 Welcome back. I don't know if the recording started ahead of this, but yeah, I was saying that we were in accept pretend and we saw how Peter went and ministered to Cornelius's household for the first time. There was a change of heart for him and people were quite eagerly expecting, you know, a word from Peter. But even when he was speaking about Jesus, he already fell upon them. And what happens next? Let's look at that. So we see later on that once the Holy Spirit fell on them, was 45, those of the circumcision who believe were astonished as many as came with Peter because of the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. Let me finish that. Then Peter asked, can anyone for it water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. So in the early church, we've already seen, particularly Acts chapter 8, when Philip goes to Samaria and he preaches the gospel. What happens next? Peter and John, they come there, the leaders of the church, they come because they want to teach the people or rather they want to minister the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The way in which God works among the Gentiles is somewhat different. Peter is pre-messaged and usually what do we expect earlier when the first time Peter preached? He preached people were water baptized but now Peter is preaching and they are Holy Spirit. Then they are water baptized. So something for us to note here because nowadays people ask questions, right? Okay, I'm a believer should I first be water baptized or be baptized of the Holy Spirit? Should I become little more mature in Christ and then, you know, we can pray for baptism in the Holy Spirit. These are all that we receive. But when you look at Acts chapter 10, the way God works, people are just listening and they are listening to the sermon. They are starting to believe in Jesus. They are baptized in the Holy Spirit. They start speaking in tongues. And Peter says, look, God only did not withhold baptism with the Holy Spirit. How can we withhold baptism with water? Let's go ahead. We will baptize them with water. So people are water baptized after Holy Spirit baptism. So just something for us to note because, you know, somewhere we may have questions regarding this matter. So I'll just open up before we jump to Acts chapter 11. If there are any points of discussion from 10, we can discuss that. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. Yeah. So I just have one question about this passage. So we see Cornelius is not a Jewish actually. So but when it says he prayed to God or he fasted, which God he was praying to actually, that's one of the doubts I have. And the other thing is I just want a little more definition on Italian regimen, what it actually means. Okay. So you see earlier we have noticed, I think it's Acts chapter 4. Yeah. So Acts 412, it says salvation is in salvation. There's no salvation with any other name, for there is no other name under heaven given above men by which we must be saved. Sorry, I messed up the line a little bit there. But the point is salvation is only in the name of Jesus. So even though Cornelius was a devout believer in God, which God was he following? He was following the Jewish God. That's what my understanding is because he was faithful to God to follow. Even though he was not a Jew, he was keeping the traditions to serve this God of the Jews. However, that was not good enough. Where is salvation found? It's found in the name of Jesus. So he needed to be saved or he needed to be born again, which is why God orchestrated this meeting and asked Peter to come and preach about Jesus. Okay. Is that clear? Yeah. So that is one thing. Now coming to the Italian regimen. Okay. Italian regimen. Well, there is a little bit that I don't find. Okay. Yeah. So there's a little bit of write up over here, which I can read. It says, see, Italian regimen is we need to understand that he is in that Roman city. So when you say Italian, right? They are Italian, isn't it? Yeah. Simple as that. It's just a regimen of that particular place in that Roman Empire. But you know, having said that, it says that there were Italian volunteers and were considered the most loyal Roman troops. Okay. And what else about that? 32 such Italian cohorts were stationed in the different provinces of the Empire. So basically, it's all these groups of soldiers. And they were, they were overseen by this particular century known as Cornelius. I think it's quite anything more if that you want to know. Okay. Sure. Yeah. Anything else? One more thing to be clear on. In verse 30, it says four days ago, I was fasting until this hour and that the ninth hour. So I mean, I think in so many places in Bible, we see this, this hour, that hour, third hour, fourth hour, and so many things. So is it like the time that we follow today, nine o'clock? Or the Bible has any other thing about it? Or is it just says the time like if it's third hour, it's three o'clock? Or how do we actually interpret it? Yeah, sure. So whenever you find these hours, right, at least in the book of Acts, it is as per the Jewish traditions. So they had particular times of prayer. Okay. Something like thrice a day, they needed to pray to God and then they would go to the temple also. That is why even when it comes to Acts chapter two, it says, I don't know which hour it says, but at that particular hour, Peter gives a defense, right? He says that it's still just what ninth hour or something. Now, how can you say that we are drunk? Because it was early in the morning. Okay. So they take consideration of those hours because those hours are very important like the correct prayer times for all the Jewish people. So that's why it's part of the conversation everywhere. Nothing else about it. And your question was today, do we have to follow? Not really. Oh, like that. Okay. So what is the third hour you're asking? Okay, let me see if I can find you that answer. When we read the time, we think it's like three o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah, I don't think it's, it's not, if it says the third hour, it does not necessarily read that it is three o'clock. Let me just check here. Anyone else do you think you can help us? Maybe you can search faster. So what hour does it say here? Ninth hour. Okay. So here, I just Google that and it says roughly three PM, three to five PM is the ninth hour. Yeah. So that's what it's not, you don't go by just because it says ninth don't go by that. I don't know why they have Yeah, so they have apparently it says here they have something like a typical divine hours, a three hour pattern where six AM, nine AM, noon, three PM and six PM are, they are prayer tires. So they were very particular about that and even the day they describe it like that. Yeah, sure. Okay. All right. So any other thoughts regarding at Sten? Okay. So at Sten, whenever we recall at Sten, something very important that we see here is that the gospel went from the Jews to the Gentiles and God used most unlikely persons such as Beta, who was a very, you know, committed Jew to minister to the Gentiles. So I mean, there's so much you can talk about it in relevance to our lives and the way we are and our mindsets are, but I'll just stop with that. I think it's for us to study and really take lessons from what actually happened. And also, you know, the way God spoke in that particular passage, that's also something to study. Now moving on to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11 is a very, very encouraging passage because we see the birth of, or rather the existence of another church, a strong church. And how did this church come about? We are going to look at that. Who are the people who actually sort of established this church? We are going to look at that. We're also going to look at how this church functioned. We're also going to look at the impact of this church, okay, a special church. So we'll go ahead and write it to Acts chapter 11. So now coming to the first portion, we will still be talking a little bit about, you know, what just happened in Acts chapter 10. So let's read through that initial portion, Acts 11 verses 1 through 18, where Peter narrates his experience of the trance, what he saw. So maybe we won't read it because as I told you, there'll be a lot of repetition of the same vision. So he just repeats the whole thing. And then he explains, right, how God actually brought him to Godelius' house. And then when he started to speak the passage, he describes that the Holy Spirit actually fell on the people. And yeah, let's start God. Okay, verse 17. I'll just read verse 17. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God, you see. So finally Peter is giving into the plans of God. And he's accepting what God is accepting. Okay. So this is an explanation actually that Peter is giving in Jerusalem. So all this explanation was mentioned to the believers in Jerusalem. The reason is they know Peter as a man who always stands up for the Jews or here they are using the term circumcision. Who are circumcised, obviously the Jews were circumcised. So he was a man who was always for the people of circumcision. But now they'll question and visit it. They'll ask him, how could you go to Cornelius' house? How could you go to a Gentiles house? So then he gives this whole explanation of how he saw the vision and what he understood. And when he was talking, you know, Holy Spirit was poured out and God did not be told the same gift that he gave us who am I to stop. So I went ahead and I spoke to the Gentiles. And what is the outcome of that? We find in verse 18 that the believers who heard this news, they were also happy. So thank God, but they were happy that the gospel was being taken out to the Gentiles now moving on. From verse 19, I told us that we are going to see about a special church. So here we'll start to study about a church called as the Church of Antioch. So there are many Antiochs. So don't get confused. You'll also find Antioch again. But this is the Antioch of Syria. Antioch of Syria. That's how you must remember. That's chapter 11. Antioch is of Syria. So how did this church come about? We see in verse 19 of Acts 11, that there was a great time of persecution. And at the time when Stephen, Stephen was martyred, and at that time people fled. And they fled into these regions, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch. And over there through one of, through those people who actually left Jerusalem and then they went off to another city, the church was established. So whenever we try to look for the names of the people who planted this strong church, you cannot find the names. So what is the significance of this thought? The significance is that actually God can use anyone to plant the church. We need not necessarily be people with the five-fold ministry calling on our lives. It can be any believers because the church of Antioch came about like that. Some believers who went there, they planted the church. And then of course, once the church was planted, we see the emergence of very strong leaders. You will see names like Barnabas and Paul at this point. So they will start to lead the church. But it was not initiated by any five-fold ministry. Office people. All right. Let's probably just read through the passage that will make things clearer for you. Verse 92, verse 26. Okay, this is about the church of Antioch. Can somebody read it? Now those who were scattered after the prostitution that rose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Heronists preaching the Lord Christ, the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them that all that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed to Talsus to seek soul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for the whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Amen. Okay, so there you go. This is the second decade. Remember we were talking about the first decade, Acts 1 to like seven somewhere there. Now Acts 8 to Acts 13 is the next decade and what exactly are we seeing happening from Acts 8? We talked about subarea and from there we saw how Philip went to Caesarea and then we saw the Gospel going out to Ethiopia through the unit and then Acts 9 we saw Damascus. Even earlier we saw Philip was lent to that Gaza place and Damascus. That was another name that we saw and in that passage Acts 9 again later through the ministry of Peter we saw Jobah, Sharon, later we move on at Stead and then Cornelius's house Caesarea. Okay, so what's happening? Till like Acts 7 the spotlights were on Jerusalem but now the revival fires are spreading. So excuse me quite clearly and how is it spreading? That's another thing for us to look at. Through volunteers we had Philip, through leaders Peter and then we now are beginning to see the work through Paul also. Paul tried to preach the Gospel so there's another leader Paul and now again we see the Antioch Church okay and the leaders of Jerusalem take notice of another region now okay Antioch. Now when we are discussing about the revival fires spreading Acts 8 to about Acts 13 that again is a decade actually a decade of time where the Gospel went across the region. We notice that the church of Jerusalem when they saw that you know the Gospel was spreading they also took the initiative to build up the people. So Samaria they sent their leaders now that they are hearing about the church in Antioch they need to send some leaders isn't it? So whom are they sending this time? Barnabas okay he was a good man they sent Barnabas and they wanted Barnabas to actually start to equip the church in Antioch so that is very important remember we can't just have churches planted and then think that automatically people will grow the leaders of the church were very responsible leaders of Jerusalem so they were governing okay and also this is what is known as apostolic ministry in your second here we've talked about it right where apostolic is to be sent out to new regions but that also means that we must have a good governance over the churches that are planted so all this is observed you know as as we read through Acts 8 through 13 okay so the church in Antioch we have now seen the name of a person called Barnabas who was sent here to equip them so let's read on and see what else is going to happen in this Antioch church okay so Barnabas is camp did brother read verse 25 okay a five so okay till 26 so we've also seen the name of Saul even earlier who was the one who spoke for Saul in Jerusalem it was Barnabas okay and I told us that the personality of Barnabas was such that he wanted to accommodate even if it was a young leader he was like a mentor figure so this time also when it comes to Antioch he feels that Saul will be a good person to actually build up the people here so he goes and seeks a Saul okay and when he found him scriptresses he brought them to Antioch so how long do they do ministry for Barnabas for one year for one year they do ministry and a lot of people are taught and it says something special for the first time the believers were called as Christians in Antioch before this what what were the believers known as or what was their faith known as we've discussed that also do you recall those who believed in Jesus what were they called Saul was persecuting the people of the of the way that's right yeah so they were known as the people of the way and now for the first time they are called as Christians okay in Acts chapter 11 so I can see a question from Jeffina she says what's the meaning of Hellenist? Hellenists are Greek speaking Jews so there were Hebrew speaking Jews and there were Greek speaking Jews and a little more about Hellenists could be that the Hebrew speaking Jews were proud of you know they are sort of they felt that they were more they were pure Jews whereas the Greek speaking Jews were a little bit touched by the Greek culture so they were looked down upon that is why if you remember Acts chapter 6 there also there was a dispute right between the Hebrew speaking Jews and the Hellenists that their widows were neglected so that's how it was okay coming back to Acts 11 so there's a church of Antioch you have Barnabas you have Saul one year they teach and the church is actually like like a it's a it's a huge assembly as of now so let's see what else is happening at this point there will be a relief which will be planned for Judea so could somebody read from verse 27 to 30? Acts chapter 11 verse 27 to 30 and in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch then one of them named Agatha stood up and showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world which also happened in the day of gladius Caesar then the disciples each according to his ability determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea this they also did and send it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas yeah so here we can see the picture of apostolic ministry coming through even more power because there's a church of Antioch initially who was sent to the church of Antioch a bunch of teachers Barnabas Saul they came for a whole year what did they do they taught what could they have taught same thing remember we discussed in the early church they taught the doctrine of the apostles which would have been the teachings of Jesus and the you know the the key books of the Jews and also you know they would have proclaimed about the kingdom of God and many such things that Jesus actually taught them same things would have been master to the new believers in Antioch so a bunch of teachers have come they have done their work who is the next team that is being sent from Jerusalem prophets okay so how was apostolic ministry done those days so if there is a new church plant it cannot be neglected we have to build up the people so we may need to send teachers to establish them in the key doctrine that prophets right so that the work of the spirit is strengthened in their midst so at this point you have a bunch of prophets going one of whom a notable prophet is Agabus so Agabus comes there and Agabus makes a prophecy he talks about a famine that was spread throughout the world okay and so when they hear about this that there is going to be a famine they this church decides that they want to send relief to the brethren Judea brethren Judea so what do they do they start to work on it okay so we have to see how reliable or how credible the prophets of those days were so the prophet came and told them there's going to be a famine excuse me just a moment okay thank you so I was saying that you know there were credible prophets because it was quite a major prophecy that there's going to be a famine and people actually responded to that word obviously if there's going to be a famine then there will be needs right people have needs so they start working towards the relief which they would send to the brethren in Judea and that's how you know the the church was actually strong and strengthening all the you may want to call it the daughter church or the sister church this is the kind of terminology that is used for church plans but the church of Jerusalem which also you may want to call it as the base church or the mother church it continued to strengthen the smaller churches so today when we are raising up apostolic ministries how could we impact the region so we must also look at planting churches right so over here also we have church plans but the base church or the mother church should be sensitive enough as led by God to keep sending people who can impart first we saw teaching right so teachers can be sent profits can be sent we can send you know any other set of people so that the the smaller churches can be strengthened so mission teams sending mission teams out that would be a good way of really doing a strong apostolic work in our times and back in those days you know they were not even able to travel as much as we can travel today so we have a great opportunity that has been given to us to really strengthen many churches nowadays we also have technology so things are so much more easier so what are we seeing so far we're seeing the building up of smaller churches and the spread of the gospel to different regions so right at this time what are some of the other things that are happening around we've seen what is happening in the church okay but what is happening around that is also something for us to take note of you remember the early years when Peter John and the Apostles were ministering persecution rose up against them so what is the situation as far as persecution is concerned acts chapter 12 will shed some light on it so let's go ahead and read it's not like you know very long passage so maybe if somebody can read the entire passage chapter 12 acts chapter 12 which one now about the time hello the king stretched out his hand to from church then he killed James the brother of John with the sword and because he saw that it pleased the Jews he proceeded further to cease Peter also now it was during the days of unleavened bread so when he had arrested him he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him intending to intending to bring him before the people after Passover Peter was therefore kept in prison but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church and when Harold was about to bring him out that night Peter was sleeping bound with food chains between two soldiers and the gods before the door were keeping the prison now behold an angel of the Lord stood by him and a light show in the prison and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up saying arise quickly and his chains fell off his hands then the angel said to him grid yourself and tie on your sandals and so he did and he said to him put on your garment and following so when he went out and followed him and did not know that what was done by the angel was real but thought he was seeing a vision when they were passed the first and the second god posed they came to an iron gate that leads to the city which opened to them of its own accord and they went out and went down one street and immediately the angel departed from him and when Peter had come to himself he said now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and has delivered me from the hand of Harold and from all the expectation of the Jewish people so when he had considered this he came to the house of Mary the mother of John who was whose surname was Mark where many were gathered to get away and as Peter knocked at the door of the gate a girl named Rhoda came to answer and when she recognized Peter's voice because of the gladness she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate but they said to her you are beside yourself yet she kept insisting that it was so so they said it is his angel now Peter continued knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished but motioning them motioning to them with his hand to keep silent he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and he said go tell these things to James and to the brethren and he departed and went to another place then as soon as it was day there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter but when Harold had searched for him and not found him he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death and he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there now Harold had been very angry with the people of Tyre but they came to him with one accord and having made blathers the king's personal aid their friend they asked for peace because their country was supplied with food by the king's country so on a said day there was a raid in royal apparel sat on his throne and gave an oration to them and the people kept shouting the voice of a god and not of a man then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God and he was eaten by worms and died but the word of God grew and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul written from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and they also took with them John whose name was Mark. Okay thank you Devina for reading the entire passage. So this passage we begin with what the environment looked like at this point when in different regions you had church plants persecution was still on so that had not changed at all and we see the perpetrator of the opposition in this situation is Herod earlier we saw the council we saw Saul who was giving consent to the to the murder of Stephen and then Saul who went to Damascus so we saw all of that but right now Herod who is this Herod because you see that name Herod even earlier that Jesus was God so Herod would be more specifically Herod a grippa one here so he is the grandson of Herod the great about whom we had studied earlier who ruled in the days of Jesus's birth and this Herod a grippa one being the grandson of you know that that particular Herod the great had a similar mindset he was persecuting God's people now this Herod was also related to another Herod Herod Antipas okay and Herod Antipas was the uncle of Herod a grippa one plus we see that this Herod Antipas was he played a role in the trial of Jesus so seemed like the whole family they were into opposing the work of God I don't know why it was like that but that's what we see here so Herod is now angry with the church and he is harassing the church now in harassing the church you tell me what is the best way to harass a group okay one key thing that people could do is to play hold on the leaders of the of that particular group so that's exactly what Herod did now we may ask the question why did he want to target the leaders you see it's all political so maybe he would have got a good response of the people he would have got their favor by showing his power and that's why he did these things so he went ahead and it says killed James who is this James there are two James we must not get confused and it clarifies here Luke clarifies James the brother of John so James the brother of John was killed but as we go on in the book of facts we will also read about another James who emerged as the leader of the church okay sort of the main overseer of the church of Jerusalem but that James is the brother of Jesus okay so that's a different James don't get confused the James who was killed here is the brother of John all right so one leader one apostle is murdered that's a very painful time for the church and Herod because of the kind of response he got by killing James he also wants to kill Peter so just to get more points with the people but strangely fortunately or unfortunately it was a period of time days of the ugly with bread when he did not want to disturb the things that were going on in the city so he gave he caught Peter he wanted to kill Peter but because of you know the days of the ugly with bread he postponed it he did not kill Peter right away but he kept Peter safe how did he keep Peter safe we see the description he was put in the prison and there were four squads of soldiers to keep him so that description okay is to say that there were a good number of strong soldiers whose custody Peter was detailed so there's no way that Peter can escape all right so that is what we understand then what else the idea that Herod Agrippa one hand was that he is now going to keep him and finally during Passover he'll bring him out before the people he will murder Peter also and prove to the people that you know he's so powerful but something amazing happened we continue to see supernatural intervention we find that in a difficult time how did the church respond earlier when Peter and John were threatened and Peter and John were put in prison they came they prayed isn't it they came back together and they cried out to God and they started to declare the power of God declare the glory of God and say God you know you do your works even go far free so the surroundings have not changed the persecution has not changed even the believers are not changed they continue to pray it's a crucial time but the leaders of the church have been caught but the church the Bible says in verse five it says when Peter was in prison constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church so that is the way in which they responded and you know when prayer is happening we can see God intervening so a miraculous intervention took place what happened we see that an angel goes and sets Peter free from the prison so it's almost amazing it's like a movie right so Peter is set free his chains fell off and the angel speaks to him it says arise quickly like you know guard yourself tie your sandals or meaning get ready if you put on your garments follow me and the angel is taking him out of the prison and Peter thinks he's probably seeing the dream but in reality it was an angel let him out and he comes to the house of a lady known as Mary who's the mother of a person called as John Mark John Mark is a significant person we are going to read about him later so remember his name but this was his house Mary John Mark's mother her her house and over there the prayers would be so now that Peter has been released through the intervention of an angel people are still praying in that house and a girl wrote up if she comes and she opens the door and she finds Peter there but look at the irony of this thing she goes back and tells the people she's excited because they were praying for Peter to be set free God is set free but when she comes back with the news they are not believing her they're saying it can't be his angel because in that Jewish culture they had a belief that every person had an angel and so that's why they are saying it must be his angel but God actually set Peter free so that also kind of tells us sometimes we pray for things but when it actually happens we're like a really did it happen we're not even to accept it it seems like that for the believers but Peter was now set free and you know God did something amazing in his life and you know finally he is now sort of reunited with the church okay yeah and when this happens Peter is set free obviously there will be repercussions for the soldiers because those days if a prisoner escapes apparently the soldier would be killed so it's a big deal to let a prisoner escape so that's what we see in verse 18 and 19 it says that there was no small stir about the soldiers about what had become of Peter but when Herod had searched for them not found him he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death so they were actually killed because Peter had escaped it and after that comes the death of Herod so something really strange happens we find that Herod is it is pride and it is glory so he had been angry with a section of people of Tyre and Sidon but they came to him you know just to make peace and all that and what happens is Herod goes on like parade okay just to just to show off his glory that he's so capable he's able to help people and he's this mighty king and all of that but when he does that a picture that is painted by Luke for us is that he was a man of pride okay he was a man of great pride the kind of apparently war and the way he spoke and even the the praises of the fame that he got from people even said things like hey this is the voice of a god and not a man but we see that when Herod was walking in this pride an angel struck him it says okay meaning you know how it is right like the Bible says that God resist the proud and he gives grace to the humble so Herod's pride made God very angry and we even find that somebody who walked an incredible pride at that time and maybe not just pride but we know the kind of things that he was involved in he was persecuting the church but there was a judgment that came upon this man when he was thinking that he's so great and grand and mighty and all that he just met a very sad end and the Bible says that he was eaten by worms and died okay so God brought an end to the proud ways of man and the foolish so let's just stop here I think our time is up there's so much for you to think about the sort of process we didn't even have discussions maybe we'll have to the next class so we'll just close with our prayer I'll ask Jackie not to J. Heavenly Father we come to you under the name of Jesus we thank you for this day we thank you for everything that you are doing through us Jesus we thank you for the authority and the power that you have placed in us we thank you God that you are a God who speaks your God who is our everlasting help God I just pray that whatever we have learned today we praise you for who you are help us to get deeper in our relationship with you Jesus through the lessons that we learned today help us to put it into practice so that we can walk in the authority that you have given us we can walk in your power we can walk for your glory down here on this earth we give you all the glory and honor that Jesus made me great thank you thank you thank you everyone God bless you