ACTS TWO BELIEVERS STUDY GROUP

  Quick thought about rebuke versus facilitation of remedy.  Rebuke is such a harsh word, but I want to include in the concept any time you lovingly try to correct someone.  For sake of discussion, consider the two polarities of a response: Either the person will receive it, possibly apologize, and generally reflect how he or she may improve;  or in the opposite, the person will reject, take offense, and possibly become angry or belligerent.   RECEIVE - HUMBLE, REPENTANT, TEACHABLE HEART  VS REJECT -  PROUD, ANGRY, HARD HEART The one giving the rebuke however ought to consider their job is not merely to point out the error, but to facilitate a resolve.  Now it may not be wrong to suggest or outright bluntly rebuke a person, but if done so with extremity of words, it may tip the person from one side to the other depending on where or whether they are walking with Christ.    In all cases, before a correction is made, the...

 In Genesis God creating things each day said, It is Good, and then suddenly he says in Gen 2:18, it is NOT GOOD for man to be alone.   The question posed is, how is it not good?   Qualitatively or Ethically?   Was God saying merely that his work was incomplete, and needed improvement, or that there was something unrighteous about Adam being alone? Dr.  Tackett argues that this statement is  ethically  not good because aloneness does not mirror the Divine social order.   We can see mentions of the Godhead saying, "Let us make man in Our image."   While God is well known in Hebrew, Echad, One, we know that in the New Testament Jesus reveals a Father, Son, Holy Spirit interaction with mankind.    It was not that Adam was imperfectly made, it was that a method of demonstrating family to parallel the family of God had yet to be created.  Eve was not made a separate man, but out of the man she was made, to b...

When engaging with the world, people will come from a world-view that is not Christian.  It is important that Believers not jump to the conclusion that they will reason in the same way as our Christian friends.  It has been a historical privilege in America that by and large our generations have been cultured in basic Bible understanding.  This is gradually dissipating and being replaced by what most call secularism, which is disguised anti-God theology.  The Truth Project exposes many of their subtleties, and offers the informed Believer tools to help refute underlying assumptions that turn a "well I don't know" into "absolutely not" or "affirmatively it must be this way."  Let your yes be yes, and no no, and be convinced thoroughly of who the Creator is and why it must be so. Truth #1: God's Existence is Plain as Day, Not Obscure  Nature does not whisper or hint about Creator God, it shouts.   Romans 1:20 states plainly (for the Believer to unde...

Consider this a sneak preview of Act 8.  Simon the sorcerer was saved, baptized, and still of a wrong spirit.  Here is the passage for your own reading: The Sorcerer’s Profession of Faith 9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. The Sorcerer’s Sin 14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and ...

Spring has already passed! One Thursday, we explored the profound difference between factually knowing and personally knowing . English, for all its richness, is surprisingly limited in expressing this distinction. In Spanish, the contrast is clear: conocer versus saber . Conocer is always used when referring to knowing a person—implying relationship, experience, and intimacy—while saber refers strictly to factual knowledge. English lacks a direct equivalent for conocer ; the closest we come is “to know personally.” In Genesis, when Adam knew his wife Eve, the context reveals a deeply intimate knowing—not merely physical, though that may be included—but a knowing that transcends facts and enters the realm of shared life. John’s relationship with Jesus offers a vivid picture of this kind of personal knowing. He felt so at ease with Jesus that he leaned against Him during meals. In that culture, meals were shared reclining on rugs, with people circled closely around the food. I...

The Venerable Bede, an 8th-century historian, suggested that "Easter" came from "Eostre," an Anglo-Saxon goddess associated with spring and renewal. Bede is the only source mentioning her. Some scholars suggest that Eostre was linked to fertility and rebirth, with symbols like hares and eggs—which later became part of Easter traditions. Inscriptions referring to Matronae Austriahenae, goddesses with similar names, were discovered in Germany, supporting the idea that Eostre may have been a genuine pagan goddess. Her legacy continues in modern neopaganism, where she is sometimes venerated as a goddess of spring and renewal. In the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, the word Easter appears only once—in Acts 12:4—where it is [mis]translated from the Greek word pascha , which typically means Passover. Some scholars believe that the pagan holiday referenced here could be linked to the worship of Tammuz, a Babylonian sun god, or other Roman festivities honoring spring...