This week, we continued our study of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch by investigating what we know (and don’t know) about the eunuch: where he came from, what his place was in society, how he traveled, and why someone from so far away would have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We also imagined the story...

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This week, we began our study of a very familiar story about Philip the Evangelist and an official from Ethiopia (modern-day Sudan). We discussed God’s amazing timing in bringing these two men together at the perfect moment. We examined a variety of passages to determine whether the terms “angel” and “spirit” were interchangeable in this...

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This week, we finished up our study of the interaction between the apostles and Simon Magus. For real. We zoomed in on the final verses of the narrative where Peter apparently ‘curses’ Simon for his attempt to purchase the ability to bestow the Holy Spirit. We discussed the difference between “believing” and faith that leads...

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This week we continued our discussion about Simon the magician and his desire to purchase the ability to bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit (which cannot be purchased). We were reminded that Jesus’ parable of the sower provides a way to understand the difference between an authentic conversion experience and one that has no roots,...

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This week we were introduced to Simon (a.k.a. “Simon the Sorcerer” and “Simon Magus”), and according to Simon himself “Someone Great!” Although there is not a lot of information about Simon in the Bible, early church fathers wrote about him with enough detail that we are able to sketch his character and his beliefs and his...

The post Acts 8:9-17 ~ “The Amazing Simon” is Amazed! appeared first on Bible Study Rocks™.

This week we observed how the stepped-up persecution of Christians in Jerusalem served as a catalyst for the spread of the good news throughout Judea and into Samaria thus fulfilling part of Jesus’ prophecy in Acts 1:8. We focused in on the first non-Judean “missionary journey” post-Resurrection: Philip’s ministry in Samaria. We concluded that this was...

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This week we focused on this brief, transitional passage that documents the first officially sanctioned persecution of Christ followers as well as what happened to Stephen’s body after his stoning (lynching) in chapter 7.  We looked at the structure of Acts noting that chapters 1-7 and 13-28 follow a single-thread narrative, whereas chapters 8-12 traces...

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This week we finally finished our deep dive into Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 and witnessed his stoning (or lynching, depending on how you look at it). We discussed Stephen’s vision that he had prior to his stoning and the specific title he used for Jesus: Son of Man.  We observed the people take the law...

The post Acts 7:54-8:1a ~ Stephen: The First Christian Martyr appeared first on Bible Study Rocks™.

This week we took a slight detour to explore the question: Whose idea was Solomon’s Temple?! This is the first of two class times we spent digging into the question about whether or not the LORD commanded David and/or Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. We are looking into the possibility that God (1)...

The post Acts 7:45-50 ~ A House of Cedar (part one) appeared first on Bible Study Rocks™.

This week we continued our in-depth study of Stephen’s defense speech. He brought up the consistent problem of idol worship—both at the foot of Mt. Sinai and in the wilderness during the 40 years of wandering. He began laying the foundation for his argument (?) that the Temple should not have been built which we...

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