The Amazing Bible. Book Club

The book of Acts ends with Paul arriving at Jerusalem. The Jews cause an uproar, and Paul gets arrested. He speaks to the crowd, and when he said that the gospel was for the Gentiles, the crowd went crazy again. He was placed in the barracks with the Roman leadership until the Sanhedrin brought an official charge against him. Paul spoke to the the Jewish leaders, but a plot to kill Paul was discov...

Paul's third missionary journey began with him going back to Galatia and Phrygia strengthening the churches he had started. We also meet a godly man, Apollos, whom Priscilla and Aquila meet and teach in Ephesus. After Apollos left Ephesus Paul arrived, and he stayed about 2 years. The Holy Spirit came upon believers who had been baptized in the name of Jesus. God worked through Paul with some...

In Acts 16-18:22, Paul and Silas go through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches, and then they arrive at Derbe and Lystra, and there Paul meets Timothy. He is the first second generation believer mentioned in Acts. His mother and Grandmother were Jewish believers, and his dad was Greek. He joins Paul and Silas in their ministry. They headed through the Region of Phrygia and Galatia. They...

In Acts 15, the question arose do Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be a Christian? The council decided that the OT Scripture says no, but that it is through faith in Jesus. The Gentiles were asked to abstain from things contaminated by idols, from sexual impurity, from eating animals that were strangled with the blood still in them, and from blood. The letter that was sent from the apos...

The Holy Spirit spoke to the church in Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Paul for ministry, and they took John Mark with them. They first went to the Island of Cyprus, then took a ship to the area of Turkey. They would especially go to big cities, and they went to Jewish Synagogues first, and when the Jews would not listen, they would turn to the Gentiles. This caused the Gentiles to rejoice and t...

In this section of Acts we see that God was working in a Gentile's life, Cornelius, and the Lord was working in Peter's life, and the Holy Spirit brought them together so the Gentiles could receive the good news of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and baptism (without being circumcised). Peter reports back to Jerusalem. The new church was growing in Antioch, and Barnabas was sent and sa...

In this section of Acts, due to persecution of the saints, they scatter throughout Judea and Samaria, which helps fulfill Acts 1:8, Jesus' command to take the good news to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest parts of the earth. Philip, one of the 7 "deacons," goes to Samaria, and the gospel is received. Peter and John come and the people receive the Holy Spirit. Philip then...

In these two chapters of Acts, the church was growing so much that the 12 Apostles needed help, so they chose 7 men who had a good reputation and full of the Spirit and wisdom to be in charge of taking care of the people in need, especially the feeding of the widows. They were Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch (6:5). Nowadays we would call...

In this section of the Acts of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, we find Peter and John heal a lame beggar, who was over 40 years old. Peter said, "Look at Us!" The man looked up expectantly, and Peter said, "Silver and gold we do not have, but what we have we will give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, walk!" He did and he went jumping and leaping and prai...

In today's lesson, we see that the book of Acts is a continuation of the gospel of Luke which was the story of Jesus. As one of my pastors said, "It is not the Acts of the Apostles, or of Peter and Paul, it is a continuation of Jesus' ministry, now instead of in the body, in the Spirit." The group of believers, both men and women, started at 120. Peter directed them to select a...

Jesus was betrayed by Judas and was arrested. He went before the Jewish religious leaders and then to Pilate, the Roman governor. The Jews wanted Jesus crucified instead of stoned because they wanted Him to be accursed by God. In the midst of this, Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus was crucified, and while He was on the cross, He made sure that John would take care of His mother, Mary. Jesus d...

In this section, Jesus is with His closest disciples, and He is preparing them for His departure. He tells them His time is coming. Mary anointed Jesus feet for burial. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a colt. Many people do not believe in Jesus, but some do, but they are afraid. Jesus washed the disciples' feet, including Judas. Peter is told he will deny Jesus. Jesus commanded them they were to l...

This is Jesus' public ministry. John records 7 miracles which he called "signs" because they direct people to see that Jesus was the Son of God. The first was turning water into wine at a wedding in chapter 2. The second sign is found in chapter 4, healing a nobleman's son. The third, Jesus healed a man at Bethesda. The fourth was feeding the 5,000 and the 5th was walking on th...

In this lesson, we learn from Dr. Alan B. Stringfellow that the gospel of John resembled the items found in the tabernacle. Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world, the altar. He was living water - the basin. He was the Bread of Life, and the Light of the World, and His prayer was the incense offered up to God. Jesus prayer in chapter 17 brought us into the Holy of Holies th...

John starts of with simple words but profound meaning. Jesus is the Word. He is with God. He was God. He was creator God. He was life. He was light, yet the world did not comprehend. The Word was with God in the beginning. He came into the world, but they did not know Him, and His own people did not receive Him. Verse 12, "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children...

This section in Luke begins with Jesus cleansing the temple. He is questioned by the Religious leaders, and Jesus warns the disciples against their prideful ways. Jesus prepared them that they needed to watch and wait for His kingdom to come. We then see Jesus was betrayed by Judas, His arrest, Peter's denial, Jesus trial before the religious leaders, Pilot, and Herod. Jesus was crucified bet...

As Jesus was going to Jerusalem, Luke stressed that the gospel was for all people. We see that there is great rejoicing when the lost are found. We are taught to show mercy to all people. Luke taught us that Jesus knew women were valuable,  and He taught them and made disciples of them. Prayer was also stressed, especially to continue in being persistent with prayer requests before the Lord and to...

With this section, Luke stressed that the gospel was meant for all people, Jews, Gentiles, Poor, and Outcast, and he showed it by quoting Old Testament Scripture.  We see the Lord treated women with respect, and some walked with Him and supported His ministry. Jesus was declared the Son of God, by the demons, and by Peter. His miracles also proved that because only God can forgive sins, calm the s...

In chapter 1:5-4:13, Luke shows us Jesus' humanity. First we see the miracle of John the Baptist's birth, and how that encouraged Mary with the Miracle that was in her. Elizabeth blessed Mary, Mary praised the Lord, and Zechariah praised the Lord. The Shepherds saw the angels, and baby Jesus, and they praised the Lord. Baby Jesus was dedicated in the temple, and Simeon and Anna praised t...

In this lesson, we find that Luke was a Gentile believer who was a physician and companion of Paul. He actually traveled with Paul all the way to Rome for his imprisonment, and he also wrote the New Testament book of Acts. He wrote both books to Theophilus, who was probably a Roman official, because he is addressed as "Most Excellent." In this 3rd gospel, or good news about Jesus, we fin...

"Act 2" of Mark covers the way to Jerusalem, which covers the end of chapter 8 through chapter 10. The phrase, "On the Way" is used six times, three of which are connected to the three times that Jesus told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to die. This section had bookends of healing stories of blind men. The first one, with Jesus' touch he saw men like trees,...

In these few chapters we see the last week of Jesus. Mark tells of us three times Jesus entered Jerusalem, the first was Palm Sunday. The second, He cleansed, or as my New Testament professor said, He "condemned" the temple. It was this time that Jesus saw the widow put in two mites, or copper coins, in the temple's treasury, and Jesus commented about her faithfulness. In chapter 13...

In these 8 chapters of Mark, we see that Jesus' ministry in Galilee began after John the Baptist was put in prison. Many times Jesus taught in the synagogues on the Sabbath. Mark wrote to non-Jews, so he was emphasizing that Jesus was the Son of God. One way he showed that was by the many miracles Jesus performed. Mark also focused on words like "authority" and "immediately.&qu...

In today's lesson, we cover the introduction of the Gospel of Mark, or the Good News according to Mark. He writes like a reporter and gets to the point quickly. In just the first 20 verses of Mark we cover John the Baptist's ministry of calling people to repentance and baptism. We see that Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized, but He does not repent of sin, because He is sinles...

In these last 3 chapters of Matthew we read of the Passover meal, the betrayal of Judas, the arrest and trial of Jesus, the scattering of the disciples, the denial of Peter, Jesus standing before Pilate, the beating and crucifixion of Jesus, the burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea, and the women watching from afar. Yet, we also see the resurrection of Jesus, the appearance of Jesus to the women...