Acts 6-9 - Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome!


more fun signs of true worship as shown in the primitive church

1. calling the first quorum of the seventy. Or at least 7 heads to minister the affairs of the church.

2. Stephen seeing Christ (1) on the right hand of God (2)

3. Baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then Peter and John goes down that they might receive the Holy Ghost.

4. Continuation of the apostolic line through Saul (although there may have been some extenuating circumstances surrounding this move.

5. church walked in the 'fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost' and were multiplied.


What are we supposed to get out of Stephens message?

When we have interaction between groups like this, it can be helpful to search why the prophet is giving that specific message to that specific audience. Here is the overlying idea narration I am seeing with these groups:

"Lets start back to where we both have common ground - with father Abraham. Did God not appear and give him commandments, and did He (God) not lead them in a promised path with covenants, and was this gospel now passed down to Isaac and Jacob and the patriarchs? And did Joseph among them dwell in a foreign land and have a mission from God there, and was that same gospel not passed down to Moses, and did not Moses prophesy that it would be passed down to another prophet, in this case being Christ Himself, and did not Moses say that when that Prophet came that the people should do all things that He commanded? And did not the children of Israel rebel against Moses, and did not God strive with them and give other commandments to David and Solomon, who created a temple in likeness and reminder of God that being not God, was to symbolically bring them to that God of which Moses had prophesied, Do you not now see that God has poured forth His gospel through Jesus Christ, the reality of the temple symbolism, and that you are acting in the same pattern as the rebellious children of Israel at the time that this dispensation was revealed to them?"

They didn't like that very much.

the verse that caught my attention the most though was this one:

60 And he kneeled down, and acried with a loud voice, bLord, lay not this sin to their ccharge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Saul

Saul of Tarsus, later Paul, is a great example that we never know what is going on in the heart of someone else, only God, so we should be careful not to get in the way of God or His work.

The scales reference in Acts 9:18 also caught my attention for its symbolic meaning.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A gift for the Savior: a Christmas story

originally published 12/17/2023 updated 12/20/2023 Hello, I'm going to interrupt my normal blog for a special Christmas project. Below is a story you can read to your children 7 days before Christmas, a little every day. In fact! If you have children of Reading age, they can participate!  Before you begin There are four parts, each with a symbol to let you know who should read the part, should you want your children to participate. ()The narrator (no symbol) - Suggestion that the mother of the family is the narrarator :The dear prophet, an angel - signified by a colon : - suggestion that the father of the family or an older child read these lines. The Mother can easily read these lines as well ~Hep, an angel - signified by a thingy ~ - suggestion that a daughter or daughters take turns reading these lines ^Yashub, an angel - singified by another thingy ^ - suggestion that a son or sons take turns reading these lines This story is meant to be started 12/18 and finished 12/24. Each d...
Read more

Acts 22-28 - come follow me with Sam!

 Welcome! Une drole d'Eglise Paul shows how the jewish 'church', their ecclesiastical organization and understanding, is in chaos  - the chief priest, guardian of the law is he who violates the law - the different sects are squabbling amongst themselves, in one moment more eager to persecute paul, in the next moment more eager to prosecute their adversaries' contrary ideas - 40 of them straight up swore an oath to murder. This is deeply badness shizam. - they describe the 'quietness' they so desire and that paul is a 'pestilent fellow' interrupting their serenity. Throughout all of this, Paul is guided by the spirit what he must do.
Read more

Bonus! the Simple Gospel of the Way

Image
 Am I writing a Gnostic text? I definitely titled this blog post like one. Maybe we should turn it over to the scholars and ask how close I got. Or maybe I'll be able to ask the gnostics one day. I'd like to share something I am calling the Simple Gospel of the Way. I'm sure many of you have been taught the gospels, the plan of salvation, or something similar to map your vector relation with God. Here is an approach that I hope helps. 1. We are separated from God. (Hopefully no surprises here.) Everything we do is to get back to Him. We are trying to close the separation. We are trying to become One with Him. This is the most important singular concept I can think of. When we understand this, everything else falls into place.  1.1 This is not simply a separation of physical distance. This is a separation of spiritual distance. We are not like our Father, but every part of our being aches to be One with our Father and our Mother, our heavenly parents.  1.2 because the sepa...
Read more