NT Bible Challenge

[MorkandMindy]

Name a NT book and chapter

and I will give a precis of a sermon I would preach from one or more verses in that chapter.

I don't know if I can do it - that's what makes it a challenge



I might not respond right away because I work 12 hour shifts, but then hopefully someone else will come up to bat

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Acts 2

 

[MorkandMindy]

Acts 2 v1: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come

Pentecost is the Greek name for the Jewish festival of weeks held exactly 50 days after Passover. Because the Passover was held on a Saturday (the Sabbath) therefore Pentecost was on a Sunday.

This was also a day of no work for the Jews, making it effectively a second Sabbath day in a row. And they were all of one accord in one place.

So what were they doing? They weren't working and they weren't praying or praising all day long, so men and women were talking in groups and the children playing quiet games and talking.

That is the way life should be. I've just implemented a Sabbath here; after a week at school my son is not ready for homework so we have the whole of Saturday off, from Friday night to going to sleep on time on Saturday night - exactly as the Jews do.

If you don't have a day of rest how can you justify having days of work? You will just have days of mixed work and play and the play most likely will grow and eat into any time you might have had to develop yourself as a person. Go to Church and develop as a person on Sunday, if that means school work then do what needs to be done, but it is a day for doing good.

 

[MorkandMindy]

they were all with one accord in one place

So what of being together for a day? Think how inefficient it is when one person cooks for two, or two for two, or each single person on his own than for a few people to cook for 50.

Talking together is so much better than watching TV.

It is when I have the opportunity to write or talk to someone that I think things through and become motivated to find out more about whatever I'm talking about. As they say: 'the best way to learn something is to teach it'. It is certainly more interesting to read about something we have been talking about and almost certainly will talk about again than something you know you will never discuss with anyone ever again.

Listening is good; it is a time to learn new concepts new things and relevant events. I learnt about Deontology and Consequentialism when I asked my oldest son a question about right and wrong. And when posting on CF way back I asked him how they would have democracy in Iraq when (at that time) the 'coalition' felt it was too dangerous to vote. Again my son pointed out that the Greek Assembly was not elected and this change was implemented to improve the democratic representation and resulted in a person of no repute at that time - Socrates - becoming the head of the Assembly.

It is so much better for my son to have someone who benefits from the things he is learning in college than for no one to be interested and for the learning to be wasted.

 

[MorkandMindy]

with one accord

But while talking and listening they are also forming bonds; there is nothing so worrying as having calamity strike and knowing you are suddenly homeless with absolutely nowhere to go. All while other people nearby have rooms that are spare while a child is off at college, or just a spare room that was used for exercising but is now empty.

Feeling secure is based on having a support structure. People who have others they can rely on are not as worried when something goes badly wrong at work.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

shortly after I first met my husband, he moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I went up there to be with him and that's where we got married. We lived at a Motel 6 which is a low budget motel that has no kitchen. There were a bunch of us that lived and worked at the motel. Two of the ladies, one of which is one of my very best friends to this day, would do all the grocery shopping and cooking. They would set up crock pots or indoor skillets and cook meals and we would all eat together in there motel room. My best friend lived in a room with 2 double beds and it was her, her husband, and their 2 daughters. And then we would all pitch in for the groceries and help with the clean up. It made it cheaper for all of us and it was alot of fun to have community like that. I miss that sometimes.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Wow, thanks for that Michelle

Acts 2 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

One thing to note here is the lack of divisions, they hadn't even split with the non Christian Jews and still attended the temple.

It would be interesting to find out why there are so many divisions in Christianity.

There is clear split between Roman Catholics and Protestants, and although the Catholic Church had a 'Counter Reformation' to eliminate the new 'traditions' for various reasons the split remained.

Having split once and that split accepted as a good thing by the top Protestant denominations, it was fairly clear it was the right thing to do if ever some Protestants were not happy with what the main body they were in was doing, so it just continued.

But the fragmentation is worst at the most Bible-based end, specifically I'm thinking of the Brethren I was in. The closed Brethren kept shedding members who didn't agree totally with newly enforced Biblical edicts. So there are closed Brethren groups, open Brethren, and lots of groups stranded in between. Our group had 9 members and sometimes we joined another group which had 3 we made it to 12. But we were in a big city; most groups were smaller. An in-joke about the semi closed Brethren was that if Noah was in the Brethren he would have had one of the largest assemblies.

I don't think the women in particular were happy. Doctrine seemed to matter so much it split up friends and ruined people's lives.

 

[Doctor Strangelove]

The fragmentation issue is one of the reasons I am more comfortable with churches that confess the ancient creeds - the Apostles, Creed and the Nicene Creed. What is ingenious about these creeds is that they define what is essential but they don't try to include everything. Churches that say they have no creed but the Bible or that all they need is Jesus will have to make up a creed of their own. That might start off orthodox with a belief in the Trinity, etc. But you need more than that in your creed to distinguish your group from the group that you split off from. So you add lots of things to your creed, and so on.

 

[MorkandMindy]

The church in Acts 2 did not have the New Testament or the Nicene Creed.

We've had a lot of time to consolidate the New Testament and work everything out.

Why were they united and why are we very divided?

 

[dayhiker]

Well, I'd say they hadn't been Christians long enough to get divided!
By 1 Cor. we have a division of 4, Paul, Apollus, Peter and Christ. Then later there is the division of the weak and strong. So unity isn't we all have the same view and say the same things all the time in my view. Our unity is that we see Christ as the son of God and our salvation is thru Christ. I don't think I've ever meet a Christian who didn't believe that.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Well, I'd say they hadn't been Christians long enough to get divided!
By 1 Cor. we have a division of 4, Paul, Apollus, Peter and Christ. Then later there is the division of the weak and strong. So unity isn't we all have the same view and say the same things all the time in my view. Our unity is that we see Christ as the son of God and our salvation is thru Christ. I don't think I've ever meet a Christian who didn't believe that.

yeah but I've met plenty of Christians that only like the "good" parts and by that they think everyone is going to heaven or it doesn't matter what you call God, like if you call him buddha or whatever. So the gospel that the first church preached is important, and repentence was a big part of that too. Like we need to recognize that we need a Savior and then tell others about Him.

 

[dayhiker]

I'd like to see the Christians that believe that evil people aren't a problem hanging around the neighbor implement that by changing all the evil people in their area to good people so that we wouldn't be the country that imprisons more people than anyone else in the world.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

Matthew 24:9-14

 

[MorkandMindy]

yeah but I've met plenty of Christians that only like the "good" parts

I once started reading the Bible from page one, I gave up after I finished Judges because it was so nasty and I didn't want any more.

It wasn't just God killing everyone and everything alive (with a few exceptions) like in the Flood, or bumping off all the first born in Egypt, it was genocide after genocide kill everyone and God helped out once by bringing down large hailstones and praised Heber's wife who pretended to offer hospitality, lied and [leaving out the nasty bit] killed her guest.


In the next chapter she is described as 'most blessed of women'. I'm glad I don't know her.

 

[dayhiker]

That time in the history of the Jews it does seem very barbaric. Its not clear from reading what God was deal with all the time. The local idol worshipers were sacrificing their children to the idols. At one point earlier God says the evil isn't complete or piled up high enough yet and so judgement would be postponed. In Judges and up thru David's time is when that judgment is coming down on the idol worshipers.

I think its funny that people get upset with God for killing all these people and then today they are upset of someone gets away with some harm they cause a child.

 

[MorkandMindy]

29 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” 32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, “Oh no, my daughter! You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the Lord that I cannot break.”
36 “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the Lord. Do to me just as you promised, now that the Lord has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request,” she said. “Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry.”
38 “You may go,” he said. And he let her go for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed.

 

[MorkandMindy]

That time in the history of the Jews it does seem very barbaric. Its not clear from reading what God was deal with all the time. The local idol worshipers were sacrificing their children to the idols. At one point earlier God says the evil isn't complete or piled up high enough yet and so judgement would be postponed. In Judges and up thru David's time is when that judgment is coming down on the idol worshippers.

I think its funny that people get upset with God for killing all these people and then today they are upset of someone gets away with some harm they cause a child.

Thank you for your response. The history is rather complicated and I'm not sure people would want it discussed.

In the main it was more a problem of understanding agriculture than of evil, and then secondly of the dynamics of the priesthood maintaining a livelihood through promises and sometimes fear as well.


And societies evolve. The Jewish nation was successful initially partly because they were not sacrificing their first born but had substituted the practice of circumcision for sacrifice, and being non-agricultural the religion could more easily leave the agricultural pagan practices the crop growers were following and develop into the militant nationalist religion it became. True it looked after everyone in the nation, but being a bit cynical it has to be said the more survive times of starvation the bigger your army will be in war time.

The split I guess is represented by Cain and Abel; that Abel kept flocks and Cain worked the soil.

Cain needed to know when to plant and lacking calendars that meant determining the Vernal Equinox and planting so many days after to ensure a good chance of missing the last frost but as early as possible to ensure the best chance of fully ripening before autumn rain or winds or something flattened the crops.

And from that I assume comes the whole pagan religion with all the silly frills added on to keep people without television amused about the water carrier (Aquarius) and fishing and looking after sheep and cattle and goats.

Abel didn't really need any of that but they did need to fight surrounding tribes.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Acts 2

I skipped about 90% of the passage because I wasn't sure what to say.

It has since occurred to me that the Holy Spirit coming down in a very obvious way, in tongues of fire, was presaged by the Holy Spirit coming down in the form of a dove when Jesus had been baptised.

In both cases it was the Holy Spirit coming to dwell among men.

We could all say a ton more about that, but I've used up my time so if no one else posts on it I'll be back sometime on Saturday. - kindest regards, M of M&M