Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated Barnabas took John
Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.
Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted
him to the Lord's gracious care.
Then he traveled throughout Syria, Andia strengthening the churches there.
Paul went first to Derby and then to Lyra, where there was
a young disciple named Timothy.
His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek Timothy
was well thought of by the believers in Lira and Iconium, so Paul wanted
him to join them on their journey.
In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to
be circumcised before they left.
For everyone knew that his father was a Greek.
Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to
follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day.
This concludes today's Immer reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.