Category: Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles – Acts 9:19b-25 མཛད་པ། 9:19b-25

Bro Brian.

(མཛད་པ། 9:19b-25)

Acts 9.19b-25 w B

 

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”  And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”  But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. (Acts 9:19b-22)

 

Saul immediately testifies to fellow Jews in Damascus that Yeshu the man is the  Messiah Son foretold in their scriptures.

This enfuriates those Jews, so his new friends have to smauggle him out of the city by night.

Years later Saul remembered that this was the first of the occasions he had to suffer for Yeshu’s sake.

The Acts of the Apostles – Acts 9:26-31 མཛད་པ། 9:26-31

Bro Brian.

(མཛད་པ། 9:26-31)

Acts 9.26-31 w B

 

And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (Acts 9:26-31)

 

Back in Jerusalem Saul’s bold preaching finally convinces the frightened believers, but only with the help of Barnabas (about whom see Chapter 4 verses 36, 37).

And again Saul’s success in debating angers the Jews; this time it is the cultured Hellenist Jews resident in the capital.

At once the disciples act to protect him; they send him off by sea from Caesarea to his home at Tarsus in Cilicia to the north of Israel.

The Acts of the Apostles – Acts 9:32-43 མཛད་པ། 9:32-43

Bro Brian.

(མཛད་པ། 9:32-43)

Acts 9.32-43 w B

 

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. (Acts 9:32-43)

 

Peter was continuing to teach the dharma of God’s word throughout Israel, and had come down to Lydda on the coastal plain. There and at Joppa he did two miracles that were like those that Yeshu also did.

When Tabitha (whose name meant gazelle, an antelope like the gtsod found in Tibet) died, the disciples, instead of burying her, sent for Peter who was still 19 kilometres away at Lydda.

As a result of the miracles the disciples were encouraged, and many others over a wide area came to have faith in the Lord Jesus.