The Father's House Young Adults

The Father's House Young Adults A group of Jesus lovers from college age to thirties that comes together Thursday nights at 7pm.

11/19/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 28

Here we are! The closing chapter of Acts! And what do we find? Paul being the man. First, we see him serving his captors that the Lord delivered into his hands and saved their lives. He’s gathering firewood in winter for the men freezing from coming out of the water. It’s cold and he grabs a bundle of sticks and grabs a snake with them. One commentary pointed out that a viper never latches on and always recoils when biting someone but this shows how cold the snake must’ve been.

The Lord uses this to open the hearts of the people on the island the way He used the storm and Paul’s prophetic warning to open the hearts of the 276 on the boat. Then, he gets to Rome and gathers the Jews to minister to them after they’re (the Jews)the ones that have been fighting to have him killed back home.

The sole focus of his life is to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit and to watch for God’s open doors to share the Gospel!

Are we open to the Lord leading?
Are we bold enough to speak for Him when called upon?

Well guys, I’m going to take a break from the DBS and pray about where we’re going from here! I knew I wanted us to go through Acts together…going to see if that was the assignment from the Lord or if we’re to continue somewhere else.

Love you guys!

11/17/2022

Daily Bible study - Acts chapter 27

Can we just talk about the favor that Paul has for a second and what God is doing here?!

The Augustan Cohort is basically the Roman special forces. The unit was stationed in Syria to crush uprisings there. This is like our governor hearing you share a testimony and deciding to call a high ranking Seal Team 6 member off of a mission in another country to come back and be put in charge of transporting you to speak to the president. Luke points out who this man is because it’s a HUGE deal for this man to be brought in and assigned to Paul!

Then they stop at Sidon and this special forces guy that’s been entrusted with him let’s him leave to go stay with his friends while they’re there.

I love that the Lord tells him that they’ll all die so he can tell all the people on the boat(was anyone else surprised when they said there were 276 people on the ship?! I pictured there being like fifty!) then they saw that death was coming and as soon as it was clear that death was coming and God’s word was proven, then He shows up to Paul and gives them into his hand so he can tell the people that God will spare their lives and they watch that play out too. God is showing Himself to all of those people!

What did you see?! Love you guys!

11/16/2022

When looking into some of this, I found some really interesting things about the "Herodians". It appears that it wasn't just a family but a sect of the Jewish order like the Pharisees and Sadducees except many believe that they differentiated themselves because they believed Herod the Great was actually the messiah. Some believe that the Herodians were dependents of the Essenes, who wrote the Dead Sea scrolls! There are some other things out there that says Paul was actually related to Agrippa. Josephus writes about a man named "Saulus" that is a kinsman to Agrippa. In chapter 16 of Romans, he writes to "greet his kinsman Herodias". Kinsman either literally means a family member or sometimes, in a looser sense, someone of the same nation.

So, he is happy to be pleading his case before Agrippa because he is an "expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews" because his family, if they are indeed the Essenes, they were scribes and keepers of the history of Judaism. Paul, knows that he believes in God and knows the law and will be able to say that he hasn't done anything wrong.

Isn't it awesome that when addressing a knowledgeable person that knows the promises, Paul can convert them most of the time! What a brilliant mind! I love that Agrippa says he's almost persuaded to become a Christian. Paul lets them all know that it's his desire that they know God the way he does.

God is orchestrating this all where he is kept alive but not released so that he will make it to speak before the highest powers in the land!

Love you guys! What did you see?

11/14/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 25

So, this is my second attempt to post this. I typed this long thing out and then the post failed and I lost all of my work. 😭 So, I'm going to try to retype this as well as I can. 😅 It's probably going to be much shorter though.

This feels like it's the least spiritual Bible study I've done. This chapter continues the recounting of Paul's journey but the main things I was drawn to here was actually to search out more context for a couple of things. These things add to the picture for me and help me to see what their journeys, their land, and their story was really like.

The first was why, in the opening portion, they said they went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem and then down to Caesarea from Jerusalem. Caesarea is far north of Jerusalem so this was odd to me and then I realized that Caesarea is on the coast and Jerusalem is in the mountain country. The journey would've felt like going down out of the mountains.

Secondly, I looked into who Agrippa was and he was actually "Herod Agrippa II". His predecessors were very violent and were the Herods we associate with all of the violence associated with the Herod name. He was actually the last of the Herod line that held the throne. The people of Judah ran him out when tensions were on the rise between the Jews and Rome and he sided with Rome to try to keep from war. He lived out the rest of his days in Rome. This actually played out not long after this story of him hearing Paul.

Bernice is interesting too. They mention her but don't say who she actually is. Bernice is Agrippa's sister who actually married her uncle and when he passed away, she moved in with her brother, Agrippa, and lived in an incestuous relationship with him. Sooooo..that's gross. Both of those things aren't recorded in the Bible but are in other Jewish historical texts. But this tells a little about the two that Paul was speaking with.

This chapter being mostly the recounting of these events, I honestly didn't pull a new lesson from this outside of finding context for those two things that I saw.

So, help me out! What did you see? What did I miss?!

11/13/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 24

Paul is still on trial in Caesarea and we find out here that Paul stays there for two years. But, over the course of the two years, we see that Felix and his wife are calling Paul to them to hear about "the Way", about life in Christ. So he gets this time to minister to them and I think it's important to see that they sum up in verse 24 and 25 what how Paul approaches and lays out our faith. If you're going to share the Gospel..I think this very brief syllabus of what he went over says a lot. Verse 24 says that he was talking to them about faith in Christ. Let's look at that.

I would think that if he talked to them about faith in Christ, he probably shared his own conversion story and maybe others he knows. Testimonies! Then, he shares about righteousness(Holiness..right standing with God), self-control(a fruit of the Spirit and how we maintain righteousness..obviously needing repentance and His grace along the way as we grow), and the judgement to come(when people are sorted by who operated in self-control and lived righteously and who didn't and are then cast into the lake of fire[hell]).

It was at that point that they were afraid and sent him away. But, because Felix was greedy and knew Paul had been doing pretty well for himself at one point, he kept bringing Paul back expecting a bribe but what he got was the Gospel!

So Paul's strategy to discuss faith in Christ, whether he starting with his testimony or not, was teaching on righteousness, self-control, and the judgement to come.

Have a good day guys! Love y'all!

11/12/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 23

Isn't it interesting how Paul knows that he is to die, but now, he has ended the last chapter making sure everyone knows he's Roman so that the military would be scared to touch or kill him. And actually, you notice that instead of being put in prison like he was in so many other places, here he's being put in the barracks to stay with the soldiers. Then, he's sent to Felix at the end of this chapter and it says that he was put in Herod's Praetorium. The footnotes here just say that means headquarters. If you look up the actual definition, it's the tent of a commander of armies that they use when traveling. It's a luxurious setting. So Paul knows he's headed to death and there will be much worse to come, but while he has the Roman card to play while he's here...he's staying comfortable for the moment.

He's really clever in seeing the ways to bring dissension in the crowds that are there to kill him. Now, he has the Pharisees in Jerusalem on his side and only the Sadducees still want him dead there. But, the Lord tells him in verse eleven to be of good cheer because he will now get to go all the way to Rome and share the Gospel there.

So, after rushing to Jerusalem to be killed but then scaring the soldiers into not wanting to harm him anymore and causing dissension in the room where he's on trial with the Jews and getting himself rescued from an ambush and death there, we now know that the reason is because it set in motion the journey to his death elsewhere. A place of massive importance to the entire known world at the time! Rome! God is going to place him before the highest authority in the land and they will hear the Gospel!

11/11/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 22

As we've been doing this Bible study, some of the things I've been pointing out aren't huge revelations but just add context to what we are seeing and more fully gives us the picture of what they were living in or why they are doing what they are doing in the particular verse we are reading. This chapter is mostly Paul's recounting and testimony of his conversion. So, there isn't a ton that I saw today that we haven't already talked about..but..this actually threw me back to thinking about what we talked about in the young adults service last night.

The Lord had me play the Nifento documentary again for them and there were only a few that showed up last night. But it was a powerful and deeply challenging night. When the Lord told me to play it, I felt in my Spirit the significance of the time after the video being greater than the video but I had no idea where we were headed. After watching this documentary about these people who are finding joy and finding God in the midst of persecution and suffering, we contemplated what our answer would be if found with a gun to our heads telling us to renounce Christ or die.

I talked about the story of Cassie Bernall at the Columbine High School shooting in the 90's and how the young gunmen stood her up in her school cafeteria and asked if she was a Christian with a gun to her head and she said "yes" so they killed her in front of the whole school. Her story went out and her devotion to Christ challenged my generation of teens about our commitment to Christ!

So many people are living in that place all over the world and we talked about Paul's choice to rush back to Jerusalem SO THAT those that would have him killed would be there. And here, in our reading today, the people are actually hanging on his every word! UNTIL...he gets to the statement that he already knows will throw the mob into a frenzy. He told them that God sent him to the Gentiles. He didn't shy away from it, he went head first into it knowing how they would react.

My challenge to the guys that were with me last night was, "would you stand for Christ if it meant certain death? Do you live as the dead man now, abandoning your own ways for Christ to shine through you?"

So, that's my challenge to you too. Would you stand up and say the very things that you knew would get you killed if it meant not denying Christ before men? He says that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before the Father. Martyrdom is the ultimate test of that devotion. We aren't put in that position in the U.S. often. Cassie Bernall was and now she stands with the crowd of martyrs in Heaven!

Search your heart and ask God to strengthen your resolve if you don't know what your answer would be!

11/10/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 21

Paul is on his journey to Jerusalem. When they get to Caesarea, they go to the house of Philip the evangelist and it jumped out at me that it said "who was one of the seven". I didn't know what that meant to just say it like that. Seven what? The first commentary I read gave me the answer. Earlier in Acts, chapter 6 I believe, they instituted the role of what we call "deacon". A word which comes from the Greek word for "servant". There were to be seven of them. But they apparently commonly referred to them as simply "the seven". So, those with the "five fold ministry" calls(apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist[Ephesians 4]) could hold positions as elders or as one of "the seven"(deacons). I found that interesting.

We see prophetic people confirming what Paul already knows by the Holy Spirit, that he will be captured and die in Jerusalem. They are warning him and pleading with him to not go but he knows it's actually his call to go. Some people with a prophetic gift may see something and warn you away from it but you have to be able to hear from the Lord for yourself because some will be responding in the flesh to what they see in the Spirit. Their natural reaction is to try to save him when he knows that's what he is to do. It's like when Peter tells Jesus that He won't die after Jesus lays out that He is to lay down His life. Jesus rebukes him and whether He was talking to Peter or rebuking satan directly because he was using Peter's words to try to sway Jesus to save Himself...He shuts it down because He knows what He has to do. So we have to hear from the Lord for ourselves so we know when people are speaking from their flesh because of what they see or if it goes along with what the Spirit has said to us.

I still think it's interesting to see how much the believing Jews were still walking out the law too. James said, "we have four men who have taken a vow". James led the church at Jerusalem so four of their men had taken a vow that involved this ceremony at the temple. So Paul also takes part in this vow and ceremony to show the Jews that he is still honoring the law also. So, we as Gentiles don't have to keep the law but believing Jews, as God's covenant people, are still holding to elements of the law.

I just want to point out that Paul was hurrying to Jerusalem to get there for the day of Pentecost. A high holy day where Jews from every part of the known world would travel back to Jerusalem. Then Jews from Asia that had been seeking to kill him during his travels who had come to Jerusalem for Pentecost, they were the ones that stirred everyone up and had everyone seize him and beat him. The Spirit had shown him that he was to die in this way so he was hurrying back so that the very men that would get him killed would be there. He was hurrying to make sure that he died the way the Spirit had shown him in order to bring glory to God through his martyrdom. Wow. That's mind blowing! How he was rushing through the last two chapters so that he wouldn't miss the opportunity to be killed for Christ. That challenges me.

Love you guys! Have a great day!

11/09/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 20

All I can say is that I am challenged to my core by Paul's words to the Ephesian elders that he had meet him in Miletus.

You all know that I've told you along the way that our young adult group isn't a normal group. You are all leaders! And this whole address to those elders is Paul reinforcing what leadership should look like to those elders because this was the last chance he would have to share with them.

Let's pull some points out of what he said here and lay them out clearly. I'm just going verse by verse and pulling these out as I see them.

A leader must...
1. Serve the Lord in humility
2. Live in transparency(they saw his persecution and his tears)
3. teach the full truth even if some of it was tough
4. teach publicly and teach "house to house" or no matter who you're with, be teaching and strengthening them. This makes me think of the Sunday service but also being sure to maintain discipleship with smaller groups and individuals.
5. Share the Gospel with those that aren't believers
6. Continue with what the Lord leads even if it could mean persecution and death
7. Shepherd the church and guard against "savage wolves" coming in to teach false doctrine and draw men away
8. Warn the believers to hold to sound doctrine(he warned them night and day with tears)
9. Be willing to work to provide for yourself and those with you and to provide for the "weak"(we know that the churches supported him financially and sent help to him from his letters to the churches but it's clear that he was also more than willing and able to fall back on his tent making if necessary to provide for himself and those with him but also if he wanted to have more to give away. Then he quotes Jesus, "it is more blessed to give than to receive)
10. This isn't a point that he made but the last paragraph makes this point for me. A leader must exemplify and cultivate a bond like family with those they serve with and pour into. Look at the love poured out when they know this is the last time they'll see Paul.

As leaders and future leaders, let this challenge you! It challenges the fire out of me!

Love you guys!

11/08/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 19

The first thing that I see reinforced here that we mentioned in another chapter is the separation of the events of being saved and being filled with the Spirit. This may seem odd that I point it out because in our friend groups and the churches that we run with, this is the belief anyway. But I want you to see it in scripture because there are many groups that believe that a person receives the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation. There are many walking around after having been water baptized only and are struggling with things that need the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the empowering that comes with that.

Some may have seen a debate that played out on a post I made recently about witchcraft and a young woman was laughing and joking about how little I must know to think that witchcraft and Christianity cannot mix. In verse 19, those that practiced magic came under conviction and brought their books and burned them. Don't be fooled...that demonic stuff does not belong in the life of a believer.

In verse 22, it points out something that we find other places later in the New Testament. It says that Timothy and Erastus were two of those who ministered to him. To Paul. There are these people along the way that keep getting mentioned separately that you find out were actually also traveling with Paul and whoever he is ministering with but those people never get thrown in jail and they aren't mentioned in the stories. Later on, in the letters to the churches, you find mention of those that were sent from the churches to care for and serve and minister to those that were laboring for the Lord. People pull an Old Testament term to label these people and there are still those that do this to this day. They are called "armor bearers". In ancient times, their job was to simply carry a warriors armor and weapons so that the warriors themselves aren't worn out from carrying it all and are fresh for battle. Now, you see people come into that role of serving a minister or a house of God to take the pressure off of so many others. In order to "give honor where honor is due", Chris is absolutely that to my life and this ministry. He does TONS that no one ever sees and it takes a huge load off of me and adds things to our church that I would have a tough time learning and doing without him. I was that for Tommy for fourteen years. It's a separate and a special call that you see on lives occasionally.

At the end of this chapter, I think we see that being led of the Lord is always key. It would've been easy for Paul to have looked at the crowd gathered and saw an opportunity to speak to the masses and the Holy Spirit to turn their hearts. In that situation, the Lord wasn't in it and their hearts were hard so Paul and everyone around him knew, this is one situation that I don't need to go into. We know he didn't lack boldness or faith! If this were to happen in the church today, there would be videos being shared by people just attacking him for not standing up for the Gospel or something like that. But he knew that the Spirit wasn't leading him into that scenario.

Love you guys a whole bunch! Have the best day!

11/07/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 18

You know, one of the things that is jumping out at me this time through Acts, and it's very visible in this chapter, is how much revolves around debating scripture and being able to prove truth to those that are in error. I'm not a debater myself..my mind doesn't work that way..I don't like how the other person becomes an enemy in a way in my heart and how I get frustrated. I'm not wired as a debater. So, I've dismissed it a lot over the years and made bold statements about how I never see anyone won through debate and it just seems to strengthen both sides' resolve. But...there is clearly place for debating scripture. These men we are reading about are going into temples and debating the teachers and swaying leaders and Jews and God-fearing gentiles to the truth of the Gospel and being born again. So, I will no longer be upset about people debating over scripture. It was part of the foundation of the church.

Something that is kind of small but is jumping out at me this time through is the amount of time Paul is spending in these places to see them established well. That's never sunk in when reading this and I've pictured his journey as a week here and a couple of weeks there. But, where things really take off, he's spending a year there building the foundation of the church. I heard about a pastor the other day that feels called to go to dying churches and see them become fruitful again and then he establishes the leaders and foundations and then God sends him somewhere else. I thought that was kind of odd initially because I'm just not wired that way but after reading this, I can see that value in that ministry! I'm a long-haul guy and I don't want to let people go so I couldn't do that..I don't think. But I see the merit in it.

The fact that they point out that Paul had his hair cut off because of a vow seems like it's significant but they don't dive into the vow being talked about here. There are commentaries that lay out the possibilities. Some jump to the thought that this is a Nazarite vow he's just taken. That is one possibility but one commentary laid out how because of the circumstances around it, he is more likely ENDING a Nazarite vow that he took for his time in Corinth. But the same commentary went into some extra-biblical(historical books outside the Bible) sources in how the Jews approached the Nazarite vow and unwritten rules and how a Jew wasn't supposed to end one outside of Israel so this was actually more than likely another king of vow that, like the Nazarite vow, involved the hair. If you aren't familiar with a Nazarite vow, go check it out. That's a neat study!

The last thing I noticed here is that Apollos is absolutely killing it in ministry as a man with only the baptism in water and not yet the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is not to downplay the baptism of the Holy Spirit..dear Lord....not at all! BUT..in some of my old circles, pastors would say they couldn't learn anything from someone that didn't speak in tongues. I think Apollos is a great example that we can learn from any of our brothers and sisters that are wholeheartedly loving and pursuing Jesus!

Love you guys! Have the best day!!

11/06/2022

Daily Bible Study - Acts chapter 17

The thing that jumps out at me in this chapter as I read it this time is the Berean people's pure pursuit of truth and how they didn't sneer or draw back because of tradition or familiarity, but they threw themselves into scripture to find whether what Paul was saying was true or not. Many believed because they were open to change as long as it was seen in scripture.

This feels very short but it is what struck my heart most as I read this chapter this time.

What about you? What did you see?!

Address

15024 US 71
Fort Smith, AR
72916

Opening Hours

7pm - 9pm

Telephone

(479) 206-4093

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Father's House Young Adults posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category