Category: Bible

Posts from The Bible Blog, by Peter DeHaan

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Peter Heals a Lame Man

The second sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 3:1-4:4 (specifically, Acts 3:12-26).

Setting: Jerusalem, in the temple

Speaker: Peter

Audience: Jews

Preceding Events: Peter, through the power of Jesus, heals a man who was crippled from birth.

Overall Theme: Jesus, God’s servant, was foretold in the Old Testament. His execution at the hands of ignorant people was part of God’s plan, as was his rising from the dead.

Scripture Quoted: Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19, Genesis 22:18; 26:4

Central Teaching: Jesus’ name has the power to heal.

Subsequent Events: Peter is interrupted by the temple guards and he and John are thrown in prison, yet thousands more believe in Jesus.

Key Lesson: A miraculous healing provides an opportunity for truth about Jesus to be shared, which results in mass conversions.

If, at church, you saw a wheelchair-bound man get up and walk, what would you think?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Peter at Pentecost

The first sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 2:1-41 (specifically Acts 2:14-36).

Setting: Jerusalem on Pentecost

Speaker: Peter

Audience: Jews from many nations

Preceding Events: The Holy Spirit arrives and empowers the disciples to speak in other languages. Unable to comprehend what is happening, some in the crowd conclude that the disciples are drunk. (This may be the original source for the phrase “drunk on the Holy Spirit.”)

Overall Theme: Jesus died but is alive again – and he is Lord

Scripture Quoted: Joel 2:28-32, Psalm 16:8-11, Psalm 110:1

Central Teaching: Repent (change your ways) and be baptized

Subsequent Events: 3,000 respond

Key Lesson: Through the Holy Spirit, amazing things can happen that go far beyond man’s capabilities to accomplish on his own.

What would have been your reaction if you where there to witness these events?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Sermons in the Book of Acts

There are a number of “sermons” (teachings, messages, proclamations) found in the book of Acts. While the definition of what constitutes a sermon and the precise number of them may be open for debate, I put the number at eleven.

There are three from Peter, one from Stephen, and seven from Paul:

1) Acts 2:14-36 (Peter)
2) Acts 3:12-26 (Peter)
3) Acts 7:1-53 (Stephen)
4) Acts 10:34-43 (Peter)
5) Acts 13:16-41(Paul)
6) Acts 17:22-31(Paul)
7) Acts 20:18-35 (Paul)
8) Acts 22:3-21 (Paul)
9) Acts 24:10-21 (Paul)
10) Acts 26:2-29 (Paul)
11) Acts 28:25-28 (Paul)

In the next posts these eleven sermons in Acts will be summarized.

There are many other shorter teachings and words uttered by the apostles that are recorded in the book of Acts. These are also worthy of consideration, but only longer messages that are delivered in public settings will be discussed.

Also, keep in mind that many of the letters recorded in the New Testament are written sermons.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

It’s All Good

In my prior post about Joseph, we saw that Joseph’s audacious sharing of his dreams was likely the catalyst for his brothers’ selling him as a slave and then staging his death.

Joseph would have been better off to have kept his mouth shut.

However, had Joseph kept quiet, his brothers may not have sold him as a slave. Joseph would not have ended up in Egypt. He would not have interpreted the Pharaoh’s dream and been promoted to second in command.

He would not have been in a position to stockpile foodstuffs during the good years in preparation for the lean years to follow. He would not have been distributing food when his hungry brothers came calling — and it would not have been him that they bowed down to.

This is an example of how God can work bad things out for good — which is something that he does for those who love him and are aligned with him.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Joseph, the Dreamer

In the story of Jacob’s son Joseph, we read that Joseph had a couple of dreams.

The implicit meaning of his dreams was that his older brothers would become subservient to him, as would his father and mother. To his family this no doubt seemed to be mere wishful thinking of a young boy who was tired of being last and wanted some attention.

The dream, however, was correct and its predictions did eventually happen. In these two dreams, it was later confirmed that Joseph had heard from God and that he heard correctly.

It may not, however, have been a good idea to share the dreams with this family. His father was insulted and chastised him for his impudent remarks. His ill-advised revelation also fueled his brothers’ jealousy towards him, no doubt hastening their selling him off as a slave.

The lesson to be learned from Joseph is that just because God has revealed something to us, does not mean that it is prudent to share it.

While it is often helpful to tell others what God is doing in our lives or teaching us, sometimes his words to us are for our ears only.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

God’s Promises to Father Abraham

One of the central characters in the book of Genesis is Father Abraham. God calls Abraham to move to a different place, a location that God would reveal to him as the journey progressed.

Because of Abraham’s obedience and faith. God promised to make him into a great nation. But the story doesn’t end there. As Abraham continues in obedience to God, God keeps promising him more and more.

Consider the following sequence:

“I will make you into a great nation” (Genesis 12:2).
“You will be the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4).
“I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you” (Genesis 17:6).
“All nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:18).

With each step of obedience, the scope of the promise increases. God’s ultimate promise to Abraham is that all nations will be blessed through him.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Unity and Language

It is interesting how the Old Testament of the Bible is often in contrast with the New Testament.

For example, in the story about the tower of Babel, God confuses the people’s languages and since they can no longer communicate, they scatter. He did this because they were working together; their goal was so that the world would know them.

Fast-forward a couple thousand years and we hear Jesus praying for unity — that his followers would be one. His goal was so that the world would know God.

A few weeks after this, at Pentecost, language differences were temporarily overcome, with people hearing about Jesus in their native tongue.

Although Jesus’ prayer for unity goes far beyond supernaturally restoring what was lost at Babel, it was a start. But Jesus’ ultimate goal was that his followers would be one, thereby not hampering the spreading of their faith.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

She’s My Sister

Abraham, the great man of faith, did not always act that way. Once, when fearing for his safety, he lied to king Abimelech, claiming that Sarah was his sister and hiding the fact that they were married.

Assured by Abraham’s lie, Abimelech felt free to take Sarah into his harem. Fortunately, God intervened before anything happened to her, revealing the truth of the situation to Abimelech in a dream.

God’s instructions to Abimelech were simple: return Sarah to Abraham and then Abraham would pray for Abimelech.

Abimelech quickly returned Sarah as instructed. He also gave many gifts to Abraham, as well as to Sarah. Then Abraham prayed for Abimelech and everything was made right.

What is interesting is that God never told Abimelech to give gifts to Abraham and Sarah. Abimelech did that on his own; God did not require that.

I wonder how many times we act in the same way, doing things that God didn’t ask us to do and that he didn’t require.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Forgiving Sins

Jesus’ teaching on binding and loosing is a bit perplexing and worthy of careful contemplation. A parallel passage talks about forgiving sin and is even more disconcerting.

Jesus says that if we forgive someone’s sins, they will be forgiven; conversely if we don’t forgive someone’s sins, they will not be forgiven.

That is an even heavier burden, realizing that our holding of a grudge — that is, not forgiving someone — will result in the withholding of forgiveness for their sins.

However, it is even more weighty than that.

Consider the “Lord’s Prayer” and the phrase “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Through this prayer, we are actually asking God to only forgive us to the degree to which we forgive others.

Given the severity of the ramifications, we need to be most diligent in forgiving all others and not holding a grudge.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Binding and Loosing

In the post about the easy yoke, we learned that a yoke was essentially a Rabbi’s teaching, of what was prohibited and what was allowed. Jesus had his own yoke and he said it was easy.

The process of ascertaining what things were to be prohibited, was the act of binding. To “bind” something, was to prohibit it; that is, to hold to it tightly. To “bind” implies obligation.

The process of determining what things were to be allowed, was the act of losing. To “lose” something was to allow it; that is, to let go. To “loose” implies freedom.

Since Jesus’ yoke was light, there must have been only a few things that he wanted to “bind” and many things that he wanted to “lose.”

However, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He also told his disciples that “whatever you bind (prohibit) on earth will be bound (prohibited) in heaven and whatever you loose (allow) on earth will be loosed (allowed) in heaven.”

In doing so, he implicitly gave them — and us — the opportunity to interpret scripture just like he and the Rabbis were doing — with the promise of agreement in heaven.

As such, we need to be extremely careful about the things we bind and loose; there are eternal consequences.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.