Atos 9

Atos 9

Meyer - The Church had peace, being edified; and … was multiplied. (R.V.) The Church grew not simply by addition, but by multiplication. Three added to three make six; three multiplied by three, nine. That is the Pentecostal ratio of increase. These are the conditions of Church growth:— First, there must be peace. — Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As far as it lies in our power, let each of us live peaceably with all men. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and railing, be put away out of our hearts, with all malice, and let us be kind one to another, tender-hearted, and imitating God the great Peacemaker. Next, the Church must be edified. — We must build ourselves up on our most holy faith. And, indeed, such growth in grace and the knowledge of God is almost inevitable where the Holy Ghost breaks up the reign of apathy and stagnation. When its foundations are deeply laid in righteousness and peace, the City of God arises into the pure air. Moreover, the members of such a Christian community must walk in the fear of the Lord. To walk means the daily plodding, routine life — full of commonplaces, somewhat prosaic — but always ruled by the fear of grieving the heart that was pierced on Calvary. Lastly, we must walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, or, as the words might be rendered, in the paracletism of the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, Teacher, Guide; and we should habitually dwell in his radiant and helpful environment. What a difference there is between sea weeds and sea flowers expanding in their rock surrounded aquariums, and the same when taken into common air! Such is the contrast wrought by the Spirit. Chris Tiegreen - Encouraged by the Holy Spirit . . . ACTS 9:31NIV The battle had been raging for a long time. I was enduring one of the most difficult periods of my life, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep going. Was I headed in the right direction? Were my ways pleasing to God? Was my faith going to be rewarded? I was very discouraged, fearing the answers to those questions might be no. I was emotionally at the end of my rope. One morning when I was particularly depressed, I prayed before I got into my car: “Lord, please encourage me today. I just need to know You’re with me.” When I got to work, the “verse of the day” on my personalized web browser was Isaiah 43:1-2: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” A few minutes later, someone stopped by my office to let me know they had been praying for me. And in the afternoon, I received some encouraging news about the situation. It wasn’t a resolution, but it was a promising turn of events. And to top it off, I received a completely unrelated phone call from one of my favorite people. By the end of the day, I felt lighter and my faith felt stronger. The situation hadn’t changed, but I knew I wasn’t alone in it or on the verge of defeat. God had orchestrated an encouraging day. It doesn’t always happen that way so quickly. Sometimes God lets us experience a little darkness as we reach out for light. But He eventually encourages us because it’s His nature to do so. He wants us to know He is on our side, and He will use His entire repertoire of expressions to say so. Acts 9:32 Now as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. (NASB: Lockman) KJV 9:32 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. As Acts 1:8; 8:14,25; Gal 2:7-9 the saints Acts 9:13,41; 26:10; Ps 16:3; Pr 2:8; Mt 27:52; Ro 1:7; Eph 1:1; Php 1:1 Acts 9 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Luke now takes up the ministry of Peter in Acts 9:32-12:25, during which time Saul is in Tarsus, the length of time being estimated at about 10 years by several commentaries, although we do not have exact dates. In any event, these would be the "silent years" of Saul. Beginning in Acts 9:32, Luke deals with Peter at Lydda (Acts 9:32–35), at Joppa (Acts 9:36–43, 10:9–23, at Caesarea Maritima (Acts 10:1–8, 23–48) and finally at Jerusalem (Acts 11:1–18; Acts 12:1–17). Steven Ger gives us a chronological context (not sure how he arrived at this dating, but recorded for your information) - It is now the year A.D. 40. Almost three years had passed since Saul left Jerusalem for Tarsus. This period of peace and absence of persecution had enabled the church to expand throughout the length and breadth of Israel. Luke picks up the narrative of Peter by joining him as he travels the circuit of churches throughout the Jewish cities of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, encouraging and building up the believers....The city of Lydda...is located twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem, roughly two thirds of the way between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast in the region Philip had traversed as he made his way up from Azotus to Caesarea almost five years earlier (Acts 8:40). (Twenty-First Century Commentary-Acts) Jack Arnold - In Acts 9:31-43, there are three miracles performed; two are stated as miracles and the other must be inferred. There is the healing of the (paralyzed) man, Aeneas, which is a miracle of the body. There is also the raising of a dead person in Dorcas which is a miracle of both the body and spirit. Lastly, there is the overcoming of the dogmatic man in the life of Peter which is a miracle of the heart. (The Miracle Worker) Bob