Get ready for a heart-warming celebration as we begin our episode by marking a special day for our beloved co-host, David. We share some delightful anecdotes about our growing families, igniting the same sense of joy and community that we hope to inspire through our discussions on the Scriptures. Join us as we explore the intriguing journey of Paul’s sermon in the Book of Acts, Chapter 13, verses 13 to 25. His words carry a profound resonance, even in the context of our lives today.
As our conversation unfolds, we shine a spotlight on the trials and tribulations of John Mark. Do you ever feel like you're falling short? Well, here's a story of a man who knows that feeling all too well. John had moments of despair, but the apostles saw his potential and believed in him despite his setbacks. We also delve into the courage and determination of Paul, who fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel, his past history of persecuting Christians notwithstanding. Imagine standing up in the very synagogue you once used to oppress believers. Paul's audacity is truly inspiring.
Finally, we venture into the powerful exploration of God's promises and the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ, as Paul eloquently expounds in his sermon in Acts 13. Can you picture it? Paul reminding his audience of how God chose Israel, raised David as their king, and gifted them a savior in Jesus. Paul’s narrative is a poignant reminder that salvation stems from God alone. We end this episode by expressing our gratitude to you, our listeners, and urging you to make this podcast a cornerstone of your exploration of God's Word. A huge thank you for sharing this journey with us. Let's continue to unravel the joys of Scripture together.
Get ready for a heart-warming celebration as we begin our episode by marking a special day for our beloved co-host, David. We share some delightful anecdotes about our growing families, igniting the same sense of joy and community that we hope to inspire through our discussions on the Scriptures. Join us as we explore the intriguing journey of Paul’s sermon in the Book of Acts, Chapter 13, verses 13 to 25. His words carry a profound resonance, even in the context of our lives today.
As our conversation unfolds, we shine a spotlight on the trials and tribulations of John Mark. Do you ever feel like you're falling short? Well, here's a story of a man who knows that feeling all too well. John had moments of despair, but the apostles saw his potential and believed in him despite his setbacks. We also delve into the courage and determination of Paul, who fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel, his past history of persecuting Christians notwithstanding. Imagine standing up in the very synagogue you once used to oppress believers. Paul's audacity is truly inspiring.
Finally, we venture into the powerful exploration of God's promises and the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ, as Paul eloquently expounds in his sermon in Acts 13. Can you picture it? Paul reminding his audience of how God chose Israel, raised David as their king, and gifted them a savior in Jesus. Paul’s narrative is a poignant reminder that salvation stems from God alone. We end this episode by expressing our gratitude to you, our listeners, and urging you to make this podcast a cornerstone of your exploration of God's Word. A huge thank you for sharing this journey with us. Let's continue to unravel the joys of Scripture together.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast. With your host, kamors DeCose Smith and David Glavin, we are going to be continuing in the book of Acts in chapter 13. Good morning, gentlemen. It is David's birthday. Good morning you like that? I don't know. 29 today.
Speaker 2:That was a horn.
Speaker 3:That was a horn.
Speaker 2:That was good though.
Speaker 1:I thought, without having actual sounds to use, that was pretty good.
Speaker 3:It was a weak horn, but it was believable, it worked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope that we, if you guys, are listening to this in the morning. I hope that woke you up. I hope that we got your day going.
Speaker 2:Sorry, I apologize too if that hurt your ears.
Speaker 1:David is 61? No 61 years old young man 29? Nope, not that either, David.
Speaker 2:What did you let?
Speaker 1:people guess how old is you.
Speaker 3:Halfway to 82.
Speaker 2:You're 41. I thought you were turning 40.
Speaker 3:No, not 41.
Speaker 1:Cross that bridge yeah over the hill.
Speaker 2:Over. Yeah, happy birthday, david.
Speaker 1:We love you Thank you, yeah, yeah, you're 41. And you have, how old are your children?
Speaker 3:I'm going to be 7 and 18 and 19.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to be in a similar. I've got my two younger ones are three and one, so when I'm 41, I will also still have younger kids in the house. So, yeah, I can tell my energy. It's like the slow decline, like I'm not trying to be like not have energy, but I can tell things hurt more, like when we wrestle, like with the boys and I get hit. That hurts more than it used to. I don't know why. Maybe I'm getting weaker, but it just doesn't feel as good as it did when I was 22 wrestling with children, you know.
Speaker 1:So yeah, getting old is fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure people are listening to this, like you guys aren't old.
Speaker 1:Nobody knows, unless they go to our church.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what do you know? What do you know?
Speaker 3:There's a clear line at 40 or around 40 where you just start feeling it more. Yeah, I think everybody has to admit that.
Speaker 1:I think the weird part is actually the mental part of getting older, like I feel like I get older but like I'm kind of stuck, like I think I'm in my 20s.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I still believe I'm like 25 at times, yeah, but I'm not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I don't know, at 40 you finally go. Ah, I'm 40. Like, does that happen? Yeah, I'm asking you. You're the only one here that's over 40.
Speaker 2:No, you know what I got a couple of years before I got to worry about that, so we're going to leave it at bay.
Speaker 3:I'm spending some moments where you guys are even younger than mentally, than 20s Like, maybe more like like 13. 10, 11, 12.
Speaker 1:As guys we're just able to revert back to that on, on will, like we're just able to go junior high jokes, and we're able to go there and then back up to.
Speaker 3:Okay, be serious, we're adults.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not even at will, it just happens.
Speaker 2:For those of you listening, just so you know, kyle and I have always been very serious. We don't joke at all whatsoever. And then David come in to the mix and that's a. It's a totally different ball it's deteriorated. No, I'm just kidding. We've all. We all love to joke. We have to do that on a Monday, right?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:All right, so hey, today we are in the book of Acts, acts, chapter 13. Last week we covered one through 12. This week, paul's preaching.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is cool because we're transitioning into Paul's ministry, which hopefully, if you read the Bible, you know a lot about because he writes a lot of the New Testament, and so now we're kind of getting into him preaching and teaching, and I think that's a cool thing. We've seen we've seen some others though. We've seen Peter give a sermon, a Stephen's sermon, and so now we're seeing a sermon from Paul in the book of Acts.
Speaker 2:And, to be fair, this sermon is going to go from chapter 13, verse 13, all the way to 41. And we've just decided, for the sake of the episode, not to, you know, fire hose everybody with his words, you know, as we're going to try and obviously converse over what Paul is saying. So we're going to break his sermon up into two halves. Today we're going to do 13 to 25.
Speaker 1:Yep, david, could you pray for us, and then we will read the word I will.
Speaker 3:Lord, god, we give you thanks for this day, for your grace, for the, for your word that is living, that is not just stagnant ink on a page but more than your spirit moves and teaches and instructs, lord.
Speaker 3:It changes us and I just pray for that this morning as we discuss together, as brothers in Christ, your word as we read, lord, that you would inspire that your enthusiasm, lord, your spirit would move, that those listening would be in the word, that you would be moving and just teach us anew today what you would have us, lord, to know and to understand God. I thank you that we understand in part that we rely on you. We are incomplete without you and, lord, I just give you thanks and we just rely on your provision today. Thank you for my brothers, for their grace and their love and inviting me into this, for the listeners, for this community that we have. Lord, we give this time to you in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. So we start with the text and it says the following verse 13,. Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem. But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pesidian Antioch and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them saying brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it. Paul stood up and, motioning with his hand, said Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. This is before we get to what Paul actually has to say. Anything here in verses 13 to 16, we're kind of given more of a setting prior to the sermon. But is there anything that stands out to you like an initial observation, that either of you two have verses 13 to 16? How can we carry on the discussion from those verses?
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting that it said John left. Yeah, I caught that right away, because before this I don't see a mention of John with him, like in the beginning of chapter 13. That's not a name that comes up. So at some point John must have went and met up with Paul. I don't know when. That would have been necessarily in the timeline here. Oh, verse five, verse five.
Speaker 2:Said John came as their helper, John Mark.
Speaker 1:Oh, john, mark, Okay, there we go. Yeah, so he did come. He went back to Jerusalem, so he isn't there with Paul. I don't know if you know the circumstances why he went back to Jerusalem or not but I'd noticed that he left and didn't continue with him in this time.
Speaker 2:So in 2008, easter Sunday 2008, I attended Veritas Bible Church's opening service for the church that CL Mitchell had planted, and his first sermon on Easter Sunday concerned the person of John Mark. John Mark has had a history all throughout the scriptures of running from his problems. So we see in Mark's gospel of course John Mark was the author. He is likely the young teenage boy who, as Jesus is being arrested, he flees, his cloak is grabbed and he runs away naked right. And you see John Mark coming on mission with Paul and Barnabas here very briefly, and then he leaves and then later on down the road in a couple of chapters, when we see Paul and Barnabas split from one another, it's because an issue arose with John Mark. John Mark likely thought that the mission was too difficult, so he leaves again, which is really interesting. So now you have like these three circumstances in the scripture where John Mark appears to leave and things get difficult Towards the end of Paul's ministry. If you remember, in 2 Timothy, paul is the one who says you know, bring John Mark to me, for he's useful to me.
Speaker 2:Now, and here's the thing is, a lot of people don't realize that John Mark went back with Barnabas to be encouraged. Barnabas is the son of encouragement. But there's also a lot of evidence that says the apostle Peter invested in John Mark's life as well, because Peter understood failure by way of quitting or denying the Lord, and a lot of people think that Peter had a heavy influence into John Mark's gospel. So, long story short, this is, you know, just one of the developments of this young man's life. It seems that when the ministry gets too tough, he leaves, and that tension is mounting all throughout the scriptures. So I think the phrase here is unique and it's actually pointing towards something to come.
Speaker 1:I find it interesting, though, how the apostles invested in him. There must have been something about John Mark that they just saw it in him Like you have the ability to do so much. They must have seen the potential in him to spend that much time to, to, to, to bring him to run off and then to re-approach him, for him to run off and then for them to re-approach him. There must have been something about him. He couldn't have been some like shy, squirrely guy. He had to have something about him that just came across as man.
Speaker 1:You can be used so much for the Lord, and I think we come across people like that, people who maybe haven't got the call yet for ministry, where we just see it in them like, wow, like I think you could do so much in the church, whether that's for missions, you know, I think we have students in our church that have gifts that we may see, that other people that they may not see yet themselves but need to be matured and grown, grown up in those gifts. Yeah, and John Mark must add something about him that just radiated. This guy can be used for God's work Well real quick, 2 Timothy 4.
Speaker 2:David, I think you're about to say something. But real quick, 2 Timothy 4, 11. Paul, some of his last words to Timothy. He says only Luke is with me. This is right in the place at the end where he's saying everybody's deserted me. But then he says pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. Which likely means that by the end of all of these trials, john Mark ended up being the mature man of God that even Paul knew he could be, and John Mark was essentially restored to service or literally the word is ministry along with Paul at the end of Paul's life. So there is some redemption here. But right now, yeah, we're in that area where the scripture is giving us little clues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also saw in here really that they were seems like they're invited to the synagogue. Verse 15, after reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them saying brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it. So it's almost like they were invited to speak and to say something. Now we know that Paul has extensive training in the scriptures. It was a Pharisee himself who's converted to following Jesus, and so Paul wouldn't be somebody staying around hidden. I don't think.
Speaker 1:I think Paul was somebody who people knew that's Paul. He was well enough known by the leaders in these synagogues to know that Paul may want to say something. So clearly they're invited to say something, and so Paul stands up here. He takes the opportunity, he capitalizes on it, he doesn't waver from an opportunity to proclaim the gospel and I think this is where you see Paul's boldness in the Lord and to say I'll stand up and in front of a synagogue, I don't care, I will tell them that I'm going to show them their own history, showing who Jesus is, which we'll get to in a moment. So Paul's boldness comes out here. We've seen him bold already in chapter 13, but he's not afraid to proclaim the gospel when opportunity arises.
Speaker 3:I love how they don't. They don't adjust, they don't. I mean Paul. We see Paul's ability to, to adapt and to you know where he says I am all things to all people. He, he functions within a community, so, you know, for the furthering of the gospel.
Speaker 3:But when it comes to speaking the gospel, he doesn't. He doesn't shy away. I mean because you have the prayer. I mean he was a part of the persecution of the Christians from within the Jewish community and you have a synagogue and a community who is accepting them. You know, has to know who they are, and it's saying you know, if you have something to say. You know speak so is giving them a voice. But he doesn't know he's not changing, he doesn't change his boldness or how forward he is with it. And I think that's important for us, because I think we often shy away when we meet adverse situations or we try to be more sensitive with our language and I think you know the gospel might lose some some month when we do that, because it's our fear that we're responding to not not drawing from strength, from the Lord.
Speaker 2:You know, I think we somewhat have a contrast in the text already. On one hand you're getting this little hint or clue of a man who goes home too early because the mission is difficult or challenging, and on the other hand you have another individual who, regardless of how difficult the mission is, even before the trials begin, you already see a boldness in Paul. And I mean often. I think that is the the tension of life as a Christian. You know how much am I to endure willingly, and sometimes if we can get out of difficulty, if we can get out of having to endure something, then we will. We are often tempted, as John, john Mark was, but God is actually calling us to a type of life where we would be unashamed Romans 116 of the gospel, because it's a power of God unto salvation for all who believe. So you know, if anything, we are not necessarily given the backstory. Scripture only gives us what's necessary. It doesn't give us every detail, but you are starting to see a contrast of what Paul is doing versus others who are going to leave.
Speaker 2:And I'm not so sure that Paul would have been famous per se. I mean that he could have been known, but I think Paul may have been such a gifted individual in the scriptures that just as you begin talking to him you can tell, oh, this guy knows this stuff and we kind of relate with that. Today you can meet somebody in the first five minutes and know, oh, this guy knows this Bible, you know. So I think likely there's some encouragement there. Brethren, do you have a word of exhortation to share with us? It's likely they had already met Paul and Barnabas. They could tell something was different. They've been prayed over, spending time with the Lord, holy Spirit influenced. Of course the guys are going to ask him to say something in the synagogue.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I mean, I think I don't know about famous amongst all people I wasn't saying that but famous amongst the leaders of the synagogue. I think we're talking about a guy who is up and coming who is a part of Stephen's martyrdom, who then was persecuting Christians, was a part of it, and then all of a sudden was like no, I follow Jesus. Like that, there's got to be time. Like think about today and things that happened in churches all around the world. We hear of it, something that drastic. So I think there would have been knowledge of what Paul has gone through, even if they hadn't met him yet, even if they've never seen him face to face, they didn't have a picture, but they knew the name and they knew, at least probably, what had happened.
Speaker 2:It was pretty drastic change, and a couple of years had passed since that instance. You know, we know, that Paul has been away for five years. He's been kind of kept in secret spending time with the Lord, so there's a lot that's taking place there. Nevertheless, they're encouraged to speak, and so they do.
Speaker 3:And this is the beginning. So you know there's probably a bit of like, let's see what he has to say now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean he's in, I guess, a similar role he was in beforehand, but now kind of on the other side. So I think that's an interesting place that Paul is now in. Well, we just came off an example of him being extremely bold. So any opportunity here. I just think we learned from Paul all throughout his letters about the importance of seizing the opportunities that we get to proclaim the gospel. I mean, I think Paul went out and found the opportunities. To be honest, I think he was seeking opportunity, not just capitalizing on them when they were presented. But I think we learned from that that, as we go about our lives, just to make sure that, hey, there's an opportunity, I want to make sure people know what I believe and what the gospel is, and that's what Paul does.
Speaker 2:Maybe one other practical note as I'm looking at the location. I just went to the back in my Bible and was reminded of where Pamphylia is. And it's just to the west of Syria, but it's still to the east of what would be Asia Minor or modern-day Greece. And because they had to well, actually I forget how they traveled, but if you travel on foot it's about 300 miles. If you travel by boat it seems like 150 miles, depending on which angle that you take. Nevertheless, this was no small journey. This took them a while to arrive there. They had to put forth much effort. Imagine how far 150 to 300 miles would be in today's world, in the US, in our country, either by way of carriage or foot or on boat, I don't care who you are, that's a difficult task. So they've done the travel necessary to go on their first mission trip. Now they're here.
Speaker 2:Paul is preaching. So if we were to start in verse 16b, it says Men of Israel, you who fear God, listen. And then Paul begins with, I guess you could say, a historical background of the salvation of the people of Israel. He says the God of this people, israel, chose our fathers the word is also forefathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt and, with an uplifted arm, he led them out from it For a period of about 40 years. He put up with them in the wilderness.
Speaker 2:When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land as an inheritance, all of which took about 450 years. After these things, he gave them judges, until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin. For 40 years, after he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, concerning whom he also testified and said I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will, and I think that's a good place to end this little section at verse 22. This is going to continue, obviously, in a moment, but the salvation history of the people of Israel. Guys, any thoughts here of either what God is doing or what the people have benefited from? What do you?
Speaker 3:see, I was reminded just now of oh, it was early 2000s version of that movie, Noah. Did you guys see that? I've never seen it.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, it's a little weird, but I chose not to see it intentionally With Russell Crow.
Speaker 3:But there's a moment and this might be a spoiler alert where one of the wives of the father if you can, of his sons, says where he's making a hard decision and he's actually seemingly evil, but he's doing it for the Lord. And he says God didn't call me because I'm righteous or because I'm a good man. God called me because he knew that I would get the job done, because he knew that I would do it. And when it says you know, when he's talking about David, here's a man after my own heart who will do all of my will. David was not perfect. David was not. Saul was not perfect.
Speaker 3:The apostles were not perfect, but it was a matter of them doing God's will. And it kind of brings me back to the adversity that they've faced. And when you look at the longevity of the gospel to today and its survival, I mean going back. It was only ever more dangerous. And when you think about traveling 300 miles on foot and they were throughout their whole ministry traveling on foot they probably had protection, but what are the odds of getting robbed and killed? And in those days, the amount of miles they traveled.
Speaker 3:businessmen would travel periodically and they were in danger, but these guys were always on the road. The more you travel, the more risk, and the gospel endured, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, verse 17 here says that God chose Israel as his people. I think we have to make sure we understand that the people of Israel didn't have something necessarily special about them that made God choose them. God actually created his people, right, god chose his people. So this isn't I think Paul's making a point that salvation doesn't come through a people. It comes from God, and God creates the way to salvation. And there's a there's a noticing thing in here, which you pointed out beforehand, dakota, about God giving, god choosing, and God giving, god choosing and God giving. A lot of this is the. We see the work of God being explained by Paul, not the work of Israel. We actually see the negative aspects of the people of Israel throughout this time, and so we know that God got them out of Egypt, led them out, and then they were in the wilderness for 40 years. And so we see God doing the work, god choosing his people, god making the path to salvation, and the way in which he does that in history is being taught here by Paul.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just circled all the verbs. God chose the forefathers, he made the people great in Egypt. He put up with him in the wilderness. He destroyed the seven nations in the land of Canaan. He distributed their land, he gave them judges. And Samuel the prophet, he gave them Saul. He raised up David.
Speaker 2:And I think, out of all of those you know, what's really interesting is that Paul chooses to use the phrase he raised up David to be their king, because I think there's some typological significance that he's using in that phraseology to prepare the reader for Jesus. In other words, god is not preaching about the people of Israel per se, or Paul is not preaching about the people of Israel per se. Paul is preaching about what God has done amongst the people of Israel, as to your point, and he's using this method to show them. What God has now recently done and what he's about to speak to them is everything concerning Christ. So I think that brings us to verse 23, where it says from the descendants of this man, meaning David.
Speaker 2:According to promise, god has brought to Israel a savior, jesus, after John, meaning the Baptist had proclaimed, before his coming, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, and while John was completing his course, he kept saying what do you suppose that I am? I am not he. In other words, a lot of people probably misunderstood him to be the Messiah. I am not he. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie. So Paul now moves into speaking about Jesus and John the Baptist which preceded him. Any thoughts there, fellas?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the word promise was used, which all these things that Paul is describing are promises that God made with his people. So if we go back into the Old Testament and we want to look at all of the covenants that God made specifically with Israel, such as Abrahamic covenant, which we know is that he'll make a great nation from Abraham, make his name great, and so that is Israel itself that comes from Abraham We'll have the Mosaic covenant, where we get the law, where we get to the time and the wilderness, all the way to the Davidic covenant, where we have David, which is promised that the Messiah will come from the line of David which Paul is showing here. So that's like a really brief overview of not all the details, but my point is, when God makes a promise or a covenant with his people, he fulfills it. So Paul is just making the point quickly, in a very summarized way, that God fulfills his promises and the promised one has come. The promised one has come and his name is Jesus, and so Paul's getting to that point.
Speaker 1:You, men of Israel, the promises of God have been fulfilled in Jesus, the ones that we see here, the ones that I'm pointing out, not that there isn't still promises to come in the future, because there is. We see that in the book of Revelation but Jesus has come to fulfill a promise of salvation. So that's kind of what Paul's making that transition here in his sermon. He's building up the background, he's building up who God is, he's building up God's choices and how God works. He's building up his promises and how those promises are fulfilled. And that's all really, really important to the Jewish person that God fulfills his promises.
Speaker 2:You know, something else is, paul obviously understands his audience, not just by way of connecting to them with their history, but notice that he just very specifically notes them as Israel Verse 16,. Men of Israel, verse 17, the God of this people, israel. Then you see again in verse 23, from the descendants of this man, according to promise, god has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus. And then verse 24, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel came to them from John the Baptist. So he's obviously speaking to them and they obviously understand what he's talking about, because they understand that whole salvation history. They have yet to hear about the message of Jesus Christ, and Paul's now ready to proclaim between.
Speaker 2:I just had this thought. Imagine Paul, as passionate as he is for his heritage and his people, for the Hebrews. Imagine how much of a thrill it would have been for him to begin preaching this gospel to his people, letting them know about the Messiah for the first time ever. I mean, just put yourself in Paul's shoes. That had to have been. He had to have been ecstatic to have this opportunity. Any other thoughts?
Speaker 3:Well, he continues to To bring in those who fear God, so those who aren't Jews, those who aren't a part of that lineage, those who who fear God. I have the Gentiles, and I mean, I'm assuming- that's what we're talking about the gent, those who fear God, and that's and and we've dealt with that already, whereas it's not just for, though this is where God has brought about Jesus through the Jews, and of this salvation Through his people, the Jews, but again emphasizing that he's speaking To everybody. Yeah, this everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because we got plenty of examples of God using non Jewish people or non-Israelites in the Old Testament To do his work or and also to be ones that repent. I mean, the easiest one to go do is Jonah Going to Nineveh, a whole nation that God calls into repentance, and they do. They're not Israelites, but God has Salvation for all people, yeah, and that's proclaimed throughout the Old Testament. So I think they're, you know, I don't think Paul ever leaves that out. He's. He says a lot all the time about neither June or Greek nor you know. He's always preaching to all people, to all nations. That's the Great Commission. So he makes those points out. He's teaching all people.
Speaker 1:Yes, he's talking to the men of Israel, but that may not be the only people in the crowd, or he wants to make sure, because they're in a synagogue that, yeah, god did choose you, israel, but it's all people who follow.
Speaker 1:God leads to salvation, which he's getting there. He talks about John the Baptist. He talks about this message of repentance. He talks that John isn't the Messiah, but John is the one that is bringing the way of the Messiah, who is Jesus, and so he's leading to that place, which would be hard for some Jewish people and we know that because many of the letters in the Bible are written to Jewish people who are having a hard time figuring out what it means to follow Jesus, and so Paul is speaking to them directly that this message has never just been for one people now. Did God use Israel specifically for a reason, and there are certain group of people that God called to do something? Yes, of course, but salvation has always been available as long as you believed in God, the God of Israel, during that time. Now it's Jesus. Now we have to.
Speaker 2:Now we have to follow Jesus so well making that transition, and he's one in the same you know he's the second person that trendy.
Speaker 2:It's just a matter of that. He, the second person the trendy, is now taken on flesh. I think this is a good place to Close today. But just going back to that, that phrase in verse 23 From the descendants of this man referring to David According to promise and Kyle, you mentioned God's promise earlier. According to promise, god has brought to Israel a Savior, jesus, and I think, as he continues preaching and as we'll see in next week's episode, we will see how Jesus went about this saving. But right now, paul's like main concern is to say he has brought about this Savior. His name is Jesus, and Jesus, his name actually means Salvation. I mean Yeshua literally means like the one who saves. So God has raised up the one who brings salvation. He's here. He has fulfilled his promise, the promise of the Old Testament that you keep have kept waiting for and waiting for and waiting for. He's come. God has fulfilled his promise. Anybody who is listening to that message, their ears would have worked up, guys. Any last thoughts.
Speaker 1:No, I think you summarize it very well beautiful, some beautiful. Wow, very scholarly. Yeah, it's very nice. Should we all sit and appreciate it for a moment? No, well, thank you so much for listening to the be disciples podcast. What keeps us going is knowing that you're listening and making it a Part of your weekly schedule, that you're adding it to your Devotion, you're adding it to the way that you are equipped. So when we see this Regular listeners, it encourages us to know that people are using this to study God's word and to become more equipped to Go disciple others. So, thank you for listening. Please share it, let people know about it so they can learn God's word as well and make it part of their weekly routine of studying God's word. Thank you so much and have a blessed week. Oh you.