Acts 28:17-31 - Jon B

Acts 28:17–31 (ESV)

Acts 28:17 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Acts 28:18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

Acts 28:19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation.

Acts 28:20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.”

Acts 28:21 And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.

Acts 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

Acts 28:23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

Acts 28:24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.

Acts 28:25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

Acts 28:26 “ ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

Acts 28:27 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Acts 28:28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

Acts 28:30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,

Acts 28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Acts 20:17-37 - Jon B

Acts 20:17–37 (ESV)

Acts 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
Acts 20:18 And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
Acts 20:19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;
Acts 20:20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,
Acts 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
Acts 20:23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
Acts 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,
Acts 20:27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Acts 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
Acts 20:30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Acts 20:31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.
Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Acts 20:33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.
Acts 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.
Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Acts 20:36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
Acts 20:37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,

Acts 20:17-25 - Jon B

Acts 20:17–25 (ESV)

Acts 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
Acts 20:18 And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,
Acts 20:19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;
Acts 20:20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,
Acts 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,
Acts 20:23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

Acts 20:17 - Jon B

Acts 20:17 (ESV)

Acts 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Acts 7:1-53 - Jon B

Acts 7:1–53 (ESV)
Acts 7:1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
Acts 7:2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
Acts 7:3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’
Acts 7:4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.
Acts 7:5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
Acts 7:6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.
Acts 7:7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’
Acts 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him
Acts 7:10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
Acts 7:11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.
Acts 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.
Acts 7:13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.
Acts 7:14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.
Acts 7:15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers,
Acts 7:16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Acts 7:17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt
Acts 7:18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.
Acts 7:19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.
Acts 7:20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house,
Acts 7:21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
Acts 7:22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
Acts 7:23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
Acts 7:24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
Acts 7:25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
Acts 7:26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’
Acts 7:27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Acts 7:28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
Acts 7:29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Acts 7:30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
Acts 7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:
Acts 7:32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
Acts 7:33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
Acts 7:34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
Acts 7:35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Acts 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
Acts 7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’
Acts 7:38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.
Acts 7:39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
Acts 7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
Acts 7:42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Acts 7:43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
Acts 7:44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.
Acts 7:45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David,
Acts 7:46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
Acts 7:47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
Acts 7:48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
Acts 7:49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Acts 7:50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
Acts 7:53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Acts 6:1-15 - Jon B

Acts 6:1–15 (ESV)
Acts 6:1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
Acts 6:2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
Acts 6:3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
Acts 6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
Acts 6:6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts 6:9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
Acts 6:10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
Acts 6:11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Acts 6:12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,
Acts 6:13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,
Acts 6:14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
Acts 6:15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.