David Pawson - Acts Pt2 大卫鲍森 - 使徒行传(二)(英文发音, 中文字幕)
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Thoughtful Thoughts 26.4.24 by John Dunning. The “Early Church”.
Prologue
The NT way of evangelizing was very different to what we call evangelism today and the book of Acts tells us that they did it by obeying what Jesus taught. An example of this being recognised is that of clergyman Roland Allan, (an Anglican Vicar in the last century).
It was largely due to his reading of the book of Acts, and he went on to apply the book of Acts to his ministry, resulting in him stopping the christening of infants. That led to the Anglican church taking away his clergy licence to be a Vicar. So, he became a missionary and wrote of what he discovered in his books including “Missionary Methods; St Paul's or Ours?”, published in Cambridge by Lutterworth Press in 2006 (if you want to buy one!) In other words, the teaching we see in Acts is in the Bible for us to apply today, and is not just there out of historical interest.
Introduction
So, let's take a look at what happened in the first century AD when they were practicing what Jesus taught…
The book of Acts records about Jesus’ followers…
- That they became bold and courageous, after having once been terrified of powerful men.
- Peter is featured initially in Acts only until Paul takes centre stage…
- Paul confronted Jews with the truth (having once been one of their leaders!) Many did respond to his message and become Messianic Jews, but the leaders tried to kill him. Having taken the gospel to the Jews first, he went on to “found” many Gentile churches…
Barnabas helped to keep Paul growing in grace, which Paul later acknowledged…
Thomas founded the church in Southern India…
The Apostles were all martyred except John, who was exiled to Patmos Island, where stone was quarried, which meant doing heavy labour.
Result? The book of Acts repeatedly records, "And so the church grew..."
Persecution.
Satan’s Plan A). The persecution of Christians started from those outside the church. However, after a Roman Emperor became a Christian, Satan came up with plan B…
Satan’s Plan B). Heretical church leaders undermined the faith with heresy.
Mature Christians used the Bible to show them up for what they were, so the mental battle was won.
Plan C). Satan used church leaders to torture disciples who remained true and faithful to Jesus. If you were unaware of any part of those statements, I recommend Foxes Book of Martyrs!
Now we come to fill in the details of those statements.
Many Roman citizens were becoming Christians in Rome…
Paul’s letter to the Romans shows that there was a thriving church in Rome at that time, before he was taken there to face trial before the emporer, as was his right as a Roman citizen. He claimed that right when Jewish leaders tried to persuade Roman governors to execute him. As a Roman citizen, he had a right to be executed by being beheaded instead of by crucifixion. It also meant he could escape the Jewish leaders.
The Roman church comprised both Messianic Jews (like Paul) and Gentiles. Initially, Jewish believers led the church - and under them, it was growing.
Records of Roman Emperors show that between 41 AD and 53/54 AD the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled Messianic Jewish believers in Christ as well as Orthodox Jews from the city of Rome, because they had been arguing over Jesus being the Christ. All this tells us that there was a church in Rome as early on as the reign of Claudius, whose expulsion of Christians included Priscilla and Aquilla, who met up with Paul because of it. After Messianic Jews left, Gentile Christians in Rome became the church leaders. After Nero came to the throne in 54 AD, both Messianic and Orthodox Jews were invited back to Rome for commercial reasons.
Soldiers were becoming Christians in Rome…
When Paul was brought to Rome in chains, we learn that that resulted in converts even in the royal household! How did that happen? Because Paul’s imprisonment resulted in him being chained and guarded 24/7 by soldiers on both sides;- and there were four shifts per day. So Paul had a captive audience and we know he preached wherever and whenever he could. It easily explains why we are told that there were Christians in the palace.
All the while, Roman soldiers were being sent to England, as it too was all part of the Roman empire. Because of that, Roman soldiers who were Christians were taking Christianity to England between the 1st and 5th centuries! How do we know that?
Because Archaeologists have found crosses buried in the land where the barracks of Roman soldiers stood in the first century AD! (Which was hundreds of years before Augustine ever set foot on English soil.)
The Romans finally left England in 410 AD, due to their recall to defend a corrupted Rome that was under siege from various enemies, until it fell in 476 AD.
Thoughtful Thought…
When Baptist missionaries in Nagaland applied the book of Acts 2:38 to missionary work, 85% of the population became Christians by choice, without pressure.
In other words, Christians need to apply Peter and Paul’s teaching to mission.
This link takes you to our devotional https://blog.inspirationalmedia.org.nz/
This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.
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