In this lesson, we complete our study on Acts, ending with chapter 28. After the shipwreck, Paul and his fellow passengers all made it to the nearby island of Malta. Paul was bitten by a venomous viper, yet suffered no ill effect as a miracle of healing from God.  The people of the island began bringing their sick to Paul for healing. After recovering and being honored for about three months (waiting for the weather to improve), the voyagers boarded another ship and sailed on to the main Roman coastline. 

In Rome, Paul once more told his story of conversion and faith. This has been a wonderful study, verse-by-verse through the book of Acts. Our thanks to this amazing teacher, Bill Wallace!

Many people miss the details of life due to being too busy or so intensely focused on some category of activity. (Levi played a video clip to demonstrate this which had to be removed from this video due to copyright restrictions. The video showed a clip of people passing a volleyball and the audience was asked to count the number of times the ball was passed. Most of the viewers fail to notice a significant--and funny--event that occurs in the midst of the passing balls.) This lack of attention to detail can apply to us in "quoting the Bible." But are we sure about that famous saying we sometimes repeat as a Bible verse--is it REALLY in the Bible? And if the quote is actually in the Bible, do we actually understand it correctly? Levi goes through a number of sayings that are supposedly in the Bible but aren't, as well as some that are in the Bible, but are often misunderstood.

Continuing in 1 Corinthians 9 and on into chapter 10, Paul instructs Christians to realize that they are free to eat meat even if it is being sold in the local market after having been sacrificed to an idol. He goes on to note that some people in the church are offended (worried, disturbed) by eating this particular type of meat and that in those cases, he will not eat that type of meat because it is for the good of others. Following the description of freedom in eating, Paul talks about the role of women in the church. Joe (our teacher) goes into some detail about the cultural practices in the first century AD, and then points out that the setting for this instruction to men and women who are speaking and using spiritual gifts in public. 

Remember that Paul was a free-born Roman citizen which gave him the right to an appeal to Caesar. He invoked that right and eventually, Festus turned Paul over to Roman soldiers for transfer to Rome for trial. Part of the journey involved a lengthy sea voyage. During this trip, a great storm hit the ship, and it was shipwrecked. This is a very dramatic account of how the prisoner Paul provided encouragement and prophecy to all the people who were aboard the ship as it broke up and sank. 

In Acts 25, with Paul still jailed, King Agrippa visits Festus who decides to bring up the issue of his "left-over prisoner" named Paul. Our teacher provides us background information on King Agrippa (a descendant of Herod). Paul has appealed to Caesar, and Festus wants to include the charges against him, so he consults with the visiting King. Together, they hear Paul's story. Agrippa famously states, "Almost thou persuadest me."

In the 4th chapter of Paul's first letter to Christians in Corinth, Paul talks about the problem of arrogance on the part of some in the congregation and urges them to correct this problem. In chapter 5, Paul names some highly obvious situations in that church arising from lifestyles of ongoing sinfulness.

Does God tempt us to sin? No! So what does this line in the Lord's Prayer mean then? Levi demonstrates the contextual meaning of these words and how we should use them in our prayer life today. This is the final lesson in this series of six lessons on the Lord's Prayer, using Matthew 6:1-13 as the text.

Paul writes in chapter 8 about why food sacrificed to idols is (on the face of it) not sinful to eat. Yet, in Acts 15 it is forbidden. Joe explains that the now “more mature” believers are able to understand that their own consciences determine the correct thing to do. 

Acts 24 gives an account of Paul’s imprisonment while being held by the Romans after the false accusations by a group of Jewish men. Paul makes a defense before Felix. He was held for 2 years!! Then Felix’s term was over and he was replaced by Festus as governor. When Festus questioned him, Paul appealed to Caesar since it was his right to do so as a free Roman citizen. The lesson ended on 25:12 and will continue next week.

In the previous lesson (end of  Acts 21), Paul was in Jerusalem when a controversy arose over some differences in practices between Jewish and Greek who had become Christians. Chapter 22 continues this episode with some of the Jews in Jerusalem gathered into a mob attacking Paul. To quell the uproar, the Romans arrested Paul who spoke eloquently about his conversion from devout Jew to baptized Christian.