The Use and Misuse of Duty – Acts:23-22-35

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

I mentioned last week how one thought leads to another and another in my mind. At that time I was talking about “foiled again” and then to using foils in competitive fencing. Not only does one thought lead to another, but so do sermons. Sunday evening’s...

Propensity for Prevarication – Acts 23:26-30

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

This letter is an interesting example of basic human nature – basic, self-centered, sinful human nature. I’m forced to smile when I read it, but in fact, I probably shouldn’t. It says what it says, and it doesn’t take a genius or a mind-reader to understand it, but of...

Paul’s Last Departure – Acts 23:23-24; 31-35

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

The city of Jerusalem is named 141 times in the New Testament. Even though about a quarter of those follow Acts 23, only a handful are direct historical/geographical references. In the next two chapters we hear the word “Jerusalem”, but they references TO...

The Accusation – Acts 24:1-9

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

The New Testament refers to “lawyers” several times, and if we aren’t careful, we might picture those people the way that we picture lawyers today. We need to remember that the lawyers and scribes were the same people in the New Testament. And they were...

Demons, Deacons and Days – I Peter 5:8

Jan 19, 2015 | Lessons on Bible Trivia

The words “demon” and “demons” are found exactly (twenty-four; thirty-four; forty-four; fifty-four) times in the Bible. Never In the Old Testament words “the devil” are found exactly (four; thirty-four; forty-four; zero) times....

Satan at Our Side – Acts 24:1-9

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

It’s to be expected that, in making this kind of Bible study, one message leads into, or links with, the next. But over the months, I’ve found that messages have linked together in unexpected ways. We have an example of that sort of thing between last Sunday morning...

The Christian Defense (Apologetics) – Acts 24:10-21

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

One of the problems with this kind of Bible study is remembering to make it as practical as possible. To be very honest, I get so caught up in the details of the research and exposition that sometimes I forget that these messages should attempt to make us better...

Our Hope – Acts 24:14-15

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Jackie sent several of us an e-mail yesterday with a link to an interesting web-site. It contained some pictures by a British artist with an interesting name: Julian Beever. This young man uses chalk and other materials to produce street and sidewalk art. But what is...

So Worship I – Acts 24:14-15

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

So here was Paul defending himself before Felix, the Roman Governor. As we should expect from a genuine Christian, he offered no flattery, deceit or exaggeration. He admitted to the charges which were true, but explained them logically, truthfully, and even...

Hearing and Mishearing – Acts 24:22-27

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

It’s my intention to try to preach the gospel using this scripture next Sunday morning. But in the mean time, this evening I’d like to think about the preaching of the gospel. And not just the preaching of the gospel, but the hearing and mishearing of the gospel....

Felix And Drusilla – Acts 24:24-25

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

If you want to accuse me of satisfying my personal curiosity tonight, I will forgive you, because that is basically what my studying thus far this week has been all about. Interwoven throughout the Book of Acts and the four Gospels has been the family of Herod, and...

Trembling – Acts 24:24-26

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Have you ever been so frightened, so nervous, or so excited that your body shook? I’m not thinking about watching or hearing a scarey story, but the real thing: You had to make a speech in front of a large, unfriendly crowd. You were taking a loved one to talk to a...

Two Years – Acts 24:27

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

There are a few interesting things hidden within and behind this verse. If we were to translate it literally, it would read: “But when two years were fulfilled, Festus was received as successor to Felix; and Felix, with a desire to gain favour with the Jews,...

Ebb and Flow – Acts 25:1-3

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

At the end of the Lewis and Clark trail, between Seaside and Canon Beach, Oregon is the Tillamook Light House. It was built in 1880 and was one of the great engineering feats of its day. It stands on a tiny island about a mile off the edge of Ecola State Park; both...

Festus, a Good Lost Man – Acts 25:1-21

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

This last baseball season, the Montreal Expos franchise moved from Quebec to the United States and became the “Washington Nationals.” They had a reasonably good year – at least when compared to some of the preceding seasons. They won 12 more games than the...

If I be an Offender – Acts 25:11

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

In the course of my message this morning I said, “Let’s say for the sake of argument, that this Governor had a sincere desire to be best leader of Judea since Solomon. Let’s interpret his almost immediate departure from Caesarea to Jerusalem as an illustration...

Crossing the Rubicon – Acts 25:10-12, 21

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

What so often happens when a wealthy man loses a court case? Doesn’t he usually appeal to a higher court? Sometimes that means a new trial, and sometimes it means that a new court reviews the initial decision. Good or bad, that is one of the characteristics of...

“Charis” – Acts 24:27 – 25:9

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

I am going to take three words out of this scripture but give you a message which is almost totally unrelated to this scripture. That doesn’t mean that it will not be Biblical; it will just not be directly related to Paul and Festus. I have mentioned a couple of times...

The Death and Life of Jesus – Acts 25:13-22

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Think about some of the people to whom Paul had been privileged to preach the Gospel: There were the learned elders of Athens – the pseudo-intellectuals of Greece. There were one or two of Israel’s High Priests and the Sanhedrins which hung on to their coat-tails....

The World’s View – Acts 25:22-27

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

It seems that every few months there arises a new phrase or term that begins to permeate our speech. For example, a year or so ago, I started hearing people talk about so-and-so’s “world view.” It took me a while to figure out what exactly that means, and...

Signifying the Crimes – Acts 25:24-27

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

One of the most troublesome aspects of current “War on Terror,” as far as I see, is the detaining of suspects. I don’t profess to have inside information, or even very good information at all, but it appears to me that there are multitudes of people being...

All That We Can Ask For – Acts 26:1-32

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that God has told us so much about the ministry of the Apostle Paul? Yes, he was the Apostle to the Gentiles; and yes he was key to the evangelism of the ancient world. But what if the Book of Acts was never included in the canon...

The Expert – Acts 26:1-3, 28

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

A month or six-weeks ago, we had a Wednesday-night lesson on Felix and Drusilla. When we were done I was afraid that I had confused you more than I helped anyone in understanding the interwoven family of Herod. When we started I said that would be our last lesson on...

Judged for Hope – Acts 26:1-8

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, has been relatively thorough in describing the life of the Apostle Paul. There are probably several reasons for this: For example, he may have been particularly fond of Paul, and this history was a labor of love. Or he may have...

Paul, the Pharisee – Acts 26:1-11

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

I surprised myself the other when I called up all the references to the word “Pharisee” in the Bible. I expected to find at least ten times as many as I did, but it is found only twelve times. Ah, but then I thought to also check the plural form. The word...

Three Fallacies – Acts 26:8-11

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Paul bridged the testimony of his past sinful life to the testimony of his present ministry with a question. Between his comments on his youth and Pharisaism, and how the Lord saved him and commissioned him, he built a bridge with the rhetorical question: “Why...

Parables out of Heaven – Acts 26:13-14

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Please turn to Matthew 13:1 – “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things...

It’s All about Jesus (Part II) – Acts 26:13-18

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

Back at the end of August, in looking at Acts 22, we had a message that I entitled: “It’s All about Jesus.” There is probably a rule somewhere in John Broadus’ book on preaching, or perhaps in Spurgeon’s “Lectures to my Students,” which says...

Paul’s Task and Our Need (Part One) – Acts 26:18

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

The other day I watched some of the PBS television show: “Nova.” “Nova” is usually about something related to science or discovery. This one was about a group of mountain climbers who were scaling the highest mountain in Antarctica. The...

Paul’s Task and our Need (Part Two) – Acts 26:18

Jan 19, 2015 | Acts

This is our 326th message from the Book of Acts. In other words, we are averaging over 12 messages per chapter. But if every verse was as pregnant and important as this one, we’d be averaging 2 or 3 times that many. This is one of those mountain peak verses. This is...