Did You Know {1}

Many scholars tie the New Testament of the Holy Bible into two neat bundles: the four Gospel narratives of the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the history of the churches that emerged after His death, burial and glorious resurrection. Beautifully connecting these two sections is the book of ACTS, a record of the early church of His apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. ACTS is a most graphic account of the transition of a “sect of the Nazarenes” into a global movement. The first seven chapters of ACTS mirrored the life of the young church in Jerusalem, while its existence in Judea and Samaria is x-rayed in the next five chapters.

The miracle that the gospel became in the Roman Empire is laid bare in the other pages of ACTS, fulfilling the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ that “I will build my church” and “you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” – MT. 16:18; ACTS 1:8 [NIV}.

Respected Christian writer J.B. Phillips after 14 years translating the New Testament agreed that “the early church lived dangerously, but never before has such a handful of people exerted such worldwide influence …. To put it shortly, the lasting excitement which follows the reading of the book is this: the thing works!” The Holy Spirit is seen in 57 events in this marvelous book, which is the window into epistles like Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. By the hand of Paul the Apostle, the Holy Spirit authored these 14 books.

In the life of the church of Jesus Christ, unbelievable but astonishing conversions have been recorded and will yet be seen. The Good News transforms murderers, rapists, terrorists, homosexuals, liars, drunkards, smokers, thieves, prostitutes, armed robbers, racists, chauvinists, atheists, haters of parents, molesters of children, purveyors of indecency, cultists, Satanists, rebels against righteous authorities, gangsters, insolent, slanderous God haters, the fearful and doubtful, false but zealous religionists and other sinners. The growth and re-branding of the church partly rests on these transformed saints of the living God. The most miraculous all-time conversion concerns Saul of Tarsus, a former Pharisee cum persecutor par excellence later renamed Paul. First announced supervising the murder of Stephen {ACTS 8:1; 22:3-21}, he waged a huge gruesome war against the young faith until he was miraculously arrested by the Lord Jesus in about A.D. 34 – ACTS 9:1-9. Hardened, committed Christians who suffered greatly under his killing ministry couldn’t believe his conversion at first – ACTS 9:21. Gloriously, Paul later became the most effective missionary for the Lord Jesus. Born of Jewish parents who were Roman citizens in Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia, the name Paul means “little.” Of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the 8^th day, he was a great doctor of the Law of Moses.

Paul’s astonishing career explains how a nondescript Jewish sect is today, the world’s largest Gentile faith and still proud of its Jewish heritage – ACTS 13:46; 18:6; 19:9; ROM. 9:1-5. Christianity and Christians owe a lot to the doggedness of this amazing servant of God. The first 12 chapters of ACTS focused on Apostle Peter, but the spotlight fell on Paul the Apostle from chapter 13. A very brilliant lawyer and multi-linguist with Roman citizenship, Paul used these benefits to win the world for Jesus Christ. These assets enabled him to reach Jews in every Diaspora, gain official recognition and escape some threatening legal entanglements {ACTS 18:15; 19:35-41; 21:30; 26:32}, speak Aramaic with the brethren in Jerusalem and discuss with philosophers and thinkers in fluent Greek at Athens, a university town and the centre of Greek learning and thinking. Regarded as the most thoroughly converted man on earth, from A.D. 41 Paul began three notable missionary journeys along the shores of northeastern Mediterranean packed with hunger, cold, fasting, shipwrecks, false accusations, Jewish conspiracies, Roman roadblocks, pirate attacks, barbarian assaults, inhospitable border patrols, fights with wild beasts, riots, stoning, beatings, perverted trials and imprisonments – ROM. 15:19.

The Holy Spirit directed Paul’s journeys – ACTS 13:4; 16:6. In the midst of preaching and establishing churches, this most notable apostle visited Jerusalem to discuss the Jewish-Gentile question about A.D. 49. Against a violent Jewish murderous mob in A.D. 57, 470 Roman soldiers were assigned to protect him – ACTS 23:12-35. Despite these restrictions, he wrote half of the books of the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ beginning with 1 Thessalonians around A. D. 49. The bulk of Christian theology was laid by the erudite Paul in these writings. The book of Romans is considered the greatest of Paul’s Epistles. Equally deemed to be the greatest book of the New Testament, it is hailed as the “constitution” of Christianity. The greatness of this Epistle is seen in the importance of its subject matter, the comprehensiveness of its grasp, the acuteness of its reasoning, the breath of its outlook and the vigour of its style. The book of Galatians has been called the “Magna Charta” of Christian liberty. As the capital of the world in the early days of the church, “all roads lead to Rome” was a notable truth and God used the travails of His indefatigable servant Paul to entrench His Gospel in Rome – ACTS 28:17-31; ROM. 1:14. Taken captive, he spent about two years as a prisoner in Caesarea and then in Rome around A. D. 61. He was released from Rome, freely preached the Good News to many people for a period of time, and then taken prisoner again. It is believed that the indomitable Apostle Paul was beheaded around A. D. 64 or 67 in Rome.

Amazed at the everlasting exploits of Paul who singlehandedly manifested the five ministries {apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher}, a man of God in our contemporary times wailed: “Whenever and wherever Apostle Paul landed, demons stirred up people to riots and fights out of fear, but whenever I show up, I am served tea!” Because Pastor Dan was commissioned to preach God’s word of power,Starplace Bible Church is a Pauline ministry by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Praise God.